Verse Text
tathā hi pādmottara-khaṇḍe –
yathā saumitri-bharatau yathā saṅkarṣaṇādayaḥ |
tathā tenaiva jāyante nija-lokād yadṛcchayā ||297||
punas tenaiva gacchanti tat-padaṁ śāśvataṁ param |
na karma-bandhanaṁ janma vaiṣṇavānāṁ ca vidyate ||298||
Translation
Also, from the Uttara-khaṇḍa of the Padma Purāṇa: Just as Lakṣmaṇa, Bharata and Saṅkarṣaṇa take birth with the Lord, the Yādava cowherd people, descending from their spiritual planet by the Lord’s will, take birth with the appearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and then return to His eternal dhāma along with Him. The birth of these devotees is not caused by the bondage of karma.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
The phrase “appear with the Lord, so similarly the Yādava cowherd people” should be supplied in saṁskṛt to verse 297. Yadṛcchayā here means “from one’s own will” rather than accidentally (another meaning of the word). Amara-kośa says yadṛccha svaita: yadṛccha means “one’s will.”
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
In the Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa section, it is stated, “Just as Lord Rāmacandra descends along with Lakṣmaṇa (an expansion of Saṅkarṣaṇa) and Bharata (an expansion of Pradyumna), so the members of the Yadu dynasty and the cowherd men of Vṛndāvana also descend with Lord Kṛṣṇa in order to join in the transcendental pastimes of the Lord. When the Supreme Lord returns to His eternal abode, His associates return with Him to their respective places. As such, these ever-liberated Vaiṣṇavas are not bound by the material laws of birth and death.”
As stated in Bhagavad-gītā by the Lord Himself, His birth, deeds and activities are all transcendental. Similarly, the birth, deeds and activities of the associates of the Lord are also transcendental. And as it is an offense to consider oneself to be Kṛṣṇa, so it is offensive to consider oneself to be Yaśodā, Nanda or any other associate of the Lord. We should always remember that they are transcendental; they are never conditioned souls.