Devanagari
नोद्धवोऽण्वपि मन्न्यूनो यद्गुणैर्नार्दित: प्रभु: ।
अतो मद्वयुनं लोकं ग्राहयन्निह तिष्ठतु ॥ ३१ ॥
Verse text
noddhavo ’ṇv api man-nyūno
yad guṇair nārditaḥ prabhuḥ
ato mad-vayunaṁ lokaṁ
grāhayann iha tiṣṭhatu
Synonyms
na
—
not
;
uddhavaḥ
—
Uddhava
;
aṇu
—
slightly
;
api
—
also
;
mat
—
to Myself
;
nyūnaḥ
—
inferior
;
yat
—
because
;
guṇaiḥ
—
by the modes of material nature
;
na
—
nor
;
arditaḥ
—
affected
;
prabhuḥ
—
master
;
ataḥ
—
therefore
;
mat
—
vayunam — knowledge of Me (the Personality of Godhead)
;
lokam
—
the world
;
grāhayan
—
just to disseminate
;
iha
—
in this world
;
tiṣṭhatu
—
may remain .
Translation
Uddhava is not inferior to Me in any way because he is never affected by the modes of material nature. Therefore he may remain in this world in order to disseminate specific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Uddhava is not less than me, because he is master of māyā and not at all lacking in any spiritual quality. He should remain on this earth, giving knowledge of me to the world.
This verse describes Uddhava’s qualification as a replica of the Lord. Uddhava is not all (anu) less than me, because (yad) he is not disturbed by the guṇas like sattva. “There are many jīvan-muktas in this world who are undisturbed by the guṇas. Are they not also equal to the Lord?” That is true. Therefore the following is the real meaning. He is not at all pained by spiritual qualities of strength, intelligence knowledge and renunciation. This means that he has the ability to control their effects. This is similar to saying that a person has control over the impulse of lust, or is not pained by lust. It has already been said that he was the chief among the best of the groups of warriors among all the Yadus. Nowhere is there seen such strength as his. Similarly he has other qualities like intelligence which are extraordinary. He is addressed as prabhu because like the Lord he has control over māyā. Vayunam means knowledge.
Purport
The specific qualification for becoming the representative of the Lord is to be unaffected by the material modes of nature. The highest qualification of a person in the material world is to be a
brāhmaṇa.
But since a
brāhmaṇa
is in the mode of goodness, to be a
brāhmaṇa
is not sufficient for becoming a representative of the Lord. One has to transcend the mode of goodness also and be situated in unalloyed goodness, unaffected by any of the qualities of material nature. This stage of transcendental qualification is called
śuddha-sattva,
or
vasudeva,
and in this stage the science of God can be realized. As the Lord is not affected by the modes of material nature, so a pure devotee of the Lord is also not affected by the modes of nature. That is the primary qualification for being one with the Lord. A person who is able to attain this transcendental qualification is called
jīvan-mukta,
or liberated, even though he is apparently in material conditions. This liberation is achieved by one who constantly engages in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. In
Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu
(1.2.187) it is stated:
īhā yasya harer dāsye
karmaṇā manasā girā
nikhilāsv apy avasthāsu
jīvan-muktaḥ sa ucyate
“Anyone who, by his actions, mind and words, lives only for the transcendental loving service of the Lord, is certainly a liberated soul, even though he may appear to be in a condition of material existence.” Uddhava was in such a transcendental position, and thus he was selected to be the factual representative of the Lord in His bodily absence from the vision of the world. Such a devotee of the Lord is never affected by material strength, intelligence or even renunciation. Such a devotee of the Lord can withstand all onslaughts of material nature, and therefore he is known as
gosvāmī.
Only such
gosvāmīs
can penetrate the mysteries of the Lord’s transcendental loving relationships.