Why Ram’s Virtues and Shurpanakha’s Vices Are Described Together

Question

In today’s story, when the section began, it was describing Ram and Shurpanakha — Ram’s noble qualities and Shurpanakha’s negative traits.
Why did the sage describe both of these together there?

Answer

Because at that point in the story, Shurpanakha has not yet appeared — she is about to emerge.

So we have to understand that the sage was showing us something deeper:
On one side, he described the qualities of Shurpanakha — meaning the vices and impurities that still lie hidden within our subconscious and will soon rise up.
And on the other side, he described the virtues of Ram, which represent the state of Self-awareness — recognizing our true nature.

This state of realizing the Self — knowing “who I truly am” — is a very elevated and noble condition.
That is why the sage first described Ram’s virtues — to emphasize how great and rare this recognition is.

But body-ego (deh-abhimaan) — which gives rise to Deha Shakti, the force of attachment — is a low and inferior state.
And that Deha Shakti still keeps surfacing from within us from time to time.

Therefore, both were described side by side —
so that we understand that the noble qualities of Self-awareness (Ram) and the low tendencies of body-ego (Shurpanakha) exist within the same person.

We have to use one — the higher, Self-aware part — to conquer the other — the lower, attachment-driven part.

So the sage presented them together not as two separate beings, but as two states within every individual.
In the story they appear as separate characters, but in truth, both Ram and Shurpanakha live together within each of us.
Within the same person exists the awareness of the Self — and also the yet-unpurified tendencies that still arise from the subconscious.

That is why both were described together.