Chapter Seven from the book Secret Truths of the Bhāgavatam, 2nd edition by Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja

 

Come with me to Vṛndāvana and Mathurā. Concentrate your mind. Among all human beings in this world, not one is happy or satisfied. You may be living in America, you may be today’s richest person, or you may be making so much money. Your house may be full of all kinds of comforts and opulent paraphernalia. You may have a very beautiful wife, and perhaps, after being married for one or two years, you have chosen a new wife. You may also have very good and qualified children, as well as two, three, four, or five dogs.

Everything may be okay, but still so many problems come. Everyone is suffering. Those who are rich suffer more than anyone else. This life is full of misery, problems, difficulties, sorrows, sufferings, and diseases. No one is free from tasting the varieties (of suffering). I think that there are so many rich people among you, but can any of you raise your hand and say, “I have never had any problem?” Can you say, “I am without problems and am always happy?” This morning one of you told me you were sick. In this world, no one is happy, whether he be a king, a prime minister, a president, or anything else.

All jīvas want pure happiness, but that desire is absurd in this māyā-saṁsāra (material world). We always want happiness to come to us, but as stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

śrī-prabuddha uvāca
karmāṇy ārabhamāṇānāṁ
duḥkha-hatyai sukhāya ca
paśyet pāka-viparyāsaṁ
mithunī-cāriṇāṁ nṛṇām

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.3.18)

[“(Śrī Prabuddha said:) Accepting the roles of male and female in human society, the conditioned souls unite in sexual relationships. Thus they constantly make material endeavours to eliminate their unhappiness and unlimitedly increase their pleasure. But one should see that they inevitably achieve exactly the opposite result. In other words, their happiness inevitably vanishes, and as they grow older their material discomfort increases.”]

Everyone in the world seeks happiness, either alone or with the association of a wife, a husband, an entire family, or others. And sometimes they associate with members of the United Nations, who cannot check war, although they may try. Because the members themselves have so many problems, how can they solve the problems of others? The Vedic scriptures therefore state that although we seek happiness, our suffering is so strong that it keeps its feet on our head, and we are forcibly bound to experience it. Do you have a remedy to help you escape from old age? Never. From death? Never. Everyone wants to be happy, but will mere wanting be enough?

At the same time, it cannot be said that people are always unhappy and without even a little happiness. Happiness is there, but only a little. It passes quickly, and again suffering and problems come like waves. We think, “We will solve this problem, and then we will be happy.” In the meantime, however, we see that even bigger problems have come.

On the day of your marriage, you see your new bride and think, “Oh, very beautiful, very beautiful.” The next day, however, you see that she wants ornaments and many other things. Moreover, she will try to control you by saying, “You should not love anyone else,” or “You have to do as I say.” In this way, so many problems arise.

So in this world there is no pure happiness. Somehow we want pure happiness. Pure happiness certainly exists, but not in this world. A happiness that is beyond this world is called brahmānanda (the bliss of Brahman), the happiness a jīva can taste within himself when he attains salvation. In brahmānanda, there is no distress at all, but brahmānanda, also, is not pure. It is not a positive condition; it is a negative one.

What do I mean by negative? If one man catches hold of another and goes to choke him, the captured person cries, “Save me! Save me!” Just as he is about to die, someone might come and save him. He stands up, takes several deep breaths and gasps, “I have been saved. Now I have been saved!”

This is like salvation, or the happiness of brahmānanda. Liberation from suffering is not positive happiness. Only a devotee surrendered to Kṛṣṇa can be happy. But he will never say that he is happy. What will he say? “Oh, I have a very big problem. Why am I alive? Why am I not dying due to being bereft of Kṛṣṇa’s darśana?”

If you serve Kṛṣṇa, that is real happiness. Kṛṣṇa is the embodiment of ānanda (spiritual bliss). You may think, “I am pūrṇānanda (full of delight), and I am brahma (spirit). But if you do not follow Kṛṣṇa, if you are not serving, chanting, and remembering Him, you cannot be happy in any way. This positive happiness is not called brahmānanda. It is called prema (love and affection for Kṛṣṇa), and there are many kinds of prema.

