Devanagari
जडान्धबधिरोन्मत्तमूकाकृतिरतन्मति: ।
लक्षित: पथि बालानां प्रशान्तार्चिरिवानल: ॥ १० ॥
Verse text
jaḍāndha-badhironmatta-
mūkākṛtir atan-matiḥ
lakṣitaḥ pathi bālānāṁ
praśāntārcir ivānalaḥ
Synonyms
jaḍa
—
foolish
;
andha
—
blind
;
badhira
—
deaf
;
unmatta
—
mad
;
mūka
—
dumb
;
ākṛtiḥ
—
appearance
;
a
—
tat — not like that
;
matiḥ
—
his intelligence
;
lakṣitaḥ
—
he was seen
;
pathi
—
on the road
;
bālānām
—
by the less intelligent
;
praśānta
—
calmed
;
arciḥ
—
with flames
;
iva
—
like
;
analaḥ
—
fire .
Translation
Utkala appeared to the less intelligent persons on the road to be foolish, blind, dumb, deaf and mad, although actually he was not so. He remained like fire covered with ashes, without blazing flames.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
He appeared on the road to unintelligent people to be retarded, blind, deaf, mad, and dumb though he was not. He was like a fire with extinguished flames.
On the path, he appeared to be retarded to the foolish people, but he did not have the intellect of a fool (atan-matiḥ).
Purport
In order to avoid contradiction, botheration and unfavorable situations created by materialistic persons, a great saintly person like Jaḍa Bharata or Utkala remains silent. The less intelligent consider such saintly persons to be mad, deaf or dumb. Factually, an advanced devotee avoids speaking with persons who are not in devotional life, but to those who are in devotional life he speaks in friendship, and he speaks to the innocent for their enlightenment. For all practical purposes, the whole world is full of nondevotees, and so one kind of very advanced devotee is called
bhajanānandī.
Those who are
goṣṭhy-ānandī,
however, preach to increase the number of devotees. But even such preachers also avoid opposing elements who are unfavorably disposed towards spiritual life.