निवृत्तवनवासं तमयोध्यां पुनरागतम्।
द्रक्ष्यन्ति सुखिनो रामं शुक्रं मार्गगतं यथा॥
nivṛtta-vana-vāsaṁ tam ayodhyāṁ punar āgatam
drakṣyanti sukhino rāmaṁ śukraṁ mārga-gataṁ yathā
nivṛtta-vana-vāsam tam = after completing His residence in the forest; ayodhyām = to Ayodhyā; punaḥ āgatam = when he returns; drakṣyanti = who see; sukhinaḥ = happily will be the people; rāmam = Rāma; śukram = Venus; mārga-gatam = on its route; yathā = resembling.
Happy will be the people who see Rāma, resembling Venus on its route, when He returns to Ayodhya after completing His residence in the forest.
1 One should not be surprised to see this reference to Śukadeva Gosvāmī, the famed speaker of Kṛṣṇa-līlā, mentioned here. Śukadeva’s prime purpose was to speak the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which is as much a part of Kṛṣṇa-līlā as Rāmāyaṇa is a part of Rāma-līlā. Since the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and Rāma are eternal, it is not surpising that there are cross-references between these two literatures. Brahmā identifies Rāma with Viṣṇu and Kṛṣṇa in Rāmāyaṇa 6.120.15: ajitaḥ khaḍgadhṛd viṣṇuḥ kṛṣṇaś caiva bṛhad-balaḥ. Interested readers are requested to peruse Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī Prabhu’s Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha to better understand the eternity of the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
GLOSS. In some manuscripts, śukam appears instead of śukram indicating that Daśaratha thought that Rāma resembled a pet parrot that had flown off from its cage and then returned. It also indicates that he thought that Rāma resembled Vyāsa’s son Śuka who was inaccessible as an avadhūta and who by one’s good fortune [may be] seen on a road [in front of the seer].1