Devanagari
अस्माल्लोकादुपरते मयि ज्ञानं मदाश्रयम् ।
अर्हत्युद्धव एवाद्धा सम्प्रत्यात्मवतां वर: ॥ ३० ॥
Verse text
asmāl lokād uparate
mayi jṣānaṁ mad-āśrayam
arhaty uddhava evāddhā
sampraty ātmavatāṁ varaḥ
Synonyms
asmāt
—
from this (universe)
;
lokāt
—
earth
;
uparate
—
having disappeared
;
mayi
—
of Myself
;
jṣānam
—
knowledge
;
mat
—
āśrayam — concerning Myself
;
arhati
—
deserves
;
uddhavaḥ
—
Uddhava
;
eva
—
certainly
;
addhā
—
directly
;
samprati
—
at the present moment
;
ātmavatām
—
of the devotees
;
varaḥ
—
foremost .
Translation
Now I shall leave the vision of this mundane world, and I see that Uddhava, the foremost of My devotees, is the only one who can be directly entrusted with knowledge about Me.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When I leave this planet, Uddhava, the best among those who take me as their master, will be qualified to impart knowledge about me.
When I disappear from this planet with my shower of sweet form, qualities and pastimes, Uddhava will be qualified to know what I know (mad-āśrayam). He is qualified, as my duplicate, to give knowledge to the sages of Badarikāśrama who want to receive knowledge from my mouth and want to see me. Ātmavatām means of those who take me, ātmā, as their master.
Purport
Jṣānaṁ mad-āśrayam
is significant in this verse. Transcendental knowledge has three departmental divisions, namely knowledge of impersonal Brahman, knowledge of the all-pervading Supersoul and knowledge of the Personality of Godhead. Out of the three, transcendental knowledge of the Personality of Godhead has special significance and is known as
bhagavat-tattva-vijṣāna,
specific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead. This specific knowledge is realized by pure devotional service and no other means.
Bhagavad-gītā
(18.55)
confirms this:
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ.
“Only persons engaged in devotional service can factually know the transcendental position of the Lord.” Uddhava was considered to be the best amongst all devotees of that time, and therefore he was directly instructed by the Lord’s grace, so that people might take advantage of Uddhava’s knowledge after the disappearance of the Lord from the vision of the world. This is one of the reasons why Uddhava was advised to go to Badarikāśrama, where the Lord is personally represented by the Nara-Nārāyaṇa Deity. One who is transcendentally advanced can gain direct inspiration from the temple Deity, and thus a devotee of the Lord always takes shelter of a recognized temple of the Lord in order to make tangible advancement in transcendental knowledge by the grace of the Lord.