Valmiki Ramayana 2.18.30

2.18.30

na khalv etan mayaikena kriyate pitṛśāsanam
pūrvair ayam abhipreto gato mārgo 'nugamyate

And honour to his mother paid.
If reverence to thy sire be due,
Thy mother claims like honour too,
And thus I charge thee, O my child,
Thou must not seek the forest wild.
Ah, what to me were life and bliss,
Condemned my darling son to miss?
But with my Ráma near, to eat
The very grass itself were sweet.
But if thou still wilt go and leave.
Thy hapless mother here to grieve,
I from that hour will food abjure,
Nor life without my son endure.
Then it will be thy fate to dwell
In depth of world-detested hell.
As Ocean in the olden time
Was guilty of an impious crime
That marked the lord of each fair flood
As one who spills a Br?maa'a blood.'
Thus spake the queen, and wept, and sighed:
Then righteous Ráma thus replied:
'I have no power to slight or break
Commandments which my father spake.
I bend my head, dear lady, low,
Forgive me, for I needs must go.
Once Kaudu, mighty saint, who made
His dwelling in the forest shade,
A cow--and duty's claims he knew--
Obedient to his father, slew.
And in the line from which we spring,
When ordered by their sire the king,
Through earth the sons of Sagar cleft,
And countless things of life bereft.
So Jamadagní's son obeyed
His sire, when in the wood he laid
Hia hand upon his axe, and smote
Through Renuká his mother's throat.
The deeds of these and more beside.
Peers of the Gods, my steps shall guide,
And resolute will I fulfil
My father's word, my father's will,
Nor I, O Queen, unsanctioned tread
This righteous path, by duty led:

The road my footsteps journey o'er
Was traversed by the great of yore.
This high command which all accept
Shall faithfully by me be kept,
For duty ne'er will him forsake
Who fears his sire's command to break.'