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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.98.42
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: Bharata admires Rāma's steadiness but argues that a good son should correct a father's harmful decision → he rejects Kaikeyī's action and asks Rāma to rescue the family and people from its consequences
2.98.42
saṃmataś cāsi vṛddhānāṃ tāṃś ca pṛcchasi saṃśayān
yathā mṛtas tathā jīvan yathāsati tathā sati
You are esteemed by the elders, and you consult them upon your doubts; to you the dead is as the living, non-being as being.
Words: saṃmataś cāsi — and you are esteemed; vṛddhānāṃ — by the elders; tāṃś ca pṛcchasi — and you ask them; saṃśayān — about (your) doubts; yathā mṛtas tathā jīvan — as the dead, so the living; yathāsati tathā sati — as in non-being, so in being
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.