Ram Begins to Describe the Forest to Janaki
Ayodhya Kanda, Doha 60
Doha 60 · Movement 2 of 2
Keep this contemplation
Preserve, print, or share
Ram first consoles Kausalya with words shaped by love and discernment. He steadies the mother before turning toward the wife whose lowered face already reveals her resolve.
Then he begins to counsel Janaki. He will hide neither the virtues of forest life nor the hardships waiting within it.
The conversation is an act of care, not a test of obedience. Ram refuses to let Sita choose from romance alone. He opens the whole landscape before her so that companionship, if chosen, will be awake to thorn, hunger, fear, duty, and grace.
Before Sita takes one forest step, Ram unfolds both its sacred promise and its suffering.
Read the passage from the Manas
कहि प्रिय बचन बिबेकमय कीन्हि मातु परितोष। लगे प्रबोधन जानकिहि प्रगटि बिपिन गुन दोष।।60।।
Speaking loving words full of viveka, spiritual discernment, he consoled his mother. Then he began to counsel Janaki, laying bare both the virtues and the hardships of life in the forest.