स भ्रातुश्चरणौ गाढं निपीड्य रघुनन्दनः।
सीतामुवाचातियशा राघवं च महाव्रतम्॥
sa bhrātuś caraṇau gāḍhaṁ nipīḍya raghu-nandanaḥ
sītām uvācātiyaśā rāghavaṁ ca mahā-vratam
saḥ = Lakṣmaṇa; bhrātuḥ = of His brother; caraṇau = the feet; gāḍham = tightly; nipīḍya = clasped and; raghu-nandanaḥ = the beloved child of the Raghus; sītām = to Sītā; uvāca = spoke; atiyaśā = the very famous; rāghavam = Rāghava; ca = as well as; mahā-vratam = who had taken a great vow.
The very famous Lakṣmaṇa, the beloved child of the Raghus, tightly clasped the feet of His brother and spoke to Sītā as well as Rāghava who had taken a great vow.
1 “Great confidence [in the Lord]” (mahā-viśvāsa) is a technical expression. It refers to possessing absolute faith in Him as the object of surrender to such a degree that one is unconditionally and uninterruptedly able to carry out the other five items of the process of surrender.
2 Rāmāyaṇa-bhāva-dīpa: “yaṁ jñānaṁ samudāhṛtaṁ,” “śaṁ sukhāni ca” iti nānārtha-dhvani-pada-mañjary-amarau.
This verse describes Lakṣmaṇa surrendering unto Rāma through Sītā-devī as His mediator so that He could carry out His constitutional service. Lakṣmaṇa had no option other than to surrender in order to attain His cherished goal of constant service to Rāmacandra. He clasped the feet of His brother. This points out that Rāma is a [trusted] object of surrender because He is undeniably related to Lakṣmaṇa. He clasped Rāma’s feet—this describes His surrender unto Rāma. And He did so tightly, not softly; this reveals Lakṣmaṇa’s great confidence in Rāma.1
Lakṣmaṇa was very famous for having accepted that which is favorable [to rendering pure devotional service to the Lord] and rejecting that which is unfavorable [to rendering pure devotional service to Him].
First, Lakṣmaṇa accepted Sītā-devī to mediate and spoke to her. Then, through her mediation, He approached Rāma of a great vow, that is, this vow:
sakṛd eva prapannāya tavāsmīti ca yācate
abhayaṁ sarva-bhūtebhyo dadāmy etad vratam mama
“It is My vow to all creatures that if one only once seriously surrenders unto Me, saying ‘My dear Lord, from this day I am Yours,’ and prays to Me for courage, I shall immediately award courage to that person, and he will always remain safe from that time on.” (Rāmāyaṇa 6.18.33)
Lakṣmaṇa also spoke to him. He requested His object of surrender to award Him His desired result because the process of surrender can yield all desired results.
GLOSS. In some manuscripts, atiyaśām appears instead of atiyaśāḥ indicating that Sītā-devī possesses abundant knowledge and happiness.2