Chapter 46: Uddhava Spends the Night in Gokula Talking with Nanda
(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'The best adviser of the Vrishnis was Krishna's beloved friend Uddhava [see also 3.2], a direct disciple of Brihaspati and a man of the finest intelligence. (2) One day the Supreme Lord Hari, who removes the distress of the surrendered souls, grabbed his hand and spoke to him, His dearest and most faithful devotee. (3) 'Please Uddhava, oh gentle soul, go, for the satisfaction of My parents, to Vraja and relieve, through My message, the gopîs from the mental pain of being separated from Me. (4) With their minds fixed on Me, they, absorbed in Me, have made Me the purpose of their lives and abandoned all their material ties [with their husband, home and children, see 10.29: 4]. Understanding the souls who for My sake left behind this world and its moral obligations, I sustain those who have only Me as their beloved and dearmost Self. (5) My best one, when the women of Gokula remember Me, their dearest object of love being far away, they become stunned being overwhelmed by the anxiety of separation [see also B.G. 2: 62-64]. (6) With My promises to return, the cowherd women who are fully dedicated to Me, with great difficulty manage to hold on and in some way keep their lives somewhat going.'
(7) S'rî S'uka said: 'After having said this, oh King, Uddhava respectfully accepted the message of his Maintainer, mounted his chariot, and set off for the cowherd village of Nanda. (8) Just as the sun was setting, the fortunate soul reached Nanda's pastures, passing there unnoticed because of the dust of the hooves of the animals coming home. (9-13) With the sounds of the bulls in rut fighting each other for the fertile cows, with the cows with filled udders running after their calves, with the beauty of the white calves capering here and there, and with the milking and the loud reverberation of flutes, the finely ornamented gopîs and gopas, auspiciously singing about the deeds of Balarâma and Krishna, were resplendent to behold. It was all most attractive with the homes of the gopas filled with incense, lamps and flower garlands for the worship of the fire, the sun, the guests, the cows, the brahmins, the forefathers and the gods [see also 10.24: 25]. The forest, flowering on all sides, echoed with the swarms of bees, singing birds, the kârandava ducks and the swans crowding around the adorning bowers of lotuses. (14) After having arrived there, Nanda approached the dear follower of Krishna and embraced him, happy to be reverential with Lord Vâsudeva in mind. (15) He fed him with the finest food, had him comfortably seated on a nice sofa to be relieved of the fatigue and had his feet massaged and so on. Then he inquired: (16) 'Oh dear and most fortunate soul, 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 was reunited with his children? (17) What a luck that the wicked Kamsa, who constantly hated the always righteous and saintly Yadus, together with his followers has been killed because of his sins! (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]? (19) Is Govinda coming back to see His relatives once again, so that we may glance upon His face, His beautiful nose, His nice smile and eyes? (20) Krishna, that so very great Soul, has protected us against insurmountable mortal dangers like a forest fire, the wind and rain, as also against a bull and a serpent. (21) The memory of Krishna's valorous deeds, playful sidelong glances, smiles and words, my dear, made all of us forget our material actions. (22) In Him the mind of those who see the locations where He played - the rivers, the hills and the different parts of the forest that were decorated by [the prints of] His feet - finds its total absorption. (23) I think that Krishna and Râma who arrived here for a great and divine cause of the gods, as confirmed by Garga [see 10.8: 12], are the two most elevated souls among the demigods. (24) After all, Kamsa, who had the strength of ten thousand elephants, the wrestlers and the king of the elephants, have been playfully killed by the both of Them, as easy as animals are by the lion king. (25) A solid bow as long as three tâlas [tree lengths] was by Him, regal as an elephant, broken like a stick, and for seven days He with one hand held up a mountain! (26) Pralamba, Dhenuka, Arishtha, Trinâvarta, Baka and other demons who had conquered both Sura and Asura, were by Them killed out here with ease.'
