Devanagari
इति ते भगवद्याच्ञां शृण्वन्तोऽपि न शुश्रुवु: ।
क्षुद्राशा भूरिकर्माणो बालिशा वृद्धमानिन: ॥ ९ ॥
Verse text
iti te bhagavad-yācṣāṁ
śṛṇvanto ’pi na śuśruvuḥ
kṣudrāśā bhūri-karmāṇo
bāliśā vṛddha-māninaḥ
Synonyms
iti
—
thus
;
te
—
they, the brāhmaṇas
;
bhagavat
—
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
yācṣām
—
the supplication
;
śṛṇvantaḥ
—
hearing
;
api
—
although
;
na śuśruvuḥ
—
they did not hear
;
kṣudra
—
āśāḥ — full of petty desire
;
bhūri
—
karmāṇaḥ — entangled in elaborate ritualistic activities
;
bāliśāḥ
—
childish fools
;
vṛddha
—
māninaḥ — presuming themselves to be wise men .
Translation
The brāhmaṇas heard this supplication from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, yet they refused to pay heed. Indeed, they were full of petty desires and entangled in elaborate rituals. Though presuming themselves advanced in Vedic learning, they were actually inexperienced fools.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The brāhmaṇas heard this supplication from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, yet they refused to pay heed. Indeed, they were full of petty desires and entangled in elaborate rituals. Though presuming themselves advanced in Vedic learning, they were actually inexperienced fools.
KB 10.23.9
But the smārta-brāhmaṇas, who were simply sacrificial-minded, could not understand the dictation of the transcendental devotees of the Lord. They could not even appreciate the begging of the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. Although they heard all the arguments on behalf of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, they did not care for them, and they refused to speak to the boys. Despite being highly elevated in the knowledge of Vedic sacrificial rites, all such nondevotee brāhmaṇas, although they think of themselves as very highly elevated, are ignorant, foolish persons. All their activities are childish because they do not know the purpose of the Vedas, as it is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: to understand Kṛṣṇa. In spite of their advancement in Vedic knowledge and rituals, they do not understand Kṛṣṇa; therefore their knowledge of the Vedas is useless. Lord Caitanya, therefore, gave His valuable opinion that although a person may not be born in a brāhmaṇa family, if he knows Kṛṣṇa or the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness he is more than a brāhmaṇa, and he is quite fit to become a spiritual master.
Purport
These childish
brāhmaṇas
were full of petty desires, such as the desire to attain to material heaven, and therefore they could not recognize the golden transcendental opportunity offered them by the arrival of Kṛṣṇa’s personal boyfriends. Presently, throughout the world, people are madly pursuing material advancement and thus cannot hear the message of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa that is being broadcast through the missionary activities of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Times have hardly changed, and proud, materialistic priests are still prevalent on the earth.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Though the brahmanas were knowledgeable of scripture, why did they not respect Krsna and Balarama? This verse answers. They actually did not know scripture, rather they were ignorant in learning and imparting scripture, and therefore they are criticized with anger for two and half verses. Having only aspirations for insignificant heavenly planets they thought themselves learned ( vrddha), but actually they were only old (vrddha).
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Śukadeva gives his comments in these verses. Though they heard the request of the Lord full of all powers, which he made because of his mercy, they did not respect it since it was a request for food send through the boys. Because of their disrespect Śukadeva criticizes them in anger in two and half verses. They are involved in many rituals with insignificant desires since they have no intelligence (bāliśāḥ) and are proud. Or, they were unintelligent because they did not know that one can achieve the great goals by devotion to the Lord with little effort. Why did they not search out the truth? They thought that they had great knowledge already.