Text 9
iti te bhagavad-yācñāṁ
śṛṇvanto ’pi na śuśruvuḥ
kṣudrāśā bhūri-karmāṇo
bāliśā vṛddha-māninaḥ
iti — thus; te — they, the brāhmaṇas; bhagavat — of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; yācñām — 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.
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.
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.