312 Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

Uddhava appreciated the exalted position of the gopis and wished to fall
down and take the dust of their feet on his head. Yet he did not dare to
ask the gopis to offer the dust from their feet; perhaps they would not be
agreeable. He therefore desired to have his head smeared with the dust of
the gopis’ feet without their knowledge. He desired to become only an
insignificant clump of grass or herbs in the land of Vrndavana.

The gopis were so much attracted to Krsna that when they heard the
vibration of His flute, they instantly left their families, children, honor and
feminine bashfulness and ran towards the place where Krsna was standing.
They did not consider whether they were passing over the road or through
the jungles. Imperceptibly, the dust of their feet was bestowed on small
grasses and herbs of Vrndavana. Not daring to place the dust of the gopis’
feet on his own head, Uddhava aspired to have a future birth in the position
of a clump of grass and herbs. He would then be able to have the dust of
the gopis’ feet.

Uddhava appreciated the extraordinary fortune of the gopis, who
relieved themselves of all kinds of material contamination by placing on
their high, beautiful breasts the lotus feet of Krsna, which are not only
worshiped by the goddess of fortune, but by such exalted demigods as
Brahma and Lord Siva, and which are meditated upon by great yogis
within their hearts. Thus Uddhava desired to be able to constantly pray to
be honored by the dust of the gopis’ lotus feet. The gopis’ chanting of the
transcendental pastimes of Lord Krsna has become celebrated all over the
three worlds.

After living in Vrndavana for some days, Uddhava desired to go back to
Krsna, and he begged permission to leave from Nanda Maharaja and Yasgoda.
He had a farewell meeting with the gopis, and taking permission of them
also, he mounted his chariot to start for Mathura.

When Uddhava was about to leave, all the inhabitants of Vrndavana,
headed by Maharaja Nanda and YaSgoda, came to bid him good-bye and
presented him with various kinds of valuable goods secured in V rndavana.
They expressed their feelings with tears in their eyes due to intense attach-
ment for Krsna. All of them desired benediction from Uddhava. They
desired always to remember the glorious activities of Krsna and wanted
their minds to be always fixed upon His lotus feet, their words always
engaged in glorifying Krsna, and their bodies always engaged in bowing
down and constantly remembering Him. This prayer of the inhabitants of
Vrndavana is the superexcellent type of self-realization. The method is
very simple: to fix the mind always on the lotus feet of Krsna, to talk
always of Krsna without passing on to any other subject matter, and to
