Devanagari
ब्रह्मण्योऽन्य: कुतो नाभेर्विप्रा मङ्गलपूजिता: ।
यस्य बर्हिषि यज्ञेशं दर्शयामासुरोजसा ॥ ७ ॥
Verse text
brahmaṇyo ’nyaḥ kuto nābher
viprā maṅgala-pūjitāḥ
yasya barhiṣi yajṣeśaṁ
darśayām āsur ojasā
Synonyms
brahmaṇyaḥ
—
a devotee of the brāhmaṇas
;
anyaḥ
—
any, other
;
kutaḥ
—
where is
;
nābheḥ
—
besides Mahārāja Nābhi
;
viprāḥ
—
the brāhmaṇas
;
maṅgala
—
pūjitāḥ — well worshiped and satisfied
;
yasya
—
of whom
;
barhiṣi
—
in the sacrificial arena
;
yajṣa
—
īśam — the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the enjoyer of all sacrificial ceremonies
;
darśayām āsuḥ
—
showed
;
ojasā
—
by their brahminical prowess .
Translation
[The second prayer is this.] “Who is a better worshiper of brāhmaṇas than Mahārāja Nābhi? Because he worshiped the qualified brāhmaṇas to their full satisfaction, the brāhmaṇas, by their brahminical prowess, showed Mahārāja Nābhi the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, in person.”
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Who other than King Nābhi was affectionate to the brāhmaṇas? The brāhmaṇas pleased with his charity, revealed to him the Lord by the power of their bhakti during the sacrifice.
The brāhmaṇas were pleased by his donations and other acts so that auspiciousness was created. Or they were worshipped by auspiciousness, since the King was a devotee. By the power of bhakti, they revealed the Lord to him.
Purport
The
brāhmaṇas
engaged as priests in the sacrificial ceremony were not ordinary
brāhmaṇas.
They were so powerful that they could bring forth the Supreme Personality of Godhead by their prayers. Thus Mahārāja Nābhi was able to see the Lord face to face. Unless one is a Vaiṣṇava, he cannot call forth the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord does not accept an invitation unless one is a Vaiṣṇava. Therefore it is said in
Padma Purāṇa:
ṣaṭ-karma-nipuṇo vipro
mantra-tantra-viśāradaḥ
avaiṣṇavo gurur na syād
vaiṣṇavaḥ śva-paco guruḥ
“A scholarly
brāhmaṇa
expert in all subjects of Vedic knowledge is unfit to become a spiritual master without being a Vaiṣṇava, but a person born in a family of a lower caste can become a spiritual master if he is a Vaiṣṇava.” These
brāhmaṇas
were certainly very expert in chanting the Vedic
mantras.
They were competent in the performance of the Vedic rituals, and over and above this they were Vaiṣṇavas. Therefore by their spiritual powers they could call on the Supreme Personality of Godhead and enable their disciple, Mahārāja Nābhi, to see the Lord face to face. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura comments that the word
ojasā
means “by dint of devotional service.”