Krsna Book Audio Dictation - Chapter 46
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Forty-sixth Chapter. Subject: "Uddhava Visiting Vṛndāvana."
When Nanda Mahārāja returned to Vṛndāvana without Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, only accompanied by the cowherds boys and men, it was certainly a very, very pathetic scene for all the gopīs and mother Yaśodā and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and all other inhabitants of the residents of Vṛndāvana, and many devotees have tried to adjust how Kṛṣṇa could be away from Vṛndāvana. According to expert opinion, Kṛṣṇa, the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, never goes even a step out of Vṛndāvana. He always remains there. Under this expert opinion, Kṛṣṇa was actually not absent from Vṛndāvana, but He came back with Nanda Mahārāja as promised by Him.
When He was going to Mathurā on the chariot drawn by…, driven by Akrūra, at that time all the gopīs were practically blocking the way, but Kṛṣṇa assured them that He was coming back just after finishing the business in Mathurā. They should not be so much overwhelmed. In this way, Kṛṣṇa pacified them. But when He did not come back with Nanda Mahārāja, it appears either He cheated them or He could not keep His promise. But expert devotees have decided that Kṛṣṇa neither can be cheater nor can He break His promise. But Kṛṣṇa, in His original identity, returned back with Nanda Mahārāja and was staying with the gopīs and mother Yaśodā in a bhava expansion. In other words, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma who remained in Mathurā, They are not original Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, but They are the expansions of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, namely Vāsudeva and Saṅkarṣaṇa. Real Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma was in Vṛndāvana in a bhava manifestation, whereas in Mathurā the Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma was prabhava and vaibhava. This is the expert opinion of devotees of Kṛṣṇa.
But externally when Nanda Mahārāja was coming back, there was a discussion between him and Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma how they could be separated. But the conclusion was adopted by mutual agreement, because Vasudeva and Devakī happened to be the real father of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. They wanted to keep Them now on account of the death of Kaṁsa, the enemy. They were kept under the protection of Nanda Mahārāja in Vṛndāvana for fear of Kaṁsa. Now naturally, the father and mother of Kṛṣṇa would want Them to remain with them, specifically for the reformatory function such as to purify Them with sacred thread ceremony and to give Them education as the duty of the father.
Besides that, there are other consideration. Kaṁsa being killed by Kṛṣṇa, all the friends of Kṛṣṇa (Kaṁsa) outside Mathurā, they were also planning to attack Mathurā. In that sense, Kṛṣṇa's presence was required. Kṛṣṇa did not like that Vṛndāvana should be disturbed by the enemies like Dantavakra and Jarāsandha, because if Kṛṣṇa would have gone to Vṛndāvana, they would not only attack Mathurā, but they would proceed up to Vṛndāvana, and the peaceful inhabitants of Vṛndāvana absorbed in Kṛṣṇa thought would have been disturbed. So He decided to remain in Mathurā, and Nanda Mahārāja came back. But although they were feeling separation of Kṛṣṇa, in that feeling, the bhava, the ecstasy, was that Kṛṣṇa was always present with them by His līlā, or pastimes.
Since Kṛṣṇa departed from Vṛndāvana to Mathurā, the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, especially mother Yaśodā, Nanda Mahārāja, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the gopīs and the cowherds boys, they were simply thinking of Kṛṣṇa in every step. They were feeling that "Kṛṣṇa was playing in this way here. Kṛṣṇa was blowing His flute in this way here. Kṛṣṇa was joking with us in this way. Kṛṣṇa was embracing us like this way." So this līlā-smaraṇa, this līlā-smaraṇa association of Kṛṣṇa is the most recommended factor by great devotees. Even Lord Caitanya, He was also enjoying this līlā-smaraṇa association of Kṛṣṇa when He was at Purī. In other words, those who are on the most exalted position of devotional service and ecstasy, they can live with Kṛṣṇa always by remembering His pastimes.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has given us one transcendental literature of the name Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanamṛtā. Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanamṛtā. This Kṛṣṇa-bhāvanamṛtām is full with Kṛṣṇa's pastimes, and those who are in the elevated condition of devotional service, they always remain absorbed in Kṛṣṇa thought by reading such book. Any book of Kṛṣṇa-līlā, even this book, Kṛṣṇa, or Teachings of Lord Caitanya, they are actually solace for devotees who are feeling the separation of Kṛṣṇa.
So the summary is that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma did not come back to Vṛndāvana can be adjusted that They did not break Their promise, neither They were absent, but Their presence was necessary in Mathurā. In this way, things were going on.
