तथा तु विलपन्तीं तां कौसल्यां राममातरम्।
उवाच लक्ष्मणो दीनस्तत्कालसदृशं वचः॥
tathā tu vilapantīṁ tāṁ kausalyāṁ rāma-mātaram
uvāca lakṣmaṇo dīnas tat-kāla-sadṛśaṁ vacaḥ
tathā tu = then; vilapantīm = who had lamented thus; tām kausalyām = Kausalyā; rāma-mātaram = to Rāma’s mother; uvāca = spoke; lakṣmaṇaḥ = Lakṣmaṇa; dīnaḥ = the distressed; tat-kāla-sadṛśam = suitable to the occasion; vacaḥ = the following words.
The distressed Lakṣmaṇa then spoke the following words suitable to the occasion to Rāma’s mother Kausalyā who had lamented thus.
1]. In other words, He spoke whatever was necessary to quell Kausalyā’s anxiety.
2 Note that Lakṣmaṇa is concerned about pacifying Queen Kausalyā. This is the symptom of a perfect pure devotee of the Lord—para-duḥkha-duḥkhī. One should not foolishly misunderstand exclusive devotees of the Lord to be callous to others. This feature of Lakṣmaṇa will be reported by Śrī Vālmīki a few times in this great book.
In this chapter, Rāma’s steady determination to carry out the [dhārmika] instructions of His father is described.
Lakṣmaṇa then spoke words suitable to the occasion, that is, words appropriate at the time of Kausalyā’s distress.1 From this, it is inferred that the following statements of Lakṣmaṇa [about Him taking resort to violence now] were only to quell Kausalyā’s anxiety, they were not from His heart.2
GLOSS. [The glossator reads lakṣmaṇo ’dīnaṁ instead of lakṣmaṇo dīnas] which indicates that Lakṣmaṇa was not [personally] distressed and that He spoke strong words [suitable to the occasion].
NOTE. Lakṣmaṇa didn’t actually mean to commit violence on Daśaratha or Bharata or their assistants, even though He claims here that He would take up arms against them. His description of Rāmacandra’s character is consistent with the great sage Vālmīki’s description of Śrī Rāma’s character. Such a description is therefore truly representative of Lakṣmaṇa’s thoughts.
Lakṣmaṇa is not under the influence of adhārmika forces as one of the commentators has foolishly remarked, for He has been described in the scriptures, especially Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, as an expansion of the Supreme Lord Himself, and as such, is ever beyond the touch of material nature, and so there is no question of Him ever being affected by her to any degree.