क्रूरैरनार्यैः सौमित्रे परिहासः कथंचन।
न कार्यः पश्य वैदेहीं कथंचित्सौम्य जीवतीम्॥
krūrair anāryaiḥ saumitre parihāsaḥ kathañcana
na kāryaḥ paśya vaidehīṁ kathañcit saumya jīvatīm
krūraiḥ = with cruel; anāryaiḥ = and evil persons; saumitre = Lakṣmaṇa; parihāsaḥ kathañcana na kāryaḥ = one should never joke; paśya = look at; vaidehīm = Vaidehī; kathañcit = somehow; saumya = gentle; jīvatīm = who is alive.
Gentle Lakṣmaṇa, one should never joke with cruel and evil persons. Look at Vaidehī who is somehow alive!1
1 A commentator has unintelligently remarked that Rāma got into trouble with Śūrpaṇakhā because even though He usually didn’t speak untruth, he did so while while joking with Śūrpaṇakhā. This is a baseless accusation because Rāma never spoke untruth even while joking. When a powerful brāhmaṇa in the Mahābhārata is reported to have never spoken anything untruthful even in a joke, what is unreasonable in Rāma’s rejection of untruth even while joking? After all, He is the very personification of dharma—rāmo vigrahavān dharmaḥ (Rāmāyaṇa 3.37.13). Just as Bali Mahārāja did not take advantage of the scriptural allowances to speak untruth, Rāma also didn’t take advantage of the scriptural allowances to speak untruth, except when others’ lives were in danger—we have already come across this in the Second Canto of the Rāmāyaṇa. It is not that everyone in Vedic civilization must accept the allowances given to them. Let us remember that allowances are not prescriptions. The more advanced one becomes, the less he takes shelter of the allowances in Vedic dharma. That is the lesson Lord Rāma teaches in this regard. A kṣatriya generally has more than one wife in Vedic culture because he is certainly allowed to do so. But Lord Rāma is an extraordinary kṣatriya in this regard with His eka-patnī-vrata because to have more than one wife is only an allowance, not a prescription, in Vedic dharma. And the more one avoids the allowances, the easier it is to progress in spiritual life. Lord Rāma demonstrated this in His pastimes. Of course, one should keep far away from adharma. It is penny wise and pound foolish to avoid allowances in Vedic dharma while accepting adharma.
Sītā-devī was somehow in a healthy condition [even] after observing Śūrpaṇakhā’s cruelty.
NOTE. At least two impersonalistic commentators have ignorantly asserted that Sītā-devī is mūla-avidyā or the original source of ignorance [for the jīvas] and one of them has gone to the extent of alleging that Rāma’s attachment to her was [therefore] the source of all the trouble [He later went through].
But Mother Sītā is non-different from Lakṣmī who is non-different from Lord Nārāyaṇa and untouched by the delusions of māyā.
Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.7.61, 1.9.44 and 1.9.45 refer to Lakṣmī-devī as the supreme potency of Lord Viṣṇu who is non-different from Him and untouched by the force of time [and hence the delusions of māyā]:
viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā proktā kṣetrajñākhyā tathāparā
avidyā-karma-saṁjñānyā tṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate
“The internal potency of the Supreme Lord, Viṣṇu, is spiritual, as verified by the śāstras. There is another spiritual potency, known as kṣetra-jña, or the living entity. The third potency, which is known as nescience, makes the living entity godless and fills him with fruitive activity.”
kalā-kāṣṭhā-nimeṣādi-kāla-sūtrasya gocare
yasya śaktir na śuddhasya prasīdatu sa no hariḥ
“May the pure Lord Hari, whose potency does not come within the range of the thread of time in the form of durations of time such as kalā, kāṣṭhā and nimeṣa, be satisfied with us.”
procyate parameśo yaḥ yaḥ śuddho ’py upacārataḥ
prasīdatu sa no viṣṇur ātmā yaḥ sarva-dehinām
“May the all-pervading Lord Viṣṇu who is pure, who is referred to as the Lord of the supreme potency and who is the soul of all embodied souls be pleased with us.”
This supreme potency of the Lord is intrinsic to Him:
parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate
svābhāvikī jñāna-bala-kriyā ca
“The Lord’s supreme potency is intrinsic to Him. It is said to be manifold in terms of His knowledge, strength and activity.” (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8)
“Intrinsic to Him” means inseparable from Him just as heat and light, being intrinsic to fire, are inseparable from fire. Therefore there is no question of Lakṣmī-devī being the cause of sorrow, lamentation or delusion because they are produced by the material potency of the Lord which is extrinsic to Him:
bhakti-yogena manasi samyak praṇihite ’male
apaśyat puruṣaṁ pūrṇaṁ māyāṁ ca tad-apāśrayām
yayā sammohito jīva ātmānaṁ tri-guṇātmakam
paro ’pi manute ’narthaṁ tat-kṛtaṁ cābhipadyate
“Thus he fixed his mind, perfectly engaging it by linking it in devotional service [bhakti-yoga] without any tinge of materialism, and thus he saw the Absolute Personality of Godhead along with His external energy, which was under His full control. Due to this external energy, the living entity, although transcendental to the three modes of material nature, thinks of himself as a material product and thus undergoes the reactions of material miseries.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.7.4-5)