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Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 2.98.53
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
2.98.53
pitur hi samatikrāntaṃ putro yaḥ sādhu manyate
tad apatyaṃ mataṃ loke viparītam ato 'nyathā
The son who deems his father's transgression proper is reckoned mere offspring in the world; the son of the opposite mind is quite otherwise [the worthy one].
Words: pitur hi — for of the father; samatikrāntaṃ — the transgression, overstepping; putro yaḥ — the son who; sādhu manyate — deems proper; tad apatyaṃ — that offspring; mataṃ loke — is reckoned in the world; viparītam — of the opposite (mind); ato 'nyathā — otherwise than this
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.