Superphysics
Story of Uddhava
6 minutes • 1066 words
Table of contents
Sri Ramakrishna asked the kathak to recite the episode of Uddhava, the friend and devotee of Krishna.
At the request of Krishna, Uddhava had gone to Vrindāvan to console the cowherds and the gopis, who were sore at heart because of their separation from their beloved Krishna.
The Kathak said:
When Uddhava arrived at Vrindāvan, the gopis and cowherd boys ran to him eagerly and asked him: “How is our Krishna? Has He forgotten us altogether? Doesn’t He even speak our names?” So saying, some of them wept. Others accompanied him to various places in Vrindāvan still filled with Krishna’s sweet memory.
They said: “Here it was that Krishna lifted up Mount Govardhan, and here He killed the demons sent by the evil-minded Kamśa. In this meadow He tended His cows; here on the bank of the Jamuna.
He sported with the gopis. Here He played with the cowherd boys, and here in these groves He met the gopis secretly.”
Uddhava said to them: “Why are you so grief-stricken at Krishna’s absence? He resides in all beings as their indwelling Spirit. He is God Himself, and nothing can exist without God.”
“But”, said the gopis, “we do not understand all that. We can neither read nor write. We know only our Krishna of Vrindāvan, who played with us here in so many ways.”
Uddhava said: “Krishna is God Himself. By meditating on Him, man escapes from birth and death in the world and attains liberation.” The gopis said: “We do not understand big words like ’liberation’. We want to see the Krishna of our hearts.”
The Master listened to the story from the Bhagavata with great attention and said at last, “Yes, the gopis were right.”
Then he sang:
Though I am never loath to grant salvation, I hesitate indeed, to grant pure love. Whoever wins pure love surpasses all; He is adored by men; He triumphs over the three worlds. Listen, Chandravali! I shall tell you of love: Mukti a man may gain, but rare is bhakti. Solely for pure love’s sake did I become King Vali’s door-keeper Down in his realm in the nether world. Alone in Vrindāvan can pure love be found; Its secret none but the gopas and gopis know. For pure love’s sake I dwelt in Nanda’s house; Taking him as My father,
I carried his burdens on My head.
(To the kathak) The gopis had ecstatic love, unswerving and single-minded devotion to one ideal. Do you know the meaning of devotion that is not loyal to one ideal?
It is devotion tinged with intellectual knowledge. It makes one feel: ‘Krishna has become all these. He alone is the Supreme Brahman. He is Rama, Śiva, and Śakti.’
But this element of knowledge is not present in ecstatic love of God. Once Hanuman came to Dwaraka and wanted to see Sita and Rama. Krishna said to Rukmini, His queen, ‘You had better assume the form of Sita; otherwise there will be no escape from the hands of Hanuman.’
Once the Pandava brothers performed the Rajasuya sacrifice. All the kings placed Yudhisthira on the royal throne and bowed low before him in homage.
But Bibhishana, the King of Ceylon, said, ‘I bow down to Narayana and to none else.’
At these words the Lord Krishna bowed down to Yudhisthira. Only then did Bibhishana prostrate himself, crown and all, before him.
“Do you know what devotion to one ideal is like? It is like the attitude of a daughter-in- law in the family. She serves all the members of the family-her brothers-in-law, father-in-law, husband, and so forth-, bringing them water to wash their feet, fetching their towels, arranging their seats, and the like; but with her husband she has a special relationship.
Characteristics of divine love
There are 2 elements in this ecstatic love:
- ‘I-ness’
- ‘my-ness’
Yaśoda used to think: ‘Who would look after Gopala if I did not?
He will fall ill if I do not serve Him.’ She did not look on Krishna as God. The other element is ‘my-ness’. It means to look on God as one’s own-‘my Gopala’. Uddhava said to Yaśoda: ‘Mother, your Krishna is God Himself. He is the Lord of the Universe and not a common human being.’ ‘Oh!’ exclaimed Yaśoda. ‘I am not asking you about your Lord of the Universe. I want to know how my Gopala fares. Not the Lord of the Universe, but my Gopala.’
“How faithful to Krishna the gopis were! After many entreaties to the door-keeper, the gopis entered the royal court in Mathura, where Krishna was seated as king.
The door-keeper took them to Him; but at the sight of King Krishna wearing the royal turban, the gopis bent down their heads and said among themselves: ‘Who is this man with a turban on his head? Should we violate our chaste love for Krishna by talking to him? Where is our beloved Krishna with the yellow robe and the bewitching crest with the peacock feather?’
“Did you observe the single-minded love of the gopis for Krishna? The ideal of Vrindāvan is unique. I am told that the people of Dwaraka worship Krishna, the companion of Arjuna, but reject Radha.”
A DEVOTEE: “Which is the better, ecstatic love or love mixed with knowledge?”
Parable of the three friends
It is not possible to develop ecstatic love of God unless you love Him very deeply and regard Him as your very own.
Once, 3 friends were going through a forest. A tiger suddenly appeared before them.
- Friend 1 said: ‘We are doomed!’
- Friend 2 said: ‘We are not doomed. Come, let us pray to God.’
- Friend 3 said: ‘No. Why should we trouble God about it? Let us climb this tree.’
Friend 1 did not know that there is a God who is our Protector.
Friend 2 was a jnani. He was aware that God is the Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer of the world.
Friend 3 had ecstatic love of God. He didn’t want to trouble God with prayers. It is the very nature of such love that it makes a man think himself stronger than his Beloved. He is always alert lest his Beloved should suffer.
The one desire of his life is to keep his Beloved from even being pricked in the foot by a thorn.
Ram served the Master and the devotees with delicious sweets.
