वृक्षेवृक्षे च पश्यामि चीरकृष्णाजिनाम्बरम्।
गृहीतधनुषं रामं पाशहस्तमिवान्तकम्॥
vṛkṣe vṛkṣe ca paśyāmi cīra-kṛṣṇājināmbaram
gṛhīta-dhanuṣaṁ rāmaṁ pāśa-hastam ivāntakam
vṛkṣe vṛkṣe ca = by every tree; paśyāmi = I see; cīra-kṛṣṇa-ajina-ambaram = wearing clothes of bark and deer skin; gṛhīta-dhanuṣam = holding a bow; rāmam = Rāma; pāśa-hastam = with a noose in his hand; iva = and resembling; antakam = the god of death.
By every tree, I see Rāma wearing clothes of bark and deer skin, holding a bow and resembling the god of death with a noose in his hand.
1 Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: śoka-rāga-bhayādi-janita-nirantara-santanyamāna-cintāsaktasya sākṣātkāropapattiḥ.
2 This verse can be found in Śṛṅgāra-prakāśa as text 14.125. Two learned scholars Sri Rewaprasada and Sadasivakumara Dwivedi who have edited this encyclopedic work of Bhojarāja in 2007 have noted that this verse is from Mahā-nāṭakam (3.24).
3 Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: bhayasyottara-bhūmikābhiprāyeṇa darśanasyāpy uttarottara-daśety anusandheyam.
Vṛkṣe vṛkṣe ca (“By every tree”) indicates that when one is obsessed by constant anxiety due to lamentation, attachment, fear and so on, he has [such] a direct experience.1 This is similar to [the experience] illustrated in statements such as:
hṛdayān nāpayāto ’si dikṣu sarvāsu dṛśyase
[vatsa rāma gato ’sīti santāpād anumīyase]
“You have not left my heart; yet I can see You everywhere. [Rāma, my child, I can infer that You have left because of my anguish.]”2
[rāmo rāmo rāma iti prajānām abhavan kathāḥ]
rāma-bhūtaṁ jagad abhūd rāme rājyaṁ praśāsati
“All talks of the citizens were about Rāma, about Rāma and about Rāma. The entire world was Rāma [for them] when Rāma ruled His kingdom.” (Rāmāyaṇa 6.131.101)
It should be understood that as [Mārīca’s] fear increased, his vision [of Rāma] also increased.3
In the next verse, Mārīca denies the [possible] misconception that he [only] saw a single Rāma by every tree.