Na ca anṛta-kathaḥ indicates that He avoided useless poetry. Vidvān indicates that He did not do so out of ignorance, but out of knowledge. As soon as He saw any of the elders mentioned in text 12, He would get up and offer them [due] respect.

In some manuscripts, brāhmaṇa-pratipūjakaḥ appears instead of vṛddhānāṁ pratipūjakaḥ. This indicates that He honored brāhmaṇas, that is, He respected and honored all brāhmaṇas irrespective of whether they were boys or old men. Āpastamba says in this regard—daśa-varṣaś ca brāhmaṇaḥ śata-varṣaś ca kṣatriyaḥ pitā-putrau smṛtau viddhi: “Know that a ten year old brāhmaṇa and a hundred year old kṣatriya are considered in the scriptures to be a father and a son respectively.” (Āpastamba Dharma-sūtra 1.4.14.25)¹ All citizens, from a learned scholar to a poverty-stricken man, loved Him. And He loved them.

¹. Another reading of this verse is daśa-varṣaś ca brāhmaṇaḥ śata-varṣaś ca kṣatriyaḥ / pitā-putrau sma tau viddhi. However, the meaning is the same as noted above. The verse continues: tayos tu brāhmaṇaḥ pitā, “The brāhmaṇa is the father among the two.” But remember that “brāhmaṇa” and “kṣatriya” both refer those who are brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas respectively with their respective qualities. It should be remembered that in the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Viśvāmitra who was born a kṣatriya is recognized as having become a brāhmāna through self-discipline in that very life. The varṇas are based on guṇa and karma only. The Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa has clearly noted in the Fourth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā that the four varṇas are on the basis of guṇa and karma only: cāturvarṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ. This is further reinforced by His description of the four varṇas in the Eighteenth Chapter of the Gītā—all in terms of guṇa and karma only. Interested readers can go through Brāhmaṇa and Vaiṣṇava by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura that provides a detailed analysis of this topic.