Text 8
śrī-śuka uvāca
sa itthaṁ coditaḥ kṣattrā
tattva-jijñāsunā muniḥ
pratyāha bhagavac-cittaḥ
smayann iva gata-smayaḥ
śrī-śukaḥ uvāca — Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said; saḥ — he (Maitreya Muni); ittham — in this way; coditaḥ — being agitated; kṣattrā — by Vidura; tattva-jijñāsunā — by one who was anxious to inquire to know the truth; muniḥ — the great sage; pratyāha — replied; bhagavat-cittaḥ — God conscious; smayan — wondering; iva — as if; gata-smayaḥ — without hesitation.
Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: O King, Maitreya, being thus agitated by the inquisitive Vidura, at first seemed astonished, but then he replied to him without hesitation, since he was fully God conscious.
Since the great sage Maitreya was filled with God consciousness, he had no reason to be astonished at such contradictory questions by Vidura. Therefore, although as a devotee he externally expressed surprise, as if he did not know how to reply to those questions, he immediately became perfectly settled and properly replied to Vidura. Yasmin vijñāte sarvam evaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavati (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.3). Anyone who is a devotee of the Lord knows about the Lord to some extent, and devotional service to the Lord makes him able to know everything by the grace of the Lord. Although a devotee may apparently express himself to be ignorant, he is full of knowledge in every intricate matter.