विज्ञाय वचनं सीता तस्या धर्मार्थसंहितम्।
कृताञ्जलिरुवाचेदं श्वश्रूमभिमुखे स्थिताम्॥
vijñāya vacanaṁ sītā tasyā dharmārtha-saṁhitam
kṛtāñjalir uvācedaṁ śvaśrūm abhimukhe sthitām
vijñāya = having understood that; vacanam = words; sītā = Sītā; tasyāḥ = her; dharma-artha-saṁhitam = were spoken for the purpose of dharma; kṛta-añjaliḥ = joined her palms in supplication and; uvāca = spoke; idam = as follows; śvaśrūm = to her mother-in-law; abhimukhe = before her; sthitām = standing.
Having understood that her words were spoken for the purpose of dharma, Sītā joined her palms in supplication and spoke to her mother-in-law standing before her as follows.1
1 Queen Kausalyā and Sītā-devī’s conversation here contain two important lessons for modern mothers-in-law and their daughters-in-law attempting to follow dharma and progress towards pure devotional service to the Supreme Lord: (1) the mothers-in-law can be gentle, kind and compassionate to their daughters-in-law, treating them just as they would their biological daughters in affection instead of harrassing or bullying them in the mode of ignorance, and (2) the daughters-in-law can respectfully receive the instructions of their mothers-in-law that are in line with the teachings of bhāgavata-dharma and strī-dharma.