यदि त्वार्यं न शक्ष्यामि विनिवर्तयितुं वनात्।
वने तत्रैव वत्स्यामि यथार्यो लक्ष्मणस्तथा॥
yadi tv āryaṁ na śakṣyāmi vinivartayituṁ vanāt
vane tatraiva vatsyāmi yathāryo lakṣmaṇas tathā
yadi = if; tu = and; āryam = the noble Rāma; na śakṣyāmi = I cannot; vinivartayitum = bring back; vanāt = from the forest; vane = in forest; tatra eva = that very; vatsyāmi = I will reside; yathā = like; āryaḥ = the noble; lakṣmaṇaḥ tathā = Lakṣmaṇa.
And if I cannot bring the noble Rāma back from the forest, I will reside in that very forest like the noble Lakṣmaṇa.
1 Ārya (“noble”) is used to refer to a senior. We have already come across several instances of Bharata using this expression to refer to Rāmacandra who was both senior and elder to Bharata. While Lakṣmaṇa was junior to Bharata in terms of Their mothers’ eating of the divine pāyasa as noted in the commentary to text 1.16.30, Bharata’s usage of the expression ārya also indicates that Lakṣmaṇa is elder to Bharata by birth. Therefore, in Chapter 67 of this Canto, the ministers referred to Lakṣmaṇa immediately after referring to Rāmacandra while discussing about who could be enthroned as the king after Daśaratha’s departure. There will be a similar allusion to this fact at the end of Canto 6.
2 “I will reside with Rāma just as Lakṣmaṇa resides with Rāma.”
The word ārya (“noble”) has been used here to refer to Lakṣmaṇa who is junior to Bharata [in accordance with the sequence of Their mothers’ eating the pāyasa sweet rice] because Lakṣmaṇa was absorbed in the dharma of following His elder brother Rāma.1 “Like the noble Lakṣmaṇa” means “with [noble] Lakṣmaṇa.”2