In the meantime, Uddhava, a cousin-brother of Kṛṣṇa, He was the son of Vasudeva's brother and almost contemporary to Kṛṣṇa, and his bodily feature was almost exactly resembling Kṛṣṇa. He came to see Kṛṣṇa from Dvārakā, and Kṛṣṇa, after returning from His teacher's home, He was pleased to see Uddhava, who happened to be His most dear friend also. He wanted to send him to Vṛndāvana to send some message to the residents of Vṛndāvana on account of their deep feelings of separation.
As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante (BG 4.11), Kṛṣṇa is very, very responsive.
He responses in proportion to the advancement of devotional service of the Lord. As such, the gopīs were thinking of Kṛṣṇa twenty-four hours in separation. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa was also thinking of the gopīs and the residents of Vṛndāvana, mother Yaśodā, Nanda, always, although He appeared to be away from them. So He could understand how much they are transcendentally aggrieved, and so immediately He wanted to send Uddhava to give them some message of solace.
This Uddhava is described as the most exalted personality in the Vṛṣṇi dynasty, almost equal to Kṛṣṇa. He was a great friend, and on account of his being directly the student of Bṛhaspati, who happened to be the teacher and the priest in the heavenly planets, he was very, very intelligent and sharp decision. But in spite of his being highly qualified in so many ways from intellectual point of view, Kṛṣṇa being a very, very loving friend of Uddhava, He wanted him to send…, to go to Vṛndāvana just to study the highly elevated ecstatic devotional service of the gopīs and the residents of Vṛndāvana.
In other words, even if one is highly elevated in material education, just as to become the direct disciple of Bṛhaspati, still, how to love Kṛṣṇa to the highest point one has to learn from the gopīs and the residents of Vṛndāvana. So this was a special favor of Kṛṣṇa towards Uddhava; therefore, He decided to send him to Vṛndāvana with some message to be delivered to the residents of Vṛndāvana so that they may be a little bit pacified.
Next paragraph.
Kṛṣṇa's name is Hari, which means one who takes away all the distress conditions of the surrendered souls. The gopīs of Vṛndāvana were the exemplary (indistinct) of surrendered soul, so much so that Lord Caitanya accepts that there cannot be any better type of worshipment as it was conceived by the gopīs. So Kṛṣṇa, being very much anxious for their aggrievement, one day He talked with Uddhava and with great politeness He requested him to go to Vṛndāvana, shaking his hand with His hands, and He spoke as follows.
"My dear gentle friend Uddhava, please go to Vṛndāvana immediately and try to pacify My father and mother, Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodādevī. And the gopīs are very much aggrieved, so much so they are as if suffering from a great ailments. So if you go and give them some message, I hope their ailments may be partially relieved. The gopīs are always absorbed in My thought. Their life and soul I am. They have dedicated their everything, including body and desire for Me. Not only the gopīs; anyone who sacrifices everything, namely society, friendship, love, personal comforts, for him I am very much anxious, and it is My duty to protect such exalted devotee. To the gopīs I am the dearest than the dearest, and they are always thinking of Me in such a way that they remain always overwhelmed in anxiety on account of separation from Me. On account of My separation, the gopīs are living almost dead, but they are keeping their vitality. But still they are in living condition simply by thinking that I am returning back very soon."
Next paragraph.
Thus being requested by Lord Kṛṣṇa, Uddhava immediately carried His message to Gokula, where Nanda Mahārāja was living, on his chariot. Thus he approached Vṛndāvana at the sunset of the day, when the cows were returning home from pasturing ground, and his chariot was covered by the dust raised by the hoofs of the cows. Uddhava saw in the blocks of the cows, the bulls were running after mating the mature cows, and other cows, being overladened with milk in their bags, were running after the calves to feed them with milk. Uddhava saw that the whole land of Vṛndāvana was full with white cows and their calves, and there was regular sound of milking. All the cows were thus engaged running here and there all over Gokula. Every residential house in Vṛndāvana were very much decorated for worshiping the sun-god, the fire-god, receiving guests, cows, the brāhmaṇas, the demigods, and every home was illuminated with lights and incense in great sanctified position. All over Vṛndāvana there were nice gardens full with flowers and humming sound of the bees and birds, and the lakes were full with lotus flowers surrounded by ducks and swans.
