NOTE. Regarding the lamentation of Rāma and His brothers, all of whom are Viṣṇu-tattvas, the following observations of Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī are pertinent:

kva śoka-mohau sneho vā bhayaṁ vā ye ’jña-sambhavāḥ
kva cākhaṇḍita-vijñāna-jñānaiśvaryas tv akhaṇḍitaḥ

“How can lamentation, bewilderment, material affection or fear, all born out of ignorance, be ascribed to the infinite Supreme Lord, whose perception, knowledge and power are all similarly infinite?” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.77.31)

Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples have remarked:

Śrīla Prabhupāda writes: “Lamentation, aggrievement and bewilderment are characteristics of conditioned souls, but how can such things affect the person of the Supreme, who is full of knowledge, power and all opulence? Actually, it is not at all possible that Lord Kṛṣṇa was misled by the mystic jugglery of Śālva.¹ He was displaying His pastime of playing the role of a human being.”

All the great Bhāgavatam commentators conclude that grief, illusion, attachment and fear, which arise out of ignorance of the soul, can never be present in the transcendental dramatic pastimes enacted by the Lord. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī gives many examples from Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes to illustrate this point. For instance, when the cowherd boys entered the mouth of Aghāsura, Lord Kṛṣṇa was apparently astonished. Similarly, when Brahmā took away Lord Kṛṣṇa’s cowherd boyfriends and calves, the Lord at first began to look for them as if He did not know where they were. Thus the Lord plays the part of an ordinary human being so as to relish transcendental pastimes with His devotees. One should never think the Personality of Godhead is an ordinary person, as Śukadeva Gosvāmī explains in this and the following verse.

yat-pāda-sevorjitayātma-vidyayā
hinvanty anādyātma-viparyaya-graham
labhanta ātmīyam anantam aiśvaraṁ
kuto nu mohaḥ paramasya sad-gateḥ

“By virtue of self-realization fortified by service rendered to His feet, devotees of the Lord dispel the bodily concept of life, which has bewildered the soul since time immemorial. Thus they attain eternal glory in His personal association. How, then, can that Supreme Truth, the destination of all genuine saints, be subject to illusion?” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.77.32)

Prabhupāda’s disciples note:

As a result of fasting the body becomes weak, and one thinks, “I am emaciated.” Similarly, sometimes a conditioned soul thinks, “I am happy” or “I am unhappy” — ideas based on the bodily concept of life. Simply by serving the lotus feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, however, devotees become free from this bodily concept of life. So how could such illusion possibly affect the Supreme Personality of Godhead at any time?