TEXT 24
tatas tv ativrajya surastram rddham
sauvira-matsyan kurujangalams ca
kalena tavad yamunam upetya
tatroddhavam bhagavatam dadarsa
SYNONYMS
tatahfrom there; tubut; ativrajyaby passing over; surastramthe kingdom of Surat; rddhamvery wealthy; sauvirathe kingdom of Sauvira; matsyanthe kingdom of Matsya; kurujangalanthe kingdom of western India up to the Delhi province; caalso; kalenain course of time; tavatas soon as; yamunambank of the River Yamuna; upetyareaching; tatrathere; uddhavamUddhava, one of the prominent Yadus; bhagavatamthe great devotee of Lord Krsna; dadarsahappened to see.
TRANSLATION
Thereafter he passed through very wealthy provinces like Surat, Sauvira and Matsya and through western India, known as Kurujangala. At last he reached the bank of the Yamuna, where he happened to meet Uddhava, the great devotee of Lord Krsna.
PURPORT
The tract of land comprising about one hundred square miles from modern Delhi to the Mathura district in Uttar Pradesh, including a portion of the Gurgaon district in Punjab (East India), is considered to be the topmost place of pilgrimage in all of India. This land is sacred because Lord Krsna traveled through it many times. From the very beginning of His appearance, He was at Mathura in the house of His maternal uncle Kamsa, and He was reared by His foster father Maharaja Nanda at Vrndavana. There are still many devotees of the Lord lingering there in ecstasy in search of Krsna and His childhood associates, the gopis. It is not that such devotees meet Krsna face to face in that tract of land, but a devotees eagerly searching after Krsna is as good as his seeing Him personally. How this is so cannot be explained, but it is factually realized by those who are pure devotees of the Lord. Philosophically, one can understand that Lord Krsna and His remembrance are on the absolute plane and that the very idea of searching for Him at Vrndavana in pure God consciousness gives more pleasure to the devotee than seeing Him face to face. Such devotees of the Lord see Him face to face at every moment, as confirmed in the Brahma-samhita (5.38):
premanjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena
santah sadaiva hrdayesu vilokayanti
yam syamasundaram acintya-guna-svarupam
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami
Those who are in ecstasy of love with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Syamasundara [Krsna], see Him always in their hearts due to love and devotional service rendered to the Lord. Both Vidura and Uddhava were such elevated devotees, and therefore they both came to the bank of the Yamuna and met each other.

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