तव सर्वमभिप्रायमविज्ञाय शुभानने।
वासं न रोचयेऽरण्ये शक्तिमानपि रक्षणे॥
tava sarvam abhiprāyam avijñāya śubhānane
vāsaṁ na rocaye ’raṇye śaktimān api rakṣaṇe
tava = your; sarvam = all of; abhiprāyam = intentions; avijñāya = not knowing; śubha-ānane = O lady with an auspicious face; vāsam = [your] residence; na = not; rocaye = I did desire; araṇye = in the forest; śaktimān = I am capable; api = though; rakṣaṇe = of protecting [you].
O lady with an auspicious face, not knowing all of your intentions, I did not desire [your] residence in the forest though I am capable of protecting [you].
1 In other words, He was testing her. Similarly, when we pray to the Supreme Lord to allow us to lovingly and exclusively serve Him, He will test us as Śrīla Prabhupāda has repeatedly pointed out. We may not be fortunate enough to be personally tested by Him, but all practitioners of sādhana-bhakti aiming at the attainment of bhāva-bhakti and then prema-bhakti will be presented with various material and even quasi-spiritual temptations to sidetrack us away from our goal. See Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura’s Mādhurya-kādambinī for more information about them.
Lord Rāmacandra implies here that though He cannot tolerate the distress of being without Sītā-devī, though He is fearless, though He is capable [of fully protecting her], because of not knowing her innermost intentions, till now He did not desire to take her to the forest.1