Canto 3 -
Araṇya-kāṇḍa
Chapter 60: Rāma Searches for Sītā
Text 3.60.35

हा लक्ष्मण महाबाहो पश्यसि त्वं प्रियां क्वचित्।
हा प्रिये क्व गता भद्रे हा सीतेति पुनःपुनः॥

hā lakṣmaṇa mahā-bāho paśyasi tvaṁ priyāṁ kvacit
hā priye kva gatā bhadre hā sīteti punaḥ punaḥ

= ah; lakṣmaṇa = Lakṣmaṇa; mahā-bāho = mighty-armed; paśyasi = do see; tvam = you; priyām = My beloved; kvacit = anywhere; = ah; priye = My beloved; kva = where; gatā = did you go; bhadre = O auspicious; sīte = Sītā; iti = He lamented like this; punaḥ punaḥ = again and again.

Ah, mighty-armed Lakṣmaṇa! Do You see My beloved anywhere?1 Ah, My beloved, where did you go, O auspicious Sītā! He lamented like this again and again.

NOTE. As noted below, Prabhupāda points out in his Introduction to Gītopaniṣad that emotional attachments are due to our lust and desire, and they lead to extreme distress; one interested in attaining permanent freedom from such distress should give up such attachments.

The Lord suggests that we attain the spiritual world in the following manner (Bg. 15.5):

nirmāna-mohā jita-saṅga-doṣā
adhyātma-nityā vinivṛtta-kāmāḥ
dvandvair vimuktāḥ sukha-duḥkha-saṁjñair
gacchanty amūḍhāḥ padam avyayaṁ tat

That padam avyayam, or eternal kingdom, can be reached by one who is nirmana-moha. What does this mean? We are after designations. Someone wants to become “sir,” someone wants to become “lord,” someone wants to become the president or a rich man or a king or something else. As long as we are attached to these designations, we are attached to the body, because designations belong to the body. But we are not these bodies, and realizing this is the first stage in spiritual realization. We are associated with the three modes of material nature, but we must become detached through devotional service to the Lord. If we are not attached to devotional service to the Lord, then we cannot become detached from the modes of material nature. Designations and attachments are due to our lust and desire, our wanting to lord it over the material nature. As long as we do not give up this propensity of lording it over material nature, there is no possibility of returning to the kingdom of the Supreme, the sanātana-dhāma. That eternal kingdom, which is never destroyed, can be approached by one who is not bewildered by the attractions of false material enjoyments, who is situated in the service of the Supreme Lord. One so situated can easily approach that supreme abode.

Lord Rāma’s behavior in this chapter is a warning to us to do the needful to attain the spiritual world for an everlasting life of knowledge and bliss, without becoming overwhelmed with the intrinsic miseries of material existence.

1 Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: iti-karaṇasya sargārambhasthena vilalāpety anenānvayaḥ.