Uddhava at Vṛndāvana

After Kṛshṇa went from Vṛndāvana to Mathurā, he sent his dear disciple Uddhava back to Vṛndāvana with a message. There Uddhava saw Rādhā worn thin by viraha (the pain of being parted from the one she loves), her mind going back and forth between a faint and waking. He then heard from her a long teaching on Kāla (time), on the Pañcāṅga (the five-limbed calendar), and on service to Hari. The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa tells this in the Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa.

Kṛshṇa sends Uddhava (Chapter 91)

Nanda had come to Mathurā and was taking an emotional farewell. Vasudeva, Devakī, Balarāma and Akrūra were all there. Kṛshṇa told Nanda: “I will come after my upanayana (the sacred thread ceremony). Gokula has become the gateway to Mathurā.” Devakī comforted Nanda and said that Kṛshṇa was as much their son as his.

Kṛshṇa then spoke to Uddhava: “Go to Gokula in safety and joy. Visit Yaśodā and Rohiṇī and make them glad. Lift up the gopabālakas (cowherd boys), Rādhikā and the gopikās with the ātmavidyā (knowledge of the self) I have given you. Tell Yaśodā how Nanda is, and give her my love.”

Kṛshṇa then went away with Vasudeva, Devakī, Balarāma and Akrūra. Uddhava spent that night in Mathurā. At dawn he set out gladly for the beautiful forest of Vṛndāvana. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 91)

Uddhava’s good journey (Chapter 92)

Moved by Kṛshṇa, Uddhava bowed with namaskāra to Gaṇeśvara, Nārāyaṇa, Śambhu, Durgā, Lakshmī and Sarasvatī, and he held Gaṅgā in his heart before he left.

On the road he met a line of good omens. He heard the dundubhi drum, the bell and the conch, and cries of “Hari”. He saw a faithful wife with her husband and children, a lit lamp, garlands, a mirror, a full water pot, curds, puffed rice, fruits, dūrvā shoots, white grain, silver, gold, honey, a group of brāhmaṇas, a black-spotted deer, a bull, ghee, an elephant, a king, a white horse, a flag, a mongoose, a parrot, white flowers and sandal paste. He followed the road that Yaśodā had told him of, and reached Vṛndāvana.

In Vṛndāvana Uddhava first saw the eternal rāsamaṇḍala (the circle of the rāsa dance). It was round like the full moon, decorated with hundreds of plantain pillars, bilva trees and banana-stem ornaments, and hung with silk threads and garlands of bilva leaves. Three crore gopikās stood around it and guarded it. Three lakh ratna-kuṭīras (jewel pavilions) adorned it. One lakh gopikās with golden staffs stood as guards.

He then went to Nanda’s palace to see Yaśodā and Rohiṇī. Viśvakarmā had built it of pearls, rubies, diamonds and sapphires, with towers set with gems and shining kalaśas (pots on the roof). Yaśodā and Rohiṇī welcomed him warmly. They gave him a seat, water, a cow and madhuparka (honey and curds), and asked anxiously after Nanda, Balarāma and Kṛshṇa. Uddhava gave them all the glad news. Then he went to Rādhikā’s āśrama.

Rādhā’s āśrama stood deep in a quiet banana grove. It was a fortress that Viśvakarmā had built of priceless jewels. It had six grand gates, columns of gems, ratna-sopānas (jewel staircases), sparkling mirrors of gems, white fly-whisks, and a lion-gate with jewelled doors. The gate carried carvings of the war between Rāma and Rāvaṇa. Inside was a rāsamaṇḍala with pavilions of gems, with a hundred crore gopikās as guards holding golden staffs. There was a fifth gate, beyond which lay the innermost room.

At the sixth gate Uddhava found Rādhā lying on a jewelled couch, almost lifeless. Viraha had worn her body down to little more than a shadow, and her mind was slipping away. The gopikās wept around her. Uddhava burst into tears at the sight. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 92)

Uddhava sings the Rādhā Stotra (Chapter 92)

To bring Rādhā back, Uddhava sang the Rādhā Stotra, a great hymn of 64 verses. It praises Rādhā as the supreme Śakti, equal to all the devīs, and the source of all creation. It speaks of her as:

• Sarvalakshmī (all the Lakshmīs in one), who lives on Kṛshṇa’s vakshaḥsthala (chest).
• The same as Mahālakshmī in Vaikuṇṭha, Sarasvatī in Brahmaloka, Gāyatrī, Durgā and every Devī.
• The prāṇādhidevī, the mistress of the five prāṇas (life-breaths), without whom all creation falls apart.
• The origin of the gopikās, who are themselves parts of her teja (radiance).

The phala (fruit) of this stotra is that one who recites it is freed from all sorrow, gains sons and wealth, and sees an absent husband return. All distress is removed.

After she heard the stotra, Rādhā stirred and came partly back to awareness. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 92)

Rādhā’s laments and questions (Chapter 93)

Rādhā’s awareness came and went. When she spoke, she spoke to the empty Vṛndāvana as if it were Kṛshṇa himself. She cried: “Where is that flute music that once filled these forests? Where is the one whose peacock feather I used to see above the kadamba trees? These very trees, these very paths, now mock me.” Then she fell into a faint again.

Uddhava woke her and told her who he was. Rādhā asked him eagerly about Kṛshṇa: how he was, what he was doing, what he felt. Then she said something deep: “Kṛshṇa is Paramātmā, the one who lives in every soul. How can Paramātmā leave? He has not left Vṛndāvana. I have not lost him. This grief is a trick of my mind, born of the body’s attachment.”

