आर्तस्वरं तु तं भर्तुर्विज्ञाय सदृशं वने।
उवाच लक्ष्मणं सीता गच्छ जानीहि राघवम्॥
ārta-svaraṁ tu taṁ bhartur vijñāya sadṛśaṁ vane
uvāca lakṣmaṇaṁ sītā gaccha jānīhi rāghavam
ārta-svaram tu = voice in distress; tam = the; bhartuḥ = to her husband’s voice; vijñāya = having understood that; sadṛśam = [was] similar; vane = in the forest; uvāca = told; lakṣmaṇam = Lakṣmaṇa; sītā = Sītā-devī; gaccha = go; jānīhi = find; rāghavam = the descendant of Raghu.
Having understood that the voice in distress in the forest [was] similar to her husband’s voice, Sītā-devī told Lakṣmaṇa: Go! Find the descendant of Raghu!1
1 Here Śrī Vālmīki’s brilliance is evident in his usage of the word sadṛśam (“similar”). Sītā-devī understood that this voice was similar to Lord Rāma’s voice which naturally implies that she understood that this was was not Lord Rāma’s voice. Had she factually thought that it was His voice, the sage would have stated that Sītā considered that voice in distress in the forest to be her husband’s voice. This further implies that she wanted Lakṣmaṇa to find out where Rāmacandra was and who factually sounded like Him and for what purpose. In the meanwhile, as we will note further, she will act as if she didn’t know the facts of the matter. Technical note: bhartuḥ sadṛśam ity uktyā nedaṁ rāma-vacaḥ iti sītayā jñātam iti sūcitam, jānīhity uktyā kena katham evaṁ śabdaḥ kṛta iti tad-viṣayiṇī jijñāsā sūcitā.
1 The Supreme Lord’s internal potency Sītā-devī now plays her role in this dramatic performance by sending Lakṣmaṇa away to Rāmacandra. This entire episode is replete with significant spiritual instructions to conditioned souls.
Jānakī became unnecessarily frightened about Śrī Rāma and worried about Him to the extent of even insulting their well-wisher.1 I worship that [Supreme Lord] who is ever-fresh.