Lakshmana Names Anger as the Root of Sin
Bala Kanda, Doha 277
Doha 277 · Movement 2 of 2
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Still smiling, Lakshmana tells the wrathful sage that anger is the root from which sin grows. Once mastered by it, people perform what should never be done.
Anger does more than disturb a private mind. It drives a person against the order of the world, making every encounter appear as an injury and every difference demand punishment.
The teaching is true, though the speaker delivers it as provocation and is not himself free of heat. That tension sharpens the scene. Wisdom may be spoken from within conflict before it has been fully embodied. Parashurama receives the diagnosis as another insult, while the assembly sees anger proving Lakshmana's words in the very moment they are uttered.
Lakshmana names the fire accurately, even while his smile continues to feed it.
Read the passage from the Manas
लखन कहेउ हँसि सुनहु मुनि क्रोधु पाप कर मूल। जेहि बस जन अनुचित करहिं चरहिं बिस्व प्रतिकूल।।277।।
Lakshmana spoke with a smile: 'Listen, O sage, anger is the very root of sin. Under its power, people act wrongly and move against the natural order of the world.'