150 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 3, Ch. 4
TRANSLATION
Now [I shall leave the vision of this mundane world, and I see that
Uddhava, the foremost of My devotees, is the only one who can be directly
entrusted with knowledge about Me.
PURPORT
Jiianart mad-asrayam is significant in this verse. Transcendental knowl-
edyve has three departmental divisions, namely knowledge of impersonal
Brahman, knowledge of the all-pervading Supersoul and knowledge of the
Personality of Godhead. Out of the three, transcendental knowledge of the
Personality of Godhead has special significance and is known as bhagaval-
lallva-vijfiam, specific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead. This
specific knowledge is realized by pure devotional service and no other
means. Bhagavad-gila (Bg. 18.55) confirms this: bhaklya mam abhijdnati
yavan yas ca smi tallvalah. “Only persons engaged in devotional service
can factually know the transcendental position of the Lord.” Uddhava
was considered to be the best amongst all devotees of that time, and there-
fore he was directly instructed by the Lord’s grace, so that people might
take advantage of Uddhava’s knowledge after the disappearance of the
Lord from the vision of the world. This is one of the reasons why Uddhava
was advised to go to Badarikasrama, where the Lord is personally repre-
sented by the Nara-Narayana Deity. One who is transcendentally advanced
can gain direct inspiration from the temple Deity, and thus a devotee of the
Lord always takes shelter of a recognized temple of the Lord in order to
make tangible advancement in transcendental knowledge by the grace of
the Lord.
TEXT 31
x x ~ s a
agaisvaty aeayeT Tee A: Ta: |
~ ° ° ~ r~
TN Aaa ste Messe faga 11321
noddhavo ’nv api man-nyuno
yad gunair nardilah prabhuh
alo mad-vayunam lokarit
grahayann tha listhalu
na—not; uddhavah—Uddhava; anu—slightly; api—also; mal—Myself;
nyunah—inferior; yal— because; gunath—by the modes of material nature;
na—nor; ardilah—affected; prabhuh—master; atah—therefore; mal-vayu-
