Shloka 20
Uddhava’s Remembrance of Kṛṣṇa and the Theology of the Lord’s Disappearance
तथैव चान्ये नरलोकवीरा य आहवे कृष्णमुखारविन्दम् । नेत्रै: पिबन्तो नयनाभिरामं पार्थास्त्रपूत: पदमापुरस्य ॥ २० ॥
tathaiva cānye nara-loka-vīrā ya āhave kṛṣṇa-mukhāravindam netraiḥ pibanto nayanābhirāmaṁ pārthāstra-pūtaḥ padam āpur asya
In the same way, other heroes of the human realm on the field of Kurukṣetra were purified by the onslaught of Arjuna’s arrows; and, beholding Kṛṣṇa’s lotuslike face—so pleasing to the eyes—they attained the Lord’s supreme abode.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, appears in this world for two missionary purposes: to deliver the faithful and to annihilate the miscreants. But because the Lord is absolute, His two different kinds of actions, although apparently different, are ultimately one and the same. His annihilation of a person like Śiśupāla is as auspicious as His actions for the protection of the faithful. All the warriors who fought against Arjuna but who were able to see the lotuslike face of the Lord on the battlefront achieved the abode of the Lord, exactly as the devotees of the Lord do. The words “pleasing to the eyes of the seer” are very significant. When the warriors from the other side of the battlefield saw Lord Kṛṣṇa at the front, they appreciated His beauty, and their dormant instinct of love of God was awakened. Śiśupāla saw the Lord also, but he saw Him as his enemy, and his love was not awakened. Therefore Śiśupāla achieved oneness with the Lord by merging in the impersonal glare of His body, called the brahmajyoti. Others, who were in the marginal position, being neither friends nor enemies but slightly in love of Godhead by appreciating the beauty of His face, were at once promoted to the spiritual planets, the Vaikuṇṭhas. The Lord’s personal abode is called Goloka Vṛndāvana, and the abodes where His plenary expansions reside are called the Vaikuṇṭhas, where the Lord is present as Nārāyaṇa. Love of Godhead is dormant in every living entity, and the entire process of devotional service unto the Lord is meant for awakening this dormant eternal love of Godhead. But there are degrees of such transcendental awakening. Those whose love of God is awakened to the fullest extent go back to the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet in the spiritual sky, whereas persons who have just awakened to love of Godhead by accident or association are transferred to the Vaikuṇṭha planets. Essentially there is no material difference between Goloka and Vaikuṇṭha, but in the Vaikuṇṭhas the Lord is served in unlimited opulence, whereas in Goloka the Lord is served in natural affection.
FAQs
This verse says that even battlefield heroes attained Krishna’s supreme abode simply by fixing their eyes on His lotus face—showing the liberating power of direct remembrance and darśana of the Lord.
Because those opponents who were struck down in Krishna’s presence—by Arjuna’s weapons—were placed in direct contact with the Lord’s divine will and remembrance, and thus their death became spiritually purifying.
Train the mind to “drink with the eyes” the Lord’s form—through darśana, sacred imagery, and hearing His pastimes—so that remembrance of Krishna becomes natural at life’s critical moments.