My father is in heaven and both Sita and Rama are in the forest, and you bid me govern the kingdom; is it my gain or some great advantage for yourselves that you expect to result from this?

My good lies in the service of Rama, but of this I have been robbed by my mother’s crookedness. I have searched my thoughts and realized that herein, and nowhere else, can I find happiness.

Of what account is a throne with all its cares unless I see the feet of Lakshmana, Rama and Sita? A load of jewels is of no use without clothes; of no use is the contemplation of the Absolute without dispassion:

- vain is any enjoyment to a diseased body; vain are prayer and penance without devotion to Hari. A handsome body is of no use without a soul and all I have is worthless apart from Raghunatha.

Give me leave to go where Rama is; this, and no other resolve, is to my interest; and if in crowning me king it is your own good that you desire, you say so under the influence of unwise affection.

If you expect happiness from the reign of such a wretch as I – Kaikeyi’s son, perverse of nature, hostile to Rama and lost to shame – you do so in your infatuation.

I tell you truly – hear me, all of you, and believe it – in a king is required a righteous disposition. As soon as ever you constrain me to be king, the earth will sink into hell.