Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.3.17

śrī-bhagavān uvāca

aho batāham rishayo bhavadbhir avitatha-gīrbhir varam asulabham abhiyācito yad amushyātmajo mayā sadriśo bhūyād iti mamāham evābhirūpah kaivalyād athāpi brahma-vādo na mrishā bhavitum arhati mamaiva hi mukham yad dvija-deva-kulam

SYNONYMS

śrī-bhagavān uvāca — the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; aho — alas; bata — certainly I am pleased; aham — I; rishayah — O great sages; bhavadbhih — by you; avitatha-gīrbhih — whose words are all true; varam — for a benediction; asulabham — very difficult to achieve; abhiyācitah — have been requested; yat — that; amushya — of King Nābhi; ātma-jah — a son; mayā sadriśah — like Me; bhūyāt — there may be; iti — thus; mama — My; aham — I; eva — only; abhirūpah — equal; kaivalyāt — because of being without a second; athāpi — nevertheless; brahma-vādah — the words spoken by exalted brāhmanas; na — not; mrishā — false; bhavitum — to become; arhati — ought; mama — My; eva — certainly; hi — because; mukham — mouth; yat — that; dvija-deva-kulam — the class of pure brāhmanas.

TRANSLATION

The Supreme Personality of Godhead replied: O great sages, I am certainly very pleased with your prayers. You are all truthful. You have prayed for the benediction of a son like Me for King Nābhi, but this is very difficult to obtain. Since I am the Supreme Person without a second and since no one is equal to Me, another personality like Me is not possible to find. In any case, because you are all qualified brāhmanas, your vibrations should not prove untrue. I consider the brāhmanas who are well qualified with brahminical qualities to be as good as My own mouth.

PURPORT

The word avitatha-gīrbhih means "they whose spoken vibrations cannot be nullified." The brāhmanas (dvija, the twice-born), are given a chance by the śāstric regulations to become almost as powerful as the Supreme Lord. Whatever a brāhmana speaks cannot be nullified or changed in any circumstance. According to the Vedic injunctions, a brāhmana is the mouth of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; therefore in all rituals a brāhmana is offered food (brāhmana-bhojana) because when a brāhmana eats, it is considered that the Supreme Lord Himself eats. Similarly, whatever a brāhmana speaks cannot be changed. It must act. The learned sages who were priests at Mahārāja Nābhi's sacrifice were not only brāhmanas but were so qualified that they were like devas, demigods, or God Himself. If this were not the case, how could they invite Lord Vishnu to come to the sacrificial arena? God is one, and God does not belong to this or that religion. In Kali-yuga, different religious sects consider their God to be different from the God of others, but that is not possible. God is one, and He is appreciated according to different angles of vision. In this verse the word kaivalyāt means that God has no competitor. There is only one God. In the Śvetāśvatara Upanishad (6.8) it is said, na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca driśyate: "No one is found to be equal to Him or greater than Him." That is the definition of God.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness