Canto Ten - Chapter 46

Śrī Śuka said: Uddhava, foremost among the Vṛṣṇis, was Kṛṣṇa's minister and beloved friend, a direct disciple of Bṛhaspati and supreme in intelligence.

One day Hari, who removes the distress of those who surrender to Him, took the hand of this most dear, exclusively devoted servant in His own and spoke to him.

'Gentle Uddhava, go to Vraja and bring happiness to Our parents. Relieve the gopīs' anguish of separation from Me with My messages.'

'Their minds rest in Me, their very lives belong to Me, and for My sake they have renounced concern for their bodies. In their hearts they have accepted Me alone as their dearest beloved and their very Self. I personally sustain all who abandon worldly and religious duties for My sake.'

'My dear Uddhava, because I, the dearest of all their beloveds, am far away, the women of Gokula remember Me and lose awareness of themselves, overwhelmed by the yearning of separation.'

'Those cowherd women, whose entire being belongs to Me, somehow preserve their lives with the greatest difficulty only because of My promise to return.'

Śrī Śuka said: O King, thus instructed, Uddhava respectfully accepted his master's message, mounted his chariot, and departed for Nanda's Gokula.

The illustrious Uddhava reached Nanda's cowherd settlement as the sun was setting. His chariot became concealed by the dust raised from the hooves of the returning animals.

The settlement resounded with powerful bulls fighting over cows in season and with the lowing of cows whose heavy udders swayed as they ran toward their calves.

White calves leaping here and there adorned the village, which reverberated with the sounds of milking and the music of flutes.

It shone splendidly with finely adorned gopīs singing the auspicious deeds of Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa, and with the cowherd men.

The cowherd homes were enchanting with worship of fire, the sun, guests, cows, brāhmaṇas, ancestors, and the gods, and with incense, lamps, and flower garlands.

Flowering forests extended on every side, alive with flocks of birds and swarms of bees, while clusters of lotuses ornamented lakes filled with swans and kāraṇḍava ducks.

Nanda went to meet the arriving guest, Kṛṣṇa's dear attendant. Delighted, he embraced Uddhava and worshiped him with the thought that he represented Vāsudeva.

After feeding him the finest food, seating him comfortably upon a couch, relieving his fatigue, and having his feet massaged and otherwise served, Nanda began to question him.

'My dear greatly fortunate one, is our friend Vasudeva, the son of Śūra, well? Is he now free, together with his children, relatives, and other loved ones?'

'By providence, sinful Kaṃsa has been killed along with his followers by the consequence of his own sins. He always hated the righteous and virtuous Yadus.'

'Does Kṛṣṇa remember us, His mother, His well-wishers and companions, the cowherd men, Vraja and its master, the cows, Vṛndāvana, and Govardhana Hill?'

'Will Govinda come even once to see His own people? Then we shall behold His face, with its graceful nose, beautiful smile, and loving glance.'

'Great-hearted Kṛṣṇa saved us from insurmountable mortal dangers: the forest fire, wind and rain, the bull demon, the serpent, and many others.'

'My dear Uddhava, whenever we remember Kṛṣṇa's heroic deeds, His playful sidelong glances, His laughter, and His speech, all our activities become slack and cease.'

'When we look upon the rivers, mountains, forests, playgrounds, and other places adorned by Mukunda's footprints, our minds become wholly absorbed in Him.'

'I believe Kṛṣṇa and Rāma are the two foremost gods who have come here to accomplish a great purpose for the celestials, just as Garga declared.'

'In mere play They killed Kaṃsa, whose strength equaled ten thousand elephants, as well as the wrestlers and the lordly elephant, just as a lion kills animals.'

'With one hand Kṛṣṇa broke the immensely strong bow, as an elephant snaps a stick, and with that same hand He held up a mountain for seven days.'

'In play He killed Pralamba, Dhenuka, Ariṣṭa, Tṛṇāvarta, Baka, and other demons who had defeated both gods and antigods.'

Śrī Śuka said: Remembering these things again and again, Nanda's mind became absorbed in Kṛṣṇa. Overcome by the swelling tide of love and intense longing, he fell silent.

As Yaśodā heard her son's deeds being recounted, tears streamed from her eyes and milk flowed from her breasts in maternal affection.

Seeing the supreme love of Nanda and Yaśodā for Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, Uddhava joyfully addressed Nanda.

Śrī Uddhava said: O giver of honor, among all embodied beings you two are surely the most praiseworthy, for you have fixed such love upon Nārāyaṇa, the universal spiritual teacher.

Rāma and Mukunda are the two primeval Lords, the seed and womb of the universe, the Supreme Person and the primal material principle. Pervading all beings, They preside over the consciousness by which each being is known as distinct.

If at the moment of death a person fixes even an impure mind upon Him for a single instant, that person quickly casts off the store of karma and reaches the supreme destination, becoming spiritual and radiant like the sun.

O great souls, you have bestowed profound love upon Nārāyaṇa, the source and indwelling Self of all, who appears in a human form as the cause of creation. What meritorious duty could possibly remain for you to fulfill?

Before long, Acyuta, Bhagavān and Lord of the Sātvatas, will return to Vraja and bring joy to His parents.

He has killed Kaṃsa, the enemy of all the Sātvatas, in the center of the arena. Kṛṣṇa will make true the promise He gave you when He departed.

Do not grieve, greatly fortunate ones. You will see Kṛṣṇa nearby. He dwells within the hearts of all beings, like fire hidden within wood.

Because He is free from pride and equal toward all, no one is dear or displeasing to Him; no one is superior or inferior, and no one is either equal or unequal to Him.

He has no mother or father, no wife, sons, or other family. He has neither His own people nor strangers, nor does He possess a material body or birth.

Nor does He have karma in this world that would compel Him to take birth among good, evil, or mixed species. Yet for the sake of divine play and to protect the saintly, the unborn Lord manifests Himself.

Though beyond the qualities of nature, the unborn Lord accepts goodness, passion, and ignorance. Playing through these qualities while remaining beyond them, He creates, protects, and destroys the universe.

Just as the ground seems to whirl when one's vision is spinning, the Self is imagined through ego to be the doer when in truth the active agent is the mind.

Bhagavān Hari is not merely your son. The Lord is the son, the Self, the father, and the mother of everyone.

Whatever has been seen or heard, whatever exists in past, present, or future, whatever is stationary or moving, great or small, cannot in truth be named as a reality apart from Acyuta. He alone is everything, for He is the Supreme Self.

O King, the night passed as Nanda and Kṛṣṇa's attendant spoke together. The gopīs rose, lit their lamps, worshiped the household deities, and began to churn yogurt.

They shone in the lamplight with gleaming jewels, bracelets and garlands moving upon the arms that pulled the churning ropes. Their hips, breasts, necklaces, and earrings swayed, their cheeks flashed with reflected light, and their faces glowed red with kuṅkuma.

As the women of Vraja sang of the lotus-eyed Lord, their voices rose to heaven. Mingled with the sound of churning yogurt, that song dispelled every inauspicious influence from all directions.

When Bhagavān the sun rose, the residents of Vraja saw a golden chariot at Nanda's door and asked, 'Whose chariot is this?'

'Has Akrūra returned, that servant who accomplished Kaṃsa's purpose by taking lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa away to Mathurā?'

'Now that his master is dead, will he use our flesh to complete the rites that please him?' While the women were speaking in this way, Uddhava came out after completing his morning duties.