अतो भूयोऽपि नेदानीमिक्ष्वाकुपुरवासिनः।
स्वपेयुरनुरक्ता मां वृक्षमूलानि संश्रिताः॥
ato bhūyo ’pi nedānīm ikṣvāku-puravāsinaḥ
svapeyur anuraktā māṁ vṛkṣa-mūlāni saṁśritāḥ
ataḥ = so [we should go now]; bhūyaḥ api = again; na = not; idānīm = like [they are doing] now; ikṣvāku-puravāsinaḥ = the residents of the city of the Ikṣvākus; svapeyuḥ = may sleep; anuraktāḥ = attached; mām = to Me; vṛkṣa-mūlāni = the trees; saṁśritāḥ = under.
May the residents of the city of the Ikṣvākus, attached to Me, not sleep under the trees again like [they are doing] now. So [we should go now].
1 Residence in the forest according to the scriptures involve the standard unavoidable tribulations of residing in the forest. Rāma had already described them to Mother Sītā. Sītā-devī voluntarily agreed to embrace these tribulations and Lakṣmaṇa also accepted them. The Lord did not ultimately object to either of them joining Him for reasons we have already noted earlier. But since the Lord appears to protect the cows and the brāhmaṇas (go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca), He did not want these brāhmaṇas from Ayodhyā to undergo any such tribulation whatsoever.
Therefore they should get on the chariot and go [right away].
NOTE. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (8.19.43) notes:
strīṣu narma-vivāhe ca vṛtty-arthe prāṇa-saṅkaṭe
go-brāhmaṇārthe hiṁsāyāṁ nānṛtaṁ syāj jugupsitam
“In flattering a woman to bring her under control, in joking, in a marriage ceremony, in earning one’s livelihood, when one’s life is in danger, in protecting cows and brahminical culture, or in protecting a person from an enemy’s hand, falsity is never condemned.”
Out of these reasons, protecting the cows and genuine brāhmaṇas is certainly a very serious reason for speaking untruth. A number of brāhmaṇas had come from Ayodhyā to follow Rāma to the forest. Rāma did not want them to suffer the tribulations of forest residence and so He gave these appropriate instructions to Sumantra.1