Uddhava’s Praise of the Gopīs
Uddhava Gīti, “the song of Uddhava”
Uddhava‘s praise of the gopīs is the gīti (song) that Uddhava, the follower of Śrī Kṛshṇa, sang in Gokula after he had stayed there some months and seen the minds of the gopīs fixed wholly on Śrī Kṛshṇa. Śuka Maharshi tells it to King Parīkshit in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 47. Uddhava sings that only the gopīs’ birth on earth is fruitful, that the maharshis themselves long for such love, and that the grace Śrī Kṛshṇa showed them in the Rāsa was not given even to Lakshmī Devī, who dwells forever on his chest. The Śrutis are ever searching for the path to him, and the gopīs, leaving kin and the dharma of their elders, walked that path of love. He prays to be born a bush, a creeper or a plant in Bṛndāvana, to receive the dust of their feet, and bows again and again to that dust; for the gopīs’ life, sung with Śrī Hari’s līlās, purifies the three worlds.
The setting
Śrī Kṛshṇa sent Uddhava from Mathurā to Gokula with his sandeśa (message). Uddhava wore a yellow garment and a garland of lotuses; he had long arms, eyes like freshly opened lotuses and bright earrings set with gems, and his dress and ornaments were like those of Śrī Kṛshṇa, so that the gopīs gathered round him asking, “Who is he? Where has he come from? Whose man is he?” Knowing that he had brought the message of Śrī Kṛshṇa, Lakshmīpati, the husband of Lakshmī, they seated him in a secluded place and honoured him. Offered to Govinda alone in mind, speech and body, they set aside the reserve of worldly conduct before him, sang the līlās Śrī Kṛshṇa had done from his childhood to the age of ten, and wept. One gopī, meditating on her union with Śrī Kṛshṇa, saw a bee and spoke to it as if it were his messenger: this is the Bhramara-gīta, the song to the bee.
Uddhava consoled them with the words of their beloved and gave them Śrī Kṛshṇa’s sandeśa, in which Śrī Kṛshṇa says that he is the ātmā of all and so can never be separated from them; that he is far from their eyes only so that they may meditate on him unceasingly and feel his presence in their minds; and that the gopīs who stayed in Gokula and could not join the Rāsa attained him by meditating on his līlās alone. Hearing it, the gopīs remembered his līlās, spoke of him to Uddhava, and called out to Govinda to lift up Gokula from its ocean of sorrow. The burning pain of their separation went away; knowing that Śrī Kṛshṇa’s svarūpa is beyond the senses and that he is the ātmā, they worshipped Uddhava.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 47
Uddhava’s first words to the gopīs
When he had first seen their longing, before he gave them the message, Uddhava praised them:
- “Ah! You are surely fulfilled. The worlds will worship you, because your minds are offered so fully to Śrī Kṛshṇa.”
- “Bhakti for Śrī Kṛshṇa arises when dāna, vratas, tapas, homas, japa, study of the Vedas, restraint of the senses and the other means of welfare have ripened.”
- “You have given the very highest bhakti to Śrī Kṛshṇa of highest fame. This is auspicious. Such bhakti is not possible even for munis.”
- “You left your sons, husbands, attachment to the body, your own people and your homes, and chose Śrī Kṛshṇa, the Purushottama. This is auspicious.”
- “O most fortunate ones! The true tattva (nature) of Śrī Kṛshṇa is his being the ātmā of all, beyond the senses, and you have attained it. To witness this, because of your separation, has become a great grace for me.”
- “O auspicious ones! I, who carry out the secret tasks of Śrī Kṛshṇa Prabhu, have brought his sandeśa. The message of your beloved will give you happiness. Listen.”
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 47
The gīti
Uddhava lived in Gokula for some months, removing the grief of the gopīs and delighting Gokula with the accounts of Śrī Kṛshṇa‘s līlās; for as many days as he stayed, he spoke of Śrī Kṛshṇa, and the days passed for the people of Gokula like moments. A bhakta who had taken refuge in Śrī Kṛshṇa, he roamed the rivers, forests, mountains, valleys and flowering trees, making the people of Gokula remember him. Seeing that the gopīs’ minds were so fixed on Śrī Kṛshṇa, Uddhava felt great joy, bowed to them and sang this gīti:
- “The love of these gopīs is firmly set on Govinda, who is the ātmā of all. In this bhūloka only the birth of these gopīs is fruitful. We who fear saṃsāra, and even the maharshis, long for just such love. For one who loves the accounts of Śrī Kṛshṇa, what gain is there even in many births as Brahmā?”
- “Where are these women who roam the forests and do not know the conduct of the cultured? And where is such unwavering love of theirs for Śrī Kṛshṇa Paramātmā? Even if one who gives unceasing bhakti is ignorant, there is no doubt that Īśvara himself grants him vast welfare, as amṛta, a fine medicine well taken, does.”
- “In the Rāsa-krīḍā, when Śrī Kṛshṇa embraced the necks of the gopāṅganās with his arms like staffs, their wishes were fulfilled and his grace was revealed. Wonder! Such grace did not come to Lakshmī Devī, whose love for him is single-minded and who dwells forever on his chest. It did not come to the women of the devatās, who have the fragrance and lustre of lotuses. What is there to say of other women?”
- “The Śrutis are forever searching for the path to Śrī Kṛshṇa, the giver of moksha. The gopīs left their kinsfolk and even the dharma of their elders, and served that path of love. Ah! May I become one of the bushes, creepers or plants in Bṛndāvana that receive the dust of these gopīs’ feet!”
- “The lotus foot of Śrī Kṛshṇa is worshipped by Lakshmī Devī, by Brahmā, whose every wish is fulfilled, by Indra and the others; the kings of yogīs meditate on that foot in their hearts. The gopīs, in the Rāsa-sabhā, placed that foot on their breasts, embraced it, and gave up their burning pain.”
- “The life of the gopīs is sung together with the līlās of Śrī Hari, and by that song the three worlds are made pure. Again and again I bow to the dust of the feet of those gopīs of Nanda‘s Gokula.”
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 47
The phala
Uddhava’s gīti itself gives its promise: the life of the gopīs, sung with the līlās of Śrī Hari, purifies the three worlds.
Uddhava’s departure
Then Uddhava of the Dāśārha line took leave of the gopīs, Yaśodā, Nanda and the gopas, and mounted his chariot. Nanda, Sudāma and others came to him with many gifts, tears of love in their eyes, and prayed: “May our minds stay at the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛshṇa; may our speech speak his words; may our bodies bow to him and walk around him in pradakshiṇa. By our karmas and the will of Īśvara we may take whatever births, do acts of puṇya and give dāna; by the power of that puṇya may we have love for Śrī Kṛshṇa, the Īśvara of all!” Honoured thus by the gopas, Uddhava came back to Mathurā, which Śrī Kṛshṇa protects, bowed to Śrī Kṛshṇa and told him of the surpassing bhakti of the people of Gokula, and gave the gifts he had brought to Vasudeva, Balarāma and Ugrasena Mahārāja.
Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 47
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 47