Real happiness is to serve Kṛṣṇa with the love and affection of the gopīs. By serving Him, they experience so much pure ānanda. Really, this is the love and affection we want, but we do not know what it is. For those who want to be happy, Kṛṣṇa has transformed into śāstra. In other words, He has manifested Himself as śāstra. The śāstra says, “If you follow My instructions, you can have that kind of love and affection.” Among all śāstras, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the amala-śāstra (pure, spotless scripture), the śāstra you can rely upon and believe in. It cannot cheat you, because it is the embodiment of Kṛṣṇa Himself.

All śāstras state that by chanting, remembering, and performing bhakti to Kṛṣṇa, to Svayam Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa will be happy. Then you will certainly be happy as well. But the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says something that appears different. It states, “O jīvas, you have no power. You will never have the qualification to serve Kṛṣṇa. You are powerless; you will not be able to call Him.”

All the śāstras have explained that you should remember and call out to Kṛṣṇa. “Harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā  – there is no other way, there is no other way, there is no other way but chanting the holy names.” This is stated in the Bṛhad-nāradīya Purāṇa, Viṣṇu Purāṇa, and other Purāṇas, but not in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

All śāstras say, “You should do bhajana of Kṛṣṇa.” But what does the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam say? “You cannot call Kṛṣṇa; Kṛṣṇa has descended to call you.” He is so merciful. Out of mercy, He has descended to this world. You cannot go there (to the spiritual world) and just start to serve. Can you go to Vṛndāvana, Gokula, or Śvetadvīpa (Navadvīpa­-dhāma in the spiritual world) and call for Him? But the Kṛṣṇa of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is so merciful that He took His flute and descended to this earth, to Vṛndāvana, calling to all, “Come on, come on, come on!”

The real guru says, “You need only give me your ears. I do not want your wealth or anything else. I only want to purify your ears. Through the medium of your ears, I will put something in your heart that will make you happy forever. Transcendental happiness will come to you. Besides this, there is no other process by which you will be happy. You are crying for Kṛṣṇa, but your crying has no power.” How are you crying? The following story is an example of this.

Once, a very beautiful, powerful Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam class was in progress, and many devotees were present. The speaker of the hari-kathā had a long beard and long hair, which were quite white. He said this and that, and everyone was attentively hearing. An old lady was also sitting there, and she was weeping. Her tears fell constantly. When the sādhu-bābā finished the class, those who had attended gradually left, but that lady remained there. He called to her, “O Mother, you are a very high­-class devotee. My hari-kathā has touched your heart. Why are you weeping so bitterly?”

The lady’s weeping increased, and she replied, “Bābā, what can I say? I had a male goat. He was so strong, and he had a long beard just like yours. Sometimes I would give him something to eat, and he happily ate, his beard moving like yours when you speak. So, Bābā, when you tell hari-kathā, I always remember that goat. But it was stolen from me, and I do not know what to do. I am weeping for that goat.”

Our calling to Kṛṣṇa is like this. It may seem like a semblance of pure chanting, but actually, it is not even a semblance. It is pratibimba (a reflection). Our hankering should be pure. At this stage, we cannot have that kind of sincere prayer. Our prayers should be in a mood of separation, from the core of our heart. Kṛṣṇa has this mood ten million times more than we do. He is weeping for us. He is the father of the father of all fathers, the beloved of the beloved of all beloveds. With much love and affection for us, He thinks, “Having forgotten Me, they are greatly suffering. They cannot come to Me; they cannot even call Me by weeping bitterly, and their hearts are not melting. Therefore, I must go to them.” This is why Kṛṣṇa descended with His flute and all His beauty. He took the essence of all beauty and descended. He is calling us, but we do not hear Him. Try to realise this.

dṛṣṭvā kumudvantam akhaṇḍa-maṇḍalaṁ
ramānanābhaṁ nava-kuṅkumāruṇam
vanaṁ ca tat-komala-gobhī rañjitaṁ
jagau kalaṁ vāma-dṛśāṁ manoharam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.29.3)

[“Lord Kṛṣṇa saw the unbroken disk of the full moon glowing with the red effulgence of newly applied vermilion, as if it were the face of the goddess of fortune. He also saw the kumuda lotuses opening in response to the moon’s presence and the forest gently illumined by its rays. Thus the Lord began to play sweetly on His flute, attracting the minds of the beautiful-eyed gopīs.”]

