गृध्रं च निहतं दृष्ट्वा हृतां श्रुत्वा च मैथिलीम्।
राघवः शोकसन्तप्तो विललापाकुलेन्द्रियः॥
gṛdhraṁ ca nihataṁ dṛṣṭvā hṛtāṁ śrutvā ca maithilīm
rāghavaḥ śoka-santapto vilalāpākulendriyaḥ
gṛdhram ca = the vulture; nihatam = had been vanquished; dṛṣṭvā = noticing; hṛtām = that had been stolen; śrutvā = hearing [from him]; ca = and; maithilīm = Maithilī (Sītā); rāghavaḥ = Rāghava Rāma; śoka-santaptaḥ = burnt in distress; vilalāpa = lamented; ākula-indriyaḥ = while His senses were agitated.
Noticing that the vulture had been vanquished and hearing [from him] that Maithilī (Sītā) had been stolen, Rāghava Rāma burnt in distress and lamented while His senses were agitated.
1 These feelings of distress in Lord Rāma for Mother Sītā are understood to be forms of spiritual ecstasy, manifestations of the Lord’s own internal potency. They are not material. This is clarified in the note to this verse.
2 Therefore, when Lord Rāma wailingly laments for Sītā and Jaṭāyu, it is because of their selfless affection for Him. He is never ever subject to illusion like the conditioned souls, as is clear from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Nor is He a mere liberated soul. He is perpetually beyond the liberated and conditioned souls, because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
Rāma killed Mārīca in the form of that deer. When He did not find Sītā-devī in the leaf cottage, He and Lakṣmaṇa searched for her and noticed that the vulture Jaṭāyu was about to die. He told Them that Sītā was stolen by Rāvaṇa.
Rāma was already in distress that Sītā had been stolen. When He saw Jaṭāyu dying, He burnt in distress and so His senses became agitated and He wailed in lamentation:
rājyād bhraṁśo vane vāsaḥ sītā naṣṭā hato dvijaḥ
īdṛśīyaṁ mamālakṣmīr nirdahed api pāvakam
“My kingdom is lost. My residence is in the forest. Sītā has been stolen. [My friend,] the bird Jaṭāyu, has been killed. Such inauspiciousness as this can burn even fire.” (Rāmāyaṇa 3.67.25)
Despite Rāma’s descent from Raghu and Sītā’s being born in [the dynasty that ruled over] Mithilā, Sītā was kidnapped and so there is further cause for lamentation.
One might ask, “How is it possible for an incarnation of Lord Viṣṇu to lament or be bewildered [like this]?”
In answer, it can be said that it is indeed possible for the Supreme Person to do so. If these qualities do not exist in Him even after losing something exceptional in possessing the best features in the world, how could He be the Supreme Person and how could He be extremely beautiful? And while describing the gemlike qualities of that Rāma, the great person, the author will note:
vyasaneṣu manuṣyāṇāṁ bhṛśaṁ bhavati duḥkhitaḥ
“Rāmacandra becomes greatly distressed upon [seeing] people’s calamities.” (Rāmāyaṇa 2.2.41)
Hanumān, the son of Vāyu, will also state:
duṣkaraṁ kurute rāmo hīno yad anayā prabhuḥ
dhārayaty ātmano dehaṁ na duḥkhenāvasīdati
“It is with great difficulty that Lord Rāma, deprived of Sītā, maintains His body and does not yield to despair.” (Rāmāyaṇa 5.16.27)1
NOTE. Regarding the lamentation and bewilderment exhibited by the Supreme Lord in His various incarnations, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda has noted the following in his great work Śrī Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (2.1.246-248):
aṣṭādaśa-mahā-doṣai rahitā bhagavat-tanuḥ
sarvaiśvaryamayī satya-vijñānānanda-rūpiṇī
“The body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is filled with all opulences and is the very form of truth, knowledge and bliss. It is devoid of the eighteen great defects.” (Quoted from the Vaiṣṇava-tantra)
mohas tandrā bhramo rukṣa-rasatā kāma ulbaṇaḥ
lolatā mada-mātsarye hiṁsā kheda-pariśramau
asatyaṁ krodha ākāṅkṣā āśaṅkā viśva-vibhramaḥ
viṣamatvaṁ parāpekṣā doṣā aṣṭādaśoditāḥ
“The following defects are the eighteen [great] defects: bewilderment, sleep, error, rough attachment, lust that produces suffering, fickleness, intoxication, envy, violence, exhaustion, toil, dishonesty, anger, hankering, worry, absorption in worldly affairs, prejudice and dependency on others.” (Quoted from Viṣṇu-yāmala)
In their commentary to the above verses, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī and Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explain that, with the exception of rough attachment and lust that produces suffering, the Supreme Lord exhibits the rest of the above only out of His affection for His selflessly affectionate devotees. [Under those circumstances, those “defects” are actually virtues.]2
The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.77.31-32) specifically notes that the Supreme Personality of Godhead does not factually possess lamentation and bewilderment born out of ignorance:
kva śoka-mohau sneho vā bhayaṁ vā ye ’jña-sambhavāḥ
kva cākhaṇḍita-vijñāna-jñānaiśvaryas tv akhaṇḍitaḥ
“How can lamentation, bewilderment, material affection or fear, all born out of ignorance, be ascribed to the infinite Supreme Lord, whose perception, knowledge and power are all similarly infinite?”
yat-pāda-sevorjitayātma-vidyayā
hinvanty anādyātma-viparyaya-graham
labhanta ātmīyam anantam aiśvaraṁ
kuto nu mohaḥ paramasya sad-gateḥ
“By virtue of self-realization fortified by service rendered to His feet, devotees of the Lord dispel the bodily concept of life, which has bewildered the soul since time immemorial. Thus they attain eternal glory in His personal association. How, then, can that Supreme Truth, the destination of all genuine saints, be subject to illusion?”