In this way, when Uddhava entered the house of Nanda Mahārāja, he immediately received him as a representative of Vāsudeva and offered him nice place and also sat down with him to ask him about the messages of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma and other family members in Mathurā. He could understand that Uddhava was great confidential friend of Kṛṣṇa; therefore he must have had come there with some good messages. "My dear Uddhava, please tell me how my friend Vasudeva now enjoying life. He is now released from the internment of Kaṁsa, and he is now with his friends and children, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. He must be very, very happy, and let me know about him and his welfare. We are also very much happy that the Kaṁsa, the most sinful demon, is now killed. He was always envious to the family of the Yadus and his friends and relatives. Now on account of his own sinful reaction, he is dead and gone, along with his all brothers. Also please let us know whether Kṛṣṇa is remembering His father, mother here, His friends and companions in Vṛndāvana. Does He like to remember His cows, His gopīs, His Govardhana Hill, His pasturing ground in Vṛndāvana nowadays, or has He forgotten all these now? Is there any possibility of His coming back to see here His friends and relatives so that we can again see His beautiful face with raised nose and lotus-like eyes? We are simply remembering about Kṛṣṇa, how He saved us from the forest fire, how He saved us from the great snake Kāliya in the Yamunā, how He saved us from so many other demons, and we simply think of Him how much obliged we are for His giving us protection from so many dangerous positions.
"My dear Uddhava, when we think of Kṛṣṇa—about His beautiful face, eyes, and about His different activities here in Vṛndāvana—we become so much overwhelmed that actually all our other activities become stunted. We simply think of Kṛṣṇa, how He used to smile, how He was looking upon us with grace, and thus we become standstill from any other activities. When we go on the banks of the Yamunā and other lakes of Vṛndāvana or we go near the Govardhana Parvat or the pasturing field, we see the impression of Kṛṣṇa's footprints on the surface of the earth and immediately we remember Him, how He was playing in those places, because He was constantly visiting such places. In this way, when His appearance within our mind becomes manifest, we immediately become absorbed in thought of Kṛṣṇa.
"We think, therefore, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma may be some of the chief demigods in the heaven, and just to execute some particular duties on the earth They have appeared before us just like ordinary boys. And this was foretold by Gargamuni while making Kṛṣṇa's horoscope some times back. Otherwise, how Kṛṣṇa could kill Kaṁsa, who possessed the strength of ten thousand elephants? And besides him, there were other very strong wrestlers, as well as the giant elephant of the name Kuvalayāpīḍa, and all these animals and demons were killed by Him exactly like the lion kills some ordinary animal. Oh, how wonderful it is that Kṛṣṇa took in His one hand the very heavy and big bow exactly made of three palm trees jointly and He broke it very quickly, and how wonderful it is that continually for seven days He held up the Govardhana Hill in one hand. How wonderfully He has killed all the demons like Pralambāsura, Dhenukāsura, Ariṣṭāsura, Tṛṇāvartāsura, Bakāsura, who were so strong that even the demigods in the higher planets were afraid of them, but still Kṛṣṇa killed them as easily as anything."
Next paragraph.
In this way, Nanda Mahārāja, while he was describing the uncommon activities of Kṛṣṇa before Uddhava, gradually he became so much overwhelmed with the thoughts that he could not speak anymore, but he remained stopped. And what to speak of mother Yaśodā. She was sitting by the side of her husband and was hearing the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa. She also, without expressing anything from the mouth, she was simply crying, and incessant torrents of tears were gliding down from her eyes and incessant torrents of milk was pouring down from her breasts.
When Uddhava saw Mahārāja Nanda and Yaśodā both extraordinarily overwhelmed with the thoughts of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and experienced their extraordinary affection for Kṛṣṇa, he also became overwhelmed and began to speak as follows: "My dear mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja, you are most respectable amongst the human being, because nobody except you can fix up his mind in transcendental ecstasy like you."
Both Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa are the original Personalities of Godhead, from whom the cosmic manifestation has taken place. He is the chief amongst all other personalities. Both of Them are the material and effective causes of this material creation, and the material nature and its conductor, the puruṣa incarnation, they are all acting under Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. By Their partial representation They are entered in the heart of all living entities, and They are the source of all knowledge. Kṛṣṇa is the source of all knowledge and He is the source of all forgetfulness also. It is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, Fifteenth Chapter, wherein it is stated that "I am staying in everyone's heart. From Me one remembers and from Me one forgets. I am the original compiler of the Vedas, and I am the actual knower of the Vedas."
Kṛṣṇa being the Supreme Personality of Godhead, if a person at the time of death, even for a moment, can fix up his pure mind upon Kṛṣṇa, then immediately he becomes eligible to give up this material body and appear in his original, spiritual body, exactly like the sun rises with all illumination. And thus passing his life in this way, immediately he enters into the spiritual kingdom, Vaikuṇṭha. This is the result of Kṛṣṇa consciousness practice.
