Valmiki Ramayana 2.21.55: Ayodhya Kanda, Sarga 21, Shloka 55
अयोध्याकाण्डे एकविंशः सर्गः · Lakṣmaṇa’s militant counsel and Rāma’s dharma
based persuasion of Kausalyā
Spoken by Rama to LakshmanaSetting: Ayodhya (palace)
अहं हि ते लक्ष्मण नित्यमेव जानामि भक्तिं च पराक्रमं च ।
मम त्वभिप्रायमसन्निरीक्ष्य मात्रा सहाभ्यर्दसि मां सुदुःखम् ॥५५॥
ahaṃ hi te lakṣmaṇa nityam eva jānāmi bhaktiṃ ca parākramaṃ ca |
mama tv abhiprāyam asannirīkṣya mātrā sahābhyardasi māṃ suduḥkham ||55||
လက္ခမဏရေ၊ သင်၏ ဘက္တိနှင့် သတ္တိဗလကို ငါသည် အစဉ်တစိုက် သိရှိနေခဲ့သည်။ သို့သော် ငါ၏ ရည်ရွယ်ချက်ကို မစိစစ်ဘဲ မိခင်နှင့်အတူ သင်က ငါ့ကို အလွန်ပြင်းထန်သော ဒုက္ခကို ဖြစ်စေသည်။
Sandhi Notes
- Sandhi resolved: ते (tē) retained
- नित्यमेव = नित्यम् + एव
- त्वभिप्रायम् = तु + अभिप्रायम्
- अभिप्रायमसन्निरीक्ष्य = अभिप्रायम् + असन्निरीक्ष्य
- सहाभ्यर्दसि = सह + अभ्यर्दसि
- मां (māṃ) retained
- भक्तिं च, पराक्रमं च are coordination with च
I know your devotion (to me) and your valour, O Lakshmana! But now, without understanding my intention you are causing me and mother severe pain and torment.
The teaching
Devotion and valor must be guided by understanding the righteous intent; otherwise even love can inflict pain.
Duties in tension
- Lakshmana’s protective loyalty and emotional protest vs. Rama’s chosen dharma of obedience and composure
- Maternal attachment urging reversal vs. principled acceptance of duty
- Ethical theme
- Intent-based ethics within duty (saṅkalpa + kartavya)
- How it resolves
- Clarification of intent and redirection of devotion toward dharma
For your practice
Practice of listening (śravaṇa) and aligning one’s bhakti with the guru/elder’s dhārmika intention.
Mood and themes
- Rasa
- Karuna (compassion), with Shanta (peace)
- Mood
- Hurt, earnest, restraining
Themes
- Dharma
- Satya
- Ethics
- Intention
- Brotherly devotion
- Emotional discipline
True discernment (viveka) requires seeing the inner intention; otherwise attachment (rāga) masquerades as righteousness.
Primacy of inner resolve/knowledge over outward agitation (jñāna guiding action)
- Rama and Lakshmana
- Elder brother acknowledging devotion while correcting misunderstanding (firm-compassionate)
- Rama and Kausalya
- Son experiencing pressure from mother’s grief (pained)
- Lakshmana and Kausalya
- Supporting Rama’s mother in protest/plea (implied alliance) (protective-grieving)
Valmiki Ramayana Ayodhya-kanda: Lakshmana’s protests and Rama’s calming replies (2.20–2.22)
Bhakti as loyal service to elder/kingly dharma (proto-bhakti ethic)
Rama repeatedly acknowledges Lakshmana’s devotion while redirecting it toward dharma
Anuṣṭup (śloka)
Solemn
Madhyama with gentle niṣāda descent on duḥkha-phrases
FAQs
Dharma requires understanding intention (abhiprāya) before reacting; even devotion can become harmful if it ignores the righteous purpose.
Rama addresses Lakshmana, acknowledging his loyalty but correcting his emotionally driven resistance to Rama’s decision.
Discernment (viveka)—Rama calls for thoughtful inquiry rather than impulsive opposition.
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