Shloka 6.83.19
त्र्यशीतितमः सर्गः (Sarga 83) — Hanumān Reports Sītā’s ‘Slaying’; Rāma Collapses; Lakṣmaṇa’s Counter-Discourse on Dharma and Artha
धर्मेणोपलभेद्धर्ममधर्मंचाप्यधर्मतः ।यद्यधर्मेणयुज्येयुर्येष्वधर्मःप्रतिष्ठितः ।।6.83.19।।यदिधर्मेणवियुज्येरन्नधर्मरुचयोजनाः ।धर्मेणचरतांधर्मंचैषांधर्मफलंभवेत् ।।6.83.20।।
tasya ca vyasanābhāvād vyasanaṃ cāgate tvayi |
dharmo bhavaty adharmaś ca paraspara-virodhinau ||6.83.18||
Since he has no distress, while distress has come upon you, dharma and adharma—mutually opposed—seem to have exchanged their places.
"The righteous attains the benefit through righteous means, and the unrighteous suffer by unrighteous means. If unrighteousness is rooted in the unrighteous and are pleased with unrighteousness they will be deprived of the result of righteousness. It is not otherwise."
It highlights the apparent inversion of moral outcomes—an argument often used to deny dharma’s governance when the wicked prosper and the good suffer.
The speaker interprets the contrast between Rāvaṇa’s ease and the hero’s hardship as evidence of moral disorder.
The hero’s endurance (kṣānti/dhairya) is implicitly tested: will he remain aligned with dharma despite ‘inverted’ results?