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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.100.12

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 100: Jābāli challenges the exile. He questions permanent family ties, offerings to the dead and belief in the unseen, urging Rāma to accept the available Kingdom

In the sequence: he questions whether offerings can feed the dead and mocks the idea by comparing it to feeding a traveler through someone else's meal

2.100.12

arthadharmaparā ye ye tāṃs tāñ śocāmi netarān
te hi duḥkham iha prāpya vināśaṃ pretya bhejire

Those men, whoever they are, who set dharma above worldly gain — them alone I grieve for, not the others; for having reaped only sorrow here, they meet with annihilation after death.

Words: arthadharmaparā — bent on dharma above gain; ye ye — whoever; tāṃs tāñ — those very ones; śocāmi — I grieve for; netarān — not the others; te hi — for they; duḥkham — sorrow; iha — here (in this world); prāpya — having obtained; vināśaṃ — destruction, annihilation; pretya — after death, having departed; bhejire — have met with, attained

Composed by Maharṣi Vālmīki, the ādikavi of the ādikāvya: the first poet of the first poem. Sanskrit: The Vālmīki-Rāmāyaṇa: Critical Edition, Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1960–1975 (gen. eds. G. H. Bhatt, U. P. Shah); IAST from GRETIL (Göttingen). Translation and word glosses: Claude Opus 4.6–4.7; summaries and sequences: ChatGPT Astra (machine-made). Numbering follows the Critical Edition, not the vulgate (e.g. Gita Press, valmikiramayan.net), so sarga and verse numbers can differ from those editions.