Ghaisas Eknathi Bhagwat Ch-29

Chapter 29
Om! Salutations to the Lord Shri Ganesh!
Om! Salutations to the Lord Shri Krishna!
(1) Om! Victory to you Satguru! You are the ocean of compassion! There is no limit to your grace!
You emancipate the Jeevas by making them lose their sense of being separate Jeevas.
(2) O the reservoir of grace ! O the very kind Satguru! You make people drop their false notion that
they are only physical body; you dissolve the attachment of the sense of being a Jeeva, and lift
up the Jeevas from the ocean of mundane life!
(3) When we see how kind you are, we come to know that you kill the Jeeva-consciousness, destroy
his separateness, put a zero against the bondages of Name and Form and crush down the caste
and family pride of your disciples.
(4) You uproot the attitude of separating “MINE” and “OTHERS” and thwart the growth of family
life and worldly life. How can you be really kind and the nearest relative to us?
(5) When the Sun rises, all the stars which were visible during night and the little fire flies were
twinkling in the darkness, become invisible. Similarly when you meet us, all worlds become
invisible!
(6) When you really meet us and when you give us a glance of grace, the three factors viz, the
observer, the observing and the observed become extinct and the whole universe with the three
facets viz, the Sattwa, the Rajas and the Tamas is dismissed from our sight!
(7) Instead of showing those things you give us direct sight of non-dual unitary aloneness of
Brahman and when once you meet, then there is no separation between us at all!
(8) How can he meet, who is not visible to the eyes of flesh and how is it possible that once he
meets, there is no separation again?
(9) This is possible. The child in the womb is not visible to its mother, but are they both not
together? Is she not knowing, feeling and experiencing that she is with the child? Similarly we,
the seekers are within you at all times, though we do not see you as an outsider!
(10) The child does not recognize its mother when the child is in the womb, but the mother takes
every care to protect it. Similarly, people who are ignorant are in your consciousness, and may
not know you but you love them like a mother.
(11) The child, after its birth, is nurtured by the mother very thoughtfully and your disciples are also
taught by you very carefully.
(12) When the disciples know your greatness, you do not allow the sense of duality which is
anyhow false in itself. The Jeeva becomes Paramatman, by forgetting his separate existence as
Jeeva.
(13) Let all this talk he kept aside. One thing is of importance. Unless there is benediction of the
Satguru, one will not be able to know anything about spiritual life, however great one may
make efforts.
(14) When the Guru blesses, there is no need to undergo all the rigmarole of penances, fasts,
pilgrimages etc., because the disciple experiences that the entire world is full of the Joy of the
Eternal Brahman, and the aspirants are satisfied by the bliss of the Atman.
(15) If the Guru blesses, the seeker himself understands the meaning of Upanishads. Such is the
power of the blessings by the Guru!
(16) It is because of the power and blessing of Guru Janardana that I told the meaning of this
eleventh Skandha of Bhagawat in Marathi, up to now.
(17) It is by his indulgence that my Marathi explanations could find place in this great book, with
the self-knowledge properly explained.
(18) Though the Sanskrit and colloquial Marathi are separate languages, the men of discernment
understand the joyful subject of Atman, in both the languages. For example, the colour of the
cow may be dark or reddish, the milk is white only.
(19) Thus, Brahman is the same, though told about in both the languages. My friend Janardana
helped me to describe Brahman equally well in both the languages.
(20) By the grace of the Guru Janardana, I explained the secret, serious and highest devotional
maxims simply, from the twenty-eighth chapter.
(21) I used logical arguments alluding to many similarities to explain the nature of the self and its
joy, which is told by the Lord Shri Krishna Himself.
(22) Brahman is complete, all-one pure and it does not have any place therein, for such things like
purpose, inferences, intellect, reasoning, or mind. It is totally impenetrable and in-divisible.
(23) In it there is no seer, the seeing or the seen, the meditator, the meditating and the object of
meditation, actor, acting and action, nor the duality of I and you.
(24) Argument is lifeless there. Examples ran away afraid of their inadequacy; standards lost their
accuracy and thought became emaciated together with the knowledge which it dealt with.
(25) There is neither speech nor silence, neither form nor void, neither modes nor freedom from
modes (Gunas viz, Sattwa, etc)
(26) This state of Brahman was experienced by Uddhava by the grace of the Lord. This is however
not so easy for ordinary men. How can they also grasp it? How can they also wade through the
river of the worldly life?
(27) Uddhava knew this. In order to make it easy for ordinary man to learn about Brahman, he is
going to ask a question to the Lord.
(28) If the Lord will go to his own abode, who will teach this knowledge to others? They will be
deprived of it forever. Who will then teach the truth to others?
(29) Thus, feeling pity for others, Uddhava will now ask what is the easy way to self-realization.
(30) Shri Hari will tell in this 29th chapter about the easy path of devotion towards Brahman.
(31) In the next six Sanskrit verses the questions of Uddhava are contained which seek the
knowledge about the easy way of faithful devotion, in order to reach self-realisation.
उ व उवाच — सुदु रािममां म ये योगचयामना मन:

यथा जसा पुमान् िस ये त् त मे बू जसा युत
Meaning of the verse:
Uddhava said – For a man who does not have control over his passions, this yoga seems to be very
difficult to me. So, please tell me simply and clearly how man can be successful in it with least
trouble, O Achyuta! (1)
(32) Uddhava said- "The state of Brahman told by you (in the last chapter) is difficult to attain.
Seekers of lesser capacity will not be able to try it.
(33) Brahman is not manifest. It is not unmanifest! It is neither evident nor hidden. One cannot say
whether it is enformed or not formed. How can the seekers reach it?
(34) It is neither crude nor subtle. One cannot say if it exists or not. The seer and the act of seeing
become non-existent there. How can the seekers approach it?
(35) If we say that Brahman is what is visible, it being a form having a name, it will be within the
field of Maya. If we say that there is nothing like Brahman at all, it will be refusing everything
to the seekers.
(36) It has no shape not it is any void. There is no aim of meditation nor is there anyone to think
about it. The knowledge and the object of knowledge are not there. No path, no means, no
measures, can try to touch it.
(37) It is not caught in words; it is not understood by silence. It has no inner side or outer side.
What can the seeker do there?
(38) It is neither in the thought nor outside it. Even learned men cannot define it. How can the
seekers know anything definite about it?
(39) There is no anchorage for fixing the mind, for the seekers. Naturally ordinary people will find
this Yoga very difficult to follow.
(40) So, it seems that people who are not so mentally strong have no entry on this path! It is
impossible for them to follow any instructions.
(41) So, O the ocean of compassion! O Lord! Please tell me an easy method of yoga by which
ordinary men can attain the Absolute Brahman.
(42) You are now about to go to your eternal abode. Please tell me before you leave, what a
common man should do so that he will also be liberated.
(43) Uddhava prostrated before the Lord after this request and said again – "Who is there to teach,
when you go from here?
(44) For women and children, it is better to wade through shallow waters instead of swimming in
the river. Such way of yoga should, therefore, be useful for the ordinary people.
(45) Many people have real faith in you but they do not have the necessary exact knowledge in so
many words; what is best for them?
(46) Control of mind and organs in the body is not an easy task for many seekers. Uddhava further
observed –
पायश: पु डरीका यु ज तो योिगनो मन: िवषीद यसमाधाना मनोिनगहकिशता:
O the Lotus-eyed Lord! Generally people who try to practise yoga, become frustrated when they are
suffering by the efforts made by them to control their mind and are not successful in it. (2)
(47) O the Lotus-eyed Krishna! Please listen. Though the seeker gets tired in observing penances,
he cannot bring his mind under control.
(48) Seekers do breath-control in order to subdue the urges of the mind but the mind runs away by
deceiving them.
(49) Some of them seek isolation, sit in a fixed posture and try to be alert to fix their mind, but it
escapes from their vigil very swiftly.
(50) Determined to harness their mind with force, some yoga students go away to some ravine or
cave, but the mind is very subtle and it wanders away very easily.
(51) Some observe fast and deny themselves food, but their mind hovers around their need for food,
the pangs of hunger are intolerable and thus the mind is not peaceful but much agitated.
(52) Thus, the harder they try to hold their mind together, the faster it becomes turbulent. Thus great
thinkers who try to control their mind are exhausted by their own efforts in vain!
(53) One may hold wind in a bag, one may swallow fire in one moment, one may drink the waters
of ocean, but the mind cannot remain steady in the Atman.
(54) One may fold the sky in multiple folds, one may make a small packet of the mountain Meru,
one may cut the throat of zero, but the mind is beyond all efforts to fix it.
(55) One may gain victory over Death and Time, one may rule all the three worlds, but, O Achyut,
unless you help, how can the mind be controlled?
(56) The mind readily deceives the seekers who observe hard penance, it breaks the vows of those
who determine to follow any discipline; and thus the mind is the strongest of all, the most
fickle in its power to change and simply destroys the courage of the seekers,
(57) It usurps Indra of his kingdom of heaven, it puts the Lord Brahma to shame, and it is so naughty
that no seeker can boast to control it.
(58) O Achyut! The seeker may be totally exhausted in his efforts but victory over the mind is an
impossible thing. Without Your help nobody can defeat the mind!
(59) If somehow the mind is subdued, the occult powers take possession of the seeker and they
mislead the man!
(60) The seeker can never control his mind if your grace is not there. If you are pleased, then only
the mind forgets its pranks.
(61) It is therefore, necessary that one should surrender oneself to your feet, in order that they can
control their minds.
अथात आन ददुघं पदा बुजं हं सा: शये र नरिव दलोचन

सुखं नु िव े र योगकमिभ व माययामी िवहता न मािनन:
It is for this very reason that men who are capable of discrimination, definitely resort to your lotus
feet which give Supreme bliss, O Lotus eyed Lord! However those, who are proud of their
Self-knowledge, and knowledge of rituals do not resort to you, and are handicapped by your
Maya. (3)
(62) O Lotus eyed Lord; You are the spouse of Kamala. Your face is like a lotus. You have given
the knowledge of Brahman to the Lord Brahma who is born out of the Lotus of your navel.
(63) The man, who is lucky to get the nectar of your feet, enjoys victory over his mind, and does not
desire anymore for the worldly enjoyments.
(64) The sweetness of the nectar of your feet enables your devotee to control his mind. It removes
diseases and calamities, and the seeker attains tremendous self-joy.
(65) Your devotion is the essence of all spiritual efforts including the philosophy of Sankhya, Yoga,
etc.
(66) Only those king Swans, who know the secret of your devotion, and who have ardent love in
their heart about you, are really lucky to enjoy the sweet juice of your devotion.
(67) Your feet give complete self-bliss to those, who are having purity of mind as well as of the
body and the speech.
(68) The four achievements of human-life are full of errors, and they are dangerous because of
mistakes.
(69) Your devotion is not like that. If one worships you with faith and love, no calamities confront
that man, but calamities run away from him.
(70) If at all a fire-fly can meet the Sun at leisure, then only calamities can dare approach your
devotees.
(71) An elephant runs away as soon as he smells from a distance that there is a lion. Similarly,
calamities are afraid of your devotion and worship.
(72) Such devotees escape the chain of births and deaths; why consider other calamities?
(73) Just as the divine cow gives milk to her calf, your feet give the milk of self-joy to those, who
are loyal and devoted to your feet.
(74) Blessed are your devotees, who drink the sweet water of the lake of your devotion. Your feet
are like lotus, which blooms at the sunrise of pure devotion.
(75) The blue-beetles, who are the men of self-knowledge sit delicately on the open lotus flower of
your feet and sip the nectar of self-joy without disturbing the petals.
(76) The Parama-Hansas (Adepts) are the king-swans who remain near your lotus feet and partake
the joy of self eternally.
(77) The devotees who are of the three categories of (1) Desirous of escape from calamities; (2)
Desirous to know the final truth and (3) Desirous of fulfilling the four human achievements,
live in the same lake but do not know the nectar of self-joy, and they are living near the stem of
that lotus.
(78) O Lord! You lift up all your devotees and they are not harassed by any difficulties.
(79) You are pleased with the simple piety and faith of your devotees and your feet bestow upon
your devotees all the happiness of divine nature.
(80) You are the Lord of the Universe and at the same time Universe is your own image! You rule
over all the gods including Brahma, once your benevolent palm touches the head of your
devotees, the worldly life is not able to touch them.
(81) Your devotion is all the good deeds, for them. Faith in you is all the Dharma they know; to
offer good food to you is all the Yadnyas they perform.
(82) To remember your name at all times is the Japa they do. To sing songs of praise for you is the
trance they experience!
(83) All the actions of your devotee become your own Nature and the man to whom your
benediction touches, is never deluded by the worldly life.
(84) Thus, through devotion they are made free by you, they enjoy your company and you also
become very happy in their happiness.
(85) No doubt, you make your devotees happy by your blessing, but those who do not worship you
suffer due to the mischief of Maya.
(86) Those who turn away from your feet do not get any happiness even in their dream; their
suffering and sorrow go on increasing. The delusion of Maya fools them.
(87) If no worship is offered to your feet and merely Yadnyas etc are performed, those create
bondage for your seekers, because they become proud of their knowledge of the rituals.
(88) The meaning of the last 5-6 words is that those scholars are definitely proud and far away from
devotion.
(89) They speak – “We are men of knowledge, we are wise, were are the pioneers of the path of
karma, the rituals, we the knowers of Shrutis are the purest people of all, and our way of life is
the highest path of liberation and comforts”.
(90) They say – “See! All people are very ignorant. We are not like that. Our decisions and
opinions about religious problems must be followed by all the society”.
(91) Thus they themselves think that they are the wise men and this conceit makes them blind to the
Reality and being overcome by sullenness, they meet disasters after disasters in their life.
(92) In short, there is no other dangerous enemy of man except pride. It puts to trouble even the
intelligent man.
(93) Let us not emphasize this bad story of heretics; they are already on the wrong path because they
do not worship You.
(94) But You give the great blessing of your kindness to those who surrender everything at your
feet, because you are the Lord of the whole world and are savior for all.
(95) Your devotees do not desire the knowledge of Atman or Brahman. All they know is to worship
you. But you give them self-knowledge of your own accord.
(96) O Lord! In the ecstasy of your worship your devotees never get into any trouble. No wonder,
they enjoy the inner happiness!
(97) You serve your devotees who come towards you in their devotion. This is the fact. (Uddhava
speaks about this further.
िकं िचतम युत तवैतदशेषब धो दासे वन यशरणे षु यदा मसा वम्

ृ :ै वयमी राणां शीमि करीटतटपीिडतपादपीठ:
योऽरोचयत् सह मग
O the brother of all! O Achyuta! What wonder is there that you are one with your faithful devotees
who resort to your feet? You are happily playing friendly with animals like monkeys and
bears but great gods put their crowns with great respect at your feet! (4)
(98) O Rhishikesh! There is no wonder that your devotees are not troubled by any calamities,
because you become their servant fulfilling their every wish.
(99) You are so subservient to your dear ones that in order to save Draupadi from very awkward
position of not being able to give food to guests, you took one boiled leaf of vegetable from
her divine dish and fed Durvasa, the sage and thousands of his disciples!
(100) When the severe war between the Pandavas and Kouravas was at hand, you became the
charioteer of Arjuna and took the helm on the war-front even washing his horses during night
time!
(101) Even Vedas do not realize the glory of your crown, but you put the stick of the horse-whip in
that crown for your devotee Arjuna and served his horses!
(102) You were not ashamed to wash his horses, by holding in your teeth the whips of those
horses, by all the four hands!
(103) You made Ugrasena king of Mathura again by releasing him from the prison of Kansa. You
washed the dishes at the grand dinner in Indrapastha in the palace of the king Udhishthira and
you attended the cows and calves of Nanda in Vraja.
(104) This is what you did for kings and great men, but you were so humble in the company of
childhood friends in Gokula that you partook the little morsels of rice and curds, and danced
in their group in the forest near river Yamuna.
(105) You were not particular about the cleanliness when you were eating food taking it from the
cowherd boys, even from their mouth!
(106) Draupadi was protected by you in front of all Kouravas when Duhshasana tried to denude
her. You became many clothes and wrapped her body! You danced among Gopis, keeping
aside your Divinity!
(107) When a Gopi was carrying water pot home from the river Yamuna, a thorn pricked her side.
You helped her by lightly taking out the thorn.
(108) You carried the sage Durvasa on your shoulders. You became the security Guard at the
palace door of king Bali. You are thus the obedient servant of your devotees.
(109) You may think that I really believe that you are a cowherd, but no! I know that all the gods
and the men respect you very much and they worship you.
(110) Indra, Moon and Mahendra, the Brahma, the Teacher of gods and the Lord Shiva, all these
gods, O Shri Krishna, are your servants.
(111) Their crowns are surrendered at your feet and when all crowns have friction, there is a
sound and sparks. The gods throng together to pay respects to you.
(112) If Brahma does not obey you, He is punished. Why talk of others?
(113) The wind blows with all the speed because you allow it. The Sun shines because that is your
order to Him.
(114) By your power the oceans remain within their boundaries and the rain obeys you.
(115) Death obeys your orders and then only the total dissolution of the world is possible for Him.
(116) My dear Lord! You would say to me – “O Uddhava, I am only a cowboy of the king Nanda,
serving the great Ugrasena, and that your praise is not true”.
(117) But I know better than that! It is you who brought back the son of Guru Sandeepana, by
whisking him from the clutches of death-god, and you defeated Indra, when He sent torrential
rains on Gokula.
(118) You took the form of cows and their calves as well as the cowboys, and shamed
Brahmadeva who had stolen all!
(119) The Lord Shankara came to fight with you for Banasura, but you defeated him in a very short
time.
(120) The Lord Narayana living in the ocean of milk wanted to meet you who are his own
incarnation, and He used the dead son of a Brahmin as a decoy, and kept him with Himself.
(121) You, who are ever alert to help your devotees, went there with Arjuna in order to search the
boy and You met the Lord Narayana there.
(122) The joy of the meeting of Narayana and Shri Krishna is known only to the saints because
You and Narayana became one great arc of Divine light at that time.
(123) It could not be made out whether Shri Krishna merged into Narayana or vice versa.
(124) Arjuna was confused and felt that he in vain asked you to search the son of the Brahmin and
lost you there! But in the next moment he saw you reclining as Lord Narayana on the big
serpent.
(125) O Lord! You are the savior of your devotees, and you assume various forms in the various
incarnations.
(126) O Hrishikesh! Your greatness was realized by me, only in your present manifestation.
(127) Your state of glory is unbroken here. Your energy of knowledge is beyond the cover of
Maya, and the joy. That is why you are called Achyuta (i.e. never falling down from you
Eternal nature)
(128) You are endless and limitless; you are god of the gods and you are very benevolent to your
devotees. Let me repeat some cases where you have blessed even the lowly beings.
(129) You are difficult to be available even for gods for offering their respects, but in the
incarnation of Ram, you made friendship with monkeys and bears.
(130) Veda waits eagerly and is very alert to listen to your kind words, but you shared your loving
thought with the monkeys by speaking kind words in their ears.
(131) Vedas and scriptures do not understand what is in your mind, but you take the counsel of
monkeys and you have followed their advice of strategy to be adapted in war.
(132) You do not readily accept the oblations offered in the sacrificial fire, but you accepted the
wild fruits offered to you by the monkeys and ate them lovingly.
(133) Thus you protect and love your devotees and you are impartial. You are the Atman of the
world.
(134) You are the inner friend dwelling in everybody’s heart. You are the over-soul of all, seated
in the heart. You look equally kindly on all animates and inanimates.
(135) You enliven the inert; you teach wisdom to the ignorant and give joy to all the beings. The
world functions by your power!
(136) Parents love their children but that affection is worldly. You are however, the friend of the
soul, living in the heart of all, giving joy from within.
(137) All worship you; you are the Master protecting the poor and you are able to know the inner
aspirations of your devotees!
(138) O Lord! You are having pity for your devotees. Who will turn away from you and follow
people who are rich and proud of their property?
ृ ेत को नु
तं वाऽिखला मदियते रमािशतानां सवाथदं वकृतिवद् िवसज
को वा भजेत् िकमिप िव मत
ृ ये ऽनु भू यै िकं वा भवे न तव पादरजोजष
ु ां न:
What man can possibly turn his back on you, the ruler and the beloved, the Atman of the entire
universe and who bestows all desired boons upon those who have sought shelter with you,
when he knows the good help you have given to your devotees in the past? Who will go in
for something other than you, which may give mundane pleasures but later on would lead to
forgetting you and your kindness? (5)
(139) Brahma, Vishnu and Shankara are no doubt Lords but they are within the field of Maya and
represent the Rajas, the Sattwa and Tamas qualities, but You are the controller of Maya and
you are kind to your devotees and give real happiness to them.
(140) When we worship you, we get all the four achievements of life and all the five kinds of
liberations.
(141) As you know everything, you know the inner aspirations of your devotees and you give them
what they desire.
(142) You are fond of heart-felt devotion. You are the only one like this. Nobody else has this
specialty.
(143) Thus you are our greatest Master; and the devotee attain greatest happiness. There is nobody
like you. You are the Supreme Person and Master of all.
(144) Though you are the Lord of all Beings, you are specially very kind to your devotees. For
example, you saved Pralhad from fire and poisoning.
(145) You are moved to compassion for your devotees. Dhruva, the small child of the king
Uttanapada. was made desireless by you and given the eternally fixed highest state.
(146) Bibhesshana was the brother of your enemy Ravana, but he surrendered himself to you and
you killed Ravana with his sons etc and emancipated all.
(147) No doubt, for the good of Devas you made king Bali to go the Patala, but by your natural
kindness you accepted his request to be the guard at the door of his palace.
(148) Such is your compassion for your devotees. You know what is in their heart and mind. Who
will leave aside such good master like you and go away to serve money-mad Masters?
(149) The illusive sensations we get through our senses and the transient pleasures are due to the
little ray of happiness you give us. You become a bosom friend of your devotees, with all
the reservoirs of welfare and happiness!
(150) Only saints know how great you are! You are completely united with men of self-knowledge
and you are their Atman. O Supreme Person, you love your devotees and they love you. Your
love is beyond our imagination!
(151) By their love for you, your devotees are enjoying the blissful state. They are not touched by
dualities of the world, nor the birth and death, because of their blissful state.
(152) Being ecstatic because of your devotion they are so free from desire that they will throw
away even the kingdom of the whole world surrounded by oceans.
(153) Though heavenly pleasures and glories are offered to them, they will not touch them, just as
swans neglect muddy pond.
(154) You make them the very images of happiness, who are merged mentally in your worship,
then you make them unattached to the body though they live in the body and they also look
upon all with equanimity.
(155) O Krishna, in this way, you satisfy your devotees and you are always pleased with them. It
is not difficult to worship you. Please listen to my submission about this.
(156) One has not to go to foreign country for your worship. No time is bad for your worship. You
are near your devotees day and night, because you are dwelling in their hearts.
(157) No money is required for your worship, nor hard work is required. One has to put one’s
mind at your feet. You are pleased with only that gesture!
(158) You remove the delusion about the apparent objective world. With all the three Gunas, the
three factors viz, the knower, the knowing and the object of knowledge are destroyed.
(159) You are thus a Master whose worship is easy, kind and compassionate about poor and
destitute persons. Mad and misguided is he who leaves your worship!
(160) Even the flickering of eyelids happens by your will and those who leave your worship are
the most unfortunate and pitiable persons.
(161) Your worship is surely very comfortable and those who wish to enjoy the poisonous
pleasures of passion, by turning back on you, are really foolish.
(162) The poison of sense-objects destroys the joy of the Atman and makes man suffer in the chain
of births and deaths.
(163) The gods like Indra and others who give these pleasures or siddhis are very miser in their
mind; and those who worship them and such pleasurable objects are really luckless.
(164) O Lord! By your grace, your devotees are happy in their own state; they are really strong and
freely unattached though living in this world.
(165) Even gods like Indra bow to such devotee kings like Pruthu and Janaka and Riddhis and
Siddhis also bow to them.
(166) These devotees find these occult powers as their servants though these powers cannot be
attained even by penance for ages after ages.
(167) If your mind is concentrated at your feet, without our following other methods of worship,
all the occult powers surrender themselves to us.
(168) You oblige such devotees in many ways and these obligations can be repaid only when the
devotees get themselves merged in your feet.
(169) That merger is like the reflection returned to original object or like the space in the pot in the
house, being merged in the outer space.
(170) If one does not merge into you like this the obligations done by you on us will not be repaid
because to forget him who has done everything for you is treachery.
नैवोपय यपिचितं कवय तवेश ब ायुषािप कृतम ृ मुद: मर त:

