tan nirīkṣyoddhavo rājan
śrutvā bhagavatoditam
dṛṣṭvāriṣṭāni ghorāṇi
nityaḿ kṛṣṇam anuvrataḥ
vivikta upasańgamya
jagatām īśvareśvaram
praṇamya śirisā pādau
prāñjalis tam abhāṣata
tat -- that; nirikshya -- seeing; uddhavah -- Uddhava; rajan -- O King; srutva -- hearing; bhagavata -- by the Lord; uditam -- what had been said; drishtva -- observing; arishtani -- evil omens; ghorani -- fearful; nityam -- always; krishnam -- of Lord Krishna; anuvratah -- a faithful follower; vivikte -- in privacy; upasangamya -- approaching; jagatam -- of all the moving creatures within the universe; isvara -- of the controllers; isvaram -- the one supreme controller; pranamya -- bowing down; sirasa -- with his head; padau -- at His feet; pranjalih -- with hands folded in submission; tam -- to Him; abhashata -- spoke.
My dear King, Uddhava was a constantly faithful follower of Lord Krishna. Upon seeing the imminent departure of the Yadavas, hearing from them of the Lord's instructions and taking note of the fearful omens, he approached the Personality of Godhead in a private place. He bowed down with his head at the lotus feet of the supreme controller of the universe and with folded hands addressed Him as follows.
According to Srila Jiva Gosvami there cannot be any actual disturbance in the Lord's own abode. The great disasters apparently occurring in Dvaraka were an external show created by the Lord to facilitate His pastimes. We can understand the pastimes of Krishna only by hearing from the recognized acaryas. Lord Krishna is not a mundane historical figure, and His activities cannot be confined within the tiny limits of material logic. Lord Krishna's pastimes are an exhibition of His acintya-sakti, or inconceivable potency, which functions according to higher, spiritual laws, unknown to the blind conditioned souls and their petty material logic.
