Devanagari
श्रीउद्धव उवाच
देवदेवेश योगेश पुण्यश्रवणकीर्तन ।
संहृत्यैतत् कुलं नूनं लोकं सन्त्यक्ष्यते भवान् ।
विप्रशापं समर्थोऽपि प्रत्यहन्न यदीश्वर: ॥ ४२ ॥
Verse text
śrī-uddhava uvāca
deva-deveśa yogeśa
puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtana
saṁhṛtyaitat kulaṁ nūnaṁ
lokaṁ santyakṣyate bhavān
vipra-śāpaṁ samartho ’pi
pratyahan na yad īśvaraḥ
Synonyms
śrī
—
uddhavaḥ uvāca — Śrī Uddhava said
;
deva
—
deva — of the greatest among the demigods
;
īśa
—
O ultimate God
;
yoga
—
īśa — O master of all mystic power
;
puṇya
—
which are pious
;
śravaṇa
—
kīrtana — O You, hearing and chanting the glories of whom
;
saṁhṛtya
—
withdrawing
;
etat
—
this
;
kulam
—
dynasty
;
nūnam
—
is it not so
;
lokam
—
this world
;
santyakṣyate
—
are about to give up once and for all
;
bhavān
—
You
;
vipra
—
śāpam — the curse of the brāhmaṇas
;
samarthaḥ
—
capable
;
api
—
although
;
pratyahan na
—
You did not counteract
;
yat
—
because
;
īśvaraḥ
—
the Supreme Lord .
Translation
Śrī Uddhava said: O my Lord, O supreme God among all the demigods, real piety is invoked simply by hearing and chanting Your transcendental glories. My Lord, it appears that You will now withdraw Your dynasty, and thus You Yourself will finally give up Your pastimes within this universe. You are the supreme controller and the master of all mystic power. But although You are fully capable of counteracting the brāhmaṇas’ curse against Your dynasty, You are not doing so, and Your disappearance is imminent.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Uddhava said: O Lord of the devatās! O Lord of yoga-māyā! You create purity simply by our hearing and chanting your glories! My Lord! It appears that you will now withdraw your dynasty and you will give up this world. Although you are fully capable of counteracting the brāhmaṇas’ curse, you do not do so.
O Lord of the devatās! You have accomplished what Brahmā and others requested. But you did not come only for that purpose. You also came to give joy to your devotees by revealing your inconceivable, variegated form, qualities, and pastimes filled with rasa. Thus he says “O Lord of yoga-māyā!” It is said:
yan martya-līlaupayikaṁ sva-yoga-
māyā-balaṁ darśayatā gṛhītam
vismāpanaṁ svasya ca saubhagarddheḥ
paraṁ padaṁ bhūṣaṇa-bhūṣaṇāṅgam
Kṛṣṇa possesses that form suitable for human pastimes to show the full capacity of his yoga-māyā. That form astonishes even the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha. It is the pinnacle of auspicious qualities and enhances the beauty of his ornaments. SB 3.2.12
You also come to deliver the people of future generations: O Lord whose glories by being sung or heard purify everyone! Having accomplished everything you desired to do, you will now give up this world. This is what I guess. This is expressed by the word nunām, showing conjecture. But you have instructed us to bathe at Prabhāsa to nullify the curse of the brāhmaṇas. Is bathing there more powerful than seeing you? How can the curse of the brāhmaṇa have effect if you simply think “The curse should not come to pass!” This shows that you desire to disappear, because though you are capable of nullifying the curse, you do not do so.
Purport
As previously mentioned, Kṛṣṇa’s own dynasty can never be destroyed; therefore the word
saṁhṛtya
means that Kṛṣṇa was taking the Yādavas with Him as He left this material world. However, in the eyes of ordinary, unenlightened persons the withdrawal of the Yadu dynasty appears to be its destruction. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has very nicely explained the statement of Uddhava as follows.
Kṛṣṇa is addressed as
deva-deva,
or the supreme God among the gods, because He expertly solved all of the problems of the demigods by His incarnation within the universe. The Lord rid the world of demons and firmly established both His devotees and religious principles. Lord Kṛṣṇa is addressed here as
yogeśa
because He not only performed work on behalf of the demigods, but also revealed His beautiful, transcendental form, full of transcendental qualities and ecstasies, for the pleasure of His pure devotees. Kṛṣṇa is called
puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtana
because when by His internal mystic potency He exhibited His humanlike activities, the Lord stimulated the writing of innumerable Vedic scriptures about His pastimes. Thus persons who would be born in the future, like ourselves, would be able to hear and chant about the Lord’s activities and also go back home, back to Godhead.
Having insured the transcendental bliss and liberation of all of His devotees, even those who would be born in the future, Kṛṣṇa decided the time had come for Him to leave this material universe. Uddhava could understand the Lord’s desire and said to Kṛṣṇa, “You have instructed the Yādavas to counteract the
brāhmaṇas’
curse by taking bath at Prabhāsakṣetra, but how could mere bathing in a holy place be of greater value than seeing You, the Personality of Godhead, face to face? Since the Yādavas are always seeing Your transcendental form, and since You are the Supreme Lord, what is the use of their taking bath in a so-called holy place? Therefore You obviously have some other purpose. If You actually wanted to counteract the curse, You could simply say, ‘Let this curse not act,’ and the curse would immediately be neutralized. Therefore You must be preparing to leave this universe, and that is why You have not counteracted the curse.”