स तु मेधाविनौ दृष्ट्वा वेदेषु परिनिष्ठितौ।
वेदोपबृंहणार्थाय तावग्राहयत प्रभुः॥
sa tu medhāvinau dṛṣṭvā vedeṣu pariniṣṭhitau
vedopabṛṁhaṇārthāya tāv agrāhayata prabhuḥ
saḥ tu = that; medhāvinau = tobe possessed of the intelligence; dṛṣṭvā = and noticing; vedeṣu = the Vedas; pariniṣṭhitau = [and] capacity to remember; ved-upabṛṁhaṇa-arthāya = [and] replete with a study of the Vedāṅgas; tau = them; agrāhayata = accepted them in order to ascertain the purport of the Vedas; prabhuḥ = independent sage Vālmīki.
And noticing them to be possessed of the intelligence and capacity to remember the Vedas and replete with a study of the Vedāṅgas, that independent sage Vālmīki accepted them in order to ascertain the purport of the Vedas.
[3] medhā dhīr dhāraṇā kṣamā (Yādava).
The boys had the intelligence and capacity to remember the four Vedas: Ṛg, Yajuḥ, Sāma and Atharva [3]. In other words, they had studied the Vedas, the result of memorizing them. They had also studied the Vedāṅgas. Because they had studied these literatures and had understood their imports, they were capable of elucidating them. The sage Vālmīki accepted these disciples for the purpose of elucidating the Vedas through a study of his book, Rāmāyaṇa. Vedopabṛṁhaṇa, “elucidation of the Vedas,” is achieved by consolidating the teachings of the Vedas as found in its various branches.
NOTE. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes in Bhagavad-gītā 15.15 purport: “The Vedas give the right direction to people so that they can properly mold their lives and come back to Godhead, back to home.” This right direction is the process of surrendering unto Him and it is elucidated in the Rāmāyaṇa very well.