Kṛṣṇa took His flute and called the gopīs by playing klīṁ. We are not so qualified, however. We cannot hear this sound, nor can we call Him. This is why He came in the form of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is both Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, only to call us. For this reason, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu travelled here and there and took sannyāsa. The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam has stated:

nigama-kalpa-taror galitaṁ phalaṁ
śuka-mukhād amṛta-drava-saṁyutam
pibata bhāgavataṁ rasam ālayam
muhur aho rasikā bhuvi bhāvukāḥ

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.1.3)

[“O expert and thoughtful men, relish Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the mature fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literatures. It emanated from the lips of Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī. Therefore this fruit has become even more tasteful, although its nectarean juice was already relishable for all, including liberated souls.”]

Kṛṣṇa is like a fruit, a nigama-kalpa-taror, the fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literature, with no skin, no pit, and no stringy fibre. In Him, there is nothing besides rasa. He was brought through the guru-paramparā by Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī and has descended to this world to call to us: “Do not suffer. Be happy. Be blessed with transcendental happiness.” But we are not qualified even to desire transcendental happiness.

The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam questions all the other Vedas, Upaniṣads, Purāṇas, Mahābhārata, Rāmāyaṇa, and so on by asking, “Kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema – How shall I take shelter of anyone more merciful than Kṛṣṇa?” As there is no reply, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.2.23) therefore itself says:

aho bakī yaṁ stana-kāla-kūṭaṁ
jighāṁsayāpāyayad apy asādhvī
lebhe gatiṁ dhātry-ucitāṁ tato ’nyaṁ
kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema

[“Alas, how shall I take shelter of one more merciful than He who granted the position of mother to a she-demon (Pūtanā) although she was unfaithful and she prepared deadly poison to be sucked from her breast?”]

The demon Pūtanā was accustomed to eating the flesh and fresh blood of babies anywhere. When she went to kill baby Kṛṣṇa, however, He gave her a spiritual body and sent her to Goloka, which is even greater than Vaikuṇṭha. Therefore, we should try to serve Kṛṣṇa and hear about Him. We should become qualified by taking shelter of a qualified devotee or guru. Without such a guru, we cannot make advancement. The śāstras state that all humans want happiness and want to meet Kṛṣṇa. But the Bhāgavatam tells us that Bhagavān wants the jīva. All śāstras state that when Kṛṣṇa went to Mathurā, the gopīs felt separation. The gopīs sent a haṁsa (swan) to Mathurā, to let Kṛṣṇa know how they were suffering in their separation from Him.

But the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says something else: Kṛṣṇa was suffering so much that He had to send Uddhava, His messenger, to Vṛndāvana. Do you understand? The gopīs did not send a messenger; Kṛṣṇa sent one. Generally, we hear that the bhakta is always suffering, weeping, feeling separation, and hankering for Bhagavān. But the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam says the opposite: Kṛṣṇa is hankering for His devotees, always. He is always calling, “O Mother! Mother!” When Brahmā stole Kṛṣṇa’s cowherd boys, Kṛṣṇa searched for them. Kṛṣṇa is searching for us, but we are so unqualified that we cannot hear His flute or call out to Him with our hearts. Although we should try, we can only really call out when our heart is empty, and we have taken the shelter of an exalted devotee.

Earlier I asked five or six questions. First, Vraja, Vṛndāvana, Gokula, and other places in Vraja-­bhūmi are filled with the highest love and affection. Vṛndāvana is itself rasa. So why did Kṛṣṇa leave Vṛndāvana and go to Mathurā and Dvārakā? Just as Kṛṣṇa is the ocean of rasa Himself, Vṛndāvana is also the ocean of rasa, yet He still left Vṛndāvana. Why? Second, if He left, there must have been a cause. If we go anywhere for a special purpose, we return when the purpose is fulfilled. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana for a special reason. After Kaṁsa was killed, He should have returned to Vṛndāvana, but He never returned. Why? What is the answer?

Everyone wants to live in that place where he receives the most love and affection, not where he tastes a lower kind of love and affection. For example, if you are eating a rasagullā and someone offers you Indian guḍa (unrefined sugar) or something similar to eat in its place, you will not accept it. You will want to taste only the rasagullā. So why did Kṛṣṇa, who was perfectly loved by the gopīs, Mother Yaśodā, Nanda Bābā, and others, leave quickly one day and never return?

The third question is that, even if Kṛṣṇa did not return with the intention of staying in Vraja forever, why didn’t He visit from time to time? What would have been the harm? If someone comes to America from India to make money, then as soon as he has made sufficient money, he can return. Even if he does not return permanently, he can still go to India from time to time to meet his relatives. So why did Kṛṣṇa not go to meet with His relatives, His father and mother? He should have gone, but He did not go at all. He sent a messenger. Why did He not go Himself? A messenger cannot do what Kṛṣṇa can do. Kṛṣṇa knew that by His sending a messenger, the Vrajavāsīs would not be satisfied. He knew, “They will only be satisfied if I go there.” Still, He sent the messenger with a letter. He told the messenger, “You should give this sandeśa (message) to them.”

Even if there were a very important reason for Kṛṣṇa’s not returning, there must have been some way that He could have called all the Vrajavāsīs to Mathurā or Dvārakā. There was no lack of space there; there was so much space. Kṛṣṇa can do anything. He can supply all the houses, boarding, and everything else needed, just as He did when He hosted all the Mathurāvāsīs. He could have brought all the Vrajavāsīs there in the same way, and He could have remained in Dvārakā or Mathurā with them. Why did He not bring them?

If you want to know all the answers to all these questions, you will have to go deep into the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam with a self-realised devotee who has served his gurudeva and the devotees, and who has also served the Bhāgavatam with the bhāgavatam. What is the meaning? One must serve the Bhāgavatam (the book bhāgavata) with the bhakta-bhāgavata (the person bhāgavata or the pure Vaiṣṇava), because that mahā-bhāgavata has the lock and key to understanding the Bhāgavatam. Though we want all our queries satisfied, how can this happen when we do not want to serve any mahā-bhāgavata or give honour to all others? Still, Kṛṣṇa is so merciful that He sends to this world His devotees of various kinds (like the śikṣā-guru and the dīkṣā-guru), and says to them, “Oh, go and give them some answers so that they, also, may become pure devotees.”

Now we will explain the answers to our questions. The first question was, “Why did Kṛṣṇa leave Vṛndāvana?” I explained one reason: the līlā (pastime) at Prema-sarovara. Kṛṣṇa was very worried, thinking, “When the gopīs are with Me, they feel an intense mood of separation in anticipation of the future. In mahābhāva, in prema-vaicittya, they become as though lifeless.”

You cannot imagine all these feelings and how the gopīs’ hearts were burning in the fire of separation. On considering the gopīs’ burning hearts, Kṛṣṇa thought, “If I leave Vṛndāvana, they will still feel separation, but in that type of separation they will meet with Me, in a dream or in another way. They will see a tamāla tree and embrace it as though it were Me. They will think, ‘Oh, we are meeting with Kṛṣṇa.’ Then they will become happy. They will again take their meals and decorate themselves. Therefore, I must leave Vraja.”

It is true that everyone wants to be where there is plenty of ānanda (happiness). No one wants to go to a place where there is less happiness and less love and affection. But this is not the nature of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. His nature is somewhat different. He has hundreds of thousands of devotees everywhere. Some of the devotees in Mathurā were given great suffering by Kaṁsa. In fact, Devakī and Vasudeva suffered from the very day of their marriage ceremony. After their marriage, they had eight sons, including Kṛṣṇa. In this way, about eight years passed. After that, an additional ten years and eight months passed, because Kṛṣṇa lived in Vraja for that long. Therefore, it may be that Vasudeva and Devakī were being tortured by Kaṁsa for about nineteen years. So many people left Mathurā to live here and there, and those who remained were always weeping and suffering. How could Kṛṣṇa neglect them? He could not. He certainly cared for them, too. If He did not, He would not be all-merciful.

The Pāṇḍavas were also weeping. Kuntī was crying to Kṛṣṇa to come and help them. Draupadī had also called to Him, crying, “Oh, I am going to be put to shame in front of everyone.” Her hands upraised, she had bitterly called out, “O Govinda! I am totally surrendered to You.” She closed her eyes and thought, “Whatever will happen will happen.”

Under these circumstances, how can Kṛṣṇa play in rāsa-līlā at Vaṁśī­vaṭa in Vṛndāvana? He also has to save Draupadī. If any bhakta calls Him anywhere in this world, He cannot remain aloof. If He were to do so, He would have to give up His name, bhakta-vātsalya (He who gives mercy to His devotees). He has to take care of all the devotees, even though He is tasting so much rasa in Vṛndāvana. That is also why He went to Mathurā.

There is something more. Kṛṣṇa has promised: “ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham — according to the service rendered to Me by My devotees, I will have to repay them” (Bhagavad-gītā 4.11). Only to the gopīs could He not keep this promise. He could keep it for all others, but not for the gopīs; it was not possible at all. There is surely no comparison between any devotee in the entire world and the Vrajavāsīs. No one can compare to Mother Yaśodā, Subala, Śrīdāma, or to the gopīs such as Lalitā and Viśākhā. There is no comparison.

On the other hand, Devakī and Vasudeva had also performed very severe austerities in their past births as Sutapā and Pṛśni. They kept their heads on the ground and stood on one hand, while keeping their feet high in the air. They remained without breathing any air or drinking any water during the heat of summer, the cold of winter, the rainy season, and so on. They continued doing this for more than sixty thousand years. Dhruva had practised his austerities for six months, and during the last month he fasted even from air. But Sutapā and Pṛśni did this for more than sixty thousand years. And now, in the form of Vasudeva and Devakī, they were calling (to Kṛṣṇa). Would Kṛṣṇa not have heard? He must have heard. This was another reason He had to go to Mathurā.

Now I will answer the second question. If Kṛṣṇa fulfilled His reason for coming, which was to save Vasudeva and Devakī and to kill Kaṁsa, then He should have returned to Vṛndāvana when He had done that. But how could He? All the Yaduvāsīs and Mathurāvāsīs had scattered due to fear of Kaṁsa, and the whole kingdom was in disorder. Kṛṣṇa therefore gave the kingdom to Ugrasena Mahārāja and made him king. But Ugrasena was very old and powerless, so Kṛṣṇa Himself had to manage the affairs of the kingdom.

There were two wives of Kaṁsa: Asti and Prāpti. They went to their father Jarāsandha, a very big demon who was even more powerful than Kaṁsa, Duryodhana, and all others, and told him that his son-­in­-law Kaṁsa had been killed by Kṛṣṇa for no reason; he was innocent. They claimed that Kaṁsa had simply been sitting on the throne when all of a sudden Kṛṣṇa jumped up, grabbed him, and killed him without any cause. Jarāsandha became very unhappy to hear this. He therefore took his soldiers, numbering more than those in the Mahābhārata army, millions upon millions, and invaded Mathurā, not only once, but eighteen times.

Kṛṣṇa thus decided, “What would happen if I were to go to Vraja? Everyone there would be killed by Jarāsandha.” So He could not go there. He wanted to go, but He considered that if Jarāsandha became aware of this, he would think, “All the Vrajavāsīs are truly loved by Kṛṣṇa; they are so dear to Him, so I must smash Vṛndāvana.” In Vṛndāvana there were no soldiers, no army, no fort – no protection at all – and the Vrajavāsīs are not warriors. They are very innocent; they simply graze the cows. Jarāsandha could have come and smashed all of Vṛndāvana in just one day.