योऽ तबिह तनुभतृ ामशुभं िवधु व नाचायचै यवपुषा वगितं यनि
O Lord, even enlightened souls cannot get square with you, even through the pan of life of Brahma,
and feel overjoyed while recalling your obligations, because they know that it is you who
drives away the sin, both by taking incarnation personally or dwelling in everybody’s heart,
and reveal your true Nature to embodied souls. (6)
(171) Your obligations cannot be repaid by anybody by merely practising yoga for many long
years equal to Lord Brahma’s life-span without merging one-self into you.
(172) It is neither possible for men of worldly knowledge to do so by the virtue of their
knowledge.
(173) You may ask what are these obligations. I say that it is removal of the sin from the lives of
your devotees totally, which is your obligation.
(174) By your being the Atman in each being and by teaching in the capacity of Guru from the
outside, you destroy the sins of your devotees which they have committed by the mind or by
the body, and you remove even their intentions in that respect.
(175) In both ways you act as the ocean of compassion, remove the burden of this worldly life and
develop their self-confidence.
(176) The sign of this confidence is that the sense of separate You and I is removed from the mind
of the devotee very easily, resulting in loss of the pride of the body and avoidance of the
chain of birth and death.
(177) When that is thus removed, there is naturally the bliss in the lives of your devotees. These
are your obligations on your devotees.
(178) O the image of kindness! You thus bestow upon them the Atmic state equal to your own state
and O Lord of the three Worlds! You are respected by all the gods, being the real Master of
all!
(179) These devotees who are thus freed by you from this mundane life, do live later on so long as
their destined karma is not ended.
(180) They are free from their body though they continue to live in the body and they are not the
actors though actions are happening in their wake. How can they repay your such a great
debt on them?
(181) How can they do so? Because the very mind is called wind because of you; the intellect is
sure because of you and the provocation to organs is also because of you.
(182) Even the eyes are opened and closed by your power. These are all your real obligations on
them. Men can never be able to repay these.
(183) Whatever effort is done, it is only successful if you wish. So, one cannot be free from all
your debt.
(184) By thus obliging many great persons you have lifted them up; but please tell me some simple
way by which simple souls can go beyond this ocean of life.
(185) O the image of kindness! O Shri Krishna, please tell us such easy means by which simple
aspirants can reach their own Atmic state!
(186) O Dark God! O Supreme Person! What is to be done by simple minded souls to attain
freedom, when you will be gone from this Earth to Vaikuntha?
(187) Thus requesting the Lord to tell the easiest way to liberation Uddhava prostrated before Him
and held His feet caressingly by his both hands.
(188) What Uddhava wanted was the way of emancipation for one and all and not merely for a
selected few. The Lord was pleased by this request.
(189) Sage Shuka, while narrating this story to the King Parakshit, himself was very joyous and
said, "O King! Please listen with attention.
(190) By this request for liberation for all the people in the world which Uddhava implied, the
Lord, who is the ocean of kindness was very happy.
(191) Now He will tell the basic seed of attainment of Reality in the easiest way.
(192) Really it must be said again that Uddhava’s request was not for himself but for poor people
and all the three worlds.
(193) This is truly a pathway for all to go to the other shore of this ocean, which will be useful for
all, though the Lord would be leaving this Earth.
(194) Nay! By this request Uddhava has provided a water tap on the road of spiritual life for all
by which they can attain Brahman easily.
(195) This question of Uddhava pleased the sage Shuka also and he is going to tell Parikshit the
story further.
शीशुक उवाच - इ यु वेना यनुर चेतसा प ृ ो जग कीडनक: वशि िभ:

गहृ ीतमिू ततय ई रे रो जगाद सपेम-मनोहरि मत:
Thus called upon humbly by the deeply loving Uddhava, the Lord who plays the divine game of the
world, with all his Powers having a hold on all the three actions of Creation. Protection and
Dissolution and who is the God of all gods, declared thus with his face lighted with an
attractive smile – (7)
(196) The Lord is the crown-jewel of men of Self-knowledge. He is the jewel in the crown of all
the bachelors of the world. He is the leader of all the Yogis and is saluted by Siddhis.
(197) The sage Shuka is the main reservoir of self-wisdom of the Reality. He is the ocean of
understanding of the Self. He is the ocean of milk of divine compassion for all the beings.
He is now speaking about self-knowledge.
(198) He said – O Parakshit, in the family of Kauravas and Pandavas your fame and devotion is
well-known. You are the founder of religion in all the three worlds! O Fortunate King!
Please listen further –
(199) This apparently wonderful world is a plaything of this Lord and He Himself becomes the
toys, but keeping himself aloof, he makes everyone act.
(200) This strong world is the playground of this Lord, by whose power all the Beings function
and by his power only, the world is as it is .
(201) This Lord Shri Krishna, who plays by Himself, taking the form of this world, who is the god
of the gods, and by whose existence all the three facets of Maya are manifest.
(202) The three gods viz Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh who represent the three functions of
creation, maintenance and destruction also obey Him.
(203) This Lord was requested by Uddhava with humility and love, by which the Lord was glad.
(204) Earlier many people had begged of the Lord for boons but those were for personal benefit,
but the question asked by Uddhava was for the upliftment of the entire world.
(205) Pleased by the question of Uddhava, the Lord will now tell the easiest way to reach the state
of Brahman.
(206) Please consider that Uddhava has asked for easiest path for liberation and the Lord is telling
the way to reach the Reality by easy means for very simple innocent people.
(207) If the travelers on the path of knowledge would jump to know this, they will also attain the
Absolute Reality by listening to the answer.
(208) Uddhava was anxious to emancipate even those people who put the fetters of attraction,
fascination and possessiveness around themselves and are bound in the jail of Pride!
(209) Fortunate is Uddhava who put before the Lord, this question for the welfare of the world.
The Lord began to talk in a very happy mood.
(210) The question of general emancipation for all was not easy, and that made
(211) the Lord very eager to reply. He smiled and his face which is already the most beautiful
looked exquisitely attractive. He said seriously –
शीभगवानुवाच — ह त ते कथिय यािम मम धमान् सुम गलान्

या छ याऽऽचरन् म य म ृ यंु जयित दुजयम्
The Lord said – Lo! I shall tell you the code of conduct for my devotion, following which, the man
who is normally mortal, defeats death which is really a difficult task. (8)
(212) The Lord is the peeled essence of Omkar. He is the dear friend of knowledge, and He is the
miracle of Energy. He is beyond the subtlest speech.
(213) The Lord spoke in re-echoing tone in a happy mood - O Uddhava, blessed is your speech. I
am happy to listen to your question.
(214) Only my worship with devotion is the way to liberation for ordinary man of average
intellect. I am always partial to such a devotion.
(215) I obey all orders of my devotees who are one-pointed towards me. I do not discriminate
between the castes, the sub-castes, the status in personal life or society.
(216) I shall tell you the Bhagawata way of life in which my worship is possible at its best quality,
and by that worship the stigma of committing any action or blemish for not doing any action,
and also the chain of birth and death –all bondages, are removed.
(217) If these courses of actions are followed, the vicious clutches of worldly life are removed
miraculously and then the seekers become naturally happy and prosperous.
(218) If one praises these courses of action, the blame of untruth is washed away and if one hears
about these, sexual and other desires are destroyed.
(219) All my instructions in these codes of conduct are very sacred. They burn the sins and
drawback in the Kali Age completely. My worship is the most sacred and the most
auspicious of all good deeds.
(220) If these actions and behaviour is followed faithfully, the seeker develops love for Me, thus
delusion about this world is removed, and birth-death chain is destroyed.
(221) The death which does not spare the God Brahma and the God Shiva, is very difficult to be
defeated. The gods and demons are all afraid of it.
(222) My devotees uproot the teeth of that death and destroy the fear about it, and live happily in
the bliss of unity with Me.
(223) I shall tell you if you want, the kind of devotion to me which avoids the death.
(224) O Uddhava, you are my dear friend and therefore, I will describe for you the power of my
worship in its totality.
(225) A brave warrior remains alive though he sustains many wounds in a battle, but if he receives
one fatal blow, he immediately dies.
(226) Similarly, a man may make all kinds of efforts on the spiritual path, he cannot avoid birth
and death, but even a little of loving devotion of Me, destroys the birth and death.
(227) [Eknath says - ] The Lord Shri Krishna was the great cloud. He gave rain of self bliss for
Uddhava who was like the bird Chataka, but by that knowledge all the world became happy.
(228) Water in the lakes looks very clear after the rainy season is over. This 29 th chapter contains
waves of blessings because devotion is its subject
(229) Thus when the end of the 11 th skandha of Bhagawata Purana is near, The Lord is giving
Uddhava the knowledge about the best way of His devotion.
कुयात् सवािण कमािण मदथ शनकै: मरन् म यिपतमनि ो

म माऽऽ ममनोरित:
Having his mind lovingly concentrated in Atman and having all his thoughts surrendered at my feet,
the devotee should do all the actions for Me, carefully remembering Me all the time. (9)
(230) All actions should be according to the position of the devotee in the country, in the society,
in his family and tradition.
(231) Action within this framework which is done as an offering to ME is called the general karma
surrendered to Me and when action is performed with the concept that I am permeating in
and out of every action it is the Main karma surrendered to Me.
(232) I illuminate all actions. The function takes place and appears because of my power. When
this understanding is there in all the karma, it is karma naturally surrendered to Me.
(233) To act with the realization that I am the beginning of Karma, I am the doer of Karma, I am
the giver of the result and success of Karma and the enjoyer of the fruits of Karma is really
the best way of offering Karma to Me.
(234) But this is not immediately possible to attain. So, gradual efforts are necessary to come to
this state of the mind. When tenaciously this is followed, the mind slowly becomes merged
in Me, i.e. the Self.
(235) When the mind will be averse to keep up this concentration, one should remember my name,
which will again turn the mind towards me.
(236) When this is practised regularly the mind starts liking that meditation on the Self, Me, the
Atman, the intellect gets merged in Me and pride about the body is dropped.
(237) The mind has no other place to stay except Me. When this happens it means that the devotee
has surrendered himself to me.
(238) Only then one can say that he really loves to worship Me, and by such total devotion he
becomes pure in the right sense.
(239) You may say that the mind which is tethered to pole of attachment of objects can never be
concentrated towards devotion. I shall now tell you what you should do in that respect.
देशान् पु या संशये त म ै : साधुिभ: िशतान् देवासुरमनु ये षु म ाच रतािन च
Then the man should live in a place where my devotees stay and saints stay, and should study the
life-stories of my devotees who are gods, men and demons. (10)
(240) Where should such an aspirant reside? Kururshetra, Ayodhya, the banks of Ganga and
Yamuna rivers and the mountain Arbuda.
(241) The village Kalapa, the village Nandi, the Monastery at Badarika, Panchavati, the place
where the god Shri Rama lived and the banks of Godavari river – are all sacred places to
live.
(242) Dandaka forest in which Shri Rama travelled is also auspicious to live as also the places
like Mathura, Gokula, Vrindavana and Brahmagiri are sacred.
(243) Pandharpur is called Dwarka of the south and it is also very sacred. There is temple of
Vitthala there and devotees throng there and loudly utter the name of Panduranga!
(244) Kashi (Varanasi) removes the sins of men totally. That place is very good for spirants to
concentrate their minds on God.
(245) For aspirants the area through which sacred rivers flow is very helpful. They are such as
Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Sabarmati, Vaitarni.
(246) Gandaki, Narmada, Tapi, Godavari, Bheema, Krishna, Venya, Tungabhadra, Gomati and the
place called Shri Shaila in the south.
(247) Both the banks of Kaveri river, and the place called Chidambaram, the river Prateechi,
which purifies those who bathe in it.
(248) The rivers Krutamala, Payaswini, and Tamraparni, the area of Naimisha forest are
auspicious for the seekers to reside for progress towards concentration of mind in Me.
(249) Further, the town where my pious devotees reside is very sacred.
(250) The place where my devotees and saints reside becomes sacred by their vicinity.
(251) The place where the breeze touching the body of my devotees blows about, become a
benevolent influence for the seekers and they also become purified.
(252) The wild trees also give out fragrance if they are near sandalwood tree, and their wood is
also used in the worship of gods and Brahmins. Similarly company of saints makes the
aspirant pure, if they live in their vicinity.
(253) The dry wood made fragrant by the vicinity of sandalwood becomes valuable and rich and
religious people like it. It is used as paste for worship of Hari and Hara!
(254) This good company is available only for the fortunate seekers which purifies their mind and
consciousness. This is a proved fact.
(255) Only those whose heart has one pointed love for Me, should be called my devotee and only
they are the saints.
(256) The devotees are respected by gods, human beings as well as demons. The seekers should
have conviction about this.
(257) The seekers should with proper efforts follow the way of devotion of such great devotees
like Narada. Pralhada, Ambreesha, etc.
पथ ै हाराजिवभिू तिभ:
ृ क् सतेण वा म ं पवयातामहो सवान् कारये द् गीतन ृ या म
To please Me, certain auspicious days, certain sessions of devotional activities or days of
pilgrimage and ceremonies, should be observed and dances, songs etc of respectable
persons should be arranged for in that celebration. (11)
(258) To infuse devotion and enthusiasm towards spiritual efforts people should arrange for
annual pilgrimages. The worship of the Lord Shri Krishna on special days should include all
the signs of the god, His flag, Umbrella, etc and pure royal offerings.
(259) Such pure and royal articles should be offered to God, and one should have eagerness about
worship all the time.
(260) A grand procession of the image of God should be started, on horseback, or on the back of
elephant or an eagle or on a Palkhi etc. The chariot with the image of God should be taken
around in the streets of the town.
(261) Many beat instruments and blow pipes and string instruments should be played upon in the
procession creating a great rhythmic sound very loud and inspiring.
(262) Singing, dancing, reciting ballads, Keertan programmes, many group games should be
arranged in front of the image of the God.
(263) Mimicries, songs, describing the virtues and adventures of the God in various incarnations
may be sung. Devotees should talk with god as if he is replying to them.
(264) The groups partaking of the favourite food of the god, viz curds and flakes mixture should be
arranged. The divine dance of Raas should be enacted. Roles of the boys of Gokul who were
friends of Lord Krishna should be enacted and dramas should be performed.
(265) Games of various kinds should be played, bouts of wrestling should be performed, with
giving blows, slaps, or boxing hits to each other.
(266) Fights should be arranged and one who wins should be honoured.
(267) A fake fighting with the Royal elephant Kuwalayaapeeda should be done, an act imitating the
pulling of his long tooth should be performed and the fighter should show how the Lord Shri
Krishna walked with dignity in the wrestling arena with the elephant’s tooth held on his
shoulder!
(268) The greatness and glory of the God should be sung and he should be
(269) praised. Great festivals should be held in this way. This should be done by one’s own
capacity or by collecting money and men.
(270) When my worship is done with such loyalty and faith, a man begins to enjoy everything,
about devotion and he naturally falls in love with Shri Hari.
(271) Then I am pleased with my devotees and he develops my devotion in his totality of
awareness, the inner worship or the essence of devotion.
(272) [Now the Lord is going to tell Uddhava the signs of such inner devotees or His bosom
friends, in the next verse]
ू ेषु बिहर तरपावतृ म् ई ेता मिन चा मानं यथा खममलाशय:

मामेव सवभत
The devotee should see me by his mind as dwelling in and out hidden and revealed in every Being,
and should see himself in himself, like the reflection of sky in a lake of clear water. (12)
(273) When one worships me with faith, the mind becomes very clear and pure and by the grace of
Guru, my devotees attain the joyful state of Atman.
(274) When he sees that I am dwelling in every creature he also realizes that even outside of every
creature also, I am living.
(275) Beyond this visible world and also beyond the vaster invisible world, I am beyond measure,
but also in and out of every creature I am existing. Then my devotee also becomes like me
and becomes merged in Me.
(276) My devotee’s consciousness also becomes as vast and as divine as mine and, therefore
whatever or whomsoever he looks at, is to him, another manifestation of myself only.
(277) As space is in a pot as well as outside the pot, so am I, as energy fully inside and around all
forms and creatures in the world as Atman.
(278) To hold a convincing belief that everything and everybody is God, is the real devotion and
my worship. (This is being further explained by Lord Shri Krishna in the next verse)
ू ािन म ावेन महा ुते सभाजयन् म यमानो ानं केवलमािशत:

इित सवािण भत
O the brilliant Uddhava, having attained the knowledge of one Reality, the devotee worships Me in
every Being and all Beings. (13)
(279) O Uddhava, your luck is beyond comparison. You are now a treasure of knowledge. You are
a lamp of knowledge showing clearly the Brahman, the one reality. You are seeing Me as
energy inside every Being and also around it.
(280) Just like you, when a devotee looks at all creatures with the same respect, Myself sewn in
everybody being experienced by him –
(281) Sees different forms and different names, different situations doing different actions, and
looks at the whole world but there is no difference in his attitude, but only the same respect
for all.
(282) Though he sees various Beings, his equal awareness is not affected and has the same attitude
towards all and is really happy in my devotion.
(283) When My Supreme devotion is in the life of such a devotee, I obey his every wish and fulfill
it because he worships Me through all the creatures!
(284) You may take objection to my talk as compared to dictates of Vedas and say - My Lord, your
orders contained in the Vedas must be obeyed on one hand, which instruct us to worship the
Brahmins and to discard the demons and chadalas who are very much degraded in Vedas.
(285) It says that one should not even look at the face of those who have not followed the action
ordained by Veda. This condition has been imposed upon people by You only through Your
Vedas.
(286) Compared to that, how can one worship you by respecting and honouring every creature?” If
you say so, please listen to the speciality and greatness of my faithful worship.
(287) The lamp is useful only at night. When the sun rises the light of the lamp becomes
superfluous.
(288) Similarly when there is no knowledge of the self and men are ignorant of higher
consciousness etc the instruction in the Vedas are relevant and valid, but when a devotee
realizes his unity with Me in his worship, then Vedas become his servants.
(289) What of Vedas? Even I salute with respect such a devotee.

