सन्ति धर्मोपधाः श्लक्ष्णा धर्मात्मन्किं न बुध्यसे।
तयोः सुचरितं स्वार्थं शाठ्यात्परिजिहीर्षतोः॥
santi dharmopadhāḥ ślakṣṇā dharmātman kiṁ na budhyase
tayoḥ sucaritaṁ svārthaṁ śāṭhyāt parijihīrṣatoḥ
santi = there are; dharma-upadhāḥ = who use the pretext of dharma; ślakṣṇāḥ = clever people in the world; dharma-ātman = O one whose mind is devoted to dharma; kim na budhyase = don’t You understand; tayoḥ = between Queen Kaikeyī and King Daśaratha; sucaritam = that this is well-planned; sva-artham = Our interests; śāṭhyāt = deceitfully; parijihīrṣatoḥ = with the desire to jeopardize.
There are clever people in the world who use the pretext of dharma. O one whose mind is devoted to dharma, don’t You understand that this is well-planned between Queen Kaikeyī and King Daśaratha deceitfully with the desire to jeopardize Our interests ?
1 Not to a combination of dharma and adharma.
Anticipating that Śrī Rāmacandra would ask, “How can You consider King Daśaratha and Queen Kaikeyī, who are most devoted to dharma, to be sinful?”
Ślakṣṇāḥ indicates that there are people in the world who use the pretext of dharma cleverly, that is, they cleverly cover up their defects by wearing the armor of dhārmika behavior. Dharmātman indicates that Rāmacandra’s very nature is to be inclined to dharma alone.1 Śāṭhyāt indicates that Lakṣmaṇa thinks that Daśaratha and Kaikeyī secretly conspired to hurt [Rāma]. Svārtham parijihīrṣatoḥ indicates that He thinks that they wanted to prevent the coronation [of Śrī Rāma].