Valmiki asks Narada to name a good person and then asks him to name one who has certain good qualities. Valmiki asks Narada to name a person who will never waver from the path of dharma. He asks Narada to name a person who has courage and gratitude, who always speaks the truth, and who has determination. What was the need for Valmiki to first ask about a good person and then to list many qualities? Was there one single quality that mattered more than the rest? Indeed there is one quality of Rama that is superior to all the other qualities, and that is the quality of sauseelya, said Adur Asuri Madhavachari. Rama's accessibility, His compassion, His approachability — these are explained by the term sauseelya.
If Rama had all other qualities, but not sauseelya, would He be celebrated in the manner that He is? Swami Desika says that without the quality of mercy, all of Lord Srinivasa's qualities would no longer be merits. There are many instances in the Ramayana that demonstrate Rama's approachability. One such is His befriending of Guha, a hunter whose body was often smeared with the blood of the animals he had killed. Rama, on the other hand, was a prince, and had for his preceptor no less a person than Vasistha. Yet, Rama embraced Guha and welcomed him into His circle of friends. Rama tells Guha that His brother is Guha's brother too.
This episode moved Thirumangai Azhvar so much that he says he offers Saranagati (surrender) to Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam, because He, in His Rama avatara, had befriended Guha. There are 24,000 verses in the Ramayana, but when Thirumangai Azhvar thought of surrender, it was the Guha episode that moved him. Rama, hailing from a long line of kings, had treated a hunter as a friend. How can any other quality of Rama's be superior to this quality of His? Again in the Krishna avatara, when Krishna shows Arjuna His Viswarupa, Arjuna exclaims that he had looked upon Krishna as a friend, not knowing the extent of His greatness. Krishna had so concealed His greatness from Arjuna that the latter had been to talk to Him on terms of equality.
