Hari Om.
Let us begin the sixtieth sarga of the araNya kAnDam by offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru.
Besieged by evil omens, mind full of terrible possibilities of sItA’s harm, rAma rushed to janasthAna thinking what must have been going on in the minds of lakshmaNa and sItA upon hearing the mimicry of his voice. And as he rushed, he saw lakshmaNa coming towards him. He was aghast and questioned lakshmaNa for the indiscretion of leaving sItA alone in the hermitage and rushing to him who needs no rescue and capable of overcoming all difficulties by himself! Upon repeated upbraiding, lakshmaNa narrates the apprehension of sItA and her insinuations which forced him to leave her alone. However, rAma rejected this reasoning and plainly said that it was indeed unfortunate that lakshmaNa took the angry words of a woman to heart and committed the blunder. He was clear that lakshmaNa ought not have taken the insinuations to the heart and for the sake of greater good, he should have stay put in the hermitage. The duo search for her whereabouts. Onwards…
With the bad omens besieging him, rAma rushed to janasthAna to his hermitage desirous of seeing sItA and acutely apprehensive about her welfare. Not finding her there in the hermitage, rAma turned even more restless. With great urgency, running around, flinging his arms, rAma looked for sItA all around, but found hermitage bereft of sItA like the lotus pond bereft of lotuses in the winter. The trees in his hut looked lackluster, flowers withered, birds and beasts were mourning, the guardian deities of the forest had deserted from the hut, and the cushions and straw mats lay scattered and seeing all this rAma lamented pitiably and repeatedly and thought that sItA must have been abducted or dead or eaten up or the scared woman might have been hiding in the forest. Or he thought, she might have gone to gather flowers and fruits or to the river to fetch water or to the lotus pond. rAma searched for her in the forest desperately and not finding her, shedding tears, his eyes turned red and looked like a mad man. He ran from tree to tree, from forest to forest, from river to river and (not finding her) was inundated by the sea of sorrow. He began to talk to the trees –
“O kadamba, have you seen sItA, the auspicious woman who loves the kadamba flowers, can you please tell me her whereabouts if you know.
O bilva, tell me if you have seen the woman with the grace of your tender shoots, draped in silks and having breasts that resemble your fruits?
O arjuna tree, can you please tell me if sItA who loves the arjuna tree is alive or not?
Or perhaps the kakubha tree with its tender shoots and flowers is aware of the whereabouts of sItA whose thighs resemble the trunk of that tree.
This tilaka tree, the best among the trees and swarmed by the bees is sItA’s favourite and must be surely aware of her whereabouts.
O aSOka tree, your name signifies that you remove sorrow (SOka), so please prove the worth of your name soon by showing me my beloved!
अशोक शोकापनुद शोकोपहतचेतसम्।
त्वन्नामानं कुरु क्षिप्रं प्रियासन्दर्शनेन माम्।।3.60.17।।
O tAla (palm), if you have seen the beauty who has breasts like your ripe fruits and if you are kind to me, can you please tell me where she is.
यदि ताल त्वया दृष्टा पक्वतालफलस्तनी।
कथयस्व वरारोहां कारुण्यं यदि ते मयि।।3.60.18।।
O jambu tree, have you seen sItA who has golden complexion like that of your fruit? And if you did, please tell me without hesitation.
Oh, the karnikAra tree in full bloom and loved dearly by sItA! If you have seen her, please tell me her whereabouts”.
चूतनीपमहासालान्पनसान्कुरवान्धवान्।
दाडिमाननसान्गत्वा दृष्ट्वा रामो महायशाः।।3.60.21।।
मल्लिका माधवीश्चैव चम्पकान्केतकीस्तथा।
पृच्छन्रामो वने भान्तः उन्मत्त इव लक्ष्यते।।3.60.22।।
The illustrious rAma ran from tree to tree and pleaded pitiably with the giant mango tree, sAl tree, jackfruit tree, dhava tree, pomegranate tree, champaka tree, kEtakI tree, jasmine plant and mAdhAvi plant to tell him about sItA and looked like a mad man.
Or, he thought, perhaps the woman with deer like eyes must be with the flock of deer and the deer must be knowing where she is. Or, perhaps the elephant should know the whereabouts of the one whose limbs are graceful like that of the trunk of the elephant. He asked the tiger to tell him fearlessly the whereabouts of sItA with moon-like countenance if he knew it. He began to address the unseen sItA in utter desperation –
“O lotus-eyed love, why are you running away from me and hiding behind the trees, I have already seen you! O beauty, have you no regard for my feelings that you are running away thus from me and trying to tease me. Hey love, just stay there, as you ran, I could see your silks. I have never done anything to hurt you and so it doesn’t behoove you to tease me like this when I am so devastated.
Or perhaps the lovely lady of golden complexion, of tender neck decked with glorious ornaments, with lovely teeth and lips, with bright moon like face was apprehended by the hordes of demons. Her bright face must have turned pale at that moment and she must have been devoured by the demons who must have eaten her limb by limb! Alas, the young and tender woman, even if of numerous kith and kin, separated from me, must have been eaten away or left half-eaten by the demons.
O mighty lakshmaNa, do you see my beloved anywhere? O sItA, O my darling, where are you? where are you”?
इत्येवं विलपन्रामः परिधावन्वनाद्वनम्।
क्वचिदुद्भ्रमते वेगात्क्वचिद्विभ्रमते बलात्।।3.60.36।।
क्वचिन्मत्त इवाभाति कान्तान्वेषणतत्परः।
Thus wailing in utter devastation, rAma ran from forest to forest, running fast in some places, forcing his way to other places, in search of his wife, rAma ran around like a mad man. He searched for her near the river, hills, forests in a poor mental state. Even though he didn’t find her, he continued his mad and spirited search all over the vast and dense forests and scampered around looking for her.
Here we conclude the sixtieth sarga of the araNya kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
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Next: 3.61. The Mighty laments…
Previous: 3.59. lakshmaNa explains, rAma disapproves
rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 
