VedaVyasa
Praneetha
The Mad Bhagavatam
Chapter 46
Uddhava Spends the Night in Gokula Talking with Nanda
(Uddhava Visits Vṛndāvana)
This chapter describes how Śrī Kṛṣṇa sent Uddhava to Vraja to relieve the distress of Nanda, Yaśodā and the young gopīs.
One day Lord Kṛṣṇa asked His intimate friend Uddhava to take news of Him to Vraja and thus relieve His parents and the gopīs of their misery caused by their separation from Him. Riding on a chariot, Uddhava reached Vraja at sunset. He saw the cows returning home to the cowherd village and the calves jumping here and there as their mothers followed slowly behind, weighed down by their heavy milk bags. The cowherd men and women were chanting the glories of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, and the village was attractively decorated with burning incense and rows of lamps. All this presented a scene of exceptional transcendental beauty.
Nanda Mahārāja welcomed Uddhava warmly into his home. The cowherd King then worshiped him as nondifferent from Lord Vāsudeva, fed him nicely, seated him comfortably upon a bed and then inquired from him about the welfare of Vasudeva and his sons, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. Nanda asked, "Does Kṛṣṇa still remember His friends, the village of Gokula and Govardhana Hill? He protected us from a forest fire, wind and rain, and many other disasters. By remembering His pastimes again and again, we are relieved of all karmic entanglement, and when we see the places marked by His lotus feet, our minds become fully absorbed in thought of Him. Garga Muni told me that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma have both descended directly from the spiritual world. Just see how They have so easily dispatched Kaḿsa, the wrestlers, the elephant Kuvalayāpīḍa and many other demons!" As Nanda remembered Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, his throat choked up with tears and he could speak no further. Meanwhile, as mother Yaśodā heard her husband speak of Kṛṣṇa, the intense love she felt for her son caused a flood of milk to pour from her breasts and a torrent of tears from her eyes.
Seeing the superexcellent affection Nanda and Yaśodā had for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Uddhava commented, "You two are indeed most glorious. One who has attained pure love for the Supreme Absolute Truth in His humanlike form has nothing further to accomplish. Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma are present in the hearts of all living beings, just as fire lies dormant within wood. These two Lords see all equally, having no particular friends or enemies. Free from egoism and possessiveness, They have no father, mother, wife or children, are never subject to birth, and have no material body. Only to enjoy spiritual happiness and deliver Their saintly devotees do They appear by Their own sweet will among various species of life, both high and low.
"Lord Kṛṣṇa is not merely the son of you, O Nanda and Yaśodā, but the son of all persons, as well as their mother and father. In fact, He is everyone's dearest relation inasmuch as nothing that is seen or heard in the past, present or future, among the moving or nonmoving, is independent of Him."
Nanda Mahārāja and Uddhava passed the night talking about Kṛṣṇa in this way. Then the cowherd women performed their morning worship and began churning butter, singing the glories of Śrī Kṛṣṇa as they busily pulled the churning ropes. The sounds of churning and singing reverberated into the sky, cleansing the world of all inauspiciousness.
When the sun rose, the gopīs saw Uddhava's chariot at the edge of the cowherd village, and they thought that Akrūra might have returned. But just then Uddhava finished his morning duties and presented himself before them.
10.46.1
vṛṣṇīnāḿ pravaro mantrī
śiṣyo bṛhaspateḥ sākṣād
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'The best adviser to the Vrishnis was Krishna's beloved friend Uddhava [see also 3.2], a direct disciple of Brihaspati of the finest intelligence.
The ācāryas give various reasons why Lord Kṛṣṇa sent Uddhava to Vṛndāvana. The Lord had promised the residents of Vṛndāvana: āyāsye, "I shall return." (Bhāg. 10.39.35) Also, in the previous chapter Lord Kṛṣṇa promised Nanda Mahārāja: draṣṭum eṣyāmaḥ, "We will come back to see you and mother Yaśodā." (Bhāg. 10.45.23) At the same time, the Lord could not break His promise to Śrī Vasudeva and mother Devakī to finally spend some time with them after they had suffered for so many years. Therefore, the Lord decided to send His intimate representative to Vṛndāvana in His place.
The question may be asked, Why did Kṛṣṇa not invite Nanda and Yaśodā to visit Him in Mathurā? According to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, for the Lord to have exchanged loving feelings with Nanda and Yaśodā in the same place and at the same time that He was exchanging them with Vasudeva and Devakī would have created an awkward situation in the Lord's pastimes. Thus Kṛṣṇa did not invite Nanda and Yaśodā to stay with Him in Mathurā. The residents of Vṛndāvana had their own way of understanding Kṛṣṇa, and their feelings could not have been appropriately expressed on a regular basis in the kingly atmosphere of Mathurā.
