Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 31: Rāma Allows Lakṣmaṇa to Follow Him to the Forest
Text 2.31.16

एवं मम च ते भक्तिर्भविष्यति सुदर्शिता।
धर्मज्ञ गुरुपूजायां धर्मश्चाप्यतुलो महान्॥

evaṁ mama ca te bhaktir bhaviṣyati sudarśitā
dharmajña guru-pūjāyāṁ dharmaś cāpy atulo mahān

evam = then; mama ca = to Me; te = Your; bhaktiḥ = devotion; bhaviṣyati = will become; sudarśitā = fully revealed; dharmajña = O knower of dharma; guru-pūjāyām = by serving Our mothers; dharmaḥ = there will be piety; ca api = also; atulaḥ = incomparable; mahān = and enormous.

Your devotion to Me will then become fully revealed. O knower of dharma, there will also be incomparable and enormous piety by serving Our mothers.

This is in anticipation of Lakṣmaṇa’s thought, “I am absorbed in Your menial service. Why do I need to do this?”1

1 This is a test by Lord Rāma. But since Lakṣmaṇa has no interest in accumulating pious credits, He sets aside Rāma’s statement—and Rāma accepts Lakṣmaṇa’s counter-argument.