Srimad Bhagavatam — Ekadasha Skandha, Shloka 29
Bhakti as the Easy and Supreme Yoga: Seeing Kṛṣṇa in All and Uddhava’s Departure to Badarikāśrama
अप्युद्धव त्वया ब्रह्म सखे समवधारितम् । अपि ते विगतो मोह: शोकश्चासौ मनोभव: ॥ २९ ॥
apy uddhava tvayā brahma sakhe samavadhāritam api te vigato mohaḥ śokaś cāsau mano-bhavaḥ
हे प्रिय सखा उद्धवा, तू हे ब्रह्मज्ञान पूर्णपणे समजून घेतलेस काय? तुझ्या मनात उठलेला मोह व शोक आता नाहीसे झाले काय?
Śrī Uddhava had been bewildered by considering manifestations of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s own potency to be separate from Him. Uddhava’s lamentation arose because he thought himself separated from Lord Kṛṣṇa. Actually, Śrī Uddhava is an eternally liberated soul, but the Lord placed him in bewilderment and lamentation so that this supreme knowledge of the Uddhava-gīta could be spoken. Lord Kṛṣṇa’s question here indicates that if Uddhava had not perfectly understood this knowledge, Lord Kṛṣṇa would have explained the same thing again. According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, since Śrī Uddhava is the intimate friend of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Lord’s question here was in a friendly, playful spirit. The Lord was well aware of Uddhava’s complete enlightenment in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
FAQs
In this verse, Kṛṣṇa asks Uddhava whether true understanding of Brahman has removed his illusion, grief, and mind-born agitation—implying that realized knowledge (rooted in the Lord’s instruction) dissolves these inner sufferings.
As Kṛṣṇa concludes His teachings to Uddhava, He checks whether Uddhava has fully grasped the Absolute Truth and become free from confusion and sorrow—signs of successful assimilation of the Uddhava-gītā’s spiritual instruction.
Use the verse as a diagnostic: strengthen spiritual understanding through śravaṇa (hearing), manana (reflection), and bhakti practice, so that clarity about the eternal self and the Lord reduces delusion, lamentation, and mental agitation.