न पिता नात्मजो नात्मा न माता न सखीजनः।
इह प्रेत्य च नारीणां पतिरेको गतिः सदा॥
na pitā nātmajo nātmā na mātā na sakhī-janaḥ
iha pretya ca nārīṇāṁ patir eko gatiḥ sadā
na = neither; pitā = one’s father; na = nor; ātmajaḥ = her son; na = nor; ātmā = herself; na = nor; mātā = her mother; na = nor; sakhī-janaḥ = her friends; iha = [are her shelter] in this life; pretya = the next; ca = and; nārīṇām = for women; patiḥ = is their husband; ekaḥ = and only; gatiḥ = shelter; sadā = constant.
For women, neither one’s father, nor her son, nor herself, nor her mother, nor her friends [are her shelter] in this life and the next. Their constant and only shelter is their husband.1
1 The Dharma-śāstras clearly mention that a dhārmika married woman whose husband is alive and sinless is always meant to depend on him.
1 Rāmāyaṇa-bhāva-dīpa: nārīṇāṁ na vidyante arayo yeṣāṁ te nārayaḥ teṣāṁ sādhūnāṁ tvaṁ na kevalaṁ pitā api tu ātmajaḥ. na kevalaṁ ātmajaḥ kintu ātmā svāmī cety anvayaḥ.
One reason why Sītā wants to go [with Rāma to the forest] is because a woman is due the same destiny as her husband. She stated that before. Now she states another reason to go with Him: He is her only shelter.
GLOSS. [This verse also has a directly spiritual meaning:] “For saints without any enemies, You are not [only their] father, not [only their] son, not [only their] master, not [only their] mother, not [only their] friend, in this life and the next. You are always their only caretaker and shelter.”1
This is understood from statements such as the following:
mātā rāmo mat-pitā rāmacandraḥ
svāmī rāmo mat-sakhā rāmacandraḥ
sarvasvaṁ me rāmacandro dayāluḥ
nānyaṁ jāne naiva jāne na jāne
“My mother is Rāma. My father is Rāmacandra. My master is Rāma. My friend is Rāmacandra. My everything is the merciful Rāmacandra. I don’t know, don’t know and don’t know anyone else.” (Budha Kauśika’s Rāma-rakṣā-stotra 30)
NOTE. The Supreme Lord is the factual caretaker of those who have taken full shelter of Him, as proclaimed loudly by Him in Bhagavad-gītā (9.22):
ananyāś cintayanto māṁ ye janāḥ paryupāsate
teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham
“But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form – to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.”