विलपन्तीं तथा तां तु कौसल्यां प्रमदोत्तमाम्।
इदं धर्मे स्थिता धर्म्यं सुमित्रा वाक्यमब्रवीत्॥
vilapantīṁ tathā tāṁ tu kausalyāṁ pramadottamām
idaṁ dharme sthitā dharmyaṁ sumitrā vākyam abravīt
vilapantīm = who had lamented thus; tathā = then; tām tu = to the; kausalyām = Kausalyā; pramadā-uttamām = best of women; idam = the following; dharme = in dharma; sthitā = fixed; dharmyam = of dharma; sumitrā = Sumitrā; vākyam = words; abravīt = spoke.
Fixed in dharma, Sumitrā then spoke the following words of dharma to the best of women Kausalyā who had lamented thus.1
1 Sumitrā is not a conditioned soul who by the force of piety from previous lives has understood the supremacy of Lord Rāma. Rather, she is an eternal associate of Lord Rāma since the incarnations of the Lord and their associates are understood to be present in the eternal abodes of such forms of the Lord in the Vaikuṇṭha world according to the Pādmottara. In fact, the same reasoning employed by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī to prove that Kṛṣṇa’s associates in the Daśama-skandha of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are eternally associated with Him in His own abode in the Vaikuṇṭha universe can be used to prove that Rāma’s associates in the Rāmāyaṇa are also eternally associated with Him in His own abode in the Vaikuṇṭha universe. Interested readers are advised to peruse Śrī Jīva Prabhu’s Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha.
Sumitrā consoles the distressed Kausalyā in this chapter.