← 3.62.19 · Araṇya Kāṇḍa 62: Lakṣmaṇa recalls Rāma’s own teaching

Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 3.62.20

Araṇya Kāṇḍa, sarga 62: Lakṣmaṇa recalls Rāma’s own teaching. Even the great suffer loss, judgment and effort must survive grief so that the enemy can be found and defeated

In the sequence: he says he is only awakening the wisdom Rāma himself has taught him → Rāma should use his strength to discover and defeat the actual enemy, not destroy all beings.

3.62.20

kiṃ te sarvavināśena kṛtena puruṣarṣabha
tam eva tu ripuṃ pāpaṃ vijñāyoddhartum arhasi

“What need have you of wreaking universal destruction, O bull among men? Rather, having found out that very wicked enemy, you should root him out.”

Words: kiṃ — what (need); te — for you; sarvavināśena — by universal destruction; kṛtena — by doing, wreaking; puruṣarṣabha — O bull among men; tam — that; eva — very; tu — but, rather; ripuṃ — enemy; pāpaṃ — wicked, evil; vijñāyoddhartum — having found out, to root out; arhasi — you ought

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.