Śrī Uddhava is described in this verse as buddhi-sattamaḥ, "the most intelligent," and thus he could expertly pacify the residents of Vṛndāvana, who were feeling such intense separation from Lord Kṛṣṇa. Then, upon his return to Mathurā, Uddhava would describe to all the members of the Vṛṣṇi dynasty the extraordinary pure love he had seen in Vṛndāvana. Indeed, the love the cowherd men and gopīs felt for Kṛṣṇa was far beyond anything the Lord's other devotees had ever experienced, and by hearing about that love all the Lord's devotees would increase their faith and devotion.
As stated in the Third Canto by the Lord Himself, noddhavo 'nv api man-nyūnaḥ: "Uddhava is not even slightly different from Me." Resembling Kṛṣṇa so much, Uddhava was the perfect person to carry out the Lord's mission in Vṛndāvana. In fact, Śrī Hari-vaḿśa states that Uddhava is the son of Vasudeva's brother Devabhāga: uddhavo devabhāgasya mahā-bhāgaḥ suto 'bhavat. In other words, he is a cousin-brother of Śrī Kṛṣṇa's.
10.46.2
prapannārti-haro hariḥ
(2) To him, His dearmost, unique devotee spoke some day the Supreme Lord Hari, who removes the distress of the surrendered, taking his hand into His.
10.46.3
gopīnāḿ mad-viyogādhiḿ
(3) 'Please Uddhava, o gentle one, go for the satisfaction of My parents to Vraja and relieve, by carrying My messages, the gopîs from the mental pain of being separated from Me.
10.46.4
(4) They absorbed in Me, with their minds fixed on Me, made Me the purpose of their lives abandoning everything physical [of husband, home and children, see 10.29: 4]. Understanding those who for My sake left behind this world and its moral obligations, I sustain them who have Me alone as their beloved and dearmost Self.
Here the Lord explains why He wants to send a special message to the gopīs. According to the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas, the word daihikāḥ, "related to the body," refers to husbands, children, homes and so on. The gopīs loved Kṛṣṇa so intensely that they could think of nothing else. Since Śrī Kṛṣṇa maintains ordinary devotees engaged in sādhana-bhakti, devotional service in practice, He will certainly maintain the gopīs, His most exalted devotees.
10.46.5
smarantyo 'ńga vimuhyanti
virahautkaṇṭhya-vihvalāḥ
(5) The women of Gokula remembering Me, their dearest object of love being far away, My best, become stunned being overwhelmed by the anxiety of separation [see also B.G. 2: 62-64].
Whatever is dear to us becomes an object of our possessiveness. Ultimately the most dear object is our very soul, or our self. Thus things in a favorable relationship to our self also become dear to us, and we try to possess them. According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, among countless millions of such dear things, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the most dear of all, even dearer than one's own self. The gopīs had realized this fact, and thus they were stunned in separation from the Lord because of their intense love for Him. Although they would have given up their lives, they were kept alive by the Lord's transcendental potency.
10.46.6
dhārayanty ati-kṛcchreṇa
pratyāgamana-sandeśair
ballavyo me mad-ātmikāḥ
(6) The cowherd women fully dedicated to Me, with My promises to return do with great difficulty hold on, somehow keeping their lives going.'
the gopīs of Vṛndāvana were apparently married, their husbands actually had no contact whatsoever with their supremely attractive qualities of form, taste, fragrance, sound, touch and so on. Rather, their husbands merely presumed, "These are our wives." In other words, by Lord Kṛṣṇa's spiritual potency, the gopīs existed entirely for His pleasure, and Kṛṣṇa loved them in the mood of a paramour. In fact, the gopīs were manifestations of Kṛṣṇa's internal nature, His supreme pleasure potency, and on the spiritual platform they attracted the Lord by their pure love.
Nanda Mahārāja and mother Yaśodā, Lord Kṛṣṇa's parents in Vṛndāvana, had also attained a most exalted state of love for Kṛṣṇa, and they too could barely maintain their lives in His absence. Thus Uddhava would also give special attention to them.
10.46.7
(7) S'rî S'uka said: 'With Him thus having spoken o King, accepted Uddhava respectfully the message of his Sustainer, mounted he his chariot and set he off to the cowherd village of Nanda.
10.46.8
(8) Just as the sun was setting reached the fortunate one Nanda's pastures, passing unnoticed because of the dust of the hooves of the animals that were coming home.
