SB 7.13.14 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

कर्मणाकृतिभिर्वाचा लिङ्गैर्वर्णाश्रमादिभि: । न विदन्ति जना यं वै सोऽसाविति न वेति च ॥ १४ ॥

Verse text

karmaṇākṛtibhir vācā liṅgair varṇāśramādibhiḥ na vidanti janā yaṁ vai so ’sāv iti na veti ca

Synonyms

karmaṇā — by activities ; ākṛtibhiḥ — by bodily features ; vācā — by words ; liṅgaiḥ — by symptoms ; varṇa — āśrama — pertaining to the particular material and spiritual divisions of varṇa and āśrama ; ādibhiḥ — and by other symptoms ; na vidanti — could not understand ; janāḥ — people in general ; yam — whom ; vai — indeed ; saḥ — whether that person ; asau — was the same person ; iti — thus ; na — not ; vā — or ; iti — thus ; ca — also .

Translation

Neither by that saintly person’s activities, by his bodily features, by his words nor by the symptoms of his varṇāśrama status could people understand whether he was the same person they had known.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Neither by that saintly person's activities, by his bodily features, by his words nor by the symptoms of varṇāśrama status could people understand whether he was some person they knew.

Purport

The inhabitants of that particular place on the bank of the Kāverī in the valley of the mountain known as Sahya were unable to understand whether that saint was the same man they had known. It is therefore said, vaiṣṇavera kriyā mudrā vijṣe nā bhujhaya. A highly advanced Vaiṣṇava lives in such a way that no one can understand what he is or what he was. Nor should attempts be made to understand the past of a Vaiṣṇava. Without asking the saintly person about his previous life, Prahlāda Mahārāja immediately offered him respectful obeisances.