Vasishtha Names the Lives Truly Worthy of Grief
Ayodhya Kanda, Chaupai 172
Doha 172 · Movement 1 of 2
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If destiny governs these turns, Vasishtha asks, whom shall anger blame without cause? Dasharatha is not worthy of grief in the sense of a life wasted or dharma abandoned.
Grieve instead for sacred learning deserted in pursuit of pleasure, for a ruler who does not love subjects as life, for wealth closed against guest, devotion, and wisdom. Grieve for arrogance, shallow knowledge, quarrel, deception, and the student who refuses the teacher's command.
The sage shifts mourning from physical death to moral failure. A long life can be pitiable when it betrays its purpose, while death can crown a life rooted in truth. Dasharatha's body is gone, but none of the failures Vasishtha lists define him.
The guru turns grief away from death itself and toward the living betrayals by which a human purpose is truly lost.
Read the passage from the Manas
अस बिचारि केहि देइअ दोसू। ब्यरथ काहि पर कीजिअ रोसू।। तात बिचारु केहि करहु मन माहीं। सोच जोगु दसरथु नृपु नाहीं।। सोचिअ बिप्र जो बेद बिहीना। तजि निज धरमु बिषय लयलीना।। सोचिअ नृपति जो नीति न जाना। जेहि न प्रजा प्रिय प्रान समाना।। सोचिअ बयसु कृपन धनवानू। जो न अतिथि सिव भगति सुजानू।। सोचिअ सूद्रु बिप्र अवमानी। मुखर मानप्रिय ग्यान गुमानी।। सोचिअ पुनि पति बंचक नारी। कुटिल कलहप्रिय इच्छाचारी।। सोचिअ बटु निज ब्रतु परिहरई। जो नहिं गुर आयसु अनुसरई।।
Thinking thus, whom should we blame? On whom should we spend our anger without cause? Dear father, what should you deliberate in your mind? King Dasharatha is not one to grieve for. One should grieve for the Brahmin who lacks Vedic knowledge and has forsaken his own dharma, lost in worldly pleasures. One should grieve for the king who knows not righteousness and to whom his subjects are not as dear as his own life. One should grieve for the wealthy miser who knows neither hospitality, nor devotion to Shiva, nor true wisdom. One should grieve for the person who disrespects the learned, who is loud-mouthed, honour-seeking, and proud of shallow knowledge. One should grieve for the wife who deceives her husband, who is crooked, quarrelsome, and given to wilful conduct. One should grieve for the student who abandons his sacred vows and refuses to follow his guru's command.