Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 20: Kausalyā’s Lamentation
Text 2.20.3
कौसल्यायां यथा युक्तो जनन्यां वर्तते सदा।
तथैव वर्ततेऽस्मासु जन्मप्रभृति राघवः॥
kausalyāyāṁ yathā yukto jananyāṁ vartate sadā
tathaiva vartate ’smāsu janma-prabhṛti rāghavaḥ
kausalyāyām = Kausalyā; yathā = just as; yuktaḥ = attentively; jananyām = His mother; vartate = He served; sadā = and constantly; tathā eva vartate = has served; asmāsu = us; janma-prabhṛti = from His birth; rāghavaḥ = Rāghava.
From His birth, Rāghava has served us just as He attentively and constantly served His mother Kausalyā.
GLOSS. [This verse can also mean:] “Just as Rāghava stays by us and all creatures [in material existence] as the means of our creation, maintenance, destruction, order, enlightenment, ignorance, bondage and liberation, He also stays by His ‘mother’ Kausalyā.”1 [So] she is not [factually] His mother.2 Nevertheless, He has accepted her as His mother. It is [thus] hinted that her extensive austerities [in the past] have caused Rāma’s compassion [upon her] to come about.