ततस्त्वतिव्रज्य सुराष्ट्रमृद्धं
सौवीरमत्स्यान्कुरुजाङ्गलांश्च ।
कालेन तावद्यमुनामुपेत्य
तत्रोद्धवं भागवतं ददर्श ॥२४॥

tatas tv ativrajya surÄṣṭram á¹›ddhaá¹
sauvÄ«ra-matsyÄn kurujÄá¹…galÄmÅ› ca
kÄlena tÄvad yamunÄm upetya
tatroddhavaá¹ bhÄgavataá¹ dadarÅ›a

 tataḥ - from there; tu - but; ativrajya - by passing over; surÄṣṭram - the kingdom of Surat; á¹›ddham - very wealthy; sauvÄ«ra - the kingdom of SauvÄ«ra; matsyÄn - the kingdom of Matsya; kurujÄá¹…galÄn - the kingdom of western India up to the Delhi province; ca - also; kÄlena - in course of time; tÄvat - as soon as; yamunÄm - bank of the River YamunÄ; upetya - reaching; tatra - there; uddhavam - Uddhava, one of the prominent Yadus; bhÄgavatam - the great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa; dadarÅ›a - happened to see.


Text

Thereafter he passed through very wealthy provinces like Surat, SauvÄ«ra and Matsya and through western India, known as KurujÄá¹…gala. At last he reached the bank of the YamunÄ, where he happened to meet Uddhava, the great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Purport

The tract of land comprising about one hundred square miles from modern Delhi to the MathurÄ district in Uttar Pradesh, including a portion of the Gurgaon district in Punjab (East India), is considered to be the topmost place of pilgrimage in all of India. This land is sacred because Lord Kṛṣṇa traveled through it many times. From the very beginning of His appearance, He was at MathurÄ in the house of His maternal uncle Kaá¹sa, and He was reared by His foster father MahÄrÄja Nanda at Vá¹›ndÄvana. There are still many devotees of the Lord lingering there in ecstasy in search of Kṛṣṇa and His childhood associates, the gopÄ«s. It is not that such devotees meet Kṛṣṇa face to face in that tract of land, but a devotee’s eagerly searching after Kṛṣṇa is as good as his seeing Him personally. How this is so cannot be explained, but it is factually realized by those who are pure devotees of the Lord. Philosophically, one can understand that Lord Kṛṣṇa and His remembrance are on the absolute plane and that the very idea of searching for Him at Vá¹›ndÄvana in pure God consciousness gives more pleasure to the devotee than seeing Him face to face. Such devotees of the Lord see Him face to face at every moment, as confirmed in the Brahma-saá¹hitÄ (5.38):

premÄñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena
 santaḥ sadaiva há¹›dayeá¹£u vilokayanti
yaá¹ Å›yÄmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarÅ«paá¹
 govindam Ädi-puruá¹£aá¹ tam ahaá¹ bhajÄmi

“Those who are in ecstasy of love with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord ÅšyÄmasundara [Kṛṣṇa], see Him always in their hearts due to love and devotional service rendered to the Lord.†Both Vidura and Uddhava were such elevated devotees, and therefore they both came to the bank of the YamunÄ and met each other.