इदं मेध्यमिदं स्वादु निष्टप्तमिदमग्निना।
एवमास्ते स धर्मात्मा सीतया सह राघवः॥
idaṁ medhyam idaṁ svādu niṣṭaptam idam agninā
evam āste sa dharmātmā sītayā saha rāghavaḥ
idam medhyam = these foods are pure; idam svādu = juicy; niṣṭaptam idam agninā = and roasted on fire; evam āste = sat while telling her; saḥ = that; dharmātmā = whose mind was devoted to dharma; sītayā saha = [with her]; rāghavaḥ = descendant of Raghu.
That descendant of Raghu whose mind was devoted to dharma sat [with her] while telling her, “These foods are pure, juicy and roasted on fire.”1
1 This and the previous verse as well as a number of similar verses have been translated quite differently by most of the other translators. See the following two appendixes: “Animal Sacrifices in the Rāmāyaṇa” and “Additional Notes.”
This is how He allured her. It can be inferred that “these foods” are Rāma’s remnants after His eating.
NOTE. Śrī Lord Rāma had taken up the vows of a vānaprastha during His residence in the forest. Why did He do so? Because He wanted to teach us that the purpose of human life is to accept scriptural austerities to become perfect in spiritual life.
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains this principle as follows:
The members of the four divisions of human life, namely the brahmacārī, the gṛhastha, the vānaprastha and the sannyāsī, are all meant to become perfect yogīs or transcendentalists. Since human life is not meant for our enjoying sense gratification like the animals, the four orders of human life are so arranged that one may become perfect in spiritual life. (Bhagavad-gītā 4.26 purport)
Regarding the vow of a vānaprastha, the Supreme Lord has instructed His disciple Uddhava as follows:
kanda-mūla-phalair vanyair medhyair vṛttiṁ prakalpayet
vasīta valkalaṁ vāsas tṛṇa-parṇājināni vā
“Having adopted the vānaprastha order of life, one should arrange one’s sustenance by eating uncontaminated bulbs, roots and fruits that grow in the forest. One may dress oneself with tree bark, grass, leaves or animal skins.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.18.2)
Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples have commented on this Bhāgavatam verse as follows:
A renounced sage in the forest does not kill animals, but rather acquires skins from animals who have suffered natural death. According to a passage from Manu-saṁhitā, quoted by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, the word medhyaiḥ, or “pure,” indicates that while residing in the forest a sage may not accept honey-based liquors, animal flesh, fungus, mushrooms, horseradish or any hallucinogenic or intoxicating herbs, even those taken as so-called medicine.