While we have got our living condition in this body and we are in healthy condition, in good modes of mind, if we practice Kṛṣṇa consciousness simply by chanting the holy mahā-mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, then there is every possibility of fixing our mind upon Kṛṣṇa at the time of death. And if that is done, then our life becomes successful, without any doubt. Similarly, if we keep our mind always absorbed in fruitive activities for material enjoyment, then naturally at the time of death we shall think of such activities and again be entered into a material conditioned body to suffer the threefold miseries of material existence. To remain therefore always absorbed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, if not to the standard of the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana as exhibited by Mahārāja Nanda and Yaśodā and other gopīs, if we can simply follow their footsteps, even to the proportion of a minute portion, our life will surely become successful for entering into the spiritual kingdom, Vaikuṇṭha.
"My dear mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja, you have thus fixed up your minds wholly and solely upon that Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, in His transcendental form—the cause of impersonal Brahma, because the Brahma effulgence is only bodily rays of Nārāyaṇa. And because you are always compact in ecstasy in the thought of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, what else pious activity remain to be done by you? I have brought the message from Kṛṣṇa that He would very soon come back again to Vṛndāvana and satisfy you both by His personal presence. Kṛṣṇa promised that He would come back to Vṛndāvana after finishing the business in Mathurā. That He will surely fulfill. I therefore request you both, who are the greatest amongst all fortunates, that you may not be very much aggrieved on account of Kṛṣṇa's absence in Vṛndāvana. You are already perceiving His presence twenty-four hours, and still He will physically also come and see you very soon.
"Actually He is present everywhere and in everyone's heart, exactly like fire is there in every wood. Kṛṣṇa being the Supersoul of every entity, for Him nobody is enemy or nobody is friend, nobody is equal to Him, nobody is lower than Him or higher than Him or equal to Him. As such, factually He has no father, mother, brother or relative, neither does He require any society, friendship and love. Nor He has got any material body like us. As such, He never appears or takes birth just like ordinary human being from father and mother. He does not appear in higher or lower grades of species of life like ordinary living entity, who are forced to take birth on account of their previous fruitive activities. Still, He appears by His internal potency just to give protection to His devotee.
"He is never influenced by the modes of material nature. Still, when He appears within this material world, it seems that He is also acting like a ordinary living entity under the spell of three modes of material nature. In fact, He is the overseer of this material creation, and without being affected by the material modes of nature, He creates, maintains and dissolves the whole cosmic manifestation. We wrongly think of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma as if ordinary human being, exactly like a whirling man on account of his whirling position sees the whole world whirling round him.
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa is nobody's son, but He is actually everybody's father, mother and the supreme controller, without any doubt. Within this cosmic manifestation whatever is being experienced, whatever is not being experienced, whatever is already in existence or whatever is not in existence, or whatever will be in existence in future, whatever is the smallest and whatever is the biggest, everything has no separate existence without being supported by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As such, everything is resting in Him, but still He is out of touch of everything manifested."
Nanda and Uddhava thus passed the whole night talking about Kṛṣṇa like this, and at the end of the night, early in the morning, the gopīs prepared for maṅgala-ārātrika. Thus they lighted up their lamps and sprinkled over water mixed with yogurt. After finishing their maṅgala-ārātrika, immediately they engaged themselves in the business of churning butter from the yogurt. While the gopīs were engaged in churning butter, the lamps reflected on the ornaments on the body became still more illuminated, and because they were pulling on the ropes fixed up in the churning rod, their arms, their earrings, their bangles in the hand, their breasts, everything was moving, and on account of kuṅkuma powder being spread over their body, the luster of their face became compared with the rising sun in saffron color.
While churning the butter, they were also singing the glories of Kṛṣṇa, and the two kinds of sound vibration mixed together were rising up to the sky and thus sanctifying the whole atmosphere. After this, immediately after the sunrise, as usual the gopīs came to see Nanda Mahārāja and Yaśodā to offer their respect. But when they saw at the door the golden chariot of Uddhava, they began to inquire amongst themselves what was that chariot and to whom it belonged. Some of them inquired if Akrūra, who took away Kṛṣṇa, had again come here. They were not very much pleased with Akrūra because, being engaged in the service of Kaṁsa, he took away Kṛṣṇa, the lotus-eyed, carried to the city of Mathurā. All the gopīs conjectured that Akrūra might have come again to fulfill another cruel plan. But the y said, "We are now dead bodies without our supreme master, Kṛṣṇa, and what further harm he can commit on these dead bodies?" While they were talking amongst themselves in this way, Uddhava also by this time finished his morning ablution and morning prayers, chanting etc., and came before them.
Next paragraph.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Forty-sixth Chapter of Kṛṣṇa in the matter of "Uddhava Visiting Vṛndāvana."