(290) I become a servant of such a devotee and live in his house, when he is united with my
consciousness. As I am responsible for his well-being and his worldly life, I maintain him
very carefully.
(291) Loving devotion with this sense of oneness with Me is so great that self-knowledge
respectfully touches his feet. There, all are respected and nobody is insulted. Their mind
does not lose its calmness in any uncomfortable circumstances.
बा णे पु कसे तेने ब ये ऽक फुिल गके अकू रे कू रके चैव सम क् पि डतो

मत:
He who has a calm and undisturbed mind, in respect of all, is called really wise. They may be
Brahmin, robber, trickster, lowliest men, and he is a man who respects Brahmins, even the
Sun and the fire-fly, a softhearted man or a cruel man. (14)
(292) The devotee respects the Brahmins who are worthy of worship by all
(293) and whose feet the God Hari bows to, and the lowliest Chandal, with equality.
(294) If an image of Lord Vishnu and an image of dog are both made of gold, the value to the
goldsmith for both is that of gold only though ordinary men will not say that dog is equal to
Lord Vishnu. Similarly, from the state of Atman, all are equal, nothing is worthy or
worthless.
(295) A Pulkasa (low-caste man) and a Brahmin are different by castes, but from life-energy point
of view, both are equal.
(296) The devotee looks with equanimity upon the robber who robs the money from the Brahmin
and the one who does many good deeds to help the said Brahmin, because he sees Me in
them.
(297) The left-hand is used to clean the anus, the right hand is used to eat, but for a man, both of his
hands are his own and equally important.
(298) Similarly a man who robs a Brahmin and a man who gives all types of help to a Brahmin are
quite different, but both are equal in Atman.
(299) There is difference between the fire-fly and the Sun, in the brilliance of their light, but in the
state of Atman, both are equal.
(300) The wild fire in the forest and a small lamp has difference in the size of the fire and heat, but
the basic quality of fire in both is the same. Similarly in Atman there is Unity of everything.
(301) Camphor burns silently but if mustard seeds are thrown in it, there is created a sound of
burning mustard. So, Sattwa is like the silent fire and Tamas is the mustard seeds. Sattwa
creates peace but Tamas creates anger.
(302) A man of Sattwik nature is peaceful but a cruel man of Tamas quality is disturbed by anger.
This difference is because of those qualities, but to my devotee both the persons are
inwardly the same.
(303) A man helps somebody and saves His life in calamity while some other cruel person kills
the man who has saved his life.
(304) In the difference between merit and sin, my devotee does not react differently but his mind is
in peaceful state in the Atman.
(305) A tree gives its fruit to everybody irrespective of who waters it and nurtures it or who
comes to eat it. Similarly my devotee looks upon all with the same kind of equanimity.
(306) There may be a coloured Dhoti of a Brahmin or a dirty shirt of a drunkard, in both the
clothes thread is thread only. Similarly a fly and the god Brahma are equal from Atmic point
of view.
(307) For my devotees, between the fly and the Lord Brahma, this is the state of the fourth
devotion. There is never any disturbance.
(308) If any disturbance tries to make things difficult for my devotee, he sees that disturbance as
God only. Thus the difficulty becomes a boon for my devotees.
(309) For my devotees the God and the stone are equal. This is the main sign of devotion which is
of the fourth type.
(310) He is my dear devotee, who sees every being as God, while he is doing any work
performing religious ceremonies, doing his duties according to his caste or performing
ordinary duties.
(311) The real devotion implies the equality of attitude for all beings, and that is the real
knowledge. The men of wisdom say that this is the satisfaction and bliss of the self.
(312) Not only the men of wisdom say so, but I am also of the same opinion. I respect that devotee,
and liberation is totally obedient to him.
(313) When the devotee is completely understanding that Atmaram is permeating everything, he
becomes the best devotee, and such devotees, being united with me are the real men of
wisdom.
(314) This is the principal means for attaining unity with Me, and other means like Yoga, sacrifice,
acquisition of knowledge or intentional study of meditation are secondary.
नरे वभी णं म ावं पुंसो भावयतोऽिचरात् पधासय
ू ाितर कारा: साह कारा
िवयि त िह
When a man feels my existence in everybody, his sense of competition, jealously, snobbishness,
pride, sullenness – all very soon disappear. (15)
(315) The devotee is equally kind to a good man of knowledge or a naturally rogue or a man
committing bad deeds.
(316) Why is the Lord using the word Nareshu (men)? When equanimity should be for all the
animate and inanimate things?
(317) This is because in human beings the good and the bad qualities are easily seen, and it is
expected that we should realize the Brahman, which is the Reality of the inner soul of men.
(318) Among all the eighty-four lakhs of the categories of beings, all except one are free of the
sense of merit or sin.
(319) And that one is human birth, and one who does not look for blemishes or vices of other men
is the real devotee, in the opinion of the Lord Shri Krishna.
(320) Fortunate is the man, who sees the existence of Brahman in all human beings. He is the ruler
of four liberations and he is clear of consciousness without any shadow of doubt.
(321) When this state is attained, the pride of physical body leaves him immediately.
(322) When that pride goes away, the sense of competition, jealously and sullenness also leave
him immediately.
(323) To be attached to the body as “Mine “ is pride and to compare oneself with another and try
to defeat him in knowledge etc is competition.
(324) Jealousy is to find fault in another person, who is superior to oneself, and to neglect his
virtues also.
(325) When a man harasses other seekers and insults them using bad words, that is called
sullenness.
(326) All such vices run away from the man, who sees God in a every being.
(327) It is possible in the human body only to follow this way of seeking by worshipping me
equally in all beings, and thus the Reality is attained.
(328) One should drop the sense of possession, the desire for greatness and fear of public opinion.
Then only one can reach unity with Brahman.
(329) One should drop the pride of the body, should not be after publicity and self-importance and
fame from the public, desire for being worshipped or honoured by others. Then only the
seeker may be worthy of unity with the Brahman.
(330) These ways though nearest to human mind, and do not involve any hard work, cannot be
successfully followed by many seekers because they have tremendous desire for public
recognition for their penance.
(331) One must drop his conceit about his caste, and about his knowledge, and must be humble
even to a speck of dust. Then only unity with Brahman is possible.
(332) The Lord is now telling the secret that the aspiration for this state can be fulfilled only if
desire for honor, and being a celebrity in public is totally wiped out, from the mind of the
seeker.
िवस ृ य मयमानान् वान् शं वीडां च दैिहक म्

पणमेद् द डवद् भम
ू ावा चा डालगोखरम्
By disregarding one’s wondering kith and kin and all friends etc as also the modesty and sense of
shame about one’s own body, one should fall like a log, while offering salutations even to
horses, chandals, bulls and donkeys. (16)
(333) If one is shy about one’s relatives he should do so while he is away from them alone in some
other town.
(334) If one is afraid of public opinion, he should remove that fear and he should bow many times
to all, even he should dance in religious ecstasy in front of his relatives, otherwise, his
devotion will not be complete.
(335) When one sees his father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, friends, well-wishers, one
becomes shy about dancing.
(336) But this should be tided over and even in front of these relatives one should dance and utter
the name of God loudly, and bow before even donkeys, bulls, and dogs!
(337) In that bowing one should prostrate on the ground.
(338) Let there be Brahmins of self-knowledge or low caste man, one should have the same
respect for all while salutations are offered in this way.
(339) With the same faith that all are manifestations of God, one should bow before a cow, an ass
or a bear.
(340) In order to achieve this total humility one should wipe out or uproot the fear of public
opinion, and even a fly, and ant etc should be so respected.
(341) If we bow to the dust of the feet of cow or even the donkey, our aura becomes more brilliant
with thoughts of devotion to God. So, leaving aside the ettiquette, one should bow before
every creature.
(342) Leave out all doubt and awkward feeling, throw out social prestige, hold the image of the
God in every being and prostrate before him or her.
(343) The Lord is telling the scope and limit of this observance in the next verse.
ू ेषु म ावो नोपजायते तावदेवमुपासीत वा न: कायविृ िभ:

यावत् सवषु भत
This type of worship should be done until one develops the real feeling that I, the God Almighty is
dwelling in every thing. (17)
(344) Whoso-ever comes within the field which we see, should be looked upon as if he is God.
(345) Whatever we actually see by our eyes or whatever we conceive or imagine by our mind’s
eye, should be easily and naturally felt to be the abstract life-spirit i.e. God.
(346) Whatever as thought about by mind, or whatever be beyond our idea, should be felt as our
own manifestation as Atman.
(347) The work done by physical body, Vedic or social activities which are performed should,
together with all the transactions which are taking place should definitely be felt as Me, the
Lord functioning in that way.
(348) Whatever comfort or happiness we enjoy in our waking state, dream or sleep, should all be
realized as a manifestation of God, the Lord Shri Krishna.
(349) Whatever happens in the body should be without doubt realized as actions of one Almighty
God.
(350) So, as long as such conviction is not complete in our mind, such prostrations to all the
creatures should be continued and this is the kind of worship we do for our own final
welfare.
(351) Even if many other methods of penance are followed, and this way is not followed, no direct
experience is possible to the seekers, even after ages!
(352) Knowing this, you should worship me with the feeling that in everybody I am dwelling. This
is my Teaching. You should understand this properly.
(353) Logical argument and lengthy talk should be avoided. If in your heart there is a feeling of
oneness with all, through the all-pervading Me, then only it is easy to reach me!
(354) O Uddhava, you asked what is the easy way to reach me, and I have given you this answer,
to look for Me, in all Beings.
(355) This is the true path to the Brahman. This is the secret of My heart. Thus my worship is the
easiest way.
(356) By this all-enveloping devotion the man is able to gain knowledge more easily and my
devotion is also having no impediments and man becomes united with Me easily.
(357) The awareness that God is in everything is the final state and then the worship in dual state
of a devotee and the God ceases itself.
सव ब ा मकं त य िव याऽऽ ममनीषया प रप य नुपरमेत् सवतो मु संशय:

By his yearning for attaining Atman, the devotee sees everything as a Brahman, and then he shall
cease to do anything, thus being convinced of the Unity without any doubt. (18)
(358) For those who by their body mind and speech worship Me as existing everywhere, become
fully convinced of this fact.
(359) Then he does not actually say – “I look everything as God” but keeps quiet about this
experience because to say anything about it implies the speaker-and object as duality which
is not in fact existing in his mind.
(360) Then as little particles of ghee merge into one liquid state after heating the ghee, the mind of
the seeker goes into the vast existence of Brahman. This is the final state.
(361) Then even the distinct awareness of the unity of Brahman also disappears. The sense of You
and I disappears. Brahman is at is!
(362) Here there is no scope for action with any purpose, speech, examples to explain a theory,
Vedas and Shastras with their interpretation; the difference as the god and the devotee also
disappears. Only non-dual homogenous Brahman remains.
(363) When the illusion of serpent on the rope is cleared, the rope remains as the rope, and though
in our mind the illusive serpent appears to be true the rope is there in its original form.
(364) Similarly when the illusive world with its cause i.e. ignorance is gone, the complete
Brahman only remains and even though we see the world by our eyes the complete Brahman
as the real existence remains undisturbed.
(365) So, dear Uddhava, when the seeker holds in his heart the generality of Brahman in
everything, he gains the state of Brahman, where seeing also does not remain.
(366) For attaining this state, one has to give up the critical outlook to find faults or merits, in
others, and see God in all beings.
(367) There is no other way. This is the only way. I am sure about this.
ू ेषु मनोवा कायविृ िभ:

अयं िह सवक पानां सधीचीनो मतो मम म ाव: सवभत
In my opinion I should be considered as the very essence of all beings and by mind, speech and
action, one should have this feeling that I am dwelling in all. (19)
(368) Again I say that the only secret treasure of devotion with me is that the devotee should see
me in everything, and though crores of worlds are created by me, I remain the non-doer!
(369) To see Me in everything in the world is a very beautiful devotion and it is the means to
emancipate crores of people in crores of worlds
(370) This is the devotion which I taught to Brahma when at the beginning of the Kalpa He was
manifest from the Lotus coming out of my navel.
(371) Though one observes fasts, performs sacrifices, puts oblations in fire, gives money in
charity, does yoga and meditations, or learns the meaning of Vedas, these cannot be equal to
this kind of my totally absorbing worship.
(372) Though the seekers may follow any number of penances, they will not be able to have love
for Me unless they meet my real devotee and live in his company.
(373) The seekers can be blessed with devotion for Me only through living with my faithful
devotees. O Uddhava, know this feet definitely that seekers can reach me only with the
realization of their unity with Me in their worship.
(374) Please listen to the sign when devotion to me is done by looking for Me dwelling in all
beings. Though you see that various persons or animals have variety of behaviour and mental
set up, you should see Total Reality manifesting in all of them.
(375) To have the concept that Brahman is alone shining in evil persons, rascals, robbers, cruel
devilish bad elements etc and it is pure, is the psychological unity and devotion to Me.
(376) God should be realized to be fully occupying every creature and when this is the attitude,
this devotee never speaks any word that may hurt them.
(377) When one does not find faults with others or speak against them, even at the stake of one’s
life that is my worship on the speech level.
(378) When a devotee acts only to help others or oblige others and evn though he is insulted he
does not lift his hand to retaliate.
(379) When a devotee endures his personal injustice but obliges others in every way then that is
my worship by physical body.
(380) So, by body, speech and mind one should worship me in all the beings, which is considered
my best worship by man of wisdom.
(381) This is the easitest way to realisation of Brahman. O Uddhava, I swear by the name of My
mother Devaki that this is my firm opinion.
(382) This way of worship is very pure in which there is no place for calamities or difficulties.
Please consider further what I say.
न गोपकमे वंसो म म यो वा विप मया यविसत:

स यि नगण
ु वादनािशष:
O Uddhava, My dear! In following of this path which is laid down rightly, there is no fear of
destruction, because it is beyond the three Gunas and I have advised it. (20)
(383) Manu and other sages who are masters of wisdom have given many paths of seeking the
Brahman, but to have a feeling of God in every being is the highest way of my worship.
(384) From the very beginning the devotee has no fear of any impediment. This is its special
advantage.
(385) As this way of worship begins at the level which is beyond the three Gunas, no difficulty can
rise in the path of the seeker.
(386) Just as serpents are helpless when the eagle swiftly stoops and catches them in its claws, so,
calamities die when my devotee worships Me in this way.
(387) Calamity cannot come face to face before my Name! How can it dare to trouble my devotee!
(388) So powerful is this devotion, dear Uddhava! You are very fortunate to receive from Me this
secret of my devotion!
(389) When this devotee is really not desiring anything for himself, how can anything become an
impediment in his path? The devotee easily becomes one with the Brahman!
(390) The action done by the devotee may be with some purpose or it may be without any purpose,
if he offers all his action to Me, then that becomes the highest form or way of my worship.
यो यो मिय परे धम: क यते िन फलाय चेत् तदायासो िनरथ: याद् भयादे रव
स म
Whatever worldly activity though fruitless, such as running away through fear or crying due to
pain, etc is dedicated in a disinterested sprit to Me – the Supreme – is exalted to the level of
righteousness. It becomes pure. (21)
(391) Suppose you exert much for worldly purpose and it turns out to be fruitless. If however it is
surrendered to Brahman, it becomes an act of devotion to Me.
(392) Even if one plays games in Holi etc festivals that play should be surrendered to Me. That
also becomes an act of devotion to Me.
(393) Suppose one runs away to a forest being afraid of some robber and by luck one comes upon
a hidden treasure just near him! Useless and unreasonable actions also, become good
offering to Me if the man surrenders them to Me.
(394) Rotten food or other articles are thrown away, but if those things are offered to Me, with
faithful mind, it becomes an act of devotion to Me.
(395) Bitter gourd porridge is not fit to be eaten even by a donkey or a swine! If that is offered to
Me, it becomes an offering to Brahman.
(396) There may be something which is lost and cannot be found, or there may be something worn
out due to time. If that is surrendered to Me, it becomes an act of devotional offering.
(397) So, the most essential thing is to offer every action to the Lord Krishna. This is called
Sadbuddhi or the truly good intellect.
ृ ेनेह म यना नोित मामत

एषा बुि मतां बुि मनीषा च मनीिषणाम् यत् स यमनत ृ म्
Here lies the wisdom of the wise, the cleverness of the clever, consists in this alone that one
attains in this very life to Me – the only immortal and real substance through this unreal and
mortal body. (22)
(398) The Lord said – There are people who are immorally attached to the objects of the senses,
but they utter the mere words “I surrender this to Brahman”. These people are deceived and
misled in many ways.
(399) Some are talented but they use their talent in how to get the mundane pleasures. They are
deceived by their attachment to their body as “my body”.
(400) Some are very clever. They have great Mastery over Vedas and scriptures but they are
deceived by their pride about their knowledge.
(401) Some are intelligent in the study of Yoga and they practise breath-control, enter into the
castle of Yoga and there fall a prey to occult powers.
(402) Some profess that rituals and other actions performed in ceremonies etc are all important.
They give great importance to that, but the code of conduct and the complicated rules of what
to do and what not to do, binds them and they are confined and drowned in those rituals only.
(403) There is no count of how many seekers are misled in the various systems of observance.
Devotion to ME is however not at all complicated like these methods. But only really
faithful and fortunate get that path of devotion.
(404) When the devotee sees Me in every being, I myself become his thinking and thought, and that
is the greatest wise intelligence which surrenders every action to Brahman.
(405) This is the best way in which they worship Me and surrender everything to Brahman and by
this way, they themselves become Brahman.
(406) This should be the wisdom of the wise, because their body which is an unreal thing is used
by them for worship of Me and realize the Eternal True Brahman by being Truth themselves.
(407) Maya is itself unreal and the body within this Maya is further illusion but see! By offering
the action done by that body they become Brahman.
(408) This is like getting heaps of precious grains by giving the chafe, in exchange.
(409) Or, it is like giving a broken glass piece and to get the jewel called Chintamani or to give a
brick and get auspicious right-sided conch.
(410) So, actions done by this unreal body by which the Jeeva falls in bondage in the normal life,
gets release from bondage by surrendering this action to Brahman.
(411) Through perishable body, imperishable Brahman is attained. This is the speciality of this
devotion and really intelligent people know this.
(412) [Thus the Lord told the purest way of reaching the unity with the Brahman. Now He is telling
the final conclusion of His firm opinion which is expressed upto now].
एष तेऽिभिहत: कृ नो ब वाद य स गह: समास यासिविधना देवानामिप दुगम:

The aforesaid teaching covers the entire range of Vedantic teaching which has been taught by Me
to you in a nutshell or in detail as necessary. This is beyond the understanding of even the
gods. (23)
(413) By setting aside other opinions I have told you about the true wisdom of Brahman, in short
or in detail as was necessary at some places.
(414) I have simplified this, though it is difficult to grasp even by the gods and by Pandits who
have studied the Vedas and other scriptures.
(415) They are discussing endlessly about the empty words without having the personal
experience of Reality. Even Shruti (Upanishads) have stopped describing what Brahman is,
and declared “Not this, not this”.
(416) I have given the essence of self-knowledge and the secret of the spiritual path, by opening
my heart!
अभी णश ते गिदतं ानं िव प युि मत् एतद् िव ाय मु ये त पु षो न संशय:

I have again and again taught you with pure logic the essential self-knowledge, by knowing which
the seeker will be free, with all his doubts destroyed. (24)
(417) I have nicely and definitely told you the self-knowledge which cannot be spoken about and
understood in words and which is confusing to Vedas and other scriptures.
(418) This pure knowledge is given to you by giving cogent examples and pure reasoning,
repeating it several times in order that you should be convinced about it.
(419) I have taken care to make it so simple and straight so that you may not find it difficult and
you may not have any stress, but your doubts may be dissolved.
(420) If one knows this, one will be surely attaining the knowledge of Brahman and will be
eternally in a blissful state.
(421) O Uddhava, blessed is he who listens to this teaching, studies it and understands it.
सुिविव ं तव प ं मयैतदिप धारयेत् सनातनं ब गु ं परं ब ािधग छित

