FolioCorpusŚrīmad-Bhāgavatam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.3.42

एवं प्रश्न‍मृषीन् पूर्वमपृच्छं पितुरन्तिके । नाब्रुवन् ब्रह्मण: पुत्रास्तत्र कारणमुच्यताम् ॥ ४२ ॥
evaṁ praśnam ṛṣīn pūrvam
[evam prashnam risheen poorvam]
apṛcchaṁ pitur antike
[aprichcham pitur antike]
nābruvan brahmaṇaḥ putrās
[naabruvan brahmanah putraas]
tatra kāraṇam ucyatām
[tatra kaaranam uchyataam]
Word-for-word
evam — similar praśnam — a question ṛṣīn — to the sages pūrvam — previously apṛccham — I asked pituḥ — of my father (Ikṣvāku Mahārāja) antike — in front na abruvan — they did not speak brahmaṇaḥ — of Lord Brahmā putrāḥ — the sons tatra — of that kāraṇam — the reason ucyatām — please say.
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
evaṁ praśnam ṛṣīn pūrvam
evam
similar
praśnam
a question
ṛṣīn
to the sages
pūrvam
previously
apṛcchaṁ pitur antike
apṛccham
I asked
pituḥ
of my father (Ikṣvāku Mahārāja)
antike
in front
nābruvan brahmaṇaḥ putrās
na abruvan
they did not speak
brahmaṇaḥ
of Lord Brahmā
putrāḥ
the sons
tatra kāraṇam ucyatām
tatra
of that
kāraṇam
the reason
ucyatām
please say.
Once in the past, in the presence of my father, Mahārāja Ikṣvāku, I placed a similar question before four great sages who were sons of Lord Brahmā. But they did not answer my question. Please explain the reason for this.
Purport

According to Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī the words brahmaṇaḥ putrāḥ, “the sons of Brahmā,” refer to the four Kumāras headed by Sanaka Ṛṣi. Śrīla Madhvācārya has quoted a verse from the Tantra-bhāgavata stating that the reason the four sons of Lord Brahmā, although mahājanas 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. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī 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.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Once in the past, in the presence of my father, Mahārāja Ikṣvāku, I placed a similar question before four great sages who were sons of Lord Brahmā. But they did not answer my question. Please explain the reason for this. He asked the same question in the presence of his father Ikṣvāku, to the Kumāras. They did not answer though they were omniscient.
Personal Guidance
Even mahājanas withhold the science of bhakti from the immature — readiness, not curiosity, is what opens the door to pure devotional service.
Practical Applications
  • Notice one question you have been pressing answers out of impatience, and let it ripen instead of demanding immediate clarity.
  • Approach a senior devotee today with humility about a doubt you have carried, rather than searching for shortcuts on your own.
  • Refuse to equate intellectual sharpness with spiritual readiness — measure your maturity by your eagerness to hear and serve.
Reflection Questions
  • Where am I, like the young King Nimi, asking questions I am not yet prepared to live the answer to?
  • Whose silence in my life — a teacher's, a senior devotee's, Kṛṣṇa's own — am I treating as rejection rather than instruction?
For Each Age Group
youth
  • When a professor, parent, or senior devotee does not answer a question the way you wanted, journal what you were really asking before arguing back.
  • Pick one peer or online debate you would normally jump into to prove a point, and choose instead to listen and ask one more question.
  • Trade one hour of scrolling for sitting with a senior devotee or elder and hearing whatever they want to speak about, not what you want to extract.
householder
  • When your child or junior at work asks a question beyond their stage, practice giving the answer their maturity can actually use, as the Kumāras did with Nimi.
  • Bring one recurring family disagreement to a trusted senior devotee couple before forcing a resolution at home, accepting that some answers require waiting.
  • Audit which spiritual books or lectures you consume to feel advanced, and replace one with steady hearing of basic Bhāgavatam from a qualified speaker.
senior
  • Identify one younger seeker who keeps pressing you for answers, and discern where merciful silence will serve them better than a full reply.
  • Reflect on questions you asked decades ago that you now see you were not ready to hear answered, and let that soften any lingering resentment toward those who waited with you.
  • Spend time daily in śravaṇa from devotees senior to you in realization, refusing the temptation to assume age has already made you the one who only speaks.
Common Pitfalls
  • Assuming an unanswered question means the teacher does not know, rather than recognizing one's own unreadiness to receive.
  • Mistaking speculative or scholarly mastery for the qualification to grasp pure bhakti, which the four Kumāras themselves illustrated.
  • Pestering advanced devotees for high topics while neglecting the basic sādhana and humility that make hearing fruitful.
Discussion Prompts
  • Share a time a teacher or senior devotee declined to answer you directly — looking back, was it withholding or mercy?
  • The Kumāras were expert in jñāna yet silent on bhakti — where in our own lives does knowledge actually become an obstacle to surrender?
  • Jīva Gosvāmī says Nimi was simply too young to understand fully; how do we honestly assess our own maturity without false humility or false confidence?
Role Play

A new student keeps cornering a senior devotee after every class demanding answers to advanced questions about rasa-tattva, frustrated when responses are brief or deflected. One student plays the eager questioner, another the senior devotee, and a third a friend who pulls the questioner aside afterward to discuss what is actually being asked of him — and what hearing he has skipped.

Objections & Responses
  • If a teacher truly knows the answer, withholding it is elitist gatekeeping — spiritual knowledge should be freely shared with anyone who asks.
    Bhakti is not information to be transferred but a living substance to be received; even Kṛṣṇa says He speaks the Gītā to Arjuna because he is a devotee and friend. The Kumāras' silence was not gatekeeping but protection — a premature answer in an unready heart breeds misunderstanding, not realization. Genuine compassion sometimes looks like patience.
  • This sounds like the standard religious move of telling people they are not 'ready' so they keep submitting to authority indefinitely.
    The verse cuts the other way: Nimi himself is a great king and sincere inquirer, and the silence pointed him toward the right hearing in due course, which he now receives from the nine Yogendras. Readiness is not a permanent verdict but a stage; the tradition's whole structure of sādhana exists precisely so readiness can grow, not so seekers can be kept dependent.
📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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