Uddhava in Gokula

After Kṛshṇa finished his studies at the gurukula of Sāṇḍīpani and had spent time in Mathurā, he sent his dear friend and minister Uddhava to Gokula. Uddhava carried words of comfort for Nanda, Yaśodā and the gopikās, whose grief at Kṛshṇa’s absence had not grown less.

Uddhava’s meeting with the gopikās is famous in the Vaishṇava tradition. One gopikā speaks to a bee (bhramara) in the Bhramara Gīta. It is held to be the fullest voice of viraha-bhakti, devotion born of separation. Chapters 46 and 47 of the 10th Skanda of the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tell this visit in detail.

Kṛshṇa sends Uddhava (Chapter 46)

Kṛshṇa called Uddhava. Uddhava was his closest friend among the Yādavas, a student of Bṛhaspati himself, a man of great wisdom and full devotion. Kṛshṇa took his hand and said: “Go to Gokula for me. Comfort my mother and father. And bring relief to the gopikās. They have given up everything for me, and I know they keep themselves alive only by the hope that I will return. Their love for me is unlike any love in the three worlds.”

Uddhava took Kṛshṇa’s message and set out for Gokula in a chariot.

Uddhava reaches Gokula

He came at dusk, when the cows were coming home and the settlement was full of their lowing and the clatter of their hooves. The dust of the herd covered his chariot. Nanda saw the golden chariot and knew it must come from Mathurā, from someone close to Kṛshṇa. He came forward with joy. Uddhava looked like Kṛshṇa in dress and ornaments, and Nanda embraced him as if he were embracing Kṛshṇa.

That evening Nanda spoke at length about Kṛshṇa. He recalled every act of protection, every wonder, every moment of Kṛshṇa’s childhood in Gokula. He asked: Does Kṛshṇa remember us? Does he think of the Yamunā, of Govardhana, of the gopāla children? Yaśodā wept quietly through the whole talk, and milk flowed from her breasts at every mention of his name. Uddhava was moved, and he spent the night in Nanda’s house. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 46)

The gopikās receive Uddhava (Chapter 47)

The next morning the gopikās had been awake before dawn. They had churned curd, lit lamps and decorated the thresholds. They saw the golden chariot at Nanda’s gate. They knew it as the chariot that had taken Kṛshṇa away when Akrūra came, and their hearts tightened at the memory. But when they saw Uddhava, and saw that he brought a message from Kṛshṇa, they gathered around him, full of joy, sorrow and longing.

They took him to a private place and sat with him. The Bhāgavata records that in his presence they put away all the rules of social restraint. Kṛshṇa had sent this man. He was Kṛshṇa’s own extension, so they could speak freely. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 47)

The Bhramara Gīta, a speech to a bee

One gopikā was absorbed in thought of Kṛshṇa. She saw a black bee (bhramara) circling near her. In the pain of her separation (viraha) her mind took the bee for a messenger sent by Kṛshṇa. The bee was black like Kṛshṇa. It moved with beauty and purpose. It gathered sweetness from flowers as Kṛshṇa gathers joy from all creation. She spoke to the bee in a series of passionate, ironic and deeply thoughtful verses. These became famous as the Bhramara Gīta.

In substance she said: “O bee, you serve that deceiver who now lives in Mathurā. Your wings carry the pollen of flowers that were pressed to his beloved’s chest, the kuṅkuma of the new women of Mathurā who are now his companions. Do not bring that kuṅkuma near our feet. He once delighted with us in the rāsa dance. Now he has found new loves, the city women with their polished arts. He does not need us. Go back to them and sing his praises. They will reward you.”

Then her tone changes: “And yet, who can give up the story of his deeds? Once we tasted even one drop of that nectar, we could not go back. We left our homes, our families, our dharma. Now we live like homeless birds, wandering. And we still cannot stop speaking of him. This is what your master has done to us.”

Then she says: “O beautiful bee, tell me plainly. Was he not the same one who, in an earlier birth as Rāma, killed Vāli from hiding? Who disfigured a woman who loved him? Who, as the dwarf, bound the generous Bali with ropes? We know his nature. We trust nothing from him. And yet we cannot leave him.”

At last her voice softens suddenly: “Tell him: O Kṛshṇa, we are sinking in this ocean of sorrow. Come. Place your cool hand on our burning heads. That is all we ask.”

The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells this in the 10th Skanda, Chapter 47.

Uddhava’s reply and Kṛshṇa’s message

Uddhava gave Kṛshṇa’s message to the gopikās. As the Bhāgavata records it, the message teaches that there is no separation, through ātma-jñāna (knowledge of the self). Kṛshṇa says: “I am the ātmā of all. No separation from me is possible. I fill you as space fills all things. The feeling that I am absent is itself a form of dhyāna (meditation). When the beloved is away and the mind meditates on him with full strength, that meditation goes deeper than anything a distracted mind can reach when he is near. This is why I did not return. It was not from lack of love. It was on purpose. Meditate on me. I am already in you.”

Then Uddhava praised the gopikās with complete sincerity. This was not a polite compliment but the real conviction of his own realisation. He said that their kind of bhakti, which is natural, total, free of expectation and free of calculation, is higher than the jñāna-mārga (path of knowledge) or the karma-mārga (path of action). He said that even great munis only hoped for what the gopikās had won without effort. “Their birth is the only truly successful human birth in this whole world,” he said. He compared himself to the dust at the gopikās’ feet. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 47)

Uddhava’s stay in Gokula

Uddhava stayed in Gokula for several months. Every day he lived among the gopas and gopikās. He sang Kṛshṇa’s līlās (divine acts). He visited the forests, riverbanks and hills where Kṛshṇa had played. He helped the people of Gokula stay close to Kṛshṇa through remembering and telling of him. The Bhāgavata records that those months passed like moments for the people of Gokula, so sweet was Kṛshṇa-kathā (sacred talk of Kṛshṇa).

When Uddhava at last left, Nanda and the gopas sent gifts and prayers with him. Their parting words were a prayer for lasting bhakti: “May our minds always rest at Kṛshṇa’s lotus feet. May our words always speak of his deeds. May our bodies always bow before him, wherever we are born and whatever we become.”

Uddhava went back to Mathurā and told Kṛshṇa everything. He gave the gifts from Gokula to Vasudeva, Balarāma and Ugrasena. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 47)

Sources

• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 46
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 10th Skanda, Chapter 47