Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 82: Bharata Rejects Vasiṣṭha’s Request
Text 2.82.16
राममेवानुगच्छामि राजा स द्विपदां वरः।
त्रयाणामपि लोकानां राज्यमर्हति राघवः॥
rāmam evānugacchāmi rājā sa dvipadāṁ varaḥ
trayāṇām api lokānāṁ rājyam arhati rāghavaḥ
rāmam = to Rāma; eva = only; anugacchāmi = I will become subservient; rājā = the king; saḥ = that; dvipadām varaḥ = prince [should become]; trayāṇām = over the three; api = even; lokānām = worlds; rājyam = rule; arhati = can; rāghavaḥ = that descendant of Raghu.
I will only become subservient to Rāma. That Prince [should become] the king. That descendant of Raghu can even rule over the three worlds!1
1 What to speak of this earthly kingdom?
NOTE. Śrī Bharata teaches the whole world through this verse that we should voluntarily submit ourselves to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Such subservience to the Supreme Lord will only benefit us as Prabhupāda explains:
The world revolves because every living being thinks that he is the lord and creator of the material world. Material consciousness has two psychic divisions. One is that I am the creator, and the other is that I am the enjoyer. But actually the Supreme Lord is both the creator and the enjoyer, and the living entity, being part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, is neither the creator nor the enjoyer, but a cooperator. He is the created and the enjoyed. For instance, a part of a machine cooperates with the whole machine; a part of the body cooperates with the whole body. The hands, legs, eyes, and so on are all parts of the body, but they are not actually the enjoyers. The stomach is the enjoyer. The legs move, the hands supply food, the teeth chew, and all parts of the body are engaged in satisfying the stomach because the stomach is the principal factor that nourishes the body’s organization. Therefore everything is given to the stomach. One nourishes the tree by watering its root, and one nourishes the body by feeding the stomach, for if the body is to be kept in a healthy state, then the parts of the body must cooperate to feed the stomach. Similarly, the Supreme Lord is the enjoyer and the creator, and we, as subordinate living beings, are meant to cooperate to satisfy Him. This cooperation will actually help us, just as food taken by the stomach will help all other parts of the body. If the fingers of the hand think that they should take the food themselves instead of giving it to the stomach, then they will be frustrated. The central figure of creation and of enjoyment is the Supreme Lord, and the living entities are cooperators. By cooperation they enjoy. (Introduction to Gītopaniṣad)