Nanda Bābā knew this fact, so when Kṛṣṇa met with him after killing Kaṁsa, He whispered in his ear, “Do not be upset. I will come. After destroying Jarāsandha and all the other demons, I will come. I must. But if I come now, Jarāsandha will come to know, and after a while his soldiers will attack the Vrajavāsīs and everything in Vṛndāvana will be destroyed. I will not be able to save you. There is no fort there, no army, nothing.”

There was yet another reason why Kṛṣṇa did not return to Vṛndāvana. Vasudeva and Devakī knew very well that a person who goes elsewhere to perform a job or duty returns to his original place when his duty is completed. Similarly, if Kṛṣṇa, who came from Vṛndāvana, had returned to Vṛndāvana, He would never have gone back to Mathurā and Dvārakā. But if Kṛṣṇa were to say, “I am going to Indraprastha, I am going to Mithilā, I am going here and there,” Vasudeva and Devakī would never object. They would say, “All right, You may go. Return very quickly.” But if Kṛṣṇa had asked Devakī and Vasudeva for permission to quickly go to Vṛndāvana and then return, they would have become very worried and wept. They would not have responded at all and would not have given permission. Why not?

Vṛndāvana is rasamayī-bhūmi (the land of eternal loving relationships). Devakī and Vasudeva knew that Kṛṣṇa would not be going there to complete any duty or job, and that if He went, He would have become totally absorbed in rasa (transcendental mellows). Kṛṣṇa is Himself rasa, and all the gopas and gopīs are also rasa. Therefore, He would not return. If Kṛṣṇa were to ask, “May I go to Vṛndāvana?” then Devakī and Vasudeva would have begun to weep bitterly. Not only would Devakī and Vasudeva weep, but all the Mathurāvāsīs would also feel that they would die that very day. This is why He could not go to Vṛndāvana, even though He sometimes wanted to go.

 If Kṛṣṇa had gone to Vṛndāvana now and then and met with the Vrajavāsīs, He could have easily returned, because Vṛndāvana is only a distance of two fingers from Mathurā. The two places are so near that they border each other. Besides this (if He wanted to), He could have even gone to Goloka Vṛndāvana, Mithilā, or Dvārakā in a moment. Why, then, could He not travel an hour or two to Vṛndāvana? He never went. Why? If He had gone back for even a moment, the separation mood of the gopīs and gopas would have increased hundreds of thousands of times and not subsided. Why? If there is a flame in a lamp, it may be extinguished by a little wind, but if a fire is very big, like a forest fire, can it be extinguished by the wind? Instead, the wind will increase the fire more and more.

The fire of separation in the hearts of the gopīs and gopas is like this. It is not like the very little flame from a ghee­lamp, which dwindles. If you put a frying pan on a stove, the pan becomes red, and if you put one drop of water on it, what happens? ‘Chhhhhhhunt.’ If that water splashes on you anywhere, you will be burned. The fire of the mood of separation in Vṛndāvana is like this. If Kṛṣṇa had gone there for a moment or for one or two days, the Vrajavāsīs would have burned more. And after He had left again, they would have died at once. For this reason, also, He does not return to Vṛndāvana.

Someone may say that Kṛṣṇa should bring His father, mother, and all the gopīs, sakhas, and gopas to Mathurā, but this would create a very difficult situation; there would be some danger. What danger? The danger of overlapping rasas: rasa-saṅkaṭa (a contradiction of mellows). In Vṛndāvana, Kṛṣṇa is like a cowherd boy. He is only the son of Nanda Bābā. He is without shoes or an umbrella, and He serves all the cows, as well as Nanda Bābā and Yaśodā. In Mathurā He has no flute and no stick, and He is not a cowherd boy. There, He is a very powerful kṣatriya king. What kind of king? He is like an emperor, or rather, the emperor of emperors. No one can challenge Him there. But in Vṛndāvana, all the Vrajavāsīs challenge Him.

