Vallabhacharya uses the phrase, “Pathati Sura surte Sada” in the 9th verse of the Shree Yamunashtakam. Why does he mention Surdas in particular? Who is Surdas? What can we learn from his life? Well, it all begins with….
Uddhav
Vasudev, Krishna’s father has a brother called Devabhaga who lives in Mathura. His son Uddhav, a disciple of Brihaspati, comes to meet Krishna when He kills Kamsa and goes on to become Krishna’s friend. Uddhav, extremely well-versed in the scriptures becomes the counsellor of the Vrishnis.
Krishna asks Uddhav to become his messenger twice during his lifetime. The first time, he asks Uddhav to go back to Vrindavan and inform the gopis that He, Krishna would never return.
Uddhav assumes that Krishna has chosen him to convey His message because he is a man of knowledge. He prepares himself mentally. Uddhav plans to give them sermons on how to ignore their bodies, meditate and practise yoga to gain BrahmaGyan. He feels all this will help the gopis forget everything about Krishna.
Uddhav and the gopis
But when Uddhav shares Krishna’s message with the gopis, he is stunned by their unconditional love, faith and patience. The naïve gopis say, “Radha went berserk with grief when Krishna left for Mathura. We searched for Krishna everywhere. We assumed He was just playing one of His games with us. Yet again.
It took us a long time to accept that Krishna will never return to us again. But He taught us the best lesson of all with His departure. We finally learnt to find Krishna in everything and everyone.
Do you know O Uddhava, that Krishna is within us? Krishna may well be the king of Mathura now. But He spent the best years of His life with us. He will always remain our friend and lover. O Uddhava, you may be his cousin. But we are not even related to Him. Yet He engaged in the MahaRaas with us every night. Krishna lives in our souls. He always will. And that is enough for all of us. More than enough.”
Uddhav is filled with humility when he hears the words of the unlettered gopis. He realizes that there is a huge difference between knowledge and wisdom. Uddhav stays there for six months and asks the gopis to become his guru. He ends up learning things that were beyond the scope of his textual knowledge. This dialogue between the gopis and Uddhav which highlights the unconditional love of the gopis becomes the Bhramar geet, the song of the bee, in the Srimad Bhagavad.
Krishna then asks Uddhav to convey the message of his death and the destruction of the Yadava clan to his family members. Uddhav has witnessed Krishna protecting the Pandavas from getting destroyed. He wonders why Krishna was not doing anything to protect Himself and his clan. Krishna helps Uddhav understand that His work as an avatar was done and it was time for Him to return to Vaikuntha. He says, “Power has made my clan of Yadus insolent. It is time for them to leave their bodies too.”
Uddhav wonders how Krishna can leave them all so suddenly. He begs Krishna to impart some of his cosmic wisdom so that they can all learn to cope with pain, grief, separation and loss. So Krishna teaches Uddhav the processes of yoga, bhakti and the meaning and value of detachment.
This discussion between Krishna and Uddhav is documented in the Uddhav Gita, also known as the Hamsa Gita or the song of the goose.
Uddhav and Lalitha
In Goloka, Lalitha sakhi, one of Radha’s ashta sakhis, is an ardent devotee of Radha. She loves the unconditional love that Radha has for Krishna. One day she gets angry with Krishna when he has an argument with Radha. Uddhav, Krishna’s cousin, tries to placate her but she refuses to acknowledge Uddhav’s appeals for forgiveness on Krishna’s behalf.
Uddhav, in a fit of anger, curses Lalitha and says, “O Lalitha, may you be reborn in the world of mortals.” Lalitha too curses Uddhav and says, “O Uddhav, you have lost your power of discrimination. You think the love that I have for Krishna is different from that of Radha’s. You are blinded by your love for Krishna. So you fail to recognize my love. For this fault of yours, you will be born as a blind man in the world of mortals.”
Krishna smiles benignly whilst all this is happening because in truth he wants Uddhav to sing songs in his praise in a mortal body. He then blesses Lalitha and tells her that she will get liberated from her mortal body when Surdas visits her in the court of Akbar.
Surdas
Uddhav is reborn as Surdas. Surdas is a blind poet, who is born to poor parents in a small village near Delhi. One day he decides to live in Gokul for some time. When Akbar comes to know of the divine powers of Surdas, he orders Surdas to come to his court. He asks Surdas to prove his divine powers to him. Surdas tells Akbar not to force him to do such things. He tells Akbar that he will regret making him do so later on. But Akbar ignores his warning.
So Surdas tells him that one of his daughters has a mole with a mark of a peacock feather on her thigh. Akbar is shocked to hear this but is amazed to see one of his daughters ( Lalitha is reborn as Akbar’s daughter) having this kind of a mark on her thigh.
Lalitha recognizes Surdas and knows that Uddhav has come to free her of her curse. So she gives up her mortal body immediately because she is eager to go back to Goloka and Krishna again. Akbar does grieve over the death of his daughter. But when he listens to the story of Lalitha’s past life from Surdas, he realizes the greatness of Krishna’s devotion and performs Lalitha’s last rites on the banks of Yamunaji.
Years later, Vallabhacharya asks Surdas to sing songs based on Krishna’s leela in Nathdwara every day. It is believed that though Surdas was blind, he could describe the shringar of Shrinathji perfectly in Braj bhasha every day.
Vallabhacharya’s message
Vallabhacharya says, “Like Surdas, we should constantly divert our chaotic thoughts and fix it on Krishna. Our minds will wander at first. But if we constantly meditate and offer our lives to Krishna, whatever it is, we will gain a permanent place in His realm easily. For better than Gyan is Dhyan but better than Dhyan is Bhakti for with Bhakti comes peace.
Uddhav and Lalitha fight over Krishna to prove the intensity of their love for Him. Krishna abhors this. Love should flow seamlessly. Uddhav had Gyan. Surdas had Dhyan and Bhakti. But the gopis had only Bhakti. That is why Krishna loves the gopis most of all and engages in the MahaRaas with them alone. Not even his queens.
Even if we read and understand all the scriptures regularly like Uddhav, and meditate constantly like Surdas, we will not be able to connect to Krishna unless we have Bhakti for Krishna in our souls. For Bhakti and Dhyan can elude even the most knowledgeable and devout of men and fill them with vanity.
We too should do our best to nurture pure bhakti in our hearts – where we expect nothing at all in return for our love. And Yamunaji helps us reach that state – very easily.”
First photo given by Meera.
Click here to read more Yamunaji stories.