He who treasures in his mind your question as well as this discourse containing my answer to it,
will realize the everlasting transcendent Brahman, which is hidden in the Vedas and which
they have tried to describe. (25)
(422) What wonder is there that the men of self-knowledge will be free, but you have asked me the
question for the liberation of simple-minded ignorant souls.
(423) In accordance with your question I have told you about the secret path for realization of the
Brahman.
(424) Just as the cow responds to the call of its young one with love, I was filled with emotion for
you.
(425) The little ones of a mother tortoise get nourishment by its kind glance towards them, without
their direct demand to be fed.
(426) Similarly, O Uddhava, as soon as I see you, the knowledge of Brahman which is in my heart
suddenly upsurges. That is explained by me to you.
(427) By way of this explanation I have given you to drink the nectar full of juice of realization of
Eternal Brahman.
(428) The sea fills the cloud with water and by that water, the cloud gives satisfaction to the world
through the rain. Similarly through the realization of Brahman people are also going to be
benefitted and liberated.
(429) The milk which the cow gives mainly for the calf is sufficient for the whole family in the
house. Similarly by the pointed question asked by Uddhava the world is going to be helped.
(430) In this dialogue, you will get the true knowledge about the experience of the Brahman,
explained in this eleventh Skandha of Bhagawata.
(431) One who teaches and one who listens to this discourse will both be eternal Brahman
themselves.
(432) Though Brahman fully exists in this world, man’s mind, intellect and his sense, cannot see it,
but the listeners will be rich with that knowledge though this is not clear in Vedas.
(433) When once a man realizes the essence of this knowledge, it remains constant with him, ever
alive. When the meaning of this teaching in the eleventh Skandha is held in the heart, the man
will reach the permanent state of bliss.
(434) When the speakers and the listeners of this knowledge achieve this state they will further
teach this to my simple minded devotees.
(435) Please listen to what fruit they get and how pure is this teaching of self-knowledge, further –
य एत मम भ े षु स पद ात् सुपु कलम् त याहं ब दाय य ददा या मानमा मना
I shall confer voluntarily my own self on that teacher of Brahman who imparts this knowledge to
my devotees most extensively, with all the details. (26)
(436) Only those are my genuine devotees who offer me everything viz the body, the speech, the
mind, the house and property, wife, children, money and even their life.
(437) This knowledge should be taught to such worthy devotees. The nature of this teaching should
be rich in its lucidity and coverage of all details.
(438) Whenever the mind of the devotee turns its attention, there is complete Brahman always
dwelling in that object; and there is no other empty space where the mind can turn away from
the Brahman.
(439) If such constant awareness is maintained, the mind becomes absorbed in the Chit (or Energy
of the cosmos). This is called “Pushkala Dnyana” (or complete knowledge) and this is also
called complete teaching, the highest degree of the teaching.
(440) O Uddhava, I remain permanently indebted to such a man who teaches this knowledge of the
Absolute Reality to my devotees.
(441) I have nothing by giving which to him I can repay his obligations. So, I give my own mind
and Atman to him and remain always alert to serve him.
(442) I, the Paramatman is always ready to serve him who gives the knowledge of Reality to
disciples and if he wishes so, I even emancipate the shoodras, the woman or any lowly
beings.
(443) When a man teaches my devotees how to be free of the bondage of Karma by giving them the
knowledge and experience of Brahman, I love him very much, and I am servant of such a
man.
(444) O Uddhava, please know this for sure that I have none else so dear, than a man who teaches
the knowledge of Brahman to my devotees.
(445) I may say that I am body and he is the Atman. I become his body myself and I also become
every action which he does.
(446) Just as I willingly take incarnations, he also has the same capacity, to take divine birth at his
will. So there is no difference at all between us.
(447) I offer my inner core of my being, the very soul to him who imparts the knowledge of
Brahmin in this way. But his obligations on me are not repaid!
(448) So, though I seem to work in my body, I constantly attend to his needs. Because I love him
and he also loves me, I stay in his house and my Atman is merged in him.
(449) I take upon myself whatever calamity befalls him and the whole glory of my cosmic energy
is always present in his house.
(450) I again say that I am Atman merged into the consciousness of this teacher who imparts to my
devotees the knowledge contained in this dialogue (in the eleventh Skandha)
(451) If at all, the devotees cannot experience the blissful state of the Brahman, they can read this
book paying proper attention. That will also purify their life.
ू े ताहरहमा ानदीपेन दशयन्

य एतत् समधीयीत पिवतं परमं शुिच स पय
He who repeats aloud intelligently this most sacred teaching which I have given which is capable
of sanctifying others too, will get purified, because he will be revealing Me day to day to
others by the lamp of wisdom. (27)
(452) The dialogue between you and me is pure knowledge of Brahman to one who listens to this
with respectful attention.
(453) Who is increasingly loving it, will read it daily with great faith.
(454) In the lamp of the speech, oil of faith and wick of the tongue are to be used to kindle the
flame of knowledge.
(455) Those who will use eleven flames of eleven sense organs, belonging to eleventh Skandha
and wave them in front of Me are very sacred, very pure human beings.
(456) Such reading of the book is constant auspicious waving the light around my face, and the
reader illumines my total being by it.
(457) O Uddhava, even to those who are in the company of such readers and devotees, gods like
Lord Brahma are subservient and the three worlds are purified by them.
(458) One who cannot read, may listen to the book which another man is reading. He will also be
free from the bondage of this world.
य एत छ या िन यम यग: शण
ृ ुया नर: मिय भि ं परां कुवन् कमिभन स ब यते
One who with proper attention will listen to this book with faith should be considered to be my
devotee of a very high level and will not be bound by his actions. (28)
(459) Perhaps one may not be able to read and study this book, but if one listens to this eleventh
Skandha with faith, will not be affected by bondage of karma.
(460) Even if one listens to the words, to ponder over the greatness of devotion is necessary,
because without thinking over the subject, mere listening is fruitless, and Reality will not be
experienced properly.
(461) Even after ending of the hearing of the story, the meditation over it should not be stopped.
Just as a greedy man is constantly remembering his money so one should remember the story
and the philosophy in it.
(462) Meditation should be equal to listening and when one is thinking about
(463) the story, he starts worshipping me more and more and going beyond the first three
categories of devotees, he attains the last, the fourth category of a devotee with the self-
knowledge, which wise people call the “Devotion beyond everything” (Parabhakti)
(464) With that devotion he immediately sees the Atman, and the devotees have no bondage due to
whatever actions they may do.
(465) Let this inner essence of worship be kept aside for a while. Even if there is faith in the mind
of the listener that he is going to be liberated by the listening,
(466) And becomes deeply interested in listening , then my devotion will enter in his house (in his
life) with all its force.
(467) When that devotion fills the heart and even the house of a desireless devotees, a loving
devotee, destroys all chains of karma in his life. This devotion beyond All is the temple of
rest for listeners.
(468) By listening to the eleventh Skandha there is such a great benefit. By listening, the highest
devotion develops and through that devotion the devotees are liberated.
(469) Let their case be set aside. Have you grasped this whole teaching yourself?
अ यु व वया ब सखे समवधा रतम् अिप ते िवगतो मोह: शोक ासौ मनोभव:
O Uddhava, have you, my dear friend, realized the Brahman rightly and is your attachment to My
body, and your sorrow caused due to that have been removed and gone? (29)
(470) O Uddhava, considering your love for me, I have told you the highest facts about
Parabrahman, with all its details, in very clear manner.
(471) This is the essence of all knowledge. This is the last place where Vedas come to rest.
Ignorance is dismissed by this only and this is the happy meeting of the Jeeva and the Shiva.
(472) Though this is beyond the grasp of mind, intellect and spoken word, I have explained this
difficult principle of devotion to you as you have complete faith which I have taken into my
consideration.
(473) I have offered you this treasure of state of Brahman, just as a friend gives his money to his
friend.
(474) Has this penetrated easily in your mind as is exactly explained? Or is there any doubt
loitering in your mind?
(475) If you have not grasped it clearly, I shall make it more lucid and easy to understand.
(476) When the Chit, the cosmic Energy i.e. Brahman is well established in your mind, there
should be no place at all for doubts, enticement and sense of possessing.
(477) The very sign of Brahman being established as Reality in mind is that in it then there are no
disturbances of proposing, intending something and doubting something.
(478) When one realizes Brahman, there is no duality of you and Me. The seeker vanishes with his
seeking and his aim. There is no attachment about rituals.
(479) I say again that actions do not bind him who has this knowledge of the Absolute Reality,
because to do anything is within the field of Maya.
(480) Just as the shadow moves when a man moves but he is not worried about his shadow so,
such a man functions in his body but he does not become attached to or proud of it.
(481) Just as darkness does not dare stand before sunlight even for a moment,. so, a man of
knowledge of Brahman has nothing to do with rituals.
(482) The bondage of karma is nothing but an imagination of the mind, but when the mind loses its
nature of projecting imaginary thoughts, the performance of any action does not leave any
residue in the man’s consciousness.
(483) That the Brahman is a state where not a single thought can produce any hope or depression
as well as alternative thoughts are non-existent is the Reality of Brahman and what is
experienced by the faithful devotee is this state.
(484) When you are thus raised to the state of Absolute Brahman, there is no awareness of You as
a person called Uddhava. Then whre is sorrow or attachemtn to ANYTHING?
(485) When you are having the limited concept that you are Uddhava, a separate individual only,
then sorrow or attractions can rise, but when the consciousness merges into the cosmic
ocean you will not remember that you are Uddhava.
(486) [As Uddhava listened deeply to this talk of the Lord, his sense of having his limited life
named Uddhava simply left him. He was drowned in the divine bliss of the Brahman and the
mind lost words.
(487) When Uddhava was raised to the Atman, he no longer saw himself as Uddhava, his
attachment to the concept of his body was gone and he entered the ecstasy of joy of the
Atman.
(488) These, who would reply to the question, put to him by the Lord? The Lord and Uddhava –
both entities disappeared from his mind and he remained complete one Brahman without a
second.
(489) The Lord saw him and knew that he is now united with Brahman by realizing his own self
and joy. As the Lord dwells in everybody’s heart He knows everything.
(490) When the disciple experiences the real joy, the Guru also becomes happy as a mother feels
happy when her little son takes food and is satisfied.
(491) The king becomes pleased when his army defeats all the enemies, and he celebrates
throughout the city his joy of victory.
(492) The mother who has suffered the pains of child birth knows how to please that child with all
the care and nursing. Similarly only the real Guru knows how to make the disciple rich with
the self-joy.
(493) When a son gets some treasure by luck, the father becomes happy. Similarly by attainment of
the Brahman by Uddhava, the Lord was happy.
(494) The Lord Shri Krishna is eternally happy but by the self-experience of his disciple, He also
felt more happy. This is a secret known only to a Guru. Ordinary men cannot know the
quality of this happiness.
(495) Had the Guru not experienced any happiness while teaching his disciple, there would not
have been any knowledge and no succession of the chain of the Teacher-Disciple
relationship.
(496) If Guru is bored while giving advice to the disciple, the disciple will not grasp that advice.
Then how can he experience the bliss of the Atman?
(497) When a child is decorated with ornaments, it does not feel any elation but the mother is very
happy. Similarly seeing that the disciple has attained Freedom, the good teacher feels very
glad.
(498) Seeing Uddhava to have reached the final beatitude, Shri Krishna was happy. He felt – “My
Uddhava has got no doubts left in his mind. He is now in the state of bliss of Brahman.
(499) Since Uddhava had reached the state of Brahman, the Lord is now going to teach him to
impart that knowledge to others.
(500) He said to Uddhava – You have reached the state of Brahman. Now listen to my instructions
about how to make out who is the disciple worthy of spiritual knowledge.
नैत वया दाि भकाय नाि तकाय शठाय च अशुशषू ोरभ ाय दुिवनीताय दीयताम्
You should not give this knowledge to the hypocrite, to the non-believer, not to a rogue, not to him
who does not want to listen or do any service, not to a non-devotee and not to a sullen proud
men. (30)
(501) Men who are deceivers, non-believers, hypocrites, non-servants, non-listeners, and non-
devotees and also arrogant should not be entertained.
(502) There are people who make efforts to collect people around them, who desire to get public
applause, and to amass wealth.
(503) Such hypocrites who make an outward show of worship, should not be given this knowledge
of the eleventh Skandha, even in a dream.
(504) These also should not be given to men who are indulgent in attachment and their belief in
God has gone, who have no faith in Vedas, in codes of conduct given by Shastras, those who
deny god completely –
(505) Such people have a mutiny of psychological nature against Theism. They should not be
taught even a letter of knowledge.
(506) What can knowledge of God do when a man does not accept the fact that there is God? The
effect of Atheism is very rampant in the world. Such Atheists should be immediately left out
of consideration when you wish to teach this devotion.
(507) You should also shun such a cunning person who does not have any faith in spiritual life, but
by sweet talk outwardly shows interest in enquiring about the same.
(508) Such cunning rogues try to know the opinion or faith of the teacher but they never reveal
what they really feel or think about these things.
(509) You should also shun such a person who is faithless by action, speech and the mind, to his
teachers, and always finds faults with what they say or how they behave.
(510) Then some so-called disciple thinks very high about himself and feels it below his dignity to
help or do any work told by the teacher! Such person should also be deprived from this
scared knowledge.
(511) There is some one who himself sits on a high seat, and employs servants to carry on service
to the Teacher. He should be treated as a hypocrite. He should not be taught this sacred book
of eleventh skandha.
(512) There is a disciple who shows off his own knowledge by using high sounding phrases, does
not do any service to the Guru, and makes a propaganda of his knowledge. He should also
not be taught.
(513) Thinking oneself as a great donor of money and therefore not expected to do lower type of
work for the Teacher, should also be excluded from this sacred teaching.
(514) The disciple who refuses to work for the Guru because of fear of what the people may say
or how they may ridicule him, and thus is very sensitive about public opinion does not
deserve divulgence of this pure knowledge of devotion to Me.
(515) Thinking that since he is very rich, some disciple does not bend down to do some ordinary
physical work for the teacher. Such arrogant disciple should be turned away.
(516) The disciple does not remain humble in the physical service to the teacher and says – “You
see, I daily meditate as instructed by the Guru. That is my real and sufficient service to him!”
Such a disciple somehow avoids hard work. He should be turned away.
(517) Some persons say – “I will not do sundry jobs here. I will give donations as much as
necessary”. He is proud of his money. He should be dismissed from the groups of other
disciples who are sincere and humble workers.
(518) If the teacher gives out the secret knowledge of pure devotion to anybody in consideration of
money which that person is giving, it should be understood that there is famine of knowledge
of Brahman! There is only greed for money!
(519) Similarly he who wants to purchase spiritual knowledge (across the counter!) by paying its
“cost” should not be taught anything of this high knowledge.
(520) One who does not do the work for the Teacher which is fit for the occasion is called “A man
who does not wish to serve” He should be avoided.
(521) If the disciple is not having inner conviction that he is definitely going to be free, and is
having basically a doubt in his mind, he should not be accepted.
(522) If a man has no faith that the Guru is the Brahman incarnate, he should not be accepted as a
disciple. He is a heretic.
(523) When a man is of firm opinion that Brahman is different from the Guru, he should be treated
as a non-believer and non-devotee. He should not be accepted as disciple.
(524) When a man thinks that the Teacher is merely a human being and disobeys him, he should be
taken as lost from the path or righteousness. He should be left out.
(525) He thinks that he has surpassed his Guru in the matter of purity and knowledge, so, he should
be considered to be the worst kind of man. He should be excluded from trust and confidence
by the Guru.
(526) O Uddhava! What is “non-devotion”? When a man does not believe that Guru is always in
the state of Absolute Reality, it should be taken as a state of non-devotion.
(527) One should never give knowledge of this devotion to him who does not like this book and
the philosophy taught in it.
(528) Then there are people who have no faith in Me, the Brahman manifest, who has given this
knowledge to the world; such man should not be given my teaching.
(529) The man who likes the beautiful knowledge contained in this book, and who has faith in the
Guru – but by nature he is arrogant and uses abusive languages. Such man should not be
entertained at all for giving this teaching.
(530) The man who insults those who are My images, and my dear devotees, should be called a
rude man.
(531) My devotee may be very poor, but a real aspirant should not feel it ignominious to bow
before him. If such is not the humble quality of a man, he should be called rude.
(532) A man bows before the saints but finds faults with them and criticizes them arrogantly. He is
also rude.
(533) To profess humility with cunning and ulterior motive is also rudeness. Such a man should
also be avoided.
(534) Hearing all prohibitory suggestions, you may be discouraged from teaching anything to
anybody. But do not be so discouraged. The teacher who advises his disciple about this
knowledge of Brahman is my Atman! That is what I say to you!
(535) O Uddhava, now I shall tell you the virtues and good qualifications of a disciple to whom it
is advisable to impart this spiritual knowledge.
एतैद षैिवहीवाय ब याय िपयाय च साधवे शुचये बय

