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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.100.16
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 claims that religious prescriptions encourage gifts to those who teach them → he asks Rāma to trust what can be observed, set aside claims about the unseen, and accept Bharata's offer.
2.100.16
sa nāsti param ity eva kuru buddhiṃ mahāmate
pratyakṣaṃ yat tad ātiṣṭha parokṣaṃ pṛṣṭhataḥ kuru
Make up your mind, O wise one, to the very conviction that 'there is nothing beyond'; hold to what is evident, and put the unseen behind you.
Words: sa — and so, then; nāsti param — there is nothing beyond; ity eva — just thus; kuru buddhiṃ — make up your mind; mahāmate — O wise one; pratyakṣaṃ — what is perceptible; yat tad — that which; ātiṣṭha — hold to, rely on; parokṣaṃ — the unseen, imperceptible; pṛṣṭhataḥ kuru — put behind you
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.