Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 43: Kausalyā Laments for Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa and Sītā
Text 2.43.17
निःसंशयं मया मन्ये पुरा वीर कदर्यया।
पातुकामेषु वत्सेषु मातॄणां शातिताः स्तनाः॥
niḥsaṁśayaṁ mayā manye purā vīra kadaryayā
pātu-kāmeṣu vatseṣu mātṝṇāṁ śātitāḥ stanāḥ
niḥsaṁśayam = undoubtedly; mayā = I; manye = I think that; purā = in the past; vīra = O hero; kadaryayā = a wretched woman; pātu-kāmeṣu = when they wanted to drink their milk; vatseṣu = from their children; mātṝṇām = mothers’; śātitāḥ = have undoubtedly kept away; stanāḥ = breasts.
O hero, I think that in the past I, a wretched woman, have undoubtedly kept mothers’ breasts away from their children when they desired to drink their milk.
NOTE. Any action performed in this life will be rewarded or punished in the next life, and as such, one can sense one’s piety or impiety in one’s past life on the basis of one’s current happiness or unhappiness.
Prabhupāda explains this principle thus:
According to the law of karma, a man takes his birth in a high family, or becomes rich, or very well educated, or very beautiful because of good work in the past. The demoniac think that all these things are accidental and due to the strength of one’s personal ability. They do not sense any arrangement behind all the varieties of people, beauty and education. (Bhagavad-gītā 16.16 purport)