(27) S'rî S'uka said: 'Nanda fully immersed in Krishna thus over and over remembering Him, became extremely anxious and fell silent, overcome by the force of love. (28) Also mother Yas'odâ overhearing the descriptions of her son's activities, in her love with her breasts moistened gave way to her tears. (29) When Uddhava saw the two of them in their love for the Supreme Lord, in this condition of supreme attraction, he, filled with joy, spoke to Nanda. (30) S'rî Uddhava said: 'Having developed a mentality like this for Nârâyana, the spiritual master of all, the two of you are for certain the most praiseworthy of all embodied beings on the planet, oh respectful souls. (31) Mukunda and Balarâma together constitute the seed and womb of the universe. They are the Original Male Principle [purusha] and His Creative Primeval Energy [pradhâna], who for Their knowledge and control are followed by the confused living beings. (32-33) The person who, giving up his life, but for a moment immerses his impure mind [in Him], that very instant will immediately eradicate all traces of his karma and find himself heading for the supreme destination in a spiritual form with the luster of the sun. With you, good souls, giving Him, Nârâyana, the Soul and Cause of All, the purest and most exceptional love, what other good deeds would there for you remain to perform? (34) Before long Acyuta, [as] the Lord Supreme, the Master and Protector of the Devotees, will satisfy His parents and return to Vraja. (35) In the [wrestling] arena having killed Kamsa, the enemy of all Yadus, Krishna will be true to His word that He would return to you. (36) Please do not falter, oh most fortunate souls, you will see Krishna in the near future. He is present within the hearts of all living beings like fire in firewood. (37) No one is dear or not dear to Him, nor does He, who is free from false pride, regard anyone superior or inferior. He is of an equal respect for everyone [compare S'rî S'rî S'ikshâshthaka and B.G. 9: 29]. (38) For Him there is no father and mother, no wife, no children and so forth. No one is related to Him, nor is anyone strange to Him, and with Him there is neither a question of a [material] body or birth [compare B.G. 10: 3]. (39) For Him there is no karma in this world obliging Him to appear in wombs of a pure, impure or mixed nature. Yet He for the sake of His pastimes manifests to redeem His saintly devotees [see B.G. 3: 22; 4: 7; 13: 22]. (40) Even though He is transcendental beyond the modes called goodness, passion and ignorance, He accepts it to play by the modes. He, the Unborn One, is thus of creation, maintenance and destruction. (41) Just as for someone when he whirls around, the ground seems to be whirling, so too it appears to a person thinking to be the body, that he himself is the doer, while it is the mind that is acting [*, compare B.G. 3: 27]. (42) He is not just the son of the two of you, He is the Supreme Lord Hari, the Lord of Control who is the Son, the Soul, the Father and the Mother of everyone. (43) All that one sees or hears, what is in the past, the present or in the future, what is stationary, mobile, large or small, can in no way be assigned a status separate from Acyuta. He, the Supersoul, is the reality and welfare of all and everything.'
(44) While Nanda and Krishna's messenger were speaking this way, the night came to an end oh King, and the gopîs who had risen, lighted the lamps in the house for the worship and began to churn the butter. (45) As the women were moving their hips and breasts while pulling the ropes, they radiated in the light of the lamps, with the rows of bangles on their arms, with their jewels, with their faces red of the kunkum and glowing from their earrings and necklaces. (46) All inauspiciousness was dispelled in every direction with the loud singing of the lotus-eyed women of Vraja whose reverberating sound, mixed with the sounds of churning butter, filled the air. (47) When the almighty sun rose, the residents of Gokula saw the golden chariot outside the house of Nanda and wondered: 'Whose chariot is this? (48) Maybe Akrûra has come, that servant of Kamsa's desires who took our lotus-eyed Krishna to the city of Mathurâ. (49) Would he, with his master satisfied, be here now to perform the funeral rites with us?' And while the women were speaking thus, Uddhava came walking who had finished his morning duties.'
