Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.13.10

jaḍāndha-badhironmatta-

mūkākṛtir atan-matiḥ

lakṣitaḥ pathi bālānāḿ

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.

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.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness