Shloka 5
Uddhava’s Remembrance of Kṛṣṇa and the Theology of the Lord’s Disappearance
पुलकोद्भिन्नसर्वाङ्गो मुञ्चन्मीलद्दृशा शुच: । पूर्णार्थो लक्षितस्तेन स्नेहप्रसरसंप्लुत: ॥ ५ ॥
pulakodbhinna-sarvāṅgo muñcan mīlad-dṛśā śucaḥ pūrṇārtho lakṣitas tena sneha-prasara-samplutaḥ
Vidura observed that Uddhava’s whole body was thrilled with transcendental ecstasy, and that he was wiping away tears of separation from his eyes. Thus Vidura understood that Uddhava was completely flooded with expansive love for the Lord.
The symptoms of the highest order of devotional life were observed by Vidura, an experienced devotee of the Lord, and he confirmed Uddhava’s perfectional stage of love of Godhead. Ecstatic bodily changes are manifested from the spiritual plane and are not artificial expressions developed by practice. There are three different stages of development in devotional service. The first stage is that of following the regulative principles prescribed in the codes of devotional service, the second stage is that of assimilation and realization of the steady condition of devotional service, and the last stage is that of ecstasy symptomized by transcendental bodily expression. The nine different modes of devotional service, such as hearing, chanting and remembering, are the beginning of the process. By regular hearing of the glories and pastimes of the Lord, the impurities in the student’s heart begin to be washed off. The more one is cleansed of impurities, the more one becomes fixed in devotional service. Gradually the activities take the forms of steadiness, firm faith, taste, realization and assimilation, one after another. These different stages of gradual development increase love of God to the highest stage, and in the highest stage there are still more symptoms, such as affection, anger and attachment, gradually rising in exceptional cases to the mahā-bhāva stage, which is generally not possible for the living entities. All these were manifested by Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the personification of love of God.
FAQs
This verse describes classic bhakti symptoms—horripilation, tearful eyes, and deep absorption—arising from intense loving remembrance and separation from the Lord.
Uddhava is overwhelmed by love and separation as he remembers Śrī Krishna; his grief is not ordinary sadness but devotion saturated with affection (sneha).
By regularly hearing and speaking about Krishna and cultivating heartfelt remembrance; with sincerity, remembrance softens the heart and deepens loving attachment beyond mere intellectual study.