तथैवानुचराः शौरेः श्रुतदेवोद्धवादयः ।
सुनन्दनन्दशीर्षण्या ये चान्ये सात्वतर्षभाः ॥३२॥

अपि स्वस्त्यासते सर्वे रामकृष्णभुजाश्रयाः ।
अपि स्मरन्ति कुशलमस्माकं बद्धसौहृदाः ॥३३॥

tathaivÄnucarÄḥ Å›aureḥ
Å›rutadevoddhavÄdayaḥ
sunanda-nanda-śīrá¹£aṇyÄ
ye cÄnye sÄtvatará¹£abhÄḥ
api svasty Äsate sarve
rÄma-kṛṣṇa-bhujÄÅ›rayÄḥ
api smaranti kuśalam
asmÄkaá¹ baddha-sauhá¹›dÄḥ

 tathÄ eva - similarly; anucarÄḥ - constant companions; Å›aureḥ - of Lord ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa such as; Å›rutadeva - Åšrutadeva; uddhava-Ädayaḥ - Uddhava and others; sunanda - Sunanda; nanda - Nanda; Å›Ä«rá¹£aṇyÄḥ - other leaders; ye - all of them; ca - and; anye - others; sÄtvata - liberated souls; á¹›á¹£abhÄḥ - the best men; api - if; svasti - doing well; Äsate - are; sarve - all of them; rÄma - BalarÄma; kṛṣṇa - Lord Kṛṣṇa; bhuja-ÄÅ›rayÄḥ - under the protection of; api - if also; smaranti - do remember; kuÅ›alam - welfare; asmÄkam - about ourselves; baddha-sauhá¹›dÄḥ - bound by eternal friendship.


Text

Also, Åšrutadeva, Uddhava and others, Nanda, Sunanda and other leaders of liberated souls who are constant companions of the Lord are protected by Lord BalarÄma and Kṛṣṇa. Are they all doing well in their respective functions? Do they, who are all eternally bound in friendship with us, remember our welfare?

Purport

The constant companions of Lord Kṛṣṇa, such as Uddhava, are all liberated souls, and they descended along with Lord Kṛṣṇa to this material world to fulfill the mission of the Lord. The PÄṇá¸avas are also liberated souls who descended along with Lord Kṛṣṇa to serve Him in His transcendental pastimes on this earth. As stated in the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (4.8), the Lord and His eternal associates, who are also liberated souls like the Lord, come down on this earth at certain intervals. The Lord remembers them all, but His associates, although liberated souls, forget due to their being taá¹­asthÄ-Å›akti, or marginal potency of the Lord. That is the difference between the viṣṇu-tattva and jÄ«va-tattva. The jÄ«va-tattvas are infinitesimal potential particles of the Lord, and therefore they require the protection of the Lord at all times. And to the eternal servitors of the Lord, the Lord is pleased to give all protection at all times. The liberated souls never, therefore, think themselves as free as the Lord or as powerful as the Lord, but they always seek the protection of the Lord in all circumstances, both in the material world and in the spiritual world. This dependence of the liberated soul is constitutional, for the liberated souls are like sparks of a fire that are able to exhibit the glow of fire along with the fire and not independently. Independently the glow of the sparks is extinguished, although the quality of fire or the glowing is there. Thus those who give up the protection of the Lord and become so-called lords themselves, out of spiritual ignorance, come back again to this material world, even after prolonged tapasya of the severest type. That is the verdict of all Vedic literature.