तदेतन्न भवेद्रक्षो वातापिरिव लक्ष्मण।
मद्विधं योऽतिमन्येत धर्मनित्यं जितेन्द्रियम्।
भवेद्धतोऽयं वातापिरगस्त्येनेव मां गतः॥
tad etan na bhaved rakṣo vātāpir iva lakṣmaṇa
mad-vidhaṁ yo ’timanyeta dharma-nityaṁ jitendriyam
bhaved dhato ’yaṁ vātāpir agastyeneva māṁ gataḥ
tat = that; etat = this; na bhavet = can’t be; rakṣaḥ = rākṣasa [Mārīca]; vātāpiḥ = Vātāpi; iva = like; lakṣmaṇa = Lakṣmaṇa; mat-vidham = person like Me; yaḥ = who; atimanyeta = would transgress; dharma-nityam = who always adheres to dharma; jita-indriyam = a sense-controlled; bhavet = will; hataḥ = be slain; ayam = he; vātāpiḥ = Vātāpi; agastyena = [was slain] by Agastya; iva = like; mām = to Me; gataḥ = having come.
Lakṣmaṇa, can’t this be that rākṣasa [Mārīca], who, like Vātāpi, would transgress a sense-controlled person like Me who always adheres to dharma? Having come to Me, he will be slain like Vātāpi [was slain] by Agastya.
In other words, just as Agastya had killed Vātāpi, who had assumed the form of a goat, for the welfare of the world, Rāmacandra also wanted to kill the rākṣasa who had assumed the form of a deer.