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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.20.12

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 20: Lakṣmaṇa opposes fate with effort. He offers to overcome every obstacle by force, Rāma wipes away his tears but remains bound to the promise

In the sequence: he says a courageous person should act against misfortune instead of submitting to fate

2.20.12

daivaṃ puruṣakāreṇa yaḥ samarthaḥ prabādhitum
na daivena vipannārthaḥ puruṣaḥ so 'vasīdati

The man who is able to beat back fate by manly effort—he, his purpose foiled by fate, does not sink down.

Words: daivaṃ — fate; puruṣakāreṇa — by manly effort; yaḥ — who; samarthaḥ — able, capable; prabādhitum — to beat back, thwart; na — not; daivena — by fate; vipannārthaḥ — his purpose foiled; puruṣaḥ — the man; so — he; 'vasīdati — sinks down, despairs

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.