तथा तस्मिन्स काकुत्स्थः श्रीमत्याश्रममण्डले।
उषित्वा तु सुखं तत्र पूज्यमानो महर्षिभिः॥
जगाम चाश्रमांस्तेषां पर्यायेण तपस्विनाम्।
येषामुषितवान्पूर्वं सकाशे स महास्त्रवित्॥
tathā tasmin sa kākutsthaḥ śrīmaty āśrama-maṇḍale
uṣitvā tu sukhaṁ tatra pūjyamāno maha-rṣibhiḥ
jagāma cāśramāṁs teṣāṁ paryāyeṇa tapasvinām
yeṣām uṣitavān pūrvaṁ sakāśe sa mahāstravit
tathā = in this manner; tasmin = in the; saḥ kākutsthaḥ = the descendant of Kakustha; śrīmati = prosperous; āśrama-maṇḍale = cluster of āśramas; uṣitvā tu = having resided; sukham = happily; tatra = there; pūjyamānaḥ = who was worshipped; mahā-ṛṣibhiḥ = by great sages; jagāma ca = went; āśramān = to the āśramas; teṣām = of those; paryāyeṇa = again; tapasvinām = ascetics; yeṣām = whom; uṣitavān pūrvam = had previously stayed; sakāśe = with; saḥ = He; mahā-astravit = the great knower of weaponry.
In this manner, having happily resided in the prosperous cluster of āśramas, the descendant of Kakustha, who was worshipped by great sages there, again went to the āśramas of those ascetics with whom He, the great knower of weaponry, had previously stayed.1
1 Rāmacandra thus resided happily in the prosperous cluster of āśramas and He was worshipped by great sages there. That descendant of Kakutstha then returned to all those āśramas where He had stayed in.
1 When Rāmacandra had gone to protect Viśvāmitra’s fire sacrifice, Mārīca had attempted to foil it. At that time Rāma struck Mārīca with an arrow that threw him into the ocean. Then, when Rāma was in Daṇḍakāraṇya with Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa, Mārīca again attacked Him. This is what Mārīca is referring to here.
For how long did Rāma reside there? Anticipating this question, the author describes how Rāma lived in the āśramas. He provides this description to state the duration [of His stay there].
Mahāstravit (“the great knower of weaponry”) indicates that He went to those āśramas again to remove the disturbances caused by the rākṣasas there. Mārīca will speak [about this to Rāvaṇa] in texts 3.39.10-13:
jighāṁsur akṛta-prajñas taṁ prahāram anusmaran
tena muktās trayo bāṇāḥ śitāḥ śatru-nibarhaṇāḥ
vikṛṣya balavac cāpaṁ suparṇānila-tulyagāḥ
tair bāṇair daṇḍakāraṇye mattair āśīviṣopamaiḥ
kṛtaṁ vitimiraṁ sarvaṁ rāmeṇākliṣṭa-karmaṇā
te bāṇā vajra-saṅkāśāḥ sumuktā rakta-bhojanāḥ
ājagmuḥ sahitāḥ sarve trayaḥ sannata-parvaṇaḥ
parākramajño rāmasya śaro dṛṣṭa-bhayaḥ purā
samudbhrāntas tato muktas tāv ubhau rākṣasau hatau
“Remembering [His previous] attack, I unintelligently wanted to kill Him.1 He took up His strong bow and released three sharp arrows that destroyed His enemies and which flew as fast as Garuḍa and Vāyu. Rāma, whose action was [always] unwearied, made everything in Daṇḍakāraṇya free from darkness with those three furious arrows that were equal to poisonous serpents. Those arrows that illuminated the lightning were properly released. Thriving on blood, all three of those straight arrows came together. Knowing Rāma’s prowess and having fearfully seen His arrow in the past, I became perplexed and left that place. Two rākṣasas were killed.”
It was for this reason that Sutīkṣṇa had allowed Rāma to go to those āśramas. This was also why the sages had Him go [to those āśramas].
NOTE. Prabhupāda notes in his purport to Bhagavad-gītā 4.8 the general principles behind the Supreme Lord’s activity of killing the demoniac miscreants whenever He incarnates in this world:
As far as the atheistic are concerned, it is not necessary for the Supreme Lord to appear as He is to destroy them, as He did with the demons Rāvaṇa and Kaṁsa. The Lord has many agents who are quite competent to vanquish demons. But the Lord especially descends to appease His unalloyed devotees, who are always harassed by the demoniac. The demon harasses the devotee, even though the latter may happen to be his kin. Although Prahlāda Mahārāja was the son of Hiraṇyakaśipu, he was nonetheless persecuted by his father; although Devakī, the mother of Kṛṣṇa, was the sister of Kaṁsa, she and her husband Vasudeva were persecuted only because Kṛṣṇa was to be born of them. So Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared primarily to deliver Devakī, rather than kill Kaṁsa, but both were performed simultaneously.