Śrī Lakṣmaṇa — known with deep affection in Tamil tradition as Iḷaiya Perumāḷ, the "younger Lord" — is the second son of King Daśaratha and the inseparable companion of Śrī Rāma. From the moment Śrī Rāma was ordered into exile, Lakṣmaṇa chose, without a moment's hesitation, to accompany Him into the forest. He left behind his wife Ūrmilā and every comfort of Ayodhyā — not in anguish, but in the joy of service. For Śrī Lakṣmaṇa, to be anywhere other than at Śrī Rāma's side was inconceivable; his very existence was entirely defined by that companionship and that service.
Our Āchāryas hold up Śrī Lakṣmaṇa as the supreme exemplar of śeṣatva — the ontological truth that the soul exists solely as an accessory (śeṣa) to Bhagavān, with no purpose or aspiration apart from serving Him. Whereas most souls in saṃsāra pursue their own ends, Śrī Lakṣmaṇa embodied a life in which his own will, his own comfort, and even his own family were all entirely set aside in the single-minded pursuit of śeṣa-vṛtti — the mode of being that belongs to a śeṣa. The Āzhvārs and Āchāryas frequently invoke Śrī Lakṣmaṇa as a model precisely because he demonstrated in the most vivid possible way what total self-surrender looks like in practice.
The Rāmāyaṇa abounds in moments that illustrate the quality of Śrī Lakṣmaṇa's devotion. He stood guard through the night while Rāma and Sītā slept; he served as the steadfast instrument of Rāma's purpose in every crisis; and his anguish at Rāma's grief was deeper than any he felt for his own sake. Śrī Vaiṣṇava commentators note that Lakṣmaṇa's service was not born of duty alone but of a love so complete that he was incapable of experiencing his own separateness from Śrī Rāma. This quality — being entirely a "following" of Rāma — is the aspiration the Āchāryas hold before every sincere disciple.