So what would happen if the Vrajavāsīs came to Mathurā? Would Kṛṣṇa be able to keep His peacock feather on His head and His flute in His hand? What would He say if Nanda Bābā were to come to Mathurā? Who would He address as His father and mother – Devakī and Vasudeva, or Yaśodā and Nanda Bābā? And with whom would He spend the night – the gopīs or Satyabhāmā and Rukmiṇī? They would all fight.

mallānām aśanir nṛṇāṁ nara-varaḥ strīṇāṁ smaro mūrtimān
gopānāṁ sva-jano ’satāṁ kṣiti-bhujāṁ śāstā sva-pitroḥ śiśuḥ
mṛtyur bhoja-pater virāḍ aviduṣāṁ tattvaṁ paraṁ yogināṁ
vṛṣṇīnāṁ para-devateti vidito raṅgaṁ gataḥ sāgrajaḥ

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.43.17)

[“The various groups of people in the arena regarded Kṛṣṇa in different ways when He entered it with His elder brother. The wrestlers saw Kṛṣṇa as a lightning bolt, the men of Mathurā as the best of males, the women as Cupid in person, the cowherd men as their relative, the impious rulers as a chastiser, His parents as their child, the King of the Bhojas as death, the unintelligent as the Supreme Lord’s universal form, the yogīs as the Absolute Truth and the Vṛṣṇis as their supreme worshipable Deity.”]

The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.43.17) states that in Mathurā, Kṛṣṇa is para-devatā (the Lord of lords) for all the Yādavas. Para-devatā means vṛṣṇīnāṁ para-devateti. He is the King of kings and is worshipful for all the Mathurāvāsīs. In Vṛndāvana He is sva-jana, simply the son of Nanda Bābā, simply the friend of the cowherd boys, and simply the beloved of the gopīs. He is not para-devatā. No gopa will worship Him. Yaśodā Maiyā never worshipped Him, and the gopīs only worship Him with abuses. They say to Him, “You are kālā (black). You are a lampaṭa (womaniser), a cora (thief), and You are black-­hearted.” This is their worship. If all the gopīs go to Mathurā and abuse Kṛṣṇa in this way in front of all the Yādavas, what would happen? There would be no solution to the problems that would arise.

In Mathurā, Kṛṣṇa is worshipful for all the Yādavas, even for Uddhava, Akrūra, and King Ugrasena. But in Vṛndāvana, gopas like Śrīdāmā and Subala climb onto His shoulders and say, “O my horse, go on, go on! Eh, eh, quickly, quickly, quickly, run!” But if Śrīdāmā and Subala were to go to Mathurā and make Kṛṣṇa be their horse in front of all the Yādavas, there would be a big problem.

Devakī and Vasudeva cannot accept praṇāma (obeisances) from Kṛṣṇa. Why not? They believe He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore they have awe and reverence for Him. They have seen His four-­armed form. In Vṛndāvana, on the other hand, Nanda Bābā tells Kṛṣṇa, “Oh, bring my pādukā (shoes).” Kṛṣṇa puts those shoes on His head and comes to His father, dancing. But if Nanda Bābā were in Mathurā and if, in front of all the Yādavas, he were to order Kṛṣṇa, “O my son, You should bring my shoes,” would He bring those shoes? He would be confused about what to do.

Moreover, in Vṛndāvana, Kṛṣṇa is with all the gopīs, like Rādhikā, Lalitā, and Viśākhā. Can He sit with Rādhikā or perform rāsa-līlā in Mathurā, in front of the Yādus? Can He massage the feet of Rādhikā in front of them? He cannot. This is rasa-sankula (a congestion of mellows). How would Kṛṣṇa reconcile all these things? He would be in a dilemma. Therefore, He does not bring anyone from Vṛndāvana to Mathurā.

Kṛṣṇa is thinking, “What should I do?” Due to the circumstances, He cannot go to Vṛndāvana. However, if He sometimes sends His messenger to pacify His father and mother, then, at the same time, His messenger can learn something there. This is the most important reason for Kṛṣṇa’s sending Uddhava: so that he can be admitted into the school of the gopīs. Here, Kṛṣṇa thinks Uddhava should be admitted to that school and learn the truths about their prema. Although Uddhava cannot realise these truths, he can try to learn; he should go there and be admitted. Lalitā and Viśākhā are the teachers, and Śrīmatī Rādhikā Herself is the principal. Kṛṣṇa thinks Uddhava should be admitted to that school and learn the truths about their prema. Although Uddhava cannot realise these truths, he can try to learn. He should go there and be admitted.

