कुरुष्व मामनुचरं वैधर्म्यं नेह विद्यते।
कृतार्थोऽहं भविष्यामि तव चार्थः प्रकल्पते॥
kuruṣva mām anucaraṁ vaidharmyaṁ neha vidyate
kṛtārtho ’haṁ bhaviṣyāmi tava cārthaḥ prakalpate
kuruṣva = engage; mām = Me; anucaram = in Your services; vaidharmyam = that contradicts Our natures; na = nothing; iha = in this arrangement; vidyate = there is; kṛta-arthaḥ = successful; aham = I; bhaviṣyāmi = will become; tava = Your; ca = and; arthaḥ = purpose; prakalpate = will be achieved.
Engage Me in Your services. There is nothing in this arrangement that contradicts Our natures. I will become successful and Your purpose will be achieved.
1 Lakṣmaṇa is only interested in serving Rāma in order to please Him. That’s all. He is not serving Rāma to attain anything else. His extreme delight in being so is an open advertisement to all conditioned souls that they can also engage in such pure devotional service to the Lord and become similarly delighted.
2 Not devotional service to the Supreme Lord to attain sensual enjoyment, worldly prosperity, accumulation of piety or freedom from the pangs of material existence.
Having thus refuted Rāma’s argument, Lakṣmaṇa now elaborates on His cherished services that He had begun to discuss about.
Lakṣmaṇa considers Himself Rāma’s servant and so wanted to be engaged in service to Rāma. [This is in line with Their respective natures]—Lakṣmaṇa is [Rāma’s] natural servant and Rāma is His natural master.
Why does Lakṣmaṇa want to become Rāma’s servant? So that Rāma’s purpose can be achieved. Lakṣmaṇa would bring fruits, roots and so on for Rāma; Rāma does not have strain Himself. Lakṣmaṇa will become successful because He would attain the fruit of devotional service to Rāma.1
Vaidharmyaṁ neha can also indicate that Lakṣmaṇa’s position of being Rāma’s servant is not being disturbed here. The highest goal in life is the achievement of devotional service to the Supreme Lord with the exclusive desire to please Him.2
Some have explained this verse as follows: “There is nothing in this arrangement that contradicts Our natures” indicates that the elder brother is equal to one’s father [and hence he is meant to be served by the younger brother]. “I will be successful and Your purpose will be achieved” indicates that this will benefit both.