← 2.98.24 · Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa 98: Bharata’s appeal and Rāma’s answer · 2.98.26 →

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.98.25

Ayodhyā Kāṇḍa, sarga 98: Bharata’s appeal and Rāma’s answer. Bharata asks him to restore the Kingdom, Rāma teaches the inevitability of loss, separation and death

In the sequence: relationships come together and part like pieces of wood meeting at sea; grief cannot reverse death

2.98.25

yathā kāṣṭhaṃ ca kāṣṭhaṃ ca sameyātāṃ mahārṇave
sametya ca vyapeyātāṃ kālam āsādya kaṃ cana

Just as one log and another log may meet on the great ocean, and having met, drift apart again after some length of time—

Words: yathā — just as; kāṣṭhaṃ ca kāṣṭhaṃ ca — a log and a log; sameyātāṃ — the two might come together; mahārṇave — on the great ocean; sametya ca — and having met; vyapeyātāṃ — the two would part; kālam āsādya — having reached a (span of) time; kaṃ cana — some, a certain

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.