Texts 67-68
tataḥ kāmaiḥ pūryamāṇaḥ
sa-vrajaḥ saha-bāndhavaḥ
parārdhyābharaṇa-kṣauma-
nānānarghya-paricchadaiḥ
vasudevograsenābhyāṁ
kṛṣṇoddhava-balādibhiḥ
dattam ādāya pāribarhaṁ
yāpito yadubhir yayau
tataḥ — then; kāmaiḥ — with desirable objects; pūryamāṇaḥ — satiated; sa-vrajaḥ — with the people of Vraja; saha-bāndhavaḥ — with his family members; para — extremely; ardhya — valuable; ābharaṇa — with ornaments; kṣauma — fine linen; nānā — various; anarghya — priceless; paricchadaiḥ — and household furnishings; vasudeva-ugrasenābhyām — by Vasudeva and Ugrasena; kṛṣṇa-uddhava-bala-ādibhiḥ — and by Kṛṣṇa, Uddhava, Balarāma and others; dattam — given; ādāya — taking; pāribarham — the gifts; yāpitaḥ — seen off; yadubhiḥ — by the Yadus; yayau — he departed.
Then, after Vasudeva, Ugrasena, Kṛṣṇa, Uddhava, Balarāma and others had fulfilled his desires and presented him with precious ornaments, fine linen and varieties of priceless household furnishings, Nanda Mahārāja accepted all these gifts and took his leave. Seen off by all the Yadus, he departed with his family members and the residents of Vraja.
According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, at the end of the three months Mahārāja Nanda approached Kṛṣṇa and told Him, “My dear son, for one drop of perspiration from Your divine face I am ready to give up countless lives. Let us leave now for Vraja; I cannot spend any more time here.” Then he went to Vasudeva and told him, “My dear friend, please send Kṛṣṇa to Vraja,” and of King Ugrasena he requested, “Please order my friend to do this. If you refuse, I will have to drown myself here in Lord Paraśurāma’s lake. Just watch, if you do not believe me! We people of Vraja came to this holy place not to gain some piety on the occasion of the solar eclipse, but to get Kṛṣṇa back or die.” Hearing these desperate words from Nanda, Vasudeva and the others tried to pacify him with valuable gifts.
Well-versed in the arts of diplomacy, Vasudeva consulted with his most trustworthy advisors and then satisfied Śrī Nanda by telling him, “My dearest friend, O King of Vraja, it is of course true that none of you can live without Kṛṣṇa. And how can we allow you to kill yourselves? Therefore, by all means I must send Kṛṣṇa back to Vraja. I will do so right after we accompany Him and His relatives and friends — among them many helpless women — back to Dvārakā. Then, the very next day, without trying to obstruct Him in any way, I will let Him leave for Vraja at an auspicious time of the day. This I swear to you a thousand times over. After all, how can we who came here with Kṛṣṇa go home without Him? What will people say about us? You are a great scholar in all matters, so please forgive me for making this request of you.”
Next Ugrasena addressed Nanda Mahārāja: “My dear master of Vraja, I bear witness to Vasudeva’s statement and take this solemn vow: I will send Kṛṣṇa back to Vraja even if I have to do it by force.”
Then Lord Kṛṣṇa, joined by Uddhava and Balarāma, spoke to Nanda in private. He said, “Dear father, if I go directly to Vraja today, leaving aside all these Vṛṣṇis, they will die from the pain of separation from Me. Then many thousands of enemies more powerful than even Keśī and Ariṣṭa will come to annihilate all these kings.
“Since I am omniscient, I know what is inevitably going to happen to Me. Listen and I will describe it to you. After returning to Dvārakā, I will receive an invitation from Yudhiṣṭhira and will go to Indraprastha to participate in his Rājasūya sacrifice. There I will kill Śiśupāla, after which I will again return to Dvārakā and kill Śālva. Next I will travel to a place just south of Mathurā to save you by killing Dantavakra. I will then go back to Vraja, see all My old friends and again sit in your lap with great pleasure. Indeed, with great happiness I will spend the rest of My life with you. God has written this fate on My forehead, and it has been written on your foreheads that until the day I return you must tolerate separation from Me. Neither of our destinies can possibly be changed, so please find the courage to leave Me here for now and go home to Vraja.
“And if, in the meantime, you, My dear parents, and you, My beloved friends, are distressed by the unavoidable fate written on our foreheads, then whenever you wish to feed Me some delicacy or play some game with Me or simply see Me, just close your eyes and I will appear before you to turn your torment into sky-flowers and fulfill all your desires. I promise you this, and the young friends of Mine whose lives I saved in a forest fire can vouch for it.”
Convinced by all these arguments that his son’s happiness was of prime importance, Nanda accepted the gifts offered him and took his leave, accompanied by the Yadus’ large army.