ू ाद् भि : या छूदयोिषताम्
Even if devotion is seen in a shoodra or women, if these vices are not in them, if they are of loving
nature, interested in Brahman, they are clean, saintly persons, you should speak to them
about this philosophy. (31)
(536) The chief qualification for the seeker who deserves the teaching of spiritual knowledge is
that he should be really desireless, not in a momentary fit of dejection but the abiding quality
of detachment with power of alert sense of discrimination.
(537) Some get depressed and bored for a couple of days and when their whim changes, they turn
again towards the mundane objects. Teaching given to such persons is like feeding a serpent
with milk.
(538) Thus when his boredom caused by certain episodes is over, he becomes only proud of his
so-called disinterestedness and makes himself busy finding faults of great men.
(539) He blames the people who are junior and not so much educated, and searches for imaginery
lacune in the character of superior persons. Thus, pride of knowledge increases when apathy
becomes weaker.
(540) O Uddhava, really speaking from the seeker’s point of view, there are only two states worth
considering. One is either desireless or is full of desires. There is no third state beyond or
between these two.
(541) Where the pull of objects on the mind of the seeker becomes slack and weak, there only,
desirelessness with sane thinking rises and develops but where that apathy loses its
sharpness, only pride of knowledge provokes a man to indulge into enjoyments of senses,
with a false notion that he, (being armed with only word-knowledge) will not be caught by
the objects of senses.
(542) So, one who maintains his detachment till attainment of the knowledge of the Brahman, and
surrenders himself to his Guru with unwavering faith, should be considered worthy of
spiritual teaching.
(543) The reference to various vices in my earlier dialogue with you, which are evident in some
persons should be treated as made in order to warn the disciples against them. He who is
free of those vices is the real disciple.
(544) He who respects learned Brahmins and worships Me as dwelling in all the beings, is really
worthy of this teaching. Devotion and desirelessness come to serve him.
(545) Though a disciple may be very much liked by his Guru, it is not important. If he is not a
devotee and does not worship with real one-pointed love, he is not worthy of knowledge of
Brahman.
(546) When the disciple is liked by his Guru and is devotee and is clean and of good character
then the advice of knowledge of Brahman may be given to him by increasing his
desirelessness.
(547) When a person is attached to woman and greedy for money, he will neither be able to enjoy
the heavenly pleasures nor enjoy the freedom. He is bound to be born again and again and
suffer.
(548) A man whose mind never thinks of other’s wives and other’s money, may be given the
advice of the spiritual path
(549) One who is the very image of desirelessness, one who is particular in the discrimination,
one who is totally devoted to the service of Guru, and has surrendered at the feet of his
Guru-
(550) One who forgets his own high position and is eager to humbly serve his Guru, and is so
sincere about the worship of Guru –
(551) One who honours his Guru more than all the Gods including the Gods like Indra, Brahman,
and Vishnu and Shankar;
(552) One who has no pride or arrogance; one who is not overpowered by desire, lust or anger,
one who does not like partiality and wrong discrimination between persons, should be
considered as the right kind of disciple.
(553) One who employs his body, speech and mind, money and prestige, in the service of his
Guru, should be considered a disciple of pure character and morally fit for knowledge of
Brahman.
(554) One who sets aside public opinion and becomes a seeker of self-bliss, and knowledge of
Brahman, and eagerly awaits the advice of the Guru, like the bird Chataka yearning for the
clouds sending rain drops for it, should be accepted as pupil and given these words of
divine wisdom.
(555) Those who do not follow the duty of their status in life (called Ashrama)
(556) those who do not perform rituals and worships laid down for them in the Vedas and
scriptures, those who are beyond the three authorized social classes, those who are excluded
from Vedic instructions and wisdom, those who are not fit to be taught Vedic Mantras and
not allowed even to hear them, those who do not perform fire-worship, those unreligious
people of very low caste like Shoodra
(557) Also become desireless and become free from the cycle of births and deaths, by listening to
and learning the teaching contained in this great book Bhagawata.
(558) Such people become very acutely disinterested in social and mundane pleasures and
surrender themselves totally, by body, speech and mind, to the Guru.
(559) They may be so ignorant that they do not know how and about what they should ask the Guru.
They simply utter – “O Gurudev! I am at your feet. You are my only hope! Please free me
from this bondage of worldly life!” Their faith in the path of spiritual life is extreme and
very pure.
(560) O Uddhava, though such people are of low caste, advice about this pure knowledge should
be given to them. I swear and assure you that the teaching given to them will not be wasted!
(561) Some desire for money and give this knowledge to persons of all the four castes in return of
some money. They are greedy and that is a great vice. They should not be given the position
of a Guru, by the wise Teacher.
(562) Where the Guru is himself greedy, the budding desirelessness in the heart of the disciple
becomes drowned, crushed and destroyed! Advice taken from such hypocrite people who
show off their apathy about mundane things which is virtue actually not in them – is wasted
and becomes destructive to the welfare of both.
(563) But if a Guru, without any greed or expectation, teaches shoodras and lowly persons who
have faith, the teaching will not be blameworthy and will not be wasted anytime. Be assured
about this.
(564) One thing must be avoided. You should not get yourself involved with women. That
involvement causes painful death of the Vairagya, the rare quality of desirelessness and the
man of knowledge becomes ignominous.
(565) Sudden looking at a woman makes one fall. How can a wise man survive her continuous
company?
(566) Even a chance encounter and looking at a women with hidden desire in our heart, becomes a
cause of our fall. Then if men of knowledge keep relations with woman, how can these men
survive? How can they keep up their purity? Never!
(567) What can advise about the people of spirituality do, where a man is stuck by the cupid's
arrow at one coy glance of a beautiful damsel! Be sure that the spiritual efforts are gone to
hell!
(568) So, O Uddhava! You should not also talk to women, you should not look at them, should not
stop to hear their talk.
(569) No, No! You should not talk to women, should not remain alone in private with any woman,
have nothing to do with them! This is totally blame-worthy in the society.
(570) Do not follow their talk, do not have dialogue with them, and do not give any advice to them.
That will only invite criticism from people.
(571) Even if a woman of pious nature starts to talk about spiritual path that creates doubts about
you in the minds of your friends and relatives.
(572) So, you should not keep any relations with women, because knowledge of Brahman will not
take place in the company of women.
(573) You may ask – “If women are to be excluded from spiritual advice, how is it that in old days
great persons had given advice to women?
(574) I shall tell you. Listen. Yadnyawalkya was a great sage. In the Upanishads, there is a story
that he has given the spiritual advice to Maitreyi, with many explanations.
(575) The divine sage Narada, saved the mother of Pralhad from God Indra’s captivity, and had
given her teaching to spiritual path.
(576) The sage Kapila who is the incarnation of the Lord Vishnu had taught his mother Devahooti
about the path of liberation.
(577) The crown-jewel of all the Yogis, the Lord Shankara has taught this knowledge of Brahman
to his spouse Bhavani.
(578) Why talk about other persons? O Lord Shri Krishna! You yourself have given this
knowledge to the wives of the Brahmins who were performing sacrifice by oblations in fire
– All this you will tell me.
(579) Let it be! Uddhava, you will say that if the woman is having really a pure heart full of
devotion, one may give her the teaching, having pity for her! But O Uddhava , there also, the
worthiness of the disciple must be the main factor.
(580) I will now tell you some definite things. If a woman is too talkative she should not be taught.
She is not fit. If teaching of this path is given to her, there is danger to the Guru and his
position also.
(581) Such a woman has a habit to chatter endlessly. If she knows anything of this way of Brahman
she will talk about it to anybody and even to serious students of spirituality. In her mind,
there are a great group of thoughts always disturbing her mind, and likes to discuss the path,
with some other man (towards whose she is attracted)
(582) The woman who boldly and fluently talks about the knowledge of Brahman and cannot
control her continuous arrogant talk is not fit to be taught anything about devotion. If she is
taught, the teacher becomes an object of criticism.
(583) Eknath says – I also asked Guru Janardana swami – What should I tell to shoodras and
women who want to take initiation and benediction from me?
(584) They knew that there is no other path to Brahman except surrendering oneself to Guru; they
approach me for teaching. I do not know what I should advice them”.
(585) Listening to this question, the Guru Janardana was pleased and said – “They should be told
to recite continuously the name of God, by which their minds will remain pure.
(586) When their minds will be pure, they will be eager for knowledge and they will be very
humble to the Guru. Then only they may be given advice about the path of liberation of
Brahman.
(587) [Now let us see what the Lord Shri Krishna said] – “One who looks with equanimity on
everyone, irrespective of whether he is man or she is a woman, and who is fully convinced
about this in his consciousness by actual experience, may dare to give spiritual instruction to
women who are really interested in God.
(588) These instructions should not be freely given without testing the woman’s real worth. Please
listen to some details in respect of such cases.
(589) I have denounced woman in the general sense, but there may be one who is Sattwik by
nature, and who has shunned carnal desires and is eager for spiritual advancement,
(590) One who has dropped all hankering for worldly things and now does not like to utter the
names of anger, desire, lust envy etc and due to her turning towards altruistic life by losing
all mundane desires, there is real devotion to God in her life.
(591) When at the time of dinner she has the same attitude towards her son and the guest who has
come home, when there is no lust or greed for anything in her mind, she is to be considered
fit to receive the knowledge about the path of devotion.
(592) When a woman is earnestly wanting to be free from the chain of births and deaths, and is
enquiring “Shall there be anyone who will cut my bondage of this world, and be my
saviour?”
(593) When she is keenly desiring to get the initiation from a real Teacher, and simply lets go all
her money, mind, attachment to body and pride, of “separate being”, for entering into the life
of spirituality,
(594) O Uddhava, if such a woman is given the knowledge about spiritual life, there will not be
any mistake in doing so.
(595) When advice about the path of liberation is given to Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, women, or
shoodras, by verifying their eligibility and firm faith, the disciples are freed from their sins.
(596) One may ask – “If the Guru becomes a sinner by advising people about the knowledge of
Brahman, who will free the disciple from bondage?” But this is not correct to say so.
(597) I spoke about the vices in the prospective disciple in order to enable the teachers to examine
them and avoid such people. Really, if knowledge of the Brahman is imparted, what wrong
is there on the part of the Guru who looks upon the whole world and all beings with the
same kindness?”
(598) When the knowledge of devotion and the Brahman is attained, there is nothing more to be
learnt, the process of “knowing” comes to end with the end of duality; the world is an
illusion and the sense of blemish or merit also ends.
नैतद् िव ाय िज ासो ात यमविश यते पी वा पीयष

ू ममत
ृ ं पात यं नाविश यते
After knowing this (sacred teaching) there is nothing more remaining to be learned for the
enquirer. When one drinks the nectar, nothing more remains to be received. (32)
(599) When the wisdom contained in this book is understood, the seeker or the aspirant of self-
knowledge has nothing more to be learnt.
(600) Just as after drinking the nectar, no other thing remains to be sipped so, when one knows
this, the sense of being the knower and the thing to be known disappears.
(601) Uddhava asked – “When there are innumerable ways and means for performing for
achieving the fulfillment of religion, earning the means of livelihood, desires of all kinds and
final freedom from bondage, how is it that O Lord, you are telling about only one path like
this?”
(602) The Lord said – “O Uddhava, all other paths of spiritual efforts and penances are also
referred to by me, but know this that they are followed by men of ignorance, but for my
devotees, I am the only one to be attuned to.
ाने कमिण योगे च वातायां द डधारणे यावानथ नण

ृ ां तात तावां तेऽहं चतुिवध:
My dear, as people who follow the path of knowledge, the path of rituals, the path of mundane
duties to earn livelihood and holding of the staff of a Sanyasi, a monk, are very dear to a
devotee like you, I, being the real goal in all the four paths. (33)
(603) The aim of knowledge is Freedom, The aim of doing one’s duty is Religion, the aim of
wielding the rod of power is to Rule and the aim of business or trade is to earn for
livelihood.
(604) Yoga and sacrifice are done for earning pleasure here and hereafter, and all these paths are
laid down for ordinary men who are not devotees.
(605) Though they undertake lot of hard work and face calamities in the observance of these
practices, generally they do not get the desired result. Either they suffer from physical
ailments or the deities try to give them trouble.
(606) My devotees, however, have no such dangers. If they wholeheartedly worship me, they
automatically get all the four fulfillments, and gods bow before them.
(607) O Uddhava, in the case of my loyal devotees, I myself am their Religion, their money and
their devotion, I am their Freedom and liberation.
(608) O Uddhava, those who do not worship me, but do good deeds and go to heavens have to take
birth again after their stock of the merit comes to an end; and those who are my devotees are
always free while actually doing all kinds of their ordained duties know this definitely as the
power of my devotion."
(609) Listening to this assuring speech of the Lord, Uddhava went into a state of love and the Lord
also began to nod and sway in the thought which He had thus expressed.
(610) He began to talk again – “O Uddhava I am the god for you in which is your fulfillment of all
the four aims of human life-” thus speaking He held Uddhava in his loving embrace.
(611) In that state Uddhava and the Lord became one in consciousness, and they forgot their
separate identities.
(612) The miracle of that embracing was such that the duality ended and only complete cosmic
energy remained there and the Atmic bliss of the Lord.
(613) The reasoning ended, Vedas had nothing to do; one merged into the other and the God and
his devotee remained as one.
(614) The duties and the prohibited actions had no more any meaning, any scope, any relevance in
that state, action and doing of action withered away and illusion as well as disillusion ran
away into oblivion.
(615) Divisive thought and synthesis went away, understanding with the wisdom of self-
knowledge disappeared, having no more need, the joy was shy of itself and Uddhava merged
in that unknowable state.
(616) To conceive that “ I am Brahman” and to be aware of that state as subjective state in us, is
also an illusion in its subtle and basic nature. It was the effect of the embrace of the Lord
which caused this blissful state of Brahman.
(617) Then the Lord released Uddhava from his embrace and with his divine Maya, brought
Uddhava back into his body-consciousness as a devotee.
(618) Uddhava was wonder-struck by this strange transformation and for some time he lost his
urge to speak or think of anything.
(619) Then he said – “This Atman is there in everybody but we are not aware of it. How can the
seeker reach it?
(620) Uddhava’s enquiry was already guessed by the Lord and He is now going to tell him what
can be done by the seekers.
म य यदा य सम तकमा िनवेिदता मा िविचक िषतो मे

तदामत
ृ वं पितप मानो मयाऽऽ मभय
ू ाय च क पते वै
When having relinquished all his duties, a man dedicates himself to Me, he is chosen by Me as
deserving My special favour and attaining immortality, he then gets qualified really, for
becoming one with me.(or for having divine power) (34)
(621) When the seekers leave all their efforts for achievement of the four aims of human life, and
having trust and faith in me, come to take refuge in Me,
(622) They get this state of bliss immediately which you have just now experienced.
(623) Though they might earlier desire for rituals and duties, for earning money or for fulfilling
common desire for sense-objects, I also help them to fulfil them, if they worship Me and put
their faith in Me and bring them to the state of Unity with Me.
(624) If they are performing all their specific duties, these actions do not bind them and are turned
into action-less-ness, if they offer all of them to ME only. I advise my devotees about this
great fact.
(625) If a devotee desires for mundane pleasures, I Atmaram, teach him how to remain action-less
while even enjoying these pleasures. This is the secret of unattachment which I teach him.
(626) If a devotee is poor and prays for a large amount of money, I give him the required money,
and all my six-fold glory do I offer him, out of my deep love.
(627) If he is seeing Me in all the beings and is worshipping Me alone, all the four liberations
become his house-maids because they are natural servants of my devotees.
(628) If a doctor is really master of his science he can save the life of his patient without telling
him not to eat what he likes or putting a check on his desires.
(629) Similarly, I take my devotee to the highest state of Freedom, even by letting him fulfill his
religion, earn money, enjoy his desired pleasures etc. I have told about this power upto now.
(630) O Uddhava, he who drops the pride of all other efforts and surrenders himself to me,
achieves the final absolute state of Brahman. This is sure to happen.
(631) My devotee may have some wish while worshiping Me. I fulfil even that wish and
emancipate him afterwards. There is no fear of retrograde conditions for my devotee.
(632) If a son hankers for something and holds tight the feet of his mother, his mother will fulfil his
demand even by spending money, but she does not hurt him.
(633) Similarly whatever desire my devotee holds in his mind is fulfilled by Me and he is
liberated and is freed from the chain of birth and death, I never allow him to fall down
(634) As the mother feels the pangs of sorrow by the pain which her son suffers, I also cannot
tolerate my devotee’s suffering.
(635) Am I not having power to let him enjoy his desired objects and still save him forever from
the shackles of this mundane life?
(636) Even a poor man becomes Free if his tongue utters my name at the time of death! Then how
can my devotees who are faithful to me suffer?
(637) Even the man upon whom my devotee throws a chance look of kindness, is liberated by Me
and he becomes my sincere devotee. I therefore, cannot think of neglecting my devotees at
all.
(638) I took upon Myself the task of taking births again and again, but saved my devotee
Ambareesha and I saved Pralhad by killing his father Hiranyakashipu.
(639) It is I who protected Parikshiti in the womb of his mother, by using my Sudarshana. So, I
will not allow my devotee to fall, even at the end of the world!
(640) I liberate even a grass-blade if my devotee simply wishes that to happen! How can I allow
my faithful devotees who worship Me with their heart to fall to painful state of life?
(641) There are my devotees who use their body, speech mind and all belonging without reserve. I
bear the burden of the worldly life of Maya of such devotees Myself.
(642) The Lord was more enthusiastic while telling Uddhava the importance of one-pointed
faithful devotion and Uddhava was also full of love for Him and began to sweat and have
goose pimples on his body.
(643) Even the storyteller Shuka was full of Sattwik feelings while describing all this dialogue
and he began to sway with delight.
(644) With great joy he told Parikshiti “Devotees are the most blessed people in the world. See!
The Lord has Himself told that they always live in Freedom”.
(645) So, the love of Uddhava was as deep as the great path of devotion was surpassing all other
paths of Sadhana. The sage Shuka is now describing the state of bliss which Uddhava was
experiencing.
शीशुक उवाच — स एवमादिशतयोगमाग तदो म ोकवचो िनश य

ब ा जिल: पी युप ू ेऽशुप र लुता :
क ठो न िकि चदच
िव य िच ं पणयावधण
ू धैयण राजन् बहम यमान:
कृता जिल: पाह यदुपवीरं शी णा पश
ृ ं त चरणारिव दम्
Shuka said “Thus Uddhava was shown the path of Bhaktiyoga. He heard the words of the Revered
Lord. He folded his hands. His breath was held up due to love. His eyes were full of tears.
He was speechless. His heart was full by the feeling of love. O King! He somehow kept his
balance of mind. He thought himself blessed. With folded hands, he touched by his head the
lotus like feet of the leader of Yadus, and then said as follows. (35-36)
(646) The reservoir of the knowledge of the wise men, the sea of self-understanding, the sea of
milk of joy, - Shri Shuka said – with satisfaction –
(647) My dear Parikshiti; Please listen. You are the emperor of the fortune of listening! He, the
Lord is praised by gods, men and demons alike. The great masters of Yoga praise Him with
all their mind and heart.
(648) Vedas sing in his praise all the time. His fame is sung by groups of many yogis. That is the
Lord Shri Krishna. He has alluded with great appreciation to the importance of Devotion.
He was himself very lovingly specific about it.
(649) The Lord said –”There is no happiness greater than what is in the faithful devotion. For all
the great gods, my worship and devotion is the essence of all principal things in the world”.
(650) Thus, the Lord told in detail the pure path of yoga of devotion to Uddhava, and Uddhava also
listened to it with fully attentive mind.
(651) Uddhava experienced ecstasy; his eyes were full of tears and sweat drops
(652) decorated his body. His mind was full of joy, his throat was choked by upsurge of emotions,
and flood of self-bliss was evident.
(653) Breath was held up, the body shivered, eyelids dropped in trance, half-open and half-closed.
(654) He felt as if his body was going to be dissolved in the overflowing blessings of the Lord.
Only his good luck kept him on senses.
(655) He held himself together like a boat about to be overturned but being pulled by a rope by
powerful hands of fishermen.
(656) So, he maintained his attention by sheer power of the will and felt that his life’s aim was
accomplished.
(657) He thought – “How can I repay the obligations of the Lord who has uplifted me from the
mundane life?”
(658) Chintamani is a jewel which destroys worry but, for that, it is necessary to have some
worry. So, Chintamani is not an adequate repayement because Guru has no worries at all.
Guru has given me a thing which cannot be imagined by thought!
(659) “If I give the divine wish tree to my Guru, I increase the wishes by given what we wish.
Guru has given a state of mind where thought cannot enter. So, it cannot be compared with
any wish-tree.
(660) If I give the magic stone Parees, it will not be full repayment of the debt which the Lord has
given me, because, He, as Guru, turns the disciple into a Guru, while Parees does not turn
iron into Parees but into Gold only.
(661) Kamadhenu is also out of question. It increases desires by fulfilling our wishes. But Guru
makes us desireless! That is his great obligation! I cannot be free of it.
(662) The entire property of the three worlds can be given to him, but it is only earthly, illusory.
How can I repay by illusory riches the divine riches which He has given me?
(663) If I think of doing hard work to repay His debt on me, my body is perishable. By such
ephemeral things, the obligations which are of eternal nature cannot be repaid.
(664) If I do not like these examples, it will be like giving in exchange a farthing for some
auspicious thing.
(665) Even if I repay the debt by giving my life, my Jeeva, it is also illusory. Should I not be
ashamed to give some false thing to the Lord?
(666) It is like giving a son of a barren woman in retun of a precious stone worth a fortune, if I
give up life for my Guru, because life in this world is very very false.
(667) So, the obligations of the Guru cannot be paid back by anything like body, speech, mind, life,
money or riches in the three worlds. Uddhava was quite aware of this.
(668) The guru has given untarnished joy where not a shadow of pain or sorrow falls. The disciple
cannot be free of that debt.
(669) What Uddhava did, was only to prostrate before the Lord and put his head at the feet of that
Lord.
(670) Earlier, the Lord had asked him whether his illusion and sorrow had gone, but Uddhava had
forgotten to answer. Now Uddhava was simply speechless by joyful wonder.
(671) He bowed down and folded his hands and eager to talk he looked at the face of the Lord.
(672) He was happy as Chakor bird by moon rays, to look at the Lord’s face and began to speak.
उ व उवाच - िवदािवतो मोहमहा धकारो य आिशतो मे तव सि नधानात्

िवभावसो: िकं नु समीपग य शीतं तमो भी: पभव यजा
The delusion and the darkness of ignorance caused by it, which was existing in me, has been
dispelled by your company. It is right to be so; because, O Unborn Lord! O the primordial
Person! How are cold, darkness and fear to prevail when the Sun is shining? (37)
(673) The Lord Shri Krishna was the greatest among the gods, Leader of Yadavas, Sun dispelling
the darkness of the night (of ignorance) and the crown-jewel of pleasures of self-knowledge.
(674) To Him Uddhava began to talk about his own state of mind, but somehow he started to
praise the Lord first.
(675) First of all, he thought – “I think that Brahma is the original creator. But he is called “not
born” because he was manifest from the navel of the Lord Narayana.
(676) "You are that Lord Narayana, who is Brahman manifest in the field of Maya, of which you
are the primary cause. Thus the adjective “Primordial Being” is apt for you.
(677) In the midnight of ignorance, in the darkness of illusion, I was caught. None else could have
been strong enough to bring me out of it.
(678) But by the Sun of your promising word, the darkness of sorrow and illusion was destroyed
and it released me and brought me in your divine presence.
(679) Ignorance has no place where you are. How can any attraction catch me when you are here!
(680) If a man in bitter cold weather in a dark night finds fire, he is free of the cold as well as the
darkness.
(681) If that fire is always near him, then the cold and fear will also run away from him. Nearness
and love which you give us is like this example.
(682) Maya binds men by attachment and sense of belonging or possessing, but that very Maya is
never coming near you.
(683) Men go through births and deaths again and again, but when one comes into contact with you,
he finds the whole chain as completely false.
(684) Maya is completely annihilated in your company. Uddhava is furhter extending the same
subject.
प यिपतो मे भवतानुकि पना भ ृ याय िव ानमय: पदीप:

