Shloka 24
Vidura Leaves Hastināpura and Meets Uddhava
Vidura’s Tīrtha-yātrā Begins
ततस्त्वतिव्रज्य सुराष्ट्रमृद्धं सौवीरमत्स्यान् कुरुजाङ्गलांश्च । कालेन तावद्यमुनामुपेत्य तत्रोद्धवं भागवतं ददर्श ॥ २४ ॥
tatas tv ativrajya surāṣṭram ṛddhaṁ sauvīra-matsyān kurujāṅgalāṁś ca kālena tāvad yamunām upetya tatroddhavaṁ bhāgavataṁ dadarśa
Thereafter he passed through the prosperous lands of Surāṣṭra, Sauvīra, Matsya, and the western region known as Kurujāṅgala. In time he reached the bank of the Yamunā, where he met Uddhava, the great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
The tract of land comprising about one hundred square miles from modern Delhi to the Mathurā 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 Mathurā in the house of His maternal uncle Kaṁsa, and He was reared by His foster father Mahārāja Nanda at Vṛndāvana. There are still many devotees of the Lord lingering there in ecstasy in search of Kṛṣṇa and His childhood associates, the gopīs. 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 Vṛndāvana 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-saṁhitā (5.38) :
FAQs
Uddhava is Lord Kṛṣṇa’s intimate associate, renowned for unwavering devotion and deep spiritual understanding; in this verse he is explicitly identified as a “bhāgavata,” an exalted devotee of the Lord.
After traveling through several regions, Vidura reached the Yamunā in due course and met Uddhava there, setting the stage for hearing about the Lord and His pastimes.
Seek saintly association: sincere spiritual progress comes by moving toward places and people connected to devotion, and by meeting advanced devotees who can nourish one’s bhakti.