Shloka 4.30.3
शरत्प्रवेशे रामविलापः तथा सुग्रीवप्रमादे लक्ष्मणप्रेषणम् (Autumn’s Onset: Rama’s Lament and Lakshmana Sent to Sugriva)
गुहं प्रविष्टे सुग्रीवे विमुक्ते गगने घनैः।वर्षरात्रोषितो रामः कामशोकाभिपीडितः4.30.1।।पाण्डुरं गगनं दृष्ट्वा विमलं चन्द्रमण्डलम्।शारदीं रजनीं चैव दृष्ट्वा ज्योत्स्नानुलेपनाम्4.30.2।।कामवृत्तं च सुग्रीवं नष्टां च जनकात्मजाम्।बुद्ध्वा कालमतीतं च मुमोह परमातुरः4.30.3।।
guhaṃ praviṣṭe sugrīve vimukte gagane ghanaiḥ |
varṣa-rātrōṣito rāmaḥ kāma-śokābhipīḍitaḥ ||
pāṇḍuraṃ gaganaṃ dṛṣṭvā vimalaṃ candramaṇḍalam |
śāradīṃ rajanīṃ caiva dṛṣṭvā jyotsnānulepanām ||
kāma-vṛttaṃ ca sugrīvaṃ naṣṭāṃ ca janakātmajām |
buddhvā kālam atītaṃ ca mumōha paramāturaḥ ||
When Sugrīva withdrew into his residence and the sky was freed of clouds, Rāma—who had spent the rainy nights tormented by longing and grief—beheld the pale heavens and the spotless circle of the autumn moon, the night as though anointed with moonlight. Realizing that Sugrīva was absorbed in pleasure, that Janaka’s daughter was still lost, and that the appointed time had been exceeded, the deeply distressed Rāma fainted.
While Sugriva was in his residence, Rama was (in Prasravana mountain) spending his rainy nights tormented by passion (for Sita). Sugriva was engaged in love, forgetting the time fixed for taking up the search for Sita. When the sky became clear of clouds after the rainy season, Rama sat gazing at the clear autumnal Moon's orb. He was besmeared with moonlight and felt perturbed as time was running out. And then fell into a swoon. (only a few months remained for the completion of the exile and Bharata will put an end to himself if Rama does not return to Ayodhya on the stipulated day. This worried Rama.)
Keeping one’s promise at the proper time is dharma: Sugrīva’s indulgence and delay contrasts with Rāma’s commitment to truth (satya) and duty (the search for Sītā).
After the monsoon ends, Rāma sees autumn’s clear moonlit night and realizes the pledged time for action has passed while Sugrīva remains pleasure-bound; overwhelmed, Rāma swoons.
Rāma’s fidelity to duty and truth—his distress arises not from weakness alone but from the weight of responsibility and the urgency of righteous action.