िह वा कृत तव पादमल
ू ं कोऽ यत् समीया छरणं वदीयम्
By compassion you have given me the light of the knowledge. Who, being thankful will leave your
feet which are the only place of rest, go and surrender to some other? (38)
(685) Even to be near you is destructive to ignorance. Sattwik devotees know this very well.
(686) Why talk of others? I have myself experienced this fact. The best way of removing ignorance
in the world is the company of good persons and sages.
(687) Your company is greatest of them all; and you have experienced this fact only to help
emancipate all simple minded people.
(688) You have used me only as an example. Your intention is really to save pious people. You
have lit this lamp of knowledge to show the path of liberation to them.
(689) Faith in listening to spiritual advice is the lighting of the lamp. Reasoning for convincing the
importance of the self-knwoeldge is the oil in that lamp.
(690) The two virtues of Viveka and Desirelessness is the wick in the lamp. The lamp of spiritual
light full of knowledge in brilliantly kindled there.
(691) Not to hope for anything in this world is the virtue of desirelessness. The light shines in it.
To have hope for mundane things is the extinguishing of the light, which means there is only
darkness after it.
(692) When the light of spiritual advice was put in the ear, the light went in the mind and also in
the organs of the body. By casting off the ignorance the lamp remained brilliant as Truth.
(693) Thus I could see you clearly as you are; you have given me your very existence, your Reality
to me.
(694) As the dweller of the innermost you had already given yourself to me, but in order to
propogate your way of devotion, you have withdrawn your appearance and provoked and
encouraged all, to search you.
(695) To worship you established in all the beings is the best way of devotion to you. Then you
give us wisdom of the Atman which is always hidden in our own heart and which you open
for us.
(696) You develop devotion. You give me my own knowledge. This is called by sages as “Giving
back” or re-attunement.
(697) Since you have given me my own self-knowledge, Maya and doubting attitude have gone
away from me.
(698) The state of self, the Reality which you have opened up for me, will not be destroyed even
after the end of the world. O Lord Shri Krishna! You have obliged us beyond any limit.
(699) You are very kind and help your devoted servants with everything that they desire, but
ignorant people run away to worship other gods.
(700) He who will leave the Lord Shri Krishna and turn towards other smaller gods is really
beastly, even among the greatest fools.
(701) You have purified the mind and senses; you have made all worthy of knwoeldge. He who
will forget this kindness of your, is really unfortunate!
(702) I am convinced that those who know your obliging nature, do not run after other deities.
(703) By listening to this teaching which you gave through me, by thinking about it, and singing in
praise of it, all the people of the world are going to be liberated.
(704) You are kind and thus you have cut the bondage of this worldly life from me. [Uddhava
continues on the same thought further]
व ृ ण मे सु ढ: ने हपाशो दाशाहव ृ य धकसा वतेषु

पसा रत: सिृ िवव ृ ये वया वमायया ा मसुबोधहे ितना
You have developed the bondage of Myness in everybody with a view to increase the created
world through attachment, and I was having this bondage about the races of Dasharhas,
Vrishnris, Andhakas and the Satwats, but by giving me the weapon of good knowledge of the
self, you have had cut off my tenacious sense of bondage already from my childhood. (39)
(705) You have created these worlds by Maya, your Divine Power. In order to increase the
creation you have bound everybody with affection towards woman, friends, sons, well
wishers etc.
(706) I am born in the lineage of Yadavas and their relatives of the races of Vrishnis, Andhakas
and Satwats were liked by me.
(707) But while playing in my childhood, I went into a trance in meditating about you, and then
only you had cut that affection and attachments from my mind.
(708) A juggler creates mass illusion in the minds of the onlookers and only he knows how to
remove that mass illusion.
(709) Similarly the bondage of this Maya of yours which is very dangerous and which has tied
down the people very tightly –
(710) Have had been loosened and removed in my case, long back, You have blessed me in my
childhood only.
(711) You have sharpened the weapon of cutting the Maya quickly and given it to me for myself.
(712) Now I can cut the bondage of other people in the world with this weapon (of your teaching).
Such is your great grace!
(713) The life which was full of sorrow became a joy for me. You have been my savior in this
way.
(714) I have completely become free. But I am going to request you for something, which, the Lord
may kindly gracefully give me” So saying Uddhava held the lotus feet of the Lord.
नमोऽ तु ते महायोिगन् पप नमनुशािध माम् यथा व चरणा भोजे रित:

यादनपाियनी
O the Greatest Yogi! I have come to your feet. Please teach me and give this boon! I bow to you!
Let my mind always have love for your lotus-feet which love should never leave me! (40)
(715) You bring about the impossible, you show by miracle what is not existing, you arrange the
lifeless and the living, [matter and energy] and make their married life a success by your
great Maya.
(716) That Maya which is beyond the scope of Yogic effort, which has befooled even the Lord
Brahma and Shankara – It is your maid-servant, your slave! You are the Yogi par
excellence.
(717) By your grace only, I have fulfilled my life. I am not even aware of what is bondage, what is
sorrow and what is fear. I am now eternally in the blissful state within myself.
(718) The three factors viz the seer, the seeing and the object of seeing are gone and even the three
qualities of Satwa Rajas and Tamas have also ceased to exist. As there is oneness,
aloneness of the bliss, the duality of I and You is also gone.
(719) To speak that I am full of bliss is also false, because all the four levels of speech are
annihilated and Vedas and Shrutis have become quiet.
(720) I have no duty, no cause of duty and no object of duty to be achieved. Even then, O Lord! I
am going to ask something to you.
(721) O Shri Krishna, just as the mother gives joyfully whatever her child wishes, so you may
kindly give me! Hear what I beseech you for.
(722) This is my only request and the Lord may pelase pay heed to it” Saying so and bowing at the
Lord’s feet, Uddhava submitted his prayer!
(723) “I was having a wrong notion about liberation that it must be a sweet thing, but there is no
devotion in that state. So, I do not wish for that tasteless and dry liberty or freedom.
(724) By one sentence of uttering the Final Teaching of Truth by the Satguru, the disciple is freed
from bondage but let that freedom be burnt if devotion to the Satguru and the God is not
there. I do not want it.
(725) So, I am requesting you again. Please give me devotion for you which is beyond even the
final liberation which is called Saayujjyata – Unity Itself.
(726) You may argue – "Dear Uddhava, I have given liberation to all my devotees in the past, but
none of them had asked for my devotion further on!”
(727) But by giving them only liberation, you have sidetracked them, misguided them. You cannot
deceive me like that.
(728) The very nature of your glorious divinity is such that, losing all their pride your devotees
became united and identified with the Atman, but still they have remained your devotees,
without any desire in their mind.
(729) So, neglecting devotion to you, it is delusion to demand Freedom per se, and therefore,
please bestow upon me, devotion to you and not misguidance of liberation.
(730) If you say that you cannot give this devotion to a man who is Free, please do not throw this
argument at me! I am surely knowing your Supreme Power to do anything at your will!
(731) You can do the impossible! You move what cannot be moved. You do that which nobody
can do. There is no limit to your power.
(732) It is impossible to know fully your power. When you came as Shri Ram, you used only
stones to prepare a path on the sea and took the large army of monkeys to Lanka.
(733) The forest-dweller monkeys who ate only leaves, were worthy of all the four kinds of
liberties and many gods began to respect them.
(734) The Gopis were liberated even through their prohibited love for you, and Bramha had to
bow before them, touching the dust of their feet.
(735) Those Gopis and monkeys did not know that you are the Atman, the God Almighty, but their
devotion to you was the direct worship of Brahman!
(736) Such is the greatness of your worship and its nature is very vast! When you are loving your
devotees only, what is new or adorable in the liberation?
(737) I will not touch that liberation which is born of devotion, is nurtured by devoion but
becomes the death of its mother - the devotion itself.
(738) There is a secret way by which the bad name of liberation would be obviated. Please listen
to what I say.
(739) That secret is that even if I attain the state of liberation, you should please gracefully
continue me as your devotee, the devotee of my Guru, by which the Freedom, the liberation
will look auspicious in the eyes of the world. It will then be honoured.
(740) Uddhava put the Lord’s feet upon his head with great reverence and he did not let them go
from his hold. The Lord was surprised and was very much pleased.
(741) I will not give up your worship even if I be Free and even if I will know it. Please bless me
fully for it”. So saying, he sat there holding the Lord’s feet to his head.
(742) Please tell me how I can worship you without considering whether I am Free of the bondage,
and no distraction should take place in my seeking your blessings.
(743) You will laugh at me because the state of freedom which is not attainable even after
thousands of births, is considered by me as a distraction and a threat to my worship and
devotion to you – I may be called by you a stupid one!
(744) But O Lord! Whatever causes me to go astray from the devotional path, I consider as a
calamity. Without this devotion, mere freedom from worldly bonds is tasteless for me!
(745) O Lord Shri Krishna, bless me in such a way, that my devotion should continue without any
selfish aim, and without breakup from the state of eternal freedom.
(746) You may say that you have given me the eternal freedom, but that state is my original state
and it was already with me. How can you give it to me? It is an empty claim of your being
generous.
(747) The freedom is with me, without imposition from outside. I am asking for devotion which is
beyond the emancipation. If you give me that, then only it is real blessing and real charity.
(748) O Krishna, I however do not see any willingness in you to do that obligation. Perhaps, I may
call it miserliness!
(749) The living in freedom in this body, which is a state detrimental to continue your worship, is
not wanted by me. To call it Freedom is also false! You may ask why I say so. I shall
elaborate my point.
(750) When bondage is false and unreal, what value has the so-called release from bondage ? I
shall not touch that false freedom. Please give me only the devotion to the Guru (who is
yourself)
(751) O Shri Krishna, you have misled those to whom you have, in the past, given the state of
Freedom. No No! Please do not play those tactics with me. I want the devotion which is
above and beyond Freedom.
(752) So saying, Uddhava again prostrated at the feet of the Lord and the Lord also became very
pleased and full of love.
(753) As Uddhava asked for devotion which surpasses the state of Freedom, the Lord was pleased
with his argument and his humble way of approach.
(754) The Lord began to sway with his emotion and in that state of love He bestowed upon
Uddhava both the states – the state of Freedom from worldly bondage and the State of
devotion.
(755) In the whole world unique is the fortune of Uddhava, blessed is Uddhava, because the Lord
gave him devotion to Satguru, which is beyond liberation.
(756) The fact is that the Guru and the Brahman is Satguru only. It is therefore not blameworthy for
the disciple to worship Satguru even after reaching the state of Brahman, the final Freedom.
(757) The Lord had given freedom to the devotees in the past, as they aimed at it, and they never
imagined what this higher state of devotion is.
(758) But Uddhava was quite different from other devotees. What he asked for is a state
unimaginable and unreachable for other devotees, and Shri Krishna gave it to him.
(759) He said – O Uddhava, this devotion brings to you the capacity to take incarnation at your
will for God’s work. By this power, I remain aloof even after creation of the Universe, its
growth and its destruction.
(760) By this power I remain a non-doer even if I act, remain non-enjoyer even though I seem to
enjoy all objects.
(761) He who cannot understand this yoga of aloofness finds that the worldly life is full of
suffering, but as this power of yoga is my nature itself, I am the very image of happiness
though I live in this world.
(762) The Lord Shankara knows this yoga and I, Narayana, know this yoga. Others cannot grasp it.
(763) This secret told by the Lord was understood by Uddhava. By self-knowledge they both were
united in the state of Brahman, and thus the importance and the greatness of devotion was
evident.
(764) Uddhava knew that Bhakti or devotion is the basic support of the state of Freedom, and his
joy knew no limits! He was full of happiness in the self, which is Brahman.
(765) As a mother gives to her child her own ornaments because the child demands them, so the
Lord gave Uddhava His own power of incarnation.
(766) The Lord gave Himself to Uddhava, which act was not heard by the ears of the mind, was
not seen by the eyes of the intellect, nor was the sky aware of it at all.
(767) The Lord gave Uddhava that thing which cannot be known by the man who is Realized soul,
and which cannot be described by Vedas.
(768) Earlier Uddhava had said – “Saved I am! Free I am!” But now he requested that he should
be always a devotee of the Lord. Only the Lord knows the significance of this change.
(769) Uddhava having surpassed the state of liberation and having the supreme devotion to God,
now had the power to control Maya, similar to the power of the Lord.
(770) To know the falsity, the unreality of Maya, and to have the power to create the Maya’s
illusion as well as to withdraw it is the greatness of the Lord who has now given it to
Uddhava.
(771) In the game of chess, the symbolic wooden pieces are playing the roles of the king, the
minister, the elephant, the camel, etc., but all are simply wooden articles having no stock of
karma with them.
(772) There is only wood in both the armies! Who is enemy of whom! But war goes on between
those armies of inanimate objects as if they are living and are enemies of each other.
(773) The players say – “The elephant is dead, the prime minister is dead;" but are they really
dying? Sometimes a pawn becomes the Prime Minister, but is all the riches in his possession
in reality!
(774) They cry – “I have killed your horse! I have killed your Minister! Though the pieces are not
living persons. One is “victorious” and the other is “defeated” but the wooden pieces have
no knowledge!
(775) What pawn goes to Vaikuntha? And what pawn goes to hell? Similarly, in our life the
bondage or freedom are both imaginery and unreal.
(776) In short, he who has this attitude of the mind as if in the game of chess, is the man who takes
incarnation at his will.
(777) What Vedas say is in the field of unreality. Bondage and Freedom are unreal. Knowing evn
this, he who functions within the limits laid down by Law, by Vedas, is the man who is the
devotee beyond the state of Freedom.
(778) Being desirelessness, many have attained the eternal Freedom, but this devotion is not
within their reach, they cannot even imagine of this devotion.
(779) O Dear! Only he who has this aloofness will attain this kind of devotion. For others, it is
beyond imagination. That is the truth.
(780) [Shuka said – In this way Uddhava attained unimaginable state. He was saved from the curse
of the Brhamin sages, in order to teach others the secret of devotion through him.
(781) The sage Narada was having the knowledge of Brahman but he was also afraid of curse of a
Brahmin and therefore, he kept travelling through the three worlds.
(782) The curse of the Brhamins does not spare even a man who has attained the knowledge of the
Brahman. Knowing this fact, the Lord asked Uddhava to go away though he had knowledge
of the Brahman.
(783) Uddhava belonged to Yadava race and Yadavas were destined to die due to the curse of the
Brahmin sages. To save Uddhava’s life, the Lord asked him to go the Badarika Monastery.
(784) All the Yadavas were surely to die due to fight amongst themselves, but Uddhava was asked
to go to Badarika Monastery so that he would survive the effect of the curse.
(785) We cannot say that the monastery was more sacred than the knowledge which Uddhava had
imbibed, but the Lord told him to run away due to danger of the curse of the Brahmins.
(786) Uddhava was the most valuable jewel of mankind, because he had become one with the
Lord and his life had to be saved for the welfare of the world. The Lord rightfully sent him
away.
शीभगवानुवाच — ग छो व मयाऽऽिद ो बदया यं ममाशमम्

तत म पादतीथ दे नानोप पशनै: शुिच:
The Lord said – O Uddhava, as asked by me, now go to My Monastery by name Badari, and
remain in a clean state of body and mind by bathing in the waters sanetified by the touch of
my feet, and by sprinkling of that water on your body (to wash away all blemishes) (41)
(787) [The Lord said to Uddhava] – O Uddhava, now you are having the knwoeldge of Reality.
All your emotional ties are cut away. Now you should obey my orders and go to Badarika
Ashrama. (monastery)
(788) That is a good place for gathering together pious people and keep good the social order
based on duty and virtue. It is to save ignorant persons that you have to reside there.
(789) That is a place where I stay (as Narayana) and observe penance for the welfare of the
world. Even if one sees that place, from a distance, the dirt of the Kali’s Age is washed
away from him.
(790) By touching the mountain of that Ashrama men become free of sin, and even by remembering
that name, they become pure.
(791) The waters of the river Alakananda are sacred because that is touched by my feet. By
touching those waters people are purified.
(792) If one bathes there, the bondage of the Jeeva is loosened. By sipping the said water, he,
together with his ancestors is emancipated.
(793) Such is my monastery at Badari, which is very sacred. You may ask me perhaps – O Lord,
when have you yourself created this place? My answer is as follows –
(794) Using the Rajasik power I created the entire world and the people in it, but they indulged in
passion and lust, and carnal enjoyments. Then I took incarnations of two kinds.
(795) I became Nara and Narayana just as the Sun and the Moon give light to the world, I did the
same thing – by giving the light of knowledge. I remained in that Badarika place.
(796) My incarnation as Narayana is worthy of devotion and worship, and my incarnation as Nara
is (Myself) as the devotee I spread the knowledge and teachings about devotion,
desirelessness and self-knowledge by myself performing the necessary penance for that.
(797) Such is the place where I am staying still, spreading these teaching by myself practising.
(798) In the place which I established on that mountain, devotion is growing rapidly like a tree of
berry trimmed methodically.
(799) That is why I gave the name of “Badarikashrama” to that place, which is so sacred and
sublime that all the illusion about worldly life disappears there.
(800) O Uddhava, you should now go there. You might ask – “What is the need to go to a place of
pilgrimage?”
(801) You have given me the devotion beyond the state of eternal freedom and I have
accomplished everything. I have no desire for going anywhere!”
(802) But for you, it is a duty to follow my instructions because you have surrendered your
individual mind to my cosmic mind. So you should go there.” Hearing these words, Uddhava
obeyed the order.
(803) Now, the place of Badarikashrama is so powerful in its spiritual content that by seeing the
place with faith, a man, who is Nara a seeker becomes Narayana (the final goal of human
life)
(804) O Uddhava, you have self-knowledge but still you are worshipping me. It will therefore so
happen that by your feet touching the grounds of that place, that place will be recharged by
spiritual power of purity and benevolence.
(805) At this Uddhava sobbed. He bowed to the feet of the Lord, and uttered the words
emotionally – “I shall go now”.
(806) Let us remember that the Lord wanted Uddhava to go to Badarika Monastery to escape the
effect of the curse of the Brahmin sages.
(807) Uddhava was the gem of wisdom. He was to be saved, in order to spread the path of
devotion taught by the Lord. That is why he was told to go.
(808) It was only for this escaping from the severe curse that He did so. Otherwise, He would not
have asked anyone who had realized Brahman, to go for pilgrimage!
(809) The bondage of this world was no more troubling Uddhava, even from his childhood,
because of his devotion. Now what remained to be done? He must be saved. So, he was
directed to go the protected place of Badarika Monastery.
(810) That was the reason fo piligrimage and so the Lord purposely ordered him like this.
(811) The Lord said –" O Uddhava, much good will be achieved by the people if you go there,
because by your teaching and spiritually exemplary life, many people will be enlightened
and ignorant persons will attain the Reality.
(812) You may ask – “How you should live there and what you should do.” I am telling you
something only for welfare of the people.
(813) O Uddhava, your life style, your daily behaviour, will itself be the ‘Teaching’ for other
people. Do not go astray from your ordained code of conduct, desirelessness, devotion and
self-wisdom,
(814) O Uddhava, take my own example! I have no personal need to do anything in all the three
worlds. But I work daily in the framework of social status in order to put all people on the
right path.
(815) You may say – "O Krishna, you have the great responsibility of all the three worlds, and that
is why you follow the code of conduct, to guide all people to religious way of life”.
(816) But I am going to my own abode now. That is why I made you equal with me. You, as my
representative and my disciple, should live the life of desirelessness which is yet dutiful in
order to guide other people.
(817) The organization of good people consist of Devotion in Unity, lack of any desire, and
knowledge in one’s own life and guide others to the same way of life.
(818) You are now also honourable as I am, because you are spiritually equal to me. Therefore,
just as you will do your duties, people will do their duties.
(819) Now I shall tell you further about the way of life which will influence other people. You
should live like this.
(820) At Badarika, many holy places are there, but the river Alakananda, is the main sacred place.
It is another Ganga! Just by looking at those boisterous waters of that river, people get
purified.
ई यालकन दाया िवधत

ू ाशेषक मष: वसानो व कला य ग व यभु सुखिन: पहृ :
You should always see the view of the river Alakananda, you should be blemish -less, you should
wear Walkala clothes, eat forest fruit and other products like roots, leaves etc and should
not have desire for luxury. (42)
(821) You should bathe in the river Alakananda, do the usual ablutions, and
(822) reside in that Asharama. You should take out these clothes and instead wear the apparel
made of bark of trees (Walkala), eat fruits available in the nearby forest, live without
worries.
(823) In order to give others a good example of simplicity and astute living, you should not have
any desires, and living in the place with inner comfort, you should be equally indifferent to
hot or cold, and pain and pleasure etc.
ितित ु माताणां सुशील: संयतेि दय: शा त: समािहतिधया ानिव ानसंयुत:
You should be tolerant to all dualities, and opposites, you should control your mind and organs,
you should have good morale, should be properly organized in your thinking, you should be
peaceful and have worldly knowledge and self knowledge also. (43)
(824) You will be armed with self-knowledge and knowledge about the worldly life and so you
will not be affected by cold or heat and such other opposites, and to show the example of
forbearance to people you should keep the balance of mind in any condition of life.
(825) You should control your organs and emotions, and being morally very pure, you should keep
peace of mind evidently.
(826) You should show people how to be content in the state of bliss and you should express for
them the knowledge which you have learnt from me.
म ोऽनुिशि तं य े िविव मनुभावयन् म यावेिशतवाि च ो म मिनरतो भव

