पादुके चास्य राज्याय न्यासं दत्त्वा पुनः पुनः।
निवर्तयामास ततो भरतं भरताग्रजः॥
pāduke cāsya rājyāya nyāsaṁ dattvā punaḥ punaḥ
nivartayām āsa tato bharataṁ bharatāgrajaḥ
pāduke ca = shoes; asya = His; rājyāya = to rule the kingdom; nyāsam = as His representative; dattvā = gave and; punaḥ punaḥ = repeatedly; nivartayām āsa = sent back; tataḥ = then; bharatam = Bharata; bharata-agrajaḥ= Bharata’s elder brother.
Bharata’s elder brother then gave His shoes as His representative to rule the kingdom and repeatedly sent back Bharata.
1 Bharata had gone to Kekaya while Rāma was banished. If Bharata loved Rāma so much that He could not be separated from Him, why did He go to Kekaya? That will be explained in Chapter 77 of this Canto. King Daśaratha had ordered Him to go to Kekaya because the king of Kekaya (Bharata’s maternal grandfather) had wanted to see Bharata and have Him there for some time.
This verse shows that since it is inappropriate for the process of surrendering [unto the Lord] to be unsuccessful, He awards a representation of the desired success as long as the powerful obstacle to the fructification of that surrender remains.
Bharata’s elder brother was appropriately related to awarding the result of such surrender. He gave His shoes to Bharata and told Him to consider, “Rāma’s shoes are [factually] ruling the kingdom. I am [ruling the kingdom] merely as a servant of Rāma’s shoes.”
That Rāma had to repeatedly send back Bharata indicates that Bharata was unable to be separated from Rāma1