HV 84.2
श्रूयतां यादवा वाक्यं सर्वे चावहिता मम । यादवानाम् इयं भूमिर् मथुरा राष्ट्रवर्धनी । वयं चैवेह संभूता व्रजे च परिवर्धिताः ॥
śrūyatāṃ yādavā vākyaṃ sarve cāvahitā mama | yādavānām iyaṃ bhūmir mathurā rāṣṭra-vardhanī | vayaṃ caiveha saṃbhūtā vraje ca parivardhitāḥ
'Let my word be heard, Yādavas, all of you attentive. This is the land of the Yādavas — Mathurā, the realm-increaser. And we ourselves were born here and raised in Vraja.'
The Living Words
*Śrūyatāṃ yādavāḥ vākyam*, 'Yādavas, let the word be heard'. *Sarve cāvahitāḥ*, 'all of you attentive'. *Rāṣṭra-vardhanī*, 'realm-increaser'. *Saṃbhūtā... parivardhitāḥ*, 'born... raised'.
The Heart of It
The verse opens with a leader's careful acknowledgment of what is being proposed to be left. *Yādavānām iyaṃ bhūmiḥ mathurā rāṣṭra-vardhanī* — 'this is the land of the Yādavas'. The Varkari tradition's attention to this: great decisions are made by leaders who first name, with reverence, what is being left. Kṛṣṇa does not disparage Mathurā to justify leaving; he honors it as *rāṣṭra-vardhanī* even as he proposes the move. Jñāneśvar's Haripāṭh's teaching on *tyāga* — that what is renounced must first be honored, not degraded — has HV 84.2 as its model.