Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.47.54
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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katicit māsān
—
for some months
Plural: katicit (some) + māsān (months). Months — not days. Uddhava's planned diplomatic mission becomes an extended stay. Gauḍīyas note: Kṛṣṇa-kathā cannot be hurried.
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vinudan śucaḥ
—
dispelling unhappiness
Present participle of vi + √nud (to push away) + accusative śucaḥ (grief). Vinodana — entertainment as grief-dispelling. Kṛṣṇa-kathā as the medicine for viraha.
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kṛṣṇa-līlā-kathām gāyan
—
singing the topics of Kṛṣṇa's pastimes
Compound + present participle: kṛṣṇa-līlā-kathām (the kathā of Kṛṣṇa's līlā) + gāyan (singing). Līlā-kīrtana. Gauḍīyas note: this verse describes the very form of devotional life the Six Gosvāmīs would establish in Vṛndāvana — līlā-gāna in the holy dhāma.
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ramayām āsa gokulam
—
he gave joy to Gokula
Causative periphrastic perfect of √ram + accusative. He caused Gokula to rejoice. Gauḍīyas note the wordplay: he is doing what Kṛṣṇa's own name (Rāma) does — bringing joy.
The great ācārya Jīva Gosvāmī comments in this regard that Uddhava, during his stay in Vṛndāvana, certainly took special care to enliven Kṛṣṇa’s foster parents, Nanda and Yaśodā.
The chief gopīs sorrow was almost completely dispelled by his promise that he would soon return (SB 10.47.36) and by entering the eternal pastimes through the perception of their minds, by thinking that his sphūrti was his direct presence. Three verses describe this. When they forgot on seeing the external world, Uddhava repeated instructed them. In this way their sorrow was dispelled (vinudan). It is understood that Nanda and Yaśodā also received instruction and had their grief dispelled. All the other people of Vraja as well perceived Kṛṣṇa’s sphūrti as his direct presence. They all sang about Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes in Mathurā and Gokula and were satisfied. This means that they became blissful, as if he were directly present during the sphūrti of his pastimes.
He stayed in Vraja for several months –ten or eleven, in order to dispel the gopīs’ sorrow. This was his main purpose in staying. He also stayed to sing the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and give joy to the people, animals, birds and trees of Gokula. He gave happiness to elders like Upananda and his wife by telling that Kṛṣṇa offered respects, to friends like Śrīdāmā, by telling them of Kṛṣṇa’s offering of embraces, and to the trees, birds and animals by Kṛṣṇa’s asking about each’s health. That is the meaning of hari-līlā-kathā-gānam. Or he made them happy in order to sing about Kṛṣṇa. With their being happy, his singing would be useless since they would not hear it. This shows his skill as an advisor and being a represtative of the Vṛṣṇi dynasty. Or he especially (vi) destroyed (nudan) the gopīs’ lamentation, by showing Kṛṣṇa. He was joyful by showing manifestations of Kṛṣṇa everywhere.
- Where do you expect a single conversation to do what months of kīrtana would?
- Could you commit to sustained kṛṣṇa-kathā with someone who is grieving?
Uddhava stays months in Vraja, dispelling the gopīs' grief by singing Kṛṣṇa's pastimes. The diplomat who came to argue them into wisdom now becomes the kīrtana-singer who joins their rasa. He has crossed over.
My note
Source: vedabase.io