स तैः प्रहरणैर्घोरैर्भिन्नगात्रो न विव्यथे।
रामः प्रदीप्तैर्बहुभिर्वज्रैरिव महाचलः॥१३
sa taiḥ praharaṇair ghorair bhinna-gātro na vivyathe
rāmaḥ pradīptair bahubhir vajrair iva mahācalaḥ
saḥ1 taiḥ = by those; praharaṇaiḥ = weapons; ghoraiḥ = terrible; bhinna-gātraḥ = when His body was pierced; na vivyathe = did not experience any pain; rāmaḥ = Rāma; pradīptaiḥ = blazing; bahubhiḥ = [that is undisturbed even] because of several; vajraiḥ = lightnings; iva = like; mahā-acalaḥ = a great mountain.
Like a great mountain [that is not disturbed even] by several blazing lightnings, Rāma did not experience any pain when His body was pierced by those terrible weapons.
1 Technical note: saḥ rāmaḥ.
1 Humans are well known in the scriptures as possessing various defects that are not found among the devas and other celestials.
2 When the Lord incarnates in this world, He appears to be wounded, just like a conditioned soul of this world.
3 There is only one way to attain liberation from material existence as clarified by Lord Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad-gītā (7.14)—daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā / mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te: “This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.” And surrender unto Lord Kṛṣṇa entails many things—one of which is to exclusively understand Him the way the Vedic scriptures that factually describe His nature explain His position: īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ. Of course, “Kṛṣṇa” in this context includes all of His plenary expansions such as Rāma.
4 The forms of the Lord that are never manifest to the conditioned souls of this world are found in the Vaikuṇṭha universes. By His sweet will, those forms are sometimes manifest to the conditioned souls of this world. One should understand that the forms of the Lord in both categories are factually defectless, though the forms of the latter category may appear to the conditioned souls to be associated with the defects of this world.
NOTE. How can the Lord’s body be wounded (even if He doesn’t experience any pain due to those wounds)? Isn’t His body sac-cid-ānanda?
Śrī Madhvācārya deals with this subject in the third chapter of his Viṣṇu-tattva-vinirṇaya wherein he quotes from the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa as follows:
nārada uvāca
nirdoṣaś cet kathaṁ viṣṇuḥ mānuṣeṣūdapadyata
cintā-śrama-vraṇājñāna-duḥkha-yug dṛśyate katham
Nārada said: If Lord Viṣṇu is nondefective, how does He take birth among humans?1 How is it that He is seen to be associated with anxiety, exhaustion, wounds, ignorance and pain?2
eṣa me saṁśayo brahman hṛdi śalya ivārpitaḥ
anuddhāryo ’parair martyair sūkti-śaktyā tam uddhara
O Lord Brahmā, this doubt of mine has pierced my heart. It cannot be removed by other mortals. With the power of your good words [of enlightenment], remove this [doubt].
brahmovāca
strī-puṁ-malābhiyogātmā deho viṣṇor na jāyate
Lord Brahmā spoke: Lord Viṣṇu does not take birth from a body generated by the contact of secretions from a woman and man.
kintu nirdoṣa-caitanya-sukhāṁ nityāṁ svakāṁ tanum
prakāśayati saiveyaṁ janir viṣṇor na cāparā
Rather He reveals His own eternal body that is nondefective and made up of knowledge and bliss. This, and nothing else, is the nature of Lord Viṣṇu’s birth.
tathāpy asura-mohāya pareṣāṁ ca kvacit kvacit
duḥkhājñāna-śramādīn saḥ darśayet śuddha-sad-guṇaḥ
Despite this fact, sometimes He whose attributes are pure and eternal exhibits pain, ignorance, exhaustion and so on to bewilder the asuras and others.
kva vraṇādi kva cājñānaṁ svatantrācintya-sad-guṇe
Where is the question of wounds, ignorance and so on in Him who is independent, inconceivable and filled with transcendental qualities?
daurlabhyāyaiva mokṣasya darśayet tāny ajo hariḥ
The unborn Lord Hari exhibits them to ensure that liberation from material existence is difficult to achieve.3
mithyā-darśana-doṣeṇa tena muktiṁ na yānti ca
Those who attribute faults to Him while viewing Him cannot attain liberation from material existence.
tamo yānti ca tenaiva tasmād doṣa-vivarjitam
prādurbhāva-gataṁ caiva jānīyād viṣṇum añjasā
They also attain the darkness [of ignorance]. Therefore one should correctly understand that the manifested form of Lord Viṣṇu is also free from all defects.4
On the basis of these statements of the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa, Śrīla Madhvācārya asserts:
nitya-pūrṇākhila-guṇaḥ nirdoṣaḥ sarvadaiva yaḥ
yaḥ svatantraḥ paro viṣṇuḥ janma-mṛty-ādi-varjitaḥ
The Supreme Lord Viṣṇu is eternally perfect with all auspicious qualities, always nondefective, independent and devoid of birth, death and so on.