In plain words
This is the Dharma of our family,” he said. Just then Lakṣmaṇa came in, seized with anger: “Mother! This is not what happened. Father listened to that Kaika and has stooped to this wickedness,” he said, and told what had happened, one thing after another, like beads strung on a thread. “I am waiting for Rāma's command. The moment Rāma gives the command, I will go and kill that Mantharā and Kaika and crown Rāma king. I will not heed even Father's word,” he said.
As Lakṣmaṇa was speaking this way, Rāma went over and closed his mouth. “Lakṣmaṇa! Such wickedness does not befit our family. The practice of Dharma alone is our family's goal. We must protect the Dharma of the individual and the Dharma of the family. In the world nothing happens without a cause. Father would not give me such a command without a reason. So be calm, be calm,” he said. Then Kausalyā: “Rāma! Keeping your father's word is not the only thing that should matter to you. I am Daśaratha's wife, and your mother. So you must fulfil my wish too. Take me too with you to the forest,” she said. Then Rāma: “Mother! Father is already grieving deeply at being parted from me. At such a time it is not right for you to leave him and come with me. You are his wife. Comfort him and try to bring him relief. To follow her husband is the wife's Dharma. To serve your husband is your duty,” he said. Sītā, who was standing beside them, heard these words: “Rāma! You teach Dharma to suit the occasion! When I said I would come with you to the forest too, you said I must not come, I must serve the aged parents. Now you teach your mother that to a wife her husband is God, and that to follow her husband is a wife's Dharma. Then is my husband not God to me? Can there be one Dharma for me and another for your mother? So I too am setting out with you,” she said. Then Rāma praised Sītā for having rightly understood her Dharma.
When Lakṣmaṇa sharply criticised Kaika, Rāma turned to him: “Lakṣmaṇa! I do not regard her as my stepmother; I regard her as my own mother. She too loved me more than Bharata.