Experiencing the knowledge which I taught you, you should unite your speech and mind with me
and be occupied with the way of life which I have told you so far. (44)
(827) When you will reside there in this way, many people will approach you because they will
be aware that you have received important knowledge from me. (827)
(828) If a man is himself emancipated but does not help others to attain that state, it is not proper
for a man of self-knowledge. He is blame-worthy for his lack of care for others.
(829) Some attain the knowledge of Brahman and they do give that to their disciple, but they
cannot make the disciple understand it properly. In such cases, their knowledge is stagnant
and useless for others.
(830) The disciple is confused and uneasy because he has not understood properly and the Guru in
his stride, goes on talking. They both miss each other. This is not proper Teaching.
(831) To give light of self-knowledge to the other man is not an easy task. O Uddhava, if that is
possible, it should be understood as proper fruition of the knowledge of Brahman.
(832) To know and to give the same knowledge of attaining Freedom to others is the real greatness
of this knowledge. O Uddhava, I have given this to you ! Living as guided by me, you should
go on teaching this sacred knowledge to others.
(833) Know this. One whose knowledge does not yield the crop in the field of the mind of the
disciple has all his knowledge in vain. It is wasted. It is incomplete because it is not spread.
(834) Just as birds of their own accord gather on the tree where fruits are ripe, so , when a man
reaches the state of Brahman fully, the disciples happily come to him.
(835) If the knowledge of Brahman is given only by spoken word, it is not properly grasped by the
hearers and thus, this word-knowledge has no life-force in it. Why such things happen? O
Uddhava, I will now tell you all about it.
(836) When a man gets the experience of the state of Brahman, a kind of pride arises in his mind
and the force or the strength of that knowledge is reduced.
(837) The more the knower is without the pride, the strength of his knowledge increases and as
soon as he gracefully teaches the disciple, the disciple understands the truth.
(838) Dear Uddhava, since you have the knowledge of Me that is Brahman, you should teach the
same to your disciples and though they will give you great respect, you should never think
high of your self.
(839) To reject the respect which is shown by disciples is sign of immaturity and to accept the
honour and respect given by the disciples is a possible cause of pride, which becomes
destructive for the said teacher.
(840) The respect and honour given by the disciple, therefore, should be formally accepted as a
normal social behaviour, but pride of being a man of knowledge should not be allowed to
rise in your mind. This is the main sign of recognizing the self realized soul.
(841) Though you are fully enlightened by direct teaching, you should not have pride in public or
while living alone in privacy. You should be continuously full of inspiration of self-bliss.
(842) You should teach your disciple about the importance of being devoid of pride in all
conditions, because there is no higher state of consciousness which is without pride, in all
the three worlds.
(843) The teaching along these lines comprises of singing the songs about me by speech,
continuous service and devotional activity by body, and keeping your mind always merged
into Me.
(844) If somebody calls you a Pandit or a realized soul, you should not be proud and pleased, or if
somebody says that you are stupid you should not be angry. Your attitude should always be
free from anxiety, anger of depression. This is the ideal state of mind of a man of self-
knowledge.
(845) You should always be unassuming, desireless, with devotion, and knowledge and should
practise these virtues in your own life and should teach about the same state to your
disciples.
(846) You should not devalue the persons who will surrender themselves to you, because to look
upon the disciple also as if he is Brahman and worthy of worship is the sign of a good
Teacher, the Guru.
(847) The good teacher sees Brahman in every being and if he looks upon the disciple as some
different and lowly person, it will mean that the Guru has lost his state of equality and unity
with Brahman. Is it not?
(848) The Guru should therefore never consider his disciple any lesser than himself. The Guru
should see Brahman in the person of the disciple. This is the main sign of a good Guru.
(849) Just as a mother feels very tender about her little child, so should the Guru feel great
compassion about the disciple and real concern about his welfare. This makes the Guru
really Perfected Guru.
(850) I have already told you about the signs of good disciple. Where you will find those virtues,
there only you should venture to utter anything about the highest kind of devotion, if that man
is humble, worthy and requests for that knowledge.
(851) Consider every teaching given by Me to you, as the purpose of teaching it to your disciples.
You are actually beyond the three Gunas, already having attained that state and therefore the
spiritual practices are no more applicable to you personally.
अितव य गतीि तसो मामे यिस तत: परम्

Surpassing all the three paths you will later on join Me. (44)
(852) If you give the teaching in this way and with this attitude, the freedom from Gunas which you
are enjoying now will not be lost, and even your disciple will be similarly free from the
three Gunas.
(853) The disciples who will conduct their lfie according to instructions given by Me will also
defeat the effects of three Gunas and will go beyond them.
(854) The three divisions are of various kinds. The seer, the seeing and the seen, the waking, the
dream and the sleep, the knower, the knowing and the known.
(855) The doer, the doing and the deed, the enjoyer, the enjoying and the object of enjoyment, the
enemy, the friend and the disinterested. There are three manifestations of all these according
to the Sattwa, the Rajas and the Tamas.
(856) But the worthy devotees will discard these effects and be united with my own nature.
(857) In my nature there are neither the Gunas nor the attitudes born out of the Gunas and when the
devotees reach a stage beyond these modifications they come into my consciousness and
merge into Me.
(858) Thus Shri Krishna told Uddhava about his further duty. The sage Shuka is now describing
the state of mind of Uddhava.
शीशुक उवाच — स एवमु ो ह रमेधसो व: पदि णं तं प रस ृ य पादयो:

िशरो िनधायाशुकलािभरादधी यिष चचद परोऽ यपकमे
Shri Shuka further said – Instructed thus by Shri Krishna (devotion to whom puts an end to
metempsychosis) Uddhava took a round around Shri Krishna, keeping Him always at his
right side (so as to ensure His constant goodwill) and placing his head on His feet while
departing, even though he had transcended the pairs of opposites as a result of the teaching
given by the Lord. (45)
(859) The Sage Shuka who is without desire in his state of Freedom, became very eager to
describe the state of the mind of Uddhava.
(860) Shuka said – O Parikshiti, the Lord gave orders to Uddhava. Their love for each other was
extraordinary. I shall describe it again.
(861) Though Uddhava was beyond the three Gunas, he loved the feet of his Guru, as Shri Krishna
was surely the Parabrahman!
(862) He could not leave the feet of Shri Krishna, in whom he had complete faith. Therefore
Uddhava was called HARIMEDHA.
(863) Shri Hari draws to Himself the mind together with the meditation of a man who meditates on
Hari, and He draws to Himself the intellect of a man who thinks with deep respect about the
happiness, he would get in the unity with Shri Hari.
(864) Hari draws to Himself the consciousness of a man who thinks about Hari and He takes away
the worldly life of man who remembers Hari.
(865) Uddhava, though he had attained the state of Freedom, was having loving devotion to God
and therefore he was called Harimedha in those days.
(866) The Lord decided that Uddhava must go away. The Lord who enjoyed the devotion of men
who had deep devotion even after they were beyond the three Gunas, decided for departure
of Uddhava.
(867) But Badarika was very far away and Uddhava thought that when he would go so far away,
there would be no possibility of meeting the Lord again. He was therefore much affected by
emotion.
(868) Though Uddhava enjoyed freedom beyond the three Gunas he was over whelmed by pathetic
thought and he took rounds around Shri Krishna.
(869) When he put his head on the Lord’s feet he began to cry and by his tears, the Lord’s feet
were wet.
सुदु यज ने हिवयोगकातरो न श नुवं तं प रहातुमातुर:

कृ छं ययौ मध ृ ुके िबभ नम कृ य ययौ पुन: पुन:
ू िन भतपाद
Uddhava being afraid of leaving Him and suffering His estrangement, could not leave His feet. He
fell with great feeling of pathos, at the feet of his Master, and holding those feet, he bowed to
His feet again and again. (46)
(870) The emotional relationship of others is binding and troublesome but by the logical thinking
according Upanishads one resumes the balance of mind, but relationship of friendliness of
Shri Krishna Is not like this. It brings happiness and love.
(871) For Uddhava, Guru and Absolute Reality was one and the same. Otheres are required to
develop the sense of Unity of the two, but for Uddhava it was natural.
(872) The friendship was full of happiness for Uddhava and therefore, he felt very sorry while
leaving him.
(873) A faithful loyal wife, though old and devoid of any sexual attraction, does not feel like
leaving her husband.
(874) Similarly after experiencing spirituality, Uddhava had become free Man, but while leaving
the Guru Shri Krishna he was very anxious.
(875) Those who become attached to the Lord Shri Krishna under the influence of any emotion of
love, hate or desire, are all united with Him, in the state of Total bliss. Who will be happy
while going away from Him?
(876) The human beings who are attracted to the Lord Shri Krishna in clandestine relationship, are
also worthy of respect by Brahma and other gods. Uddhava was having total love for the
Lord. How can he leave Him easily?
(877) To those who value devotion to Guru as Brahman, the value of Liberation is not even equal
to a grass blade. Even if they attain Eternal Liberation they drop it and solely become
faithful devotees only.
(878) He knew that he had per force to go to Badarika Ashrama according to the orders of Guru,
but his love for the Lord Shri Krishna was more intense! It made him unable to leave the
Lord Shri Krishna.
(879) Thus was the double dilemma for him. The Love of the Lord could not be contained in his
heart. In his mind he could not visualize himself as walking towards Badarika Ashrama.
(880) With the thought of never meeting again the Lord who would go to His eternal abode,
Uddhava could not start to go away from him as he was overwhelmed by sorrow and
emotions.
(881) The Lord Shri Krishna looks like a dark cloud of rainy season, His eyes were like lotus
petals and He was full of Joy, the very image, the personification of Bliss.
(882) The ornaments viz. the crown, the earrings, the spot of sandalwood paste on the forehead,
the garland of beads around the neck, and the brilliant Kaustubh gem as the locket, on his
chest.
(883) The anklets around the ankles making noise, the shinning Peetamber, all were adding to the
beauty of the Lord.
(884) The long garland of wild flowers, - such was the beautiful Lord, by looking at him, the heart
became happy beyond limits.
(885) With the prospect of not being able to see Him again, Uddhava was very unhappy and could
not find courage enough to go away.
(886) Uddhava was united with the Reality. What need had he for living so enamoured with a
form, the person of the Lord? That was because the Lord was Personified Brahman!
(887) Ghee remains ghee only, may it be solid or liquid. Similarly, Brahman remains Brahman
though it may be manifest or unmanifest!
(888) It is an immature thought to consider the personified Brahman in the body of Shri Krishna as
of lesser existence and the Brahman in its cosmic existence beyond form and quality as
Supreme. The man who considers a blade of grass or a stone equal to Brahman will never
disregard enformed Brahman!
(889) Similarly formless or en-formed aspects of Brahman were of equal
(890) importance to Uddhava, but the Lord as his Guru was very dear to him and therefore, he
succumbed to the emotional wave at the time of departure; but he had on one side, to obey
His orders and could not leave Him easily, on the other side he felt great elation and sorrow.
(891) He bowed down prostrated and held his Master’s feet again and his mind and body could
not respond to the Guru’s directions.
(892) He again thought that if he world leave there of his own accord, just obeying the order of the
Lord, it was certain that his eyes will never again see the beautiful Lord in person, and his
feet did not move.
(893) He thought to himself – I am satisfied by the nectar of the touch of the feet of my Lord, and
pilgrimage to any great sacred places is s superfluious thing for me; but my destiny is at last
separating me from Shri Krishna..
(894) He trembled his throat was choked, ears welled up in his eyes, he sobbed again and again,
sweated profusely so that his body became wet.
(895) He went away but suddenly turned back and ran to the Master’s feet, kept his head on them,
and cried –so much was his mind held fast in devotion.
(896) He bowed again, went a few steps retreated again and held the soft feet of the Lord and
found himself unable to go away.
(897) When all this confusion of Uddhava was seen by the Lord, His heart ws also full of great
feeling of happiness! He thought – “His mind is much adoring me with friendly love, but he
is solely attached to me as a disciple to the Guru.
(898) The Lord was compassionate towards Uddhava and he quietly took out His footgear (called
Paduka) and gave them to Uddhava ; which were held by the latter upon his own head.
(899) As soon as he did so, he lost or forgot the feeling that he was going away from the Lord.
Thus the Lord united him with Himself.
(900) Uddhava was peacefully quiet as soon as he kept the Lord’s Paduka on his head. He walked
around the Lord according to the manner given by tradition and started to depart.
(901) What did he do? He walked around the Lord three times, bowed to His feet again and went
away, obeying his Lord’s orders.
Now I repeat the story from the third Skandha of this Bhagawata Mahapurana
(902) When Uddhava saw Mahatma Vidura, both of them greeted each other by embracing and
enquiring about their welfare.
(903) Then Uddhava told him about the Lord Krishna’s going back to His divine abode, but there
was not a shadow of sorrow on his face. Seeing this, Vidura knew that Uddhava was having
equilibrium of mind which is the sign of a realized soul.
(904) When the Guru is worried and the disciple is full of sorrow, it should be considered that the
knowledge of both is in vain and that the listener of that vain knowledge is also doomed,
drowned in ignorance.
(905) Vidura guessed that the personification of grace which was the Lord, had blessed Uddhava
and his attachment to all objects was dissolved, and that he was merged in the highest joy in
his Atman.
(906) He realized that Uddhava was talking something beyond the limitations of the words, that he
was walking without adhering to the ground, and not being affected by mundane things and
though he has a name and body, he is unaffected by them.
(907) Vidura knew that his tongue did not meddle with his enjoying the taste of anything; that he
saw directly without physical organ of eyes, and thus he was having happiness without
organs, as he was in his Atmic state.
(908) Vidura was very much pleased to see the untarnished self knowledge with also the devotion,
the knowledge and the ascetic attitude of austere desirelessness in Uddhava.
(909) Vidura asked him to impart to him that divine knowledge which the Lord Shri Krishna had
gracefully given him (Uddhava) for spreading it amongst the seekers.
(910) Upon this Uddhava said – Really fortunate you are! Because at the last, the Lord had
remembered you and told me specifically to give you the news that the Lord Maitreya has
been requested by the Lord to give you His teaching.
(911) Had the Lord told me to impart that knowledge to you, I would have done so here and now,
but Maitreya is the sage planned to give you the knowledge and that he is your Teacher.
(912) Listening to this talk of Uddhava, Vidura felt very happy. Listeners may please hear what
Vidura said at that time (so says Eknath)
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(913) [This part of the story is from the Third Skandha of Bhagawata Purana, which has been
referred to as co-related.]
वाऽहं क टकव ु छ: व च का यवा रिध: तेनाहं मा रतोऽ य , मुमुषु: केशवं
यथा
O! How insignificant I am, like an insect and How great is the Lord, who is the ocean of
compassion! He thought of me today to remember Him, as if a dying man is asked to
remember the Lord Keshava! (Lord Vishnu!) (1)
(914) Vidura said – I feel that I am an insignificant insect, the poorest of the poor, and Lo! The
Lord remembered me! This is the extraordinary benediction on me who am merely a slave!
(915) He did not remember his father Vasudeo, nor his mother Devaki. He did not remember the
name of Balaram nor mentioned Pandavas but the kind-hearted Krishna remembered me – a
mere son of a maid-servant!
(916) Just as a man remembers the name of the Lord Narayana at the time of death, so Shri Krishna
remembered me at the end of his life on Earth! Such loving protector of his devotees is the
Lord! He is certainly the ocean of kindness and compassion!
(917) O Listeners! You might say that Uddhava had left Dwarka while Shri Krishna was in
Dwarka itself, so he did not see the Lord leaving the Earth from Prabhasa.
(918) But that is not so. The dialogue between Uddhava and Vidura indicates differently. I shall
tell you in detail what had happened. Listen carefully please!
(919) When Uddhava went some distance he suddenly thought – Why am I going away without
seeing the end of life of the Lord?”
(920) “The whole life of Shri Krishna is enchanting. What more is there for me in the places of
pilgrimage?”. Thinking like this he made up his mind.
(921) And said to himself – “If I go back near the Lord He will not allow me to remain there. So,
he went to Prabhasa without informing the Lord.
(922) He waited there hidden from the Lord and began to see what was going to happen. He saw
there the whole destruction of Yadavas.
(923) Effecting the annihilation of Yadava race the Lord had reposed under a peepal tree. The
Wyadha (a hunter) thinking that it was deer, shot an arrow at Him from certain distance.
(924) The Lord was pleased by the hitting of the arrow. He thought – “Here is some cause for my
departure.
(925) Someone else would have cried out of pain by the strike of the arrow, but the Lord did not
have any pain, because for Him, the body was a myth, and unreality.
(926) Just as a man does not suffer from pain though someone beats his shadow, so, the Lord did
not suffer by the hitting of the arrow by the hunter.
(927) At that time the sage appeared there and the Lord gave in a condensed form all the important
and secret teaching to Him. The Lord remembered Vidura at the same time and his heart
went to that Mahatma, the great Vidura with a surge of loving emotion.
(928) The Lord immediately said to the sage Maitreya – “Had Vidura been here now I might have
given this secret teaching to him also, but he is not here. So, O Maitreya, I am telling you to
impart all this knowledge (about the highest form of devotion) to him.
(929) Having the devotional secret wisdom from the Lord, the sage Maitreya was very happy. The
Lord said - "Blessed will be the Kali-age which his now about to begin! Due to this highest
path of devotion, there will be many who will realize Brahman!”
सव ब विद यि त स पा े च कलौ युगे नैव ित ि त मैतेय िश ोदरपरायणा:

Many will talk about Brahman now when the Age of Kali will begin, but O Maitreya, those who
are slave to feeding themselves and indulging in sex will not stay in that state of mind
actually. (2)
(930) In the Kali Age, many will only talk about Brahman and there will be quarrels among
scholars about it, but none will be in that state of mind.
(931) They will give sermons on Brahman, but all will be indulgent in eating food nad enjoying
sex. In Kali’s age, only he will realize Brahman who can control his tongue and sexual
organ.
(932) Listening to the dialogue of the Lord Shri Krishna and Maitreya, Uddhava stepped forward
and offered salutations to the Lord after walking respectfully around Him.
(933) After listening to Maitreya and after witnessing the departure of the Lord Shri Krishna,
Uddhava started from that place. O Parikshiti, please also listen to the event.
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तत तम त िद संिनवे य गतो महाभागवतो िवशालाम्

यथोपिद ां जगदेकब धुना तप: समा थाय हरे रगाद् गितम्
Having firmly held the Lord in the innermost of his heart, the great votary of the Lord then reached
Vishala ( i.e. Badarika ashrama) and practising austeries as adviced by the Lord who is the
only real brother of all beings in the world, attained the state of unity with Shri Hari. (47)
(934) Uddhava held in his heart the living image of Shri Hari who is the only resting place of all,
and who is the supreme of the great persons, and started from that place with love in his
heart.
(935) Holding in his heart the consciousness of the Lord Shri Krishna, Uddhava in his constant
state of bliss, went to the Badarika Monastery, otherwise known as Vishal-Teerth.
(936) As he was full of bliss, wherever he went, people around him began to be influenced by his
purity, devotion, knowledge and austerity.
(937) As and when he saw some signs of discrimination and desirelessness in people, he very
clearly taught them about self-knowledge and devotion. Thus he became instrumental for
upliftment of everyone who came into his contact.
(938) Those who met him got interested in the devotion of Hari and he made them fearless about
the worldly life. Uddhava was so much caring about the welfare of the people.
(939) Devotees of the God Hari are called Bhagawatas. As Uddhava continued his worship even
after attaining freedom, he was Mahabhagawata (great devotee)
(940) Eternal freedom was merely a slave girl of the devotion which Uddhava was having. Thus
his state was the Mahabhagawata state.
(941) “Vishal” means vast or great. Uddhava was himself great because of his peace and sincere
devotion, coupled with the self-realisation.
(942) Though he was Vishal in this sense he went to the sacred place which was also called
Vishal. Now I shall tell you why that place is called Vishal-Teertha.
(943) At that place viz Badarika monastery the mind becomes pure by more Faith, the intellect
becomes clear and devoid of doubt, by mere listening; and liberation is attained by taking
the name of the Lord Narayana. That is why it is called Vishal or great.
(944) The Lord Narayana is still absorbed in penance there for the uplifting of the people. He
watches kindly upon the man who seeks liberation and blessed him fully. That is why that
place is called Vishal or great.
(945) This monastery is very beneficial to seekers because by a small amount of penance much
merit is gained there, by a little meditation the seeker gets self knowledge, and by a little
desirelessness, liberation is at hand. This place is, therefore, called great.
(946) Uddhava attained self-knowledge from the inner Atman, the Lord Govinda, who is a friend
of the whole world, a brother of everybody.
(947) Uddhava completely followed the advice given by that Lord Shri Krishna and lived at
Badarika Ashrama, and his own behaviour and character caused others to trust in the path of
devotion.
(948) The character, the peace of mind, the great devotion of Uddhava, and all things became
themselves the teaching for others, without using so many words.
(949) But when Guru is slave to the objects of the senses, how can the disciple turn away from
enjoyments! When Guru has tendency towards sins, the disciple will never turn to the path of
return.
(950) So, Uddhava’s actions were followed by others. Thus, he lived in that place for the welfare
of the world.
(951) Uddhava began his daily routine exactly as instructed by the Lord Shri Krishna, and as a
result those who were residing near him began to live a pious life.
(952) The Lord Shri Krishna returned to his secret divine abode after actually blessing Uddhava
with the state of bliss of the Brahman. The same highest state of mind was eternally being
enjoyed by Uddhava.
(953) Though he might be leisurely sitting, or taking food or walking, going somewhere or coming
back, he was always in that state of Brahman.
(954) The desirelessness or attachment for sensual enjoyment are manifest generally with relation
to physical body, but Uddhava’s mind was in a state quite beyond this.
(955) Though he was having no desires, the conditioning of the state of desirelessness was not
applicable to him. Though he was physically among all the perceptions and contact with the
objects of the senses, he was not entangled in any experience. He was beyond both states,
eternally united with the Absolute Reality.
(956) He was not to be affected by death of the physical body, not by being born again because his
state was beyond all bodies. He was not touched by these modifications.
(957) The Lord had already destroyed in him the sense of attachment to body and given him the
untarnished pure state of Brahman.
(958) O Parikshiti! I will be wrong to say that Uddhava attained the state of Aloneness at the end
of his physical life.
(959) For example, gold is not affected even if a bangle is made of it or that bangle is again
restored to the simple shape of a golden coin. Similarly, birth and death are happenings of
the body only. Uddhava was not a person. He was Reality, the cosmic unconditional
Brahman!
(960) Uddhava was absolutely “Free” while others saw him as a physical body. To say that after
death of the body he became liberated is simply a statement of convenience, a manner of
speech.
(961) The body may live on or it may end, the men of self-knowledge do not care. Their state of
Reality is unbroken and always abiding with them.
(962) Destiny functions in the body and destiny itself functions in the process of death. As the man
of knowledge is always fully in the state of Brahman, he is not specially cognizant of birth
and death (as for him the body is illusory)
(963) Just as the illusion of seeing a serpent on the actual rope, is experienced as illusion due to
the reality of the rope itself, the illusion of the body or death of body is so understood by the
Reality of Brahman.
(964) One may say that the land on which mirage appears, has become dry because of the
disappearance of the mirage but one may ask himself , was the land not dry while the
illusion of mirage appeared?
(965) Similarly when you know the body as unreal, it is meaningless to say that at the end of that
body, the experience of Aloneness was a new happening!
(966) So, after living in that Ashrama for a very long period, Uddhava joined his ever-existing
unity with the Lord Shri Krishna.
(967) But it was not a new experience of the state of Brahman. To believe so is fallacious. It is a
way of mundane talk. He was already “there”. It was not a new happening. He remained
himself as ever he was.
(968) [Eknath says] The sage Shuka mused over the devotion of Lord Shri Krishna of which
Uddhava was an image in person, and he also considered the consummation of his pure life,
and being very eager to describe the greatness of the benediction the compassion and love of
the Lord, he began to say
य एतदान दसमुदस भतृ ं ानामत

