One might object, “Rāma is compassionate. It is not appropriate for Him to deceive those who cannot tolerate being without Him, those who have extreme love for Him.”

This is not [actually] deception, for Rāma resolved to give them a wholesome [ecstatic] experience and so separated Himself from them on the pretext of [His having to] reside in the forest; it is impossible to consider that a person interested in benefiting others to be [factually] deceiving them. Had Rāma not resolved thus, how was it possible for everyone [who followed Him from Ayodhyā] to fall asleep, without even one of them sleepless like Sumantra and Lakṣmaṇa?

Rāma instructed Sumantra to go towards the north to create the impression among the residents of Ayodhyā that Rāma had departed to Ayodhyā. Though Rāma could have gone to the north and then gone to the forest through another route, He considered that His vow would have been broken if He had Himself gone towards Ayodhyā [even if He could depart to the forest on the way]. Therefore, He instructed Sumantra to go to the north.