Text 42
śrī-uddhava uvāca
deva-deveśa yogeśa
puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtana
saṁhṛtyaitat kulaṁ nūnaṁ
lokaṁ santyakṣyate bhavān
vipra-śāpaṁ samartho ’pi
pratyahan na yad īśvaraḥ
śrī-uddhavaḥ uvāca — Śrī Uddhava said; deva-deva — of the greatest among the demigods; īśa — O ultimate God; yoga-īśa — O master of all mystic power; puṇya — which are pious; śravaṇa-kīrtana — O You, hearing and chanting the glories of whom; saṁhṛtya — withdrawing; etat — this; kulam — dynasty; nūnam — is it not so; lokam — this world; santyakṣyate — are about to give up once and for all; bhavān — You; vipra-śāpam — the curse of the brāhmaṇas; samarthaḥ — capable; api — although; pratyahan na — You did not counteract; yat — because; īśvaraḥ — the Supreme Lord.
Śrī Uddhava said: O my Lord, O supreme God among all the demigods, real piety is invoked simply by hearing and chanting Your transcendental glories. My Lord, it appears that You will now withdraw Your dynasty, and thus You Yourself will finally give up Your pastimes within this universe. You are the supreme controller and the master of all mystic power. But although You are fully capable of counteracting the brāhmaṇas’ curse against Your dynasty, You are not doing so, and Your disappearance is imminent.
As previously mentioned, Kṛṣṇa’s own dynasty can never be destroyed; therefore the word saṁhṛtya means that Kṛṣṇa was taking the Yādavas with Him as He left this material world. However, in the eyes of ordinary, unenlightened persons the withdrawal of the Yadu dynasty appears to be its destruction. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has very nicely explained the statement of Uddhava as follows.
Kṛṣṇa is addressed as deva-deva, or the supreme God among the gods, because He expertly solved all of the problems of the demigods by His incarnation within the universe. The Lord rid the world of demons and firmly established both His devotees and religious principles. Lord Kṛṣṇa is addressed here as yogeśa because He not only performed work on behalf of the demigods, but also revealed His beautiful, transcendental form, full of transcendental qualities and ecstasies, for the pleasure of His pure devotees. Kṛṣṇa is called puṇya-śravaṇa-kīrtana because when by His internal mystic potency He exhibited His humanlike activities, the Lord stimulated the writing of innumerable Vedic scriptures about His pastimes. Thus persons who would be born in the future, like ourselves, would be able to hear and chant about the Lord’s activities and also go back home, back to Godhead.
Having insured the transcendental bliss and liberation of all of His devotees, even those who would be born in the future, Kṛṣṇa decided the time had come for Him to leave this material universe. Uddhava could understand the Lord’s desire and said to Kṛṣṇa, “You have instructed the Yādavas to counteract the brāhmaṇas’ curse by taking bath at Prabhāsakṣetra, but how could mere bathing in a holy place be of greater value than seeing You, the Personality of Godhead, face to face? Since the Yādavas are always seeing Your transcendental form, and since You are the Supreme Lord, what is the use of their taking bath in a so-called holy place? Therefore You obviously have some other purpose. If You actually wanted to counteract the curse, You could simply say, ‘Let this curse not act,’ and the curse would immediately be neutralized. Therefore You must be preparing to leave this universe, and that is why You have not counteracted the curse.”