ृ ं भागवताय भािषतम्
कृ णे न योगे रसेिवताि घणा स छ याऽऽसे य जगद् िवमु यते
The world becomes emancipated by following in practice, faithfully, this nectar of knowledge,
which is as a vast ocean of joy, as taught to the devotee (Uddhava) by the Lord Shri Krishna
whose feet are served with reverence by the greatest Masters of Yoga. (48)
(969) (Shuka continues) The Lord Shri Krishna is worthy of worship by even the Masters of Yoga
who enjoy Freedom from worldly bondage while living in their body and serve His feet.
(970) Sanat Kumar and other sages enjoy devotion to His feet, gods like Brahma wait upon Him as
poor servants.
(971) The Lord spoke about the highest devotion, in His own joyous state of mind to Uddhava
because He had tremendous love for that disciple.
(972) Devotion to God is an ocean. Courage is the Mandar mountain, the Unity of the Teacher and
the disciple are the gods and demons assembled for churning of the ocean.
(973) Emotional faith and Trust are the two ropes tied to that Mandar which is vertical churner.
Understanding of the self in the tightness of the rope. They started the churning with the force
of constant awareness of all the thoughts.
(974) In that joint effort, there arose first the poison of pride which says “ I am the wisest person”.
The Lord Shankara who is Viveka – the quality of discrimination, drank that poison (called
“Halahala”) by which action, the pride was dead for ever.
(975) Thus the churning was done without any pride and the nectar of devotion came out which the
Lord gave to Uddhava only.
(976) This nectar of the essence of devotion which He gave to Uddhava was beyond the four
achievements of life i.e. religion, money, desire, and liberation.
(977) This was the nectar put in the pot of self-knowledge after cleansing that pot by the
realization or experience of Brahman, which He gave to Uddhava to drink.
(978) Thus, Uddhava was happy by drinking the nectar, was free from all the three kinds of
troubles, and being Brahman himself, merged into Brahman.
(979) See how the Lord is so kind to his devotees! Uddhava was completely joyful by attaining the
Brahman, through the drinking of the nectar which is the essence of highest devotion.
(980) The man who with hearing, meditating, and earnestness, will imbibe in himself, this
dialogue, between the Lord Shri Krishna, which is the sacred and secret knowledge about
devotion.
(981) Will be free from the bondage of the worldly life and he will not see even in dream what is
birth or what is death. There is nothing extraordinary about this. This is a true faith.
(982) O Parikshiti, even those others, who through contact with such devotee will be interested in
this worship, will have no fear of the bondage of mundane life at all.
(983) He who has faith in this story, who is in love with it and who will really practice the method
of devotion taught in it, will be the savior of all people in the world!
(984) He, who lives in the house of the brilliant Sun, will have no touch of the darkness of night,
and this is true also about the man who lives in the town of that Sun!
(985) As there is no night for the Sun, there is also no day there. Similarly in the state of Reality,
the Brahman, both the bondage and freedom are non-existent!
(986) Even if one cannot be occupied with constant attention about the teaching, he may just listen
to the story! That will suffice to make him free.
(987) He, who will read this story with eager respect, will find that with reading every verse, his
sins are washed away together with pain and sorrow!
(988) He who will find it difficult to listen or read the story again and again, may hold to his heart
the essence of devotion, and by that love, he will be respected by gods!
(989) Even those who are in the company of a friend, who love this story and is the Lord’s
devotee, will find that the God of Death and Time will bow to them.
(990) The Lord Shri Krishna is always near him, who has faith in this story and follows the
contents of it, listens to it and always meditates upon it. The Lord never leaves him.
(991) He who believes that the Lord’s teaching is true, only by listening to it from some one, and
abides by the teaching, finds that the Lord is manifest in person in his heart and has cut the
strings of worldly life which had bound him.
(992) So is the Lord kind to the faithful and the sage Shuka bows before Him as is evident in the
next verse.
भवभयमपह तुं ानिव ानसारं िनगमकृदुपजहे भ ृ गवद् वेदसारम्

अमत
ृ मुदिधत ापाययद् भ ृ यवगान् पु षमषृ भमा ं कृ णंसं ं नतोऽि म
I bow to the Supreme person known by the name of Shri Krishna the primordial cause, the Author
of Vedas, who, in order to put an end to rebirth, and the fear of old age and disease etc,
extracted like a bee the two fold nectar (i.e. the essence of Vedas is the form of Self-
knowledge (Dnyana) and God Realization (Vidnyana), which are the only valuable things
in life, and the nectar of the gods the two-fold nectar to the aforementioned two classes of
His devotees. (the ascetics and the householders leading worldly life who are also
devotees) (49)
(993) In order to remove the fear of worldly life from the minds of those who, being harassed by
sorrow, have taken refuge at the feet of Lord, the Lord has churned the meaning of Vedas.
(994) He has also churned the whole Upanishads and obtained the essence in the form of
knowledge of the world and knowledge of the self to understand which many great scholars
tried hard but were defeated and retreated.
(995) O King, you might say that by this churning, Vedas must have been much troubled, but no!
The Lord being the primordial creator did the churning without trouble to the Vedas.
(996) Just as the mother cow is not required to be bound by ropes around its legs when its calf
itself is drinking milk from her udder, Vedas were not at all disturbed when the Lord thus
churned them.
(997) The Lord was omniscient. He was as if a swan in the matter of selecting the essence of
Vedas. Without disturbing or distortion of Vedas he culled the gist of Vedas.
(998) The nectar of all knowledge thus churned out of Vedas was given by the Lord through
Uddhava, for the final emancipation of all the people – both in the worldly life, and the
spiritual life.
(999) Just as the bee takes away the nectar of the lotus flower, very delicately, the Lord took out
this essence of Vedas by delicate churning.
(1000) It may be said again that the compassionate and benevolent Lord who loved his devotees,
made this knowledge available to all and made them fearless.
(1001) Thus He has removed their fear of worldly life and the cycle of birth and death.
(1002) Maya is the cause of the world but the Lord Shri Krishna is the first cause of Maya. Shri
Krishna Himself is the “Sat-chit-Ananda”.
(1003) The Lord Shri Krishna adopts the body of man, by using His Divine Power (Maya), He is
the best of all men, He is the image of knowledge, and is the most worthy God for worship.
(1004) The sage Shuka also bowed down surrendering himself mentally to the Lord Shri Krishna.
(1005) When Parikshiti saw Shuka doing so, he also bent down with great reverence, where he
was sitting, concentrating his mind on the image of the Lord, and he said – Only the Lord
Shri Krishna is compassionate to his devotees! None else is so kind!
(1006) Eknath says – Uddhava attained the highest state of Nirvana. Here the teaching by the Lord
of Uddhava was completely described by the sage Shuka. The worship of the Lord Shri
Krishna is the best way of penance because the Lord Shri Krishna is very kind to his
devotees and in a way he looks after all their needs.
(1007) Whatever aspirations the devotees have, the Lord fulfills them and finally he gives them his
own status and state of mind, amalgamating their consciousness with himself!
(1008) Had Uddhava not put all these questions to Him before He left for His Eternal Abode, He
would not have given this nectar of divine wisdom which is about the devotion beyond the
liberation of man.
(1009) It is therefore a fact that Uddhava has done great service to humanity; his obligations on us
are great, because only for him Shri Krishna told the essence of devotion, knowledge and
the quality of desirelessness.
(1010) Through this teaching which we have got through Uddhava, the entire world will attain
liberation if people will follow in their life all this teaching. This teaching is full of secret
spiritual knowledge and divine love.
(1011) Uddhava has sidetracked all the four kinds of Moksha, the liberation, and raised the worth
of devotion and all this was done by him for the purpose of not only his own benefit but the
benefit of the entire world.
(1012) Through this eleventh Skandha (division) of Bhagawata Purana, he has provided an ever
ready source of water for those who tread the path of righteous devotion, the water of
liberation and devotion for the saving of the whole world!
(1013) There is milk in the udder of a mother cow, but unless its calf comes to drink that milk, it is
not available. Similarly Uddhava became instrumental for the final welfare of all of us.
(1014) This dialogue between Uddhava and the Lord Shri Krishna contains great secret
knowledge. How can I write a commentary on it, ignorant as I am?
(1015) Only my Guru Janardana who is really an ocean of wisdom and is omniscient has helped
me at every step.
(1016) I do not know the context of the verses in this book, their meaning, and the highest levels of
knowledge and desireless devotion or liberation. I am really ignorant of all these problems.
(1017) My sense of I, consciousness that I am somebody was also taken over by Janardana. So, He
is the author of explaining all the terms, the words and their meaning.
(1018) Eknath easily became successful in attaining unity by the grace of the great Guru, and this
book came into existence under the name of Eka-Janardana!
(1019) While understanding the meaning of the words, Janardana became the guide of my intellect
and only He composed all the poetic Ovi expression in this book.
(1020) My name, my body, my actions, my virtues and qualities of character, are all in the spiritual
sense “unreal” but, for all practical purposes, he assumed and glorified all these things. He
is so much full of love for unity.
(1021) As there is one-ness in name and feeling between both of us, Janardana made manifest this
non-duality in the world.
(1022) Janardana, my Guru, loves the name Eka, and though addressing me with the term You, and
calling Himself as I, he is one with me.
(1023) With this love for the name Eka, He expresses Many-ness in that oneness only and shows
how one is one unmodified eternal pure essence in all the many manifestations.
(1024) As He is one by name as well as the belief, the conscious faith, He is always one with the
Almighty God and though he sees me, as well as many, there is no two –ness, no division in
Him.
(1025) So long as this Unity is not attained God does not condescend to oblige the devotee in any
way and the freedom from the sense of I, in all actions is also not understood till then.
(1026) So long as the pride of I-ness is there, in every action a man does, God cannot be realized.
Bondage is in the sense of pride. If that is dropped liberation is always there.
(1027) All my effort is to see one-ness in all the names and forms. Janardana is pleased because of
this effort and He took over my separate I-ness into Himself.
(1028) The puppets may show joy or sorrow but the key, the string is in the hands of the player
behind them. The puppet does not know whether feelings are expressed through it.
(1029) Similarly using me as a puppet, Janardana has become the commentator and the speaker, all
poetry being composed under my name by Him only. That is the reason why the sages and
saints love this great story.
(1030) If there is pride while working at the creation of the book, even one ovi will not be
composed. Here, because not me, but Janardana is the author of this book, the meaning of
the book became clear.
(1031) You should not ridicule me because I am using Marathi Language. You may have to look at
this book with the eyes of a man of self-knowledge.
(1032) I am asking this question to you, the listeners who are well-versed – Is all worthy of praise
only because it is written in Sanskrit and is everything worthless because it is written in
Marathi? If you think so, this is nothing but your pride and any pride is detrimental to the
spiritual path!
(1033) A gem is obtained in a mine which is dug by labourers after lot of hard work and that gem
is valuable. But if such gem of equal value is found in the household in a corner, is the
latter gem worthless only because it is easily available?
(1034) Similarly if Sanskrit language is used after many efforts, the meaning is difficult to
understand but if Marathi language is used then you will jump upon the text because it will
be easy to understand.
(1035) The bird Chakora is lucky to drink the nectar which is in the light of the moon, but the crow
cannot enjoy it! Such is this Maharashtra book. To understand it depends on the
discernment of the reader.
(1036) God is not partial to any particular language. Sanskrit and Prankrit is equally dear to Him.
He is pleased with that language in which the wisdom of Brahman is explained.
(1037) If flowers are golden, there is no stale or fresh flowers. All flowers are fresh. Sanskrit and
Prakrit languages are similarly equally fresh when they talk about the knowledge of
Brahman!
(1038) If bad language is used in Sanskrit, is that abuse considered pure? And can it be said that
the story of Hari becomes polluted if it is told in this Marathi language?
(1039) Pride of language becomes a great drawback for the speaker. Every language becomes an
offering to the Lord Shri Hari if knowledge of Brahman is expressed in it.
(1040) My Marathi language is very simple but it has reached the goal, by the attainment of
Brahman. Janardana has infused great interest in the story and, therefore, there are no faults
and errors in it.
(1041) This is the form of poetry created by Janardana in which the juice of Brahman is flowing in
a small clear rivulet, the sweetness of which is well-known to the saints. That is how this
book has come out with great beauty.
(1042) Using the medium of disciple Uddhava, the Lord Shri Krishna has told about the devotion,
with the purpose of cutting off the tight bondage of worldly life of all people, and to make
them free.
(1043) This 11th Skandha is so valuable, that many great poets are madly in love with it.
(1044) A parrot flies swiftly to pick the ripe fruit and an ant walks slowly up the trunk of the tree
and reaches the fruit in its own time. Similarly, not competing with great poets, I am slowly
walking like an ant towards realization of the hidden meaning of the book for my own
benefit by way of Marathi language.
(1045) I am like a fly able to sit on the plate of delicious food of a king, (here the knowledge about
devotion) where men of high office cannot go near the king when he is taking his dinner
(Here the proud erudite scholars). This is possible by this simple Marathi language.
(1046) Just as a child sits on the lap of his father and picks up a morsel from his dish even before
the father starts his dinner, I on my part, got the benefit of direct knowledge of what the
Lord said, which is possible by the simple Marathi language.
(1047) This commentary was successful because of the blessings of My Guru and My service to
His lotus feet. He has actually completed this book.
(1048) You may say that with this Skandha the story of spiritual knowledge had come to an end
and now in the next chapters all the ghastly description of mass-scale genocide is in our lot,
but not so! The Lord will further talk about the actual experience of secret facts of self-
realization.
(1049) The Lord maintained His peace of mind and detachment though all his relatives and kith
and kin met a gruesome death.
(1050) Even Time as Death obeys the orders of the Lord Shri Krishna. Though He had such a great
power he did not move a finger to avoid the death of all people, because he had no bondage
of My-ness about anybody at all. He did not try to protect his Race.
(1051) The Lord will now show by His own example how the absence of the sense of belonging
and lack of attachment to the body, functions at the critical time of bodily death. Naturally
he had no concern about Yadavas.
(1052) The sage Shuka will tell in the next two chapters the secret of leaving this world by the
Lord in the state of Nirvana. That is a very illuminating dialogue.
(1053) Eknath, by the grace of Guru Janardana is going to tell that story full of knowledge.
Listeners are requested to please pay attention to me.
(1054) By the listening to a story by saints, the story itself becomes full of spiritual merit. I have
therefore to request you to listen carefully by which the commentary will be pure.
This is the end of Marathi commentary by the saint Eknath on the
29th Chapter of the Eleventh Skandha of Bhagawata Purana.
Dedicated to Lord Shri Krishna.
***

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Chapter 29

Om! Salutations to the Lord Shri Ganesh!

Om! Salutations to the Lord Shri Krishna!

उ व उवाच — सुदु रािममां म ये योगचयामना मन:

पायश: पु डरीका यु ज तो योिगनो मन: िवषीद यसमाधाना मनोिनगहकिशता:

Meaning of the verse:

अथात आन ददुघं पदा बुजं हं सा: शये र नरिव दलोचन

िकं िचतम युत तवैतदशेषब धो दासे वन यशरणे षु यदा मसा वम्

नैवोपय यपिचितं कवय तवेश ब ायुषािप कृतम ृ मुद: मर त:

शीशुक उवाच - इ यु वेना यनुर चेतसा प ृ ो जग कीडनक: वशि िभ:

शीभगवानुवाच — ह त ते कथिय यािम मम धमान् सुम गलान्

कुयात् सवािण कमािण मदथ शनकै: मरन् म यिपतमनि ो

Meaning of the verse:

ू ेषु बिहर तरपावतृ म् ई ेता मिन चा मानं यथा खममलाशय:

ू ािन म ावेन महा ुते सभाजयन् म यमानो ानं केवलमािशत:

(289) What of Vedas? Even I salute with respect such a devotee.

बा णे पु कसे तेने ब ये ऽक फुिल गके अकू रे कू रके चैव सम क् पि डतो

िवस ृ य मयमानान् वान् शं वीडां च दैिहक म्

(337) In that bowing one should prostrate on the ground.

ू ेषु म ावो नोपजायते तावदेवमुपासीत वा न: कायविृ िभ:

सव ब ा मकं त य िव याऽऽ ममनीषया प रप य नुपरमेत् सवतो मु संशय:

ू ेषु मनोवा कायविृ िभ:

न गोपकमे वंसो म म यो वा विप मया यविसत:

ृ ेनेह म यना नोित मामत

Meaning of the verse:

एष तेऽिभिहत: कृ नो ब वाद य स गह: समास यासिविधना देवानामिप दुगम:

अभी णश ते गिदतं ानं िव प युि मत् एतद् िव ाय मु ये त पु षो न संशय:

सुिविव ं तव प ं मयैतदिप धारयेत् सनातनं ब गु ं परं ब ािधग छित

Meaning of the verse:

Meaning of the verse:

ू े ताहरहमा ानदीपेन दशयन्

एतैद षैिवहीवाय ब याय िपयाय च साधवे शुचये बय

नैतद् िव ाय िज ासो ात यमविश यते पी वा पीयष

ाने कमिण योगे च वातायां द डधारणे यावानथ नण

म य यदा य सम तकमा िनवेिदता मा िविचक िषतो मे

शीशुक उवाच — स एवमादिशतयोगमाग तदो म ोकवचो िनश य

उ व उवाच - िवदािवतो मोहमहा धकारो य आिशतो मे तव सि नधानात्

प यिपतो मे भवतानुकि पना भ ृ याय िव ानमय: पदीप:

व ृ ण मे सु ढ: ने हपाशो दाशाहव ृ य धकसा वतेषु

नमोऽ तु ते महायोिगन् पप नमनुशािध माम् यथा व चरणा भोजे रित:

शीभगवानुवाच — ग छो व मयाऽऽिद ो बदया यं ममाशमम्

ई यालकन दाया िवधत

ितित ु माताणां सुशील: संयतेि दय: शा त: समािहतिधया ानिव ानसंयुत:

Meaning of the verse:

म ोऽनुिशि तं य े िविव मनुभावयन् म यावेिशतवाि च ो म मिनरतो भव

अितव य गतीि तसो मामे यिस तत: परम्

शीशुक उवाच — स एवमु ो ह रमेधसो व: पदि णं तं प रस ृ य पादयो:

सुदु यज ने हिवयोगकातरो न श नुवं तं प रहातुमातुर:

(889) Similarly formless or en-formed aspects of Brahman were of equal

सव ब विद यि त स पा े च कलौ युगे नैव ित ि त मैतेय िश ोदरपरायणा:

तत तम त िद संिनवे य गतो महाभागवतो िवशालाम्

य एतदान दसमुदस भतृ ं ानामत

भवभयमपह तुं ानिव ानसारं िनगमकृदुपजहे भ ृ गवद् वेदसारम्

This is the end of Marathi commentary by the saint Eknath on the

29th Chapter of the Eleventh Skandha of Bhagawata Purana.

Dedicated to Lord Shri Krishna.

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