Sri Parikshit said, “Dear mother! When Sri Nârad heard Kunti devi, he hastened to Dwârakâ and repeatedly offered obeisance while entering the city. From far he could see the blessed Yâdavs are sitting happily in their parliament called ‘Sudharmâ’. They were naturally handsome and were decorated with ornaments and garlands of Pârijât flowers. The assembly was echoing with magnificent songs and dances. The musicians were glorifying them with various musical instruments. They were absorbed in joking with one another. They were so resplendent that even the sun was feeling embarrassed. However the brilliance was such that, instead of scorching the eyes, it was soothening. They looked so beautiful as they were seated around King Ugrasen and lovingly awaited Sri Krishna’s arrival.
When they came to know that Sri Nârad had entered, the Yâdavs hurried to welcome him with reverence. On seeing them Nârad Muni fell like a stick in front of them. The Yâdavs picked him up, and holding his hand they brought him to the assembly and seated him on a grand throne. However Nârad didn’t accept that seat, and instead he sat on the floor. Seeing this, the Yâdavs too surrounded him and sat on the floor. The Yâdavs had brought some ingredients to worship Devarshi – but he offered obeisance to those ingredients, stood up and said humbly with folded palms – “O yâdavs! You are beyond the material existence! You are the special recipients of Sri Krishna’s mercy. Now please be kind to me and bless me so that I can continue to sing your glory alone. You are so fortunate as to constantly behold Sri Krishna, touch Him and speak to Him. You follow Him, sit with Him and dine with Him. You walk and sport with Him and you bond with Him is unbreakable – you are so much bound to Him by the cords of love. As a result, the Lord has forgotten the luxury of Vaikuntha and has gifted you with greatly inexpressible novel pleasures. O Ugrasen! O king of kings! You are famous in the whole world as the special recipient of Sri Krishna-kripâ. Who can describe the glory of your good fortune? When you sit on the royal throne, Sri Krishna presents Himself before you like an ordinary servant and address you as – ‘O my master! I am your servant, please command me.’ This is why I offer you and your associates my repeated obeisance.'”
Sri Parikshit said, “Mother! When the Yâdavs heard Nârad speak thus, they touched his holy feet and offered obesiance to the great sage. They said, ‘O most worshiped sage! You have glorified us – nothing is impossible by the grace of the King of the yâdavs (Sri Krishna). We can achieve anything by just the inkling of coming into His contact, since He is an ocean of compassion and the best self-less well-wishers. However, O sage! Uddhav is the one who is the dearest to Him. He is Sri Krishna’s minister, disciple and the most loving one. Only Sri Uddhav always remains close to Him – He is the only one who is fortunate enough to serve Him. O sage! Sri Krishna sends him where He would have gone Himself – He treats him as His personal representative. For example, when Shâmba, the son of Jâmbmati had kidnapped Duryodhan’s daughter, the Kauravs such as Bhishma and Drona and imprisoned him. At that time, Sri Bhagavân had sent Uddhav to free him from bondage.[1] Sri Uddhav is with the Lord all the while – while eating or joking. He alone relishes the Lord’s mahâprasâd everyday. He massages Sri Bhagavân’s lotus feet, and when the Lord falls asleep in bliss, he takes Him in his lap and goes to sleep there itself. Ohh! Serving the lotus feet of Sri Mâdhav holds such exquisite ras! And Sri Uddhav is the only one who is the connoisseur of that ras. He alone is revealing to the world the importance of serving the Lord’s sacred feet. What more can we say – he has attained sârupya[2] in this very body itself! He has abandoned his natural fair complexion and has achieved the same complexion as that of Sri Krishna. He dons Sri Krishna’s prasâdi vanamâlâ[3], golden yellow robes, gem-studded makar-kundals[4] and necklace. This makes him look very handsome and we feel pleased to see him. When we see him all at once, we mistake him to be our very own Devaki-nandan, and this makes us inconceivably happy.
Devarshi Nârad was ecstatic when heard about Sri Uddhav’s great fortune. His body was decorated with the symptoms of love-ecstasy and he stood up joyously to visit him. Ugrasen, the Yadu king, said, “O great sage, we have already told you that Sri Uddhav never leaves the Lord without His command and does not remain away from him even for a single moment. Therefore you enter quickly into the inner compartments of the palace, where Sri Krishna is now present, and meet Sri Uddhav. Please convey the message to him that, today the time for the Lord’s arrival is long past, and that we are all anxious to see Him – so please will he bring his Master in the assembly hall as soon as possible, since the assembly is bereft of a leader without Him?”
[1] Commentary – “Sri Krishna sends him where He would have gone Himself” ……….this indicates that He sends only Sri Uddhav to console the Nanda Mahâraj and other brijwâsis. However that is extremely confidential, so the Yâdavs did not reveal this part to him.
[2] Similar form as that of Sri Krishna
[3] Garland made from wild flowers
[4] Ear-rings shaped like decorative crocodiles.