Canto 1 - Boyhood
Bāla-kāṇḍa
Chapter 1: Contents of the Rāmāyaṇa Summarized
Text 1.1.16

आर्यः सर्वसमश्चैव सदैकप्रियदर्शनः।
स च सर्वगुणोपेतः कौसल्यानन्दवर्धनः॥

āryaḥ sarva-samaś caiva sadaika-priya-darśanaḥ
sa
ca sarva-guṇopetaḥ kausalyānanda-vardhanaḥ

āryaḥ = He is meant to be approached by all; sarva-samaḥ ca = He is equal to all; eva = always; sadā-eka-priya-darśanaḥ = He is always and exclusively pleasing to behold; saḥ = that Rāma; ca = alone; sarva-guṇa-upetaḥ = is endowed with all qualities of the Supreme Soul; kausalyā-ānanda-vardhanaḥ = who increases the delight of Kausalyā.

He is meant to be approached by all. He is always equal to all. He is always and exclusively pleasing to behold. That Rāma who increases the delight of Kausalyā alone is endowed with all the qualities of the Supreme Soul.

Is He meant to be approached only by saints? No, because He is always equal to all. He is equally the object of surrender of one and all with no consideration of the hierarchies in birth, quality, occupation and so on.

Because He is always and exclusively pleasing to behold, even when He does not give scriptural instructions, simply because of His beauty, everyone approached Him. At all times, even while relishing [His beauty], He is perceived to be newer and newer.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead’s auspicious qualities cannot be enumerated even in millions of years, for:

iṣu-kṣayān nivartante nāntarikṣa-kṣiti-kṣayāt
mati-kṣayān nivartante na govinda-guṇa-kṣayāt

“[Archers shooting outer space or the land] stop [at a certain point] because their arrows are exhausted, not because outer space or the land is exhausted. [Similarly, those trying to describe the auspicious qualities of Lord Govinda] stop [at a certain point] because their thoughts are exhausted, not because the auspicious qualities of Lord Govinda are exhausted.”

Therefore, Nārada Muni concludes by summarizing the matter: “That Rāma who increases the delight of Kausalyā alone is endowed with all the qualities of the Supreme Soul.”

In other words, the Supreme Soul with all auspicious qualities as described in the Upaniṣads is Lord Viṣṇu, who has incarnated as the son of Kausalyā, alone, not any of the worshipable deities headed by Brahmā. Nārada Muni has only mentioned Kausalyā here, not Daśaratha, for she was fortunate to beget Him—kausalyā loka-bhartāraṁ suṣuve yaṁ manasvinī: “The thoughtful Kausalyā gave birth to the Lord of the worlds.” (Rāmāyaṇa 5.38.56)

Then, to point out that Lord Rāma has no one equal to Him or greater than Him, Śrī Nārada describes in the next two verses Lord Rāma’s possession of all the qualities possessed by excellent persons or things of this world.