10.46.9-13
vāsitārthe 'bhiyudhyadbhir
dhāvantībhiś ca vāsrābhir
itas tato vilańghadbhir
go-vatsair maṇḍitaḿ sitaiḥ
go-doha-śabdābhiravaḿ
sv-alańkṛtābhir gopībhir
agny-arkātithi-go-vipra-
pitṛ-devārcanānvitaiḥ
haḿsa-kāraṇḍavākīrṇaiḥ
padma-ṣaṇḍaiś ca maṇḍitam
(9-13Gokula resounded on all sides with the sounds of bulls in rut fighting with one another for fertile cows; with the mooing of cows, burdened by their udders, chasing after their calves; with the noise of milking and of the white calves jumping here and there; with the loud reverberation of flute-playing; and with the singing of the all-auspicious deeds of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma by the cowherd men and women, who made the village resplendent with their wonderfully ornamented attire. The cowherds' homes in Gokula appeared most charming with their abundant paraphernalia for worship of the sacrificial fire, the sun, unexpected guests, the cows, the brāhmaṇas, the forefathers and the demigods. On all sides lay the flowering forest, echoing with flocks of birds and swarms of bees and beautified by its lakes crowded with swans, kāraṇḍava ducks and bowers of lotuses.
Although Gokula was merged in grief because of separation from Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord expanded His internal potency to cover that particular manifestation of Vraja and allow Uddhava to see the normal bustle and joy of Vraja at sunset.
10.46.14
kṛṣṇasyānucaraḿ priyam
vāsudeva-dhiyārcayat
(14) With him having arrived approached Nanda the dear follower of Krishna and embraced he him happy to be of reverence with Lord Vâsudeva in his mind.
Uddhava looked just like Nanda's son Kṛṣṇa and gave pleasure to anyone who saw him. Thus although Nanda was absorbed in thoughts of separation from Kṛṣṇa, when he saw Uddhava coming toward his house, he became aware of external events and eagerly went out to embrace his exalted visitor.
10.46.15
bhojitaḿ paramānnena
pāda-saḿvāhanādibhiḥ
(15) Having him fed with the finest food, comfortably seated on a nice sofa to be relieved of the fatigue and with his feet massaged and so on, inquired he:
10.46.16
āste kuśaly apatyādyair
(16) 'O dear and most fortunate one, does our friend the son of S'ûra [Vasudeva] who is so devoted to his well-wishers, fare well now that he is released and has joined with his children?
10.46.17
(17) What a luck that the wicked Kamsa, who constantly hated the always righteous and saintly Yadus, because of his sins together with his followers has been killed!
10.46.18
gāvo vṛndāvanaḿ girim
(18) Is Krishna still thinking of us, His mother, His well-wishers and friends, the gopas of Vraja of whom He is the master, the cows, Vrindâvana forest and the mountain [see 10.24: 25]?
10.46.19
(19) Is Govinda coming back to see once more His folk so that we may glance upon His face, His beautiful nose, His nice smile and eyes?
Now that Kṛṣṇa had become a prince in the great city of Mathurā, Nanda had lost hope that He would come back to live in the simple cowherd village of Vṛndāvana. But he hoped against hope that Kṛṣṇa would come back at least once to visit the simple cowherd folk who had raised Him from birth.
10.46.20
vṛṣa-sarpāc ca rakṣitāḥ
duratyayebhyo mṛtyubhyaḥ
(20) By Krishna, that so very great Soul, were we protected against insurmountable mortal dangers like a forest fire, the wind and rain, as also against a bull and a serpent.
10.46.21
līlāpāńga-nirīkṣitam
hasitaḿ bhāṣitaḿ cāńga
(21) The memory of Krishna's valorous deeds, playful sidelong glances, smiles and words, my dear, made us all forget our material concerns.
10.46.22
saric-chaila-vanoddeśān
(22) With those who see the locations where He played, the rivers, the hills and the different parts of the forest that were decorated by His feet, finds the mind total absorption in Him.
10.46.23
prāptāv iha surottamau
(23) I think that Krishna and Râma are, as confirmed by Garga [see 10.8: 12], of the demigods the two most elevated on this planet, present here for a great and holy, divine cause.
10.46.24
avadhiṣṭāḿ līlayaiva
(24) After all, have Kamsa, who had the strength of ten thousand elephants, the wrestlers and the king of the elephants playfully been killed by the both of Them, as easy as animals are by the lion king.
Here Nanda means to say, "Not only did Garga Muni declare that these boys are divine, but just see what They have done! Everyone is talking about it."