Yet even as she spoke this jñāna (knowledge), viraha rose again in her and she fainted once more. Uddhava comforted her again and again. He promised that Kṛshṇa would come in person, that his love for her did not change, and that all his other doings were the working of the cosmic will. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 93)

The debate of the gopikās (Chapter 94)

While Uddhava was tending to Rādhā, the gopikās who had gathered began to argue. A gopikā named Mādhavī spoke sharply against Kṛshṇa: “He left Vṛndāvana without a thought. A cowherd is all he ever was.”

The gopikā Sāśikalā at once rebuked her, together with Sudhilā, Ratnamālā and Pārijātā. They said: “You speak from ignorance. Kṛshṇa is Paramātmā, the cause of all causes. Brahmā, Śiva and Vishṇu are his servants. How can Paramātmā do anything that is not for the highest good? His going from Vṛndāvana was the call of the cosmic order.”

The ṛshis called Kālacārā then told that Rādhā is a divine being, the sister of Sītā and Pārvatī in the cosmic dimension, now living for a time on earth because of the śāpa (a curse) of Sudāma.

Uddhava was moved to the depths by all he saw. He said: “I am not fit to go back to Mathurā. I will stay here in Vṛndāvana as the humblest servant, even as an insect in the dust of this forest, so that I may receive the drops of the water that washes Rādhā’s feet.” (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 94)

Rādhā’s teaching on Kāla (Chapter 95)

Now fully awake, Rādhā gave a bright and deep teaching. She spoke of Kṛshṇa not as her beloved who was far away, but as Kāla, the lord of time, who brings about creation, upkeep and dissolution. She said: “All beings tremble before Kāla. Brahmā, Śiva and Ananta function only at Kāla’s command. And Kṛshṇa is Kāla. What is there to grieve? Kāla alone does everything.”

She urged Uddhava: “Do not mourn for me. This viraha is itself a form of his grace. It is union in its highest form, where the beloved fills the soul so fully that his bodily absence becomes the sharpest form of his presence.” Then she said: “Go back. Kāla will do what Kāla must.” (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 95)

The Pañcāṅga: Rādhā’s discourse on Kāla (Chapter 96)

Uddhava asked Rādhā to explain the nature of Kāla more fully. She gave a teaching that covered the whole Pañcāṅga system, the science of time. She taught the following.

The small units of time. The measures go up from the smallest bit of time to the muhūrta, in this order: Paramāṇu, Aṇu, Trasareṇu, Truṭi, Vedha, Lava, Nimesha, Kshaṇa, Kāshṭhā, Laghu, Daṇḍa, Muhūrta.

Tithis and pakshas. The lunar month divides into Śuklapaksha and Kṛshṇapaksha, each of fifteen tithis (lunar days). She named all twelve months: Caitra, Vaiśākha, Jyeshṭha, Āshāḍha, Śrāvaṇa, Bhādra, Āśvina, Kārtika, Mārgaśīra, Pausha, Māgha and Phālguna. She named the six ṛtus (seasons) and the two ayanas, Uttarāyaṇa and Dakshiṇāyana. She explained the five kinds of saṃvatsara (year) of the Jupiter cycle.

The nakshatras, yogas and karaṇas. The 28 nakshatras (lunar stars) were listed in full, together with the origin of the Abhijit nakshatra. She also named the 27 yogas, from Vishkambha to Vaidhṛti, and the 11 karaṇas.

Time in the different realms. One human year is one day of the devas. The Pitṛs have a time-scale of their own. The time of Brahmā is beyond measure. The four Yugas last, in human years: Kṛtayuga 17,28,000; Tretāyuga 12,96,000; Dvāparayuga 8,64,000; Kaliyuga 4,32,000. One Mahāyuga is 43,20,000 years. One Kalpa is 1,000 Mahāyugas, and this is one day of Brahmā.

Vaikuṇṭha and Goloka. These two realms have no day or night. They are lit always by Kṛshṇa’s own light, which shines of itself.

(Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 96)

Rādhā blesses Uddhava as he leaves (Chapter 97)

As Uddhava got ready to go, Rādhā blessed him with auspicious things: akshatas (unbroken rice grains), flowers, dūrvā grass and a pūrṇakumbha (a full water pot). She gave him one last and highest lesson: “Hari-dāsya, service to Hari, is the highest of all dharmas. No tapas, no tīrtha, no yajña, not even a fraction of a Vaishṇava’s merit, equals a single moment of true service to Kṛshṇa. Remember this above all.”

Uddhava threw himself down at Rādhā’s feet and wept. After he went out through the gates, Rādhā fell again into a faint of viraha. The gopikās gathered round her, laid her on a bed of lotus leaves, and fanned her gently. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 97)

Uddhava returns to Kṛshṇa, and the dream visit (Chapter 98)

Uddhava went back to Mathurā and found Kṛshṇa sitting under a banyan tree. Kṛshṇa at once asked in great concern: “How is Vṛndāvana? How is Rādhā? How are the gopikās?”

Uddhava told what he had seen: Rādhā’s thin body, her barely breathing form, and her highest teachings even in that state. His voice broke as he spoke.

Kṛshṇa was silent for a moment. Then he said: “I will go to her in a dream tonight.”

That night Kṛshṇa appeared in the dream of Rādhā and all the gopikās. He comforted Rādhā with his amṛta-dṛshṭi (nectar-gaze). He played with the gopikās in the old Vṛndāvana ways. He fed Yaśodā with his own hands. He gave ātmajñāna (knowledge of the self) to the gopas. In the morning Rādhā and the gopikās woke feeling that Kṛshṇa had truly been with them. Uddhava went back to his home in Mathurā, his heart changed for ever by what he had seen. (Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 98)

Sources

• Brahma Vaivarta Mahā Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapters 91–98