evaḿ praśnam ṛṣīn pūrvam
apṛcchaḿ pitur antike
nābruvan brahmaṇaḥ putrās
tatra kāraṇam ucyatām
evam -- similar; prasnam -- a question; rishin -- to the sages; purvam -- previously; apriccham -- I asked; pituh -- of my father (Ikshvaku Maharaja); antike -- in front; na abruvan -- they did not speak; brahmanah -- of Lord Brahma; putrah -- the sons; tatra -- of that; karanam -- the reason; ucyatam -- please say.
Once in the past, in the presence of my father, Maharaja Ikshvaku, I placed a similar question before four great sages who were sons of Lord Brahma. But they did not answer my question. Please explain the reason for this.
According to Srila Sridhara Svami the words brahmanah putrah, "the sons of Brahma," refer to the four Kumaras headed by Sanaka Rishi. Srila Madhvacarya has quoted a verse from the Tantra-bhagavata stating that the reason the four sons of Lord Brahma, although mahajanas and experts in the science of devotional service, declined to answer King Nimi was that they wanted to demonstrate clearly that even those who are expert in the cultivation of speculative knowledge cannot understand the actual science of pure devotional service. Srila Jiva Gosvami has further commented that the sages avoided answering the question from the King because at that time King Nimi was a young boy and therefore not mature enough to understand the answer fully.
