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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.46.36

మా ఖిద్యతం మహాభాగౌ ద్రక్ష్యథ: కృష్ణమన్తికే । అన్తర్హృది స భూతానామాస్తే జ్యోతిరివైధసి ॥ ౩౬ ॥
mā khidyataṁ mahā-bhāgau
[maa khidyatam mahaa-bhaagau]
drakṣyathaḥ kṛṣṇam antike
[drakshyathah krishnam antike]
antar hṛdi sa bhūtānām
[antar hridi sa bhootaanaam]
āste jyotir ivaidhasi
[aaste jyotir ivaidhasi]
mā khidyatam — please do not lament mahā - bhāgau — O most fortunate ones drakṣyathaḥ — you will see kṛṣṇam — Kṛṣṇa antike — in the near future antaḥ — within hṛdi — the hearts saḥ — He bhūtānām — of all living beings āste — is present jyotiḥ — fire iva — just as edhasi — within firewood .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
mā khidyataṁ mahā-bhāgau
mā khidyatam
please do not lament
mahā - bhāgau
O most fortunate ones
drakṣyathaḥ kṛṣṇam antike
drakṣyathaḥ
you will see
kṛṣṇam
Kṛṣṇa
antike
in the near future
antar hṛdi sa bhūtānām
antaḥ
within
hṛdi
the hearts
saḥ
He
bhūtānām
of all living beings
āste jyotir ivaidhasi
āste
is present
jyotiḥ
fire
iva
just as
edhasi
within firewood .
  • mā khidyatam — please do not lament
    Negative imperative dual of √khid (to grieve). 'Two of you, do not lament.' The dual ending preserves the parental couple as one unit. Gauḍīya tradition cherishes such grammatical signals of yugala-bhāva.
  • antike — in the near future / nearby
    Locative of antika. Both temporal and spatial — He is near in time, near in space. Uddhava's words are deliberately ambiguous: the verse can be read as 'you will see Him soon' or 'He is already close.' The cosmology of verses 31-43 will resolve the ambiguity toward the latter.
  • antaḥ-hṛdi — within the heart
    Compound: antar (within) + hṛdi (in the heart). The exact Paramātmā-locus. Uddhava is teaching Nanda the antaryāmin doctrine — Kṛṣṇa is in his very heart. Gauḍīya layer: the antaryāmin-Kṛṣṇa is a vilāsa, and the heart's resident is finally none other than the cowherd son.
  • bhūtānām — of all living beings
    Genitive plural of bhūta. Universal scope — Kṛṣṇa is in the heart of every being, not only of Vraja. The Bhāgavatam preserves the universalist Paramātmā doctrine while housing it inside the Vraja-particular.
  • jyotiḥ-iva-edhasi — just as fire in firewood
    Famous analogy: jyotis (light/fire) + edhas (firewood). Same image Kṛṣṇa Himself uses in Gītā 7.7 (sūtre maṇi-gaṇā iva). Gauḍīya: the latent-fire analogy is acintya-bhedābheda in miniature — fire and wood are one (bheda)-and-not-one (abheda).
  • mahā - bhāgau — O most fortunate two
    Vocative compound, dual. Same address Nanda gave Uddhava in verse 16 — Uddhava now returns the title to Nanda and Yaśodā. Vraja's grammar of honor cycles back; the messenger sees that the fortune he was greeted with is more truly the parents' own.
O most fortunate ones, do not lament. You will see Kṛṣṇa again very soon. He is present in the hearts of all living beings, just as fire lies dormant in wood.

Uddhava understood that Nanda and Yaśodā were very impatient to see Kṛṣṇa, and thus he reassured them that Śrī Kṛṣṇa would come soon.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
O most fortunate ones, do not lament. You will see Kṛṣṇa again very soon. He is present in the hearts of all living beings, just as fire lies dormant in wood.
Commentary

