दृष्ट्वाश्रमपदं शून्यं रामो दशरथात्मजः।
रहितां पर्णशालां च विध्वस्तान्यासनानि च॥
अदृष्ट्वा तत्र वैदेहीं सन्निरीक्ष्य च सर्वशः।
उवाच रामः प्राक्रुश्य प्रगृह्य रुचिरौ भुजौ॥
dṛṣṭvāśrama-padaṁ śūnyaṁ rāmo daśarathātmajaḥ
rahitāṁ parṇa-śālāṁ ca vidhvastāny āsanāni ca
adṛṣṭvā tatra vaidehīṁ sannirīkṣya ca sarvaśaḥ
uvāca rāmaḥ prākruśya pragṛhya rucirau bhujau
dṛṣṭvā = noticed; āśrama-padam = that His āśrama; śūnyam = was vacant; rāmaḥ = Rāma; daśaratha-ātmajaḥ = the son of King Daśaratha; rahitām = was vacant; parṇa-śālām ca = that the leaf-cottage; vidhvastāni = were topsy-turvy; āsanāni = that the seats; ca = and; adṛṣṭvā = [but] He didn’t see her; tatra = that area in the forest; vaidehīm = for Vaidehī; sannirīkṣya ca = He looked; sarvaśaḥ = all over; uvāca = and spoke [as follows]; rāmaḥ = Rāma; prākruśya = then loudly cried out to Sītā; pragṛhya = while lifting up; rucirau = His lovely; bhujau = arms.
Rāma, the son of King Daśaratha, noticed that His āśrama was vacant, that the leaf-cottage was vacant, and that the seats were topsy-turvy. He looked for Vaidehī all over that area in the forest, [but] He didn’t see her. Rāma then loudly cried out to Sītā while lifting up His lovely arms and spoke [as follows].1
1 Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: pragṛhya utkṣipya.
1 Rāmāyaṇa-bhūṣaṇa: bhuja-grahaṇaṁ śoka-kṛta-vikāra-viśeṣaḥ.
2 Though the Lord’s own experience of His feelings of separation from His beloved wife are certainly transcendental, it has been so expertly presented by Śrī Vālmīki that we, the conditioned souls of this world, can derive lessons on vairāgya, vidyā and bhagavad-bhakti. Śrī Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa is not a mere description of all or even many pastimes of Lord Rāma for we can discover several interesting pastimes of His from the various Purāṇas. The Rāmāyaṇa is very well conceived and contains descriptions of selected pastimes of the Lord that are presented to various degrees of details that have also been carefully chosen by Śrī Vālmīki. He intentionally skims over the Lord’s childhood pastimes in a few verses, focuses on the events that transpired during the fourteen years of His exile and describes a few instructive pastimes after He assumed the throne of Ayodhyā. The author is careful to present us with that sort of information about Lord Rāma and His associates that we will pursue dharma, mokṣa and bhagavat-prema, and stop pursuing artha or kāma.
This chapter describes the ninth state [of love in separation] experienced by Lord Rāma.
The Lord’s āśrama was vacant, that is, Sītā was not there. The leaf-cottage was [also] vacant, that is, Sītā was not there [as well]. It is implied that the seats were topsy-turvy because of Rāvaṇa’s attack. Śrī Rāma lifted His arms up due to sorrow.1
NOTE. The ninth state referred to here is delusion. See the commentary to text 3.60.1 about the ten states of love in separation. It was noted therein that Lord Rāmacandra’s experience of the eighth state referred to therein, which is madness, would be described in Chapters 60 to 62. Therefore, it should be understood from this chapter that the Lord experienced both the eighth and ninth symptoms of love in separation from Mother Sītā.
Śrī Rāma didn’t exhibit such distress even when He was separated from His beloved mother and father, which is unnatural for the very personification of dharma. Therefore, Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī has concluded in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 9.10.11 that such behavior of the Lord was to teach the conditioned souls about the extreme distress that a man attains upon becoming attached to a woman.2