Å›rÄ«-Å›uka uvÄca
vṛṣṇīnÄá¹ pravaro mantrÄ«
kṛṣṇasya dayitaḥ sakhÄ
Å›iá¹£yo bá¹›haspateḥ sÄká¹£Äd
uddhavo buddhi-sattamaḥ
Å›rÄ«-Å›ukaḥ uvÄca - Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« said; vṛṣṇīnÄm - of the Vṛṣṇis; pravaraḥ - the best; mantrÄ« - adviser; kṛṣṇasya - of Kṛṣṇa; dayitaḥ - beloved; sakhÄ - friend; Å›iá¹£yaḥ - disciple; bá¹›haspateḥ - of Bá¹›haspati, the spiritual master of the demigods; sÄká¹£Ät - directly; uddhavaḥ - Uddhava; buddhi - having intelligence; sat-tamaḥ - of the highest quality.
Åšukadeva GosvÄmÄ« said: The supremely intelligent Uddhava was the best counselor of the Vṛṣṇi dynasty, a beloved friend of Lord ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa and a direct disciple of Bá¹›haspati.
The ÄcÄryas give various reasons why Lord Kṛṣṇa sent Uddhava to Vá¹›ndÄvana. The Lord had promised the residents of Vá¹›ndÄvana: ÄyÄsye, “I shall return.†(BhÄg. 10.39.35) Also, in the previous chapter Lord Kṛṣṇa promised Nanda MahÄrÄja: draá¹£á¹um eá¹£yÄmaḥ, “We will come back to see you and mother YaÅ›odÄ.†(BhÄg. 10.45.23) At the same time, the Lord could not break His promise to ÅšrÄ« Vasudeva and mother DevakÄ« to finally spend some time with them after they had suffered for so many years. Therefore, the Lord decided to send His intimate representative to Vá¹›ndÄvana in His place.
The question may be asked, Why did Kṛṣṇa not invite Nanda and YaÅ›odÄ to visit Him in MathurÄ? According to ÅšrÄ«la JÄ«va GosvÄmÄ«, for the Lord to have exchanged loving feelings with Nanda and YaÅ›odÄ in the same place and at the same time that He was exchanging them with Vasudeva and DevakÄ« would have created an awkward situation in the Lord’s pastimes. Thus Kṛṣṇa did not invite Nanda and YaÅ›odÄ to stay with Him in MathurÄ. The residents of Vá¹›ndÄvana had their own way of understanding Kṛṣṇa, and their feelings could not have been appropriately expressed on a regular basis in the kingly atmosphere of MathurÄ.
ÅšrÄ« Uddhava is described in this verse as buddhi-sattamaḥ, “the most intelligent,†and thus he could expertly pacify the residents of Vá¹›ndÄvana, who were feeling such intense separation from Lord Kṛṣṇa. Then, upon his return to MathurÄ, Uddhava would describe to all the members of the Vṛṣṇi dynasty the extraordinary pure love he had seen in Vá¹›ndÄvana. Indeed, the love the cowherd men and gopÄ«s felt for Kṛṣṇa was far beyond anything the Lord’s other devotees had ever experienced, and by hearing about that love all the Lord’s devotees would increase their faith and devotion.
As stated in the Third Canto by the Lord Himself, noddhavo ’nv api man-nyÅ«naḥ: “Uddhava is not even slightly different from Me.†Resembling Kṛṣṇa so much, Uddhava was the perfect person to carry out the Lord’s mission in Vá¹›ndÄvana. In fact, ÅšrÄ« Hari-vaá¹Å›a states that Uddhava is the son of Vasudeva’s brother DevabhÄga: uddhavo devabhÄgasya mahÄ-bhÄgaḥ suto ’bhavat. In other words, he is a cousin-brother of ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa’s.
