सर्वलोकप्रियः साधुरदीनात्मा विचक्षणः।
सर्वदाभिगतः सद्भिः समुद्र इव सिन्धुभिः॥
sarva-loka-priyaḥ sādhur adīnātmā vicakṣaṇaḥ
sarvadābhigataḥ sadbhiḥ samudra iva sindhubhiḥ
sarva-loka-priyaḥ = He is dear to everyone; sādhuḥ = and [therefore] He can be approached by saints; adīna-ātmā = He is not helpless; vicakṣaṇaḥ = and He can speak about varied subjects; sarvadā = always; abhigataḥ = He is approached; sadbhiḥ = by saints; samudraḥ = the ocean; iva = just as; sindhubhiḥ = is always approached by the rivers.
He is dear to everyone and [therefore] He can be approached by saints. He is not helpless, and He can speak about varied
subjects. Hence, He is always approached by saints, just as the ocean is always approached by the rivers.
[33] sadhus triṣūcite saumye saj-jane vārdhuṣāv api (Vaijayantī-kośa).
Sādhu indicates that it is also appropriate for saints to approach Lord Rāma [33]. He is not helpless, that is, He has the nature of being extremely grave.
Lord Rāma is approached, that is, surrounded by saintly persons at all times, that is, even while practicing [archery]; they became a part of His family. When He had gone to the shade of a tree to take rest to ward of the fatigue of engaging in the pastime of archery practice, all the saints surrounded Him to seek specific [scriptural] teachings from Him. The author will describe this:
śīla-vṛddhair jñāna-vṛddhair vayo-vṛddhaiś ca saj-janaiḥ
kathayann āsta vai nityam astra-yogyāntareṣv api
“He was always speaking with saintly persons advanced in spiritual knowledge, age and character, even in between His [practice of] weaponry.” (Rāmāyaṇa 2.1.12)
The saintly persons who approached Śrī Rāma did not do so to teach Him [anything] for He is perfect with knowledge [of everything]. But they did so, to learn from Him specific teachings [of the scriptures], finding no one else [as good as Him for this]. Indeeds, rivers go to the ocean to obtain their self-worth, not to enhance the ocean.
Lord Rāma’s feature of easy accessibility (saulabhya) is the cause of the saints surrounding Him. Śrīla Nārada elaborates on this feature of Lord Rāma in the next text.
NOTE. In this verse, the saintly persons approaching Lord Rāma to be benefitted by Him, rather than to benefit Him, have been compared to rivers and Lord Rāmacandra has been compared to the ocean. The analogy is perfect, as confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.4.17 and 10.90.23, which describe rivers as wives of the oceans. Indeed, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.23.19 describes the wives of the brāhmaṇas in Vraja approaching their beloved master, Lord Kṛṣṇa, as rivers that go to the ocean. Therefore, Lord Rāma is the teacher and master who benefits His students and servants, the saintly persons who approach Him, and not the other way around.