Uddhava cannot possibly know all the consonants and vowels (svara and vyañjana) of Vṛndāvana; he can never learn that. He needs only to know two and a half letters: prema (in written Sanskrit, the word prema has two­ and ­a­ half letters). In English, there is no word like this.

In this way, Kṛṣṇa sent Uddhava to Vṛndāvana so that he would learn something about prema. Kṛṣṇa considered, “When this messenger becomes qualified, he will come back here, and I will be able to share some of My suffering with him. Therefore, he should be sent.” His main purpose in sending Uddhava was not that He required a messenger, but rather that He wanted Uddhava to realise a little something of Vraja prema. “When he returns and sees Me weep, he will realise why I am weeping and why I am suffering; then I can distribute some of My suffering to him.”

We should begin at the beginning:

vāco vegaṁ manasaḥ krodha-vegaṁ
jihvā-vegam udaropastha-vegam
etān vegān yo viṣaheta dhīraḥ
sarvām apīmāṁ pṛthivīṁ sa śiṣyāt

Śrī Upadeśāmṛta (1)

[“A sober person who can tolerate the urge to speak, the mind’s demands, the actions of anger and the urges of the tongue, belly and genitals is qualified to make disciples all over the world.”]

dadāti pratigṛhṇāti
guhyam ākhyāti pṛcchati
bhuṅkte bhojayate caiva
ṣaḍ-vidhaṁ prīti-lakṣaṇam

Śrī Upadeśāmṛta (4)

[“Offering gifts in charity, accepting charitable gifts, revealing one’s mind in confidence, inquiring confidentially, accepting prasāda and offering prasāda are the six symptoms of love shared by one devotee and another.”]

There are so many important principles here. Then:

tan-nāma-rūpa-caritādi-sukīrtanānu-
smṛtyoḥ krameṇa rasanā-manasī niyojya
tiṣṭhan vraje tad-anurāgi-janānugāmī
kālaṁ nayed akhilam ity upadeśa-sāram

Upadeśāmṛta (8)

[“The essence of all advice is that one should utilise one’s full time – twenty-four hours a day – in nicely chanting and remembering the Lord’s divine name, transcendental form, qualities and eternal pastimes, thereby gradually engaging one’s tongue and mind. In this way one should reside in Vraja (Goloka Vṛndāvana-dhāma) and serve Kṛṣṇa under the guidance of devotees. One should follow in the footsteps of the Lord’s beloved devotees, who are deeply attached to His devotional service.”]

(After the lecture, a drama was performed from Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛta. In the drama, Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā felt so much separation from the Vrajavāsīs that He could not perform any of His daily duties. He fainted and was then taken to Nava-­Vṛndāvana (New Vṛndāvana, in Dvārakā) and dressed as a gopa with peacock feathers and a flute. When He regained consciousness, He spoke to the mūrtis of the Vrajavāsīs. All the Dvārakāvāsīs who witnessed this were astonished. After the drama, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja expressed his appreciation and commented on the significance of the play.)

Really, Kṛṣṇa is so beautiful in Vṛndāvana. By comparison, He is not so beautiful in Dvārakā. Vrajendra­nandana Kṛṣṇa is hundreds of thousands of times more beautiful than Dvārakādhīśa Kṛṣṇa. Even Padmā, an old lady of one hundred ten years (the mother of Kaṁsa and the chaste wife of King Ugrasena), was filled with lust when she saw Kṛṣṇa and wanted to embrace Him; what to speak of others. Satyabhāmā, Rukmiṇī, and all the other queens lost their composure. Kṛṣṇa is so beautiful, the essence of all beauty. He is manmatha manmatha (the Cupid of cupids).

Source: Purebhakti.com

Image(s) made possible by Pixabay.com, Krishnapath.org.in, Keystone Press / Alamy Stock Photo and / or Bhaktiart.net

Unless indicated otherwise, all verse translations and quotes are from the books by Śrīla Prabhupāda (Vedabase.com)