येनेयमागता द्वैधं तव बुद्धिर्महामते।
स हि धर्मो मम द्वेष्यः प्रसङ्गाद्यस्य मुह्यसि॥
yeneyam āgatā dvaidhaṁ tava buddhir mahā-mate
sa hi dharmo mama dveṣyaḥ prasaṅgād yasya muhyasi
yena = because of which; iyam āgatā dvaidham = has split; tava buddhiḥ = Your determination; mahā-mate = O greatly intelligent one; saḥ hi = that; dharmaḥ = dharma of simply obeying one’s father’s instructions; mama = I; dveṣyaḥ = hate; prasaṅgāt yasya = and because of which; muhyasi = You are bewildered.
O greatly intelligent one, I hate the dharma of simply obeying one’s father’s instructions because of which Your determination has split and because of which You are bewildered.
1 Previously, Rāma was determined to do only one thing—the thing that everyone wanted—ruling the kingdom according to the scriptures and doing good to everyone. Now, He had become determined to do two things: (1) How to prevent Himself from becoming coronated, and (2) How to enter the forest. Lakṣmaṇa refers to Rāma as mahā-mate (“O greatly intelligent one”), perhaps in sarcasm. At any rate, Lakṣmaṇa can see that Rāma is very intelligently attempting to accomplish these two things.
Lakṣmaṇa thinks that Rāma’s determination has split up because Rāma does not want to be coronated and He wants to enter the forest.1 He also thinks that Rāma is bewildered by thinking that by not carrying out Daśaratha’s instruction, He will face reversals.
In the next verse, Lakṣmaṇa clarifies His statement that Rāma is bewildered.