अहो बताहमृषयो भवद्भिरवितथगीर्भिर्वरमसुलभमभियाचितो यद
मुष्यात्मजो मया सदृशो भूयादिति ममाहमेवाभिरूपः कैवल्यादथापि ब्रह्मवादो
न मृषा भवितुमर्हति ममैव हि मुखं यद द्द्विजदेवकुलम् ॥१७॥
Å›rÄ«-bhagavÄn uvÄca
aho batÄham ṛṣayo bhavadbhir avitatha-gÄ«rbhir varam asulabham abhiyÄcito yad amuá¹£yÄtmajo mayÄ sadṛśo bhÅ«yÄd iti mamÄham evÄbhirÅ«paḥ kaivalyÄd athÄpi brahma-vÄdo na má¹›á¹£Ä bhavitum arhati mamaiva hi mukhaá¹ yad dvija-deva-kulam
Å›rÄ«-bhagavÄn uvÄca - the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; aho - alas; bata - certainly I am pleased; aham - I; ṛṣayaḥ - O great sages; bhavadbhiḥ - by you; avitatha-gÄ«rbhiḥ - whose words are all true; varam - for a benediction; asulabham - very difficult to achieve; abhiyÄcitaḥ - have been requested; yat - that; amuá¹£ya - of King NÄbhi; Ätma-jaḥ - a son; mayÄ sadṛśaḥ - like Me; bhÅ«yÄt - there may be; iti - thus; mama - My; aham - I; eva - only; abhirÅ«paḥ - equal; kaivalyÄt - because of being without a second; athÄpi - nevertheless; brahma-vÄdaḥ - the words spoken by exalted brÄhmaṇas; na - not; má¹›á¹£Ä - false; bhavitum - to become; arhati - ought; mama - My; eva - certainly; hi - because; mukham - mouth; yat - that; dvija-deva-kulam - the class of pure brÄhmaṇas.
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 NÄbhi, 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 brÄhmaṇas, your vibrations should not prove untrue. I consider the brÄhmaṇas who are well qualified with brahminical qualities to be as good as My own mouth.
The word avitatha-gÄ«rbhiḥ means “they whose spoken vibrations cannot be nullified.†The brÄhmaṇas (dvija, the twice-born), are given a chance by the Å›Ästric regulations to become almost as powerful as the Supreme Lord. Whatever a brÄhmaṇa speaks cannot be nullified or changed in any circumstance. According to the Vedic injunctions, a brÄhmaṇa is the mouth of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; therefore in all rituals a brÄhmaṇa is offered food (brÄhmaṇa-bhojana) because when a brÄhmaṇa eats, it is considered that the Supreme Lord Himself eats. Similarly, whatever a brÄhmaṇa speaks cannot be changed. It must act. The learned sages who were priests at MahÄrÄja NÄbhi’s sacrifice were not only brÄhmaṇas but were so qualified that they were like devas, demigods, or God Himself. If this were not the case, how could they invite Lord Viṣṇu 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 kaivalyÄt means that God has no competitor. There is only one God. In the ÅšvetÄÅ›vatara Upaniá¹£ad (6.8) it is said, na tat-samaÅ› cÄbhyadhikaÅ› ca dṛśyate: “No one is found to be equal to Him or greater than Him.†That is the definition of God.
