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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.98.27

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

2.98.27

nātra kaś cid yathā bhāvaṃ prāṇī samabhivartate
tena tasmin na sāmarthyaṃ pretasyāsty anuśocataḥ

Here no living creature can make things unfold according to its own will; therefore a mourner has no power over the departed.

Words: nātra — not here; kaś cid — any; yathā bhāvaṃ — according to (its) wish, as it would; prāṇī — a living being; samabhivartate — proceeds, brings about; tena — therefore; tasmin — over that (departed) one; na sāmarthyaṃ — there is no power; pretasyāsty — of the departed there is; anuśocataḥ — of one grieving

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.