10.46.25
babhañjaikena hastena
(25) A bow as solid as fifty centimeters thick [three tâlas] was by Him royal as an elephant broken like a stick and for seven days held He with one hand up a mountain!
a tāla ("palm tree") is a measurement of about sixty hastas, or ninety feet. Thus the great bow Kṛṣṇa broke was two hundred seventy feet long.
10.46.26
pralambo dhenuko 'riṣṭas
tṛṇāvarto bakādayaḥ
daityāḥ surāsura-jito
(26) Pralamba, Dhenuka, Arishtha, Trinâvarta, Baka and other demons who had conquered both Sura and Asura were by Them out here killed with ease.'
10.46.27
(27) S'rî S'uka said: 'Nanda thus remembering again and again, fully immersed in Krishna became extremely anxious and fell silent overcome by the force of his pure love.
10.46.28
śṛṇvanty aśrūṇy avāsrākṣīt
(28) Mother Yas'odâ overhearing the descriptions of her son's activities gave way to her tears while her breasts got wet from her love.
From the very day that Kṛṣṇa had left for Mathurā, mother Yaśodā, though counseled and consoled by hundreds of men and women, could see nothing but the face of her son. She kept her eyes closed to everyone else and cried constantly. Thus she could not recognize Uddhava, treat him with parental affection, ask him any questions or give him any message for her son. She was simply overwhelmed with love for Kṛṣṇa.
10.46.29
vīkṣyānurāgaḿ paramaḿ
(29) Seeing the two of them in this condition of their supreme attraction of love for the Supreme Lord spoke Uddhava ecstatically.
If Uddhava had seen Nanda and Yaśodā actually suffering, he would not have reacted with joy. But in fact all emotions on the spiritual platform are transcendental bliss. The so-called anguish of the pure devotees is another form of loving ecstasy. This was clearly seen by Uddhava, and thus he spoke as follows.
10.46.30
(30) S'rî Uddhava said: 'The two of you are for sure, in your having developed a mentality like this for Nârâyana, the spiritual master of all, the most praiseworthy of all embodied beings in this world, o respectful one.
Understanding Nanda's mood, as expressed by his statement manye kṛṣṇaḿ ca rāmaḿ ca prāptāv iha surottamau ("I think Kṛṣṇa and Rāma must be two exalted demigods"), Uddhava here referred to Kṛṣṇa as Lord Nārāyaṇa.
10.46.31
(31) These two of Râma and Mukunda, indeed are the seed and the womb of the universe; They are the primeval Male Principle and His Creative Energy who accompany the living beings [confused] in all their diversity with knowledge and control.
The word vilakṣaṇa means either "distinctly perceiving" or "confused," depending on how the prefix vi- is understood in context. In the case of enlightened souls, vilakṣaṇa means "perceiving the correct distinction between the body and the soul" and thus Lord Kṛṣṇa, as indicated by the word īśāte, guides the spiritually advancing soul. The other meaning of vilakṣaṇa — "confused" or "bewildered" — clearly applies to those who have not understood the difference between the soul and the body, or the distinction between the individual soul and the Supreme Soul. Such bewildered living beings do not go back home, back to Godhead, to the eternal spiritual world, but rather achieve temporary destinations according to the laws of nature.
It is understood from all Vaiṣṇava literature that Śrī Rāma, Balarāma, here accompanying Lord Kṛṣṇa, is nondifferent from Him, being His plenary expansion. The Lord is one, yet He expands Himself, and thus Lord Balarāma in no way compromises the principle of monotheism.
10.46.32-33
bhāvaḿ vidhattāḿ nitarāḿ mahātman
(32-33) That person who in his life divided within but for a moment immerses his mind [in Him] will at that time immediately eradicate all traces of karmic impurities and will head for the supreme destination in a spiritual form with the color of the sun. With your good selves giving Him, the Great Soul and Self that is the reason of existence of all, giving Him, Nârâyana, the Ultimate Cause in a mortal frame, by all means the utmost purest love, what good deeds then would there remain for you to perform?
10.46.34
āgamiṣyaty adīrgheṇa
priyaḿ vidhāsyate pitror
(34) In not too long a time will Acyuta, [as] the Lord Supreme, the Master and Protector of the Devotees, to give satisfaction to His parents, return to [the full vision within the people of] Vraja.
10.46.35
(35) Having killed Kamsa, the enemy of all Yadus, in the arena, [and all other evil in the world...] will Krishna be true to that what He told you of His turning back.
10.46.36
(36) Please do not falter o most fortunate ones, you will see Krishna in the near future; He is present within the hearts of all living beings like fire in firewood.
Uddhava understood that Nanda and Yaśodā were very impatient to see Kṛṣṇa, and thus he reassured them that Śrī Kṛṣṇa would come soon.