"Oh, so great is our misfortune that there is delay in our truthful son coming to Vraja." To answer the lamenting parents, Uddhava replies with this verse. "You should not lament. Very soon you will be able to see Krsna." "You say we will see him, but when will that be, tomorrow, the next day, or ten days later? With some consolation, we will keep our life airs from leaving our bodies till that day. But if he is not coming, you should tell us truthfully. As it is difficult to prevent the life airs from leaving, then let them leave." Uddhava, hearing Nanda speak like this, then began to consider. "One should advise those who are suffering separation from their material sons in this way: ‘Why are you immersed in the illusion of family attachment like this? False attachment to wife and sons is a cause of trouble. Give that up and attach yourself to the Lord.’ "But how can I advise Nanda, who is attached to the Lord as his son? He is not like Vasudeva, who on seeing the godly powers of Krsna, weakens his attachment to him as his son. Rather, by showing them Krsna’s powers, Nanda and Yasoda’s attachment to their son will become stronger. ‘When parents lose sight of the son playing in their house, they die out of sorrow. By our good fortune, the Lord himself plays about as our son in our house. If we cannot care for him for even a moment, we lament. How will we live, not seeing that child in our house? We are so unfortunate, having been separated from such a child.’ This is how Nanda and Yasoda feel. "Vasudeva and Devaki however, on realizing the godly powers of Krsna, say, ‘He is worshipable, he is not our son.’ They thus refrain from embracing and fondling him. Not only is Nanda and yasoda’s possessiveness of Krsna tied tightly, but Krsna, though the supreme Lord, has strong possessiveness of them as well. His pain for his devotee I have seen when he said, ‘Go to Vraja and make my father and mother happy. Remove the pain of separation from the women of Vraja by giving news about me.’ (Sb 10.46.3) ‘O Nanda, we people of Vraja have a natural attachment for your son. Also he has great attachment for us. What is the cause?’(Sb 10.26.13) I remember hearing these words of the cowherd men. "If I go to Mathura and bring Krsna here tomorrow, Jarasandha will come to destroy Mathura, angry because Kamsa’s wives are left as widows. Who then will protect Vasudeva and the other Yadavas? If Krsna then again goes to Mathura to protect them, then those in Vraja will certainly die. If I say that Krsna will come in four or five years, they will not be patient for that long. If I lie and tell them that he will come after four or five days, when the time expires and they discover I lied, they will die. "As there is no other means, I will now weaken their prema by telling them that as supersoul Krsna is neutral to everyone, as impersonal Brahman he is without relationships with father, mother, body, karma or birth, and will teach meditation on the soul to realize that. If on revealing all this, Nanda and Yasoda’s unlimited, unfathomable, uncontrollable prema increases even more, then I will go to Mathura and simply glorify their incomparable prema again and again to the assembly of Krsna, Vasudeva, Ugrasena and others and astonish them all. I should rather just criticize Krsna." Having made this decision he then began to speak about Krsna as the supersoul. "Like fire within wood, Krsna is present within the hearts of all living beings. Then why can no one see him? One does not see fire in wood without kindling it. Krsna can also be seen by proper method." Uddhava’s implication is "If you did not perform devotional activities as vaisnavas for Krsna, your son, would he appear in your house?" Nanda and Yasoda then thought, "Some how or other Krsna must appear in our house. We must perform devotional service." Thus, when Uddhava returned to Mathura, Nanda and the cowherd men with tearful eyes told him, "O fortunate one, may our minds rest on his lotus eyes, may our voices sing his name and may our bodies offer him respects."

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

They could not tolerate the words “He will come.” Again Uddhava tries to console them. Do not lament. When Uddhava said that Kṛṣṇa would return, Yaśodā glanced at him. Uddhava saw that glance and exclaimed, “O fortunate ones!” fearing that they could not tolerate even a little delay in Kṛṣṇa’s coming, Uddhava then began teaching them, following the customary way of relieving lamentation. Kṛṣṇa exists even within the antaḥkaraṇas of all beings, what to speak of existing outside of them. An example is given to show how he has an aprakaṭa nature. In being bound by ropes and in eating dirt as well as other pastime, only Yaśodā could see his all-pervasive nature. Others did not realize this fact and thus he does not appear within them. But he remains manifesting himself within you two at all times. Why do you need his external manifestation? But if you desire that, that will certainly take place soon. As Paramātmā exists in all beings invisibly, fire exists in wood invisibly. Similarly Kṛṣṇa exists near you invisibly. You see him in the manifestation of Goloka and he sees you close up. You see him also through the mind. And very soon you will see him with your eyes also.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

He is in the hearts of all beings. You will see him on your lap (antike). Therefore do not lament. O fortunate couple! By the great fortune of your bhakti, he will be attracted and will come. You will see Kṛṣṇa who is attracted by bhakti. He calls out to Yāśodā as well as Nanda since she is overcome with grief, in order to remove her suffering, saying that she will soon see her son.

Related values
Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Apaishunam (Non-slander)Kshama (Forgiveness / Patience)Asteya (Non-stealing / Honesty)Aparigraha (Non-possessiveness)
Related verses

Like fire latent in wood, Kṛṣṇa is present in the hearts of all beings — not absent from Vraja but interior to it. The cowherd village does not need His return because He never left; it only needs to see Him correctly. Uddhava offers the consolation by relocating the question.

Prahlāda seeing Hari in the pillar

When Hiraṇyakaśipu asked 'Where is your Hari? Is He in this pillar?' Prahlāda answered yes — and Nṛsiṁha emerged (SB 7.8). Hari was in the pillar exactly as fire is in wood: latent, awaiting the right friction.

Gauḍīyas read Uddhava's jyotiḥ-iva-edhasi as the same theology. Kṛṣṇa is not far from Vraja; Vraja is the wood, He is the fire. The friction is bhakti, and the appearing-form is whichever the love calls forth.

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