कृता शास्त्रानुगा बुद्धिर्मा भूत्तस्य कदाचन।
सत्यसन्धः सतां श्रेष्ठो यस्यार्योऽनुमते गतः॥
kṛtā śāstrānugā buddhir mā bhūt tasya kadācana
satya-sandhaḥ satāṁ śreṣṭho yasyāryo ’numate gataḥ
kṛtā = develop; śāstra-anugā = in accordance with the Vedic scriptures; buddhiḥ = the intelligence; mā = never; bhūt = may; tasya = of the person; kadācana = ever; satya-sandhaḥ = and the fulfiller of His promises; satām = of the saintly; śreṣṭhaḥ = the best; yasya = whose; āryaḥ = noble Rāma; anumate = with consent; gataḥ = has departed to the forest.
May the intelligence of he, with whose consent noble Rāma, the best of the saintly and the fulfiller of His promises, has departed to the forest, never ever develop in accordance with the Vedic scriptures.
1 Of course, Bharata does not approve of Rāma’s exile in reality.
One’s intelligence develops by following the scriptures when it becomes properly disciplined by one’s spiritual master in accordance with the [Vedic] scriptures that teach prescriptions and prohibitions.
Bharata declares here that if He had ever approved of noble Rāma’s exile [to the forest], He would fall away from the knowledge taught in the Śruti and Smṛti scriptures.1 [The point is:] the intelligence of whoever consents to Rāma’s departure to the forest will fail him under all circumstances.
It should be understood that Bharata’s statements in this section refer to Himself [in humility]. Sage Vālmīki [thus] teaches us Vedic dharma while informing us of Bharata’s curses. He indicates that when one offends a saintly person, he deviates from scriptural knowledge.