10.46.37
nāpriyo vāsty amāninaḥ
nottamo nādhamo vāpi
(37) In reality there is no one especially dear or not dear to Him, nor does He, free from false pride being of the same respect for all, hold anyone superior or inferior [compare S'rî S'rî S'ikshâshthaka and B.G. 9: 29].
10.46.38
(38) For Him there is no father and no mother, no wife, no children and so forth; no one is related to Him, nor is anyone an outsider and there is no [material] body or birth of Him either [compare 10: 3].
10.46.39
krīḍārthaḿ so 'pi sādhūnāḿ
(39) For Him there is no karma in this world to appear in wombs pure or impure or mixed and yet for the sake of pastimes He appears in order to redeem His saintly devotees [see B.G. 3: 22; 4: 7; 13: 22].
10.46.40
krīḍann atīto 'pi guṇaiḥ
(40) Though being beyond the modes called goodness, passion and ignorance accepts He it, being transcendental, to play by the modes, thus is He, as the Unborn One, of creation, maintenance and destruction.
As stated in the Brahma-sūtra (2.1.34), loka-vat līlā-kaivalyam: "The Lord performs His spiritual pastimes as if He were a resident of this world."
Although the Lord does not favor or abuse anyone, we still observe happiness and suffering in this world. The Gītā (13.22) states, kāraṇaḿ guṇa-sańgo 'sya: We desire to associate with various qualities of material nature, and thus we must accept the consequences. The Lord provides the field of material nature, in which we exercise our free will. Foolish nondevotees not only attempt to cheat the Lord by trying to exploit His nature, but when they suffer the reaction they blame God for their own misdeeds. This is the shameless position of those who are envious of God.
10.46.41
bhrāmyatīva mahīyate
(41) Just as in one's vision when one whirls around, the ground seems to be whirling, so too seems, when one thinks of oneself as being the body, the self to be the doer, while it is the mind that is acting [compare B.G. 3: 27].
Although our happiness and distress are caused by our own interaction with the material qualities, we perceive the Lord to be their cause.
10.46.42
yuvayor eva naivāyam
(42) He is not the son of the two of you alone, He is the Supreme Lord Hari who is the son, the very self, the father ànd the mother; He is the Lord of Control.
10.46.43
dṛṣṭaḿ śrutaḿ bhūta-bhavad-bhaviṣyat
(43) What is seen or heard, what is in the past, the present or in the future; what is stationary, mobile, large or small can in no way said to be a thing apart from Acyuta; He alone, manifesting as the Supersoul, is everything.'
Śrī Uddhava is relieving the distress of Nanda and Yaśodā by bringing them to a more philosophical plane. He is explaining that since Lord Kṛṣṇa is everything and is within everything, His pure devotees are always with Him.
10.46.44
vāstūn samabhyarcya daudhīny amanthun
(44) As Nanda and Krishna's servant were thus speaking ran the night to an end, o King, lighted the women rising from sleep lamps in worship before their deities and began they to churn the butter.
10.46.45
tviṣat-kapolāruṇa-kuńkumānanāḥ
(45) In the light of the lamps pulling the ropes, with the rows of bangles on their arms, with their jewels and with their faces red of the kunkum glowing of their earrings and necklaces, shone the women while their hips and breasts were moving.
10.46.46
dadhnaś ca nirmanthana-śabda-miśrito
(46) As the women of Vraja with their eyes like lotuses with the reverberation of their loud singing that was mixed with the sounds of churning for the butter were touching the sky, was all inauspiciousness in every direction dispelled.
The gopīs were absorbed in thought of Kṛṣṇa and were thus feeling His presence. Therefore they could joyfully sing.
10.46.47
kasyāyam iti cābruvan
(47) When the supreme master of the sun rose saw the residents of Gokula the golden chariot outside the house of Nanda and wondered they 'To whom does it belong?
10.46.48
(48) Maybe Akrûra has come, that agent to the purpose of Kamsa by whom Krishna with His lotus eyes was brought to Mathurâ.
10.46.49
kiḿ sādhayiṣyaty asmābhir
uddhavo 'gāt kṛtāhnikaḥ
(49) Would he then, with his master satisfied, be here to celebrate the death rituals with us?' And while the women were thus speaking came there Uddhava who had finished his morning duties.'
This verse reveals the bitter disappointment the gopīs felt when Akrūra took Kṛṣṇa away. However, they will be pleasantly surprised to see that the unexpected guest is Uddhava.
Thus end of the Tenth Canto, Forty-sixth Chapter, of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, entitled "Uddhava Visits Vṛndāvana."
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