16.1.12- Uddhava Unhappy at Dwarka

Sudama brings Krishna to his room and shows an incomplete sculpture with interest. Krishna says He can't identify whose 'murti' it is, as it is still incomplete. Then Sudama places a 'morpankh' in the crown of it and says that it is the 'pratima' of his Master. Krishna appreciates the 'pratima' a lot! Sudama humbly say that he knows it is not such a great creation but for him, it is the Most Beautiful Form! Krishna becomes happy to hear this. Then He suggests that now they should go to meet Uddhava. Suadama expresses amazement whether Uddhava has already arrived! Krishna says yes, he has. In fact, Uddhava was standing right there when Sudama asked Him to come to his room. Sudama becomes sad after knowing this and says may be Uddhava is offended because of his behaviour, he has done a mistake. Krishna says lets find out about his reaction by meeting him now.

JV and the Wife of Uddhava are attending the kitchen while interacting. The wife of Uddava expresses surprise that why Sudama is staying in the palace, he is getting so many good food to eat and so many comforts here. JV is a bit unhappy to hear this. Then the wife of Uddhava also mentions that there should be ample quantity of ghee and less of chilli, in the food of Uddava and it should be served in a silver plate. As Uddhava is very particular about his food and how to take it. He is not like Sudama who accepts anything, which he gets by begging.

Now we are in the room where food has been served. Krishna–Sudama and Uddhava all come there. Sudama greets Uddhava. He responds and says Suadama must be in a good state (hinting at the 'riches'/ 'state' he is now, in Dwarika 'Raajaprasaad'). Sudama does not reply to it but asks for forgiveness because of his previous behaviour as he was very interested to show Krishna his new creation, so he could not notice the presence of Uddhava there. Uddhava does not react to it.

Krishna asks Uddhava to sit 'in front of' Him and asks Sudama to sit 'with' Him.

Now Krishna Himself starts serving Sudama, which makes Uddhava very surprised! The wife of Uddhava tries to serve Krishna, but He refuses. Now Sudama says that he always offers 'Bhog' to his Lord before eating, now as Krishna is in front of him he could not miss this chance and expresses to offer 'bhog' to Krishna. Krishna answers that he can't refuse the loving enthusiasm of His devotee. So Sudama offers the 'bhog', Krishna accepts, expressing Satisfaction. He requests Sudama to feed Him with his own hand. Sudama does that. SV is very happy seeing this. But Uddahva and his wife feels insulted. Krishna explains that the love of his dear friend has added to the taste of the food! Uddava questions, how could that be? As a food is only a food. Krishna says yes, that is right. But then, why the food made by a 'daasi' and a mother/ wife- taste different? It is because of the 'bhaavna'/ thought/ 'prem'/ love 'shraddha'/ respect felt by that person while preparing it. The happiness of the person undoubtedly enhances the taste of an item.

Uddhava asks why Krishna can't see any flaw in the character of Sudama? Krishna answers that only 'selfish motive' can have a flaw but Sudama does not have any. He offers his Everything to Krishna without expecting anything in return. The wife of Uddhava expresses surprise that how can one have no personal motive? Krishna requests Sudama to answer the question. Sudama says it is not completely true that he 'does not' have any motive, His only motive is that he wants the Love of his Lord. He wants the Devotion for Krishna for next seven births. Krishna is equal to 'attaining Moksha' for him. The wife of Uddava asks whether Sudama consider himself to be the greatest devotee of the Lord. Sudama replies that he is not in any competition WRT his devotion. He will be Very Happy, if more and more people become the devotee of the Lord and start serving Him. For him, 'Devotion is his very Life'! Krishna becomess happy hearing all these.

At night, in Uddhava's room, his wife says Krishna is doing all these to insult her husband. Uddava expresses his amazement that how could Krishna forget His duty? How could He get entangled in the 'moh-maya' of 'Sansaar'? Where is His Knowledge now?

Narada appears. He also supports Uddhav saying that Krishna only notices Sudama and no one else. Whereas Uddahava is a Master of all the 4 Vedas, 18 Upanishads, has written so many books, which are taught in many Gurukuls, but still Krishna only Responds to the 'Jai Sri Krishna' chanted by Sudama! Uddhava says Krishna is the 'Paalankarta' of the 'sansaar' but now he is under the influence of 'Moh', so He is becoming weak and forgetting his duty. Narada suggests that Uddhava should point out this to Krishna. Whether Krishna listen to him or not, but still, it is now his (Uddhava's) duty now. Otherwise Krishna will become like a common man.

Uddhava come to Sudama's room at night. He sees that Sudama has placed his incomplete artwork (the 'murti' of Krishna) on the bed and himself sleeping on the floor along with chanting 'Jai Shri Krishna'. Now Uddhava notices Krishna coming to Sudama's room, sitting near his feet and pressing them. Uddhava is surprised! Here we have a nice song expressing the astonishment of Uddhava, who is unable to understand why the Lord is serving Sudama.

Like I conceded in the Udhav thread, I don't pretend to know much of him, but from the little I've read, his character profile hardly seems to be anything even close to what's being depicted here. First of all, I'm not aware that he was a stranger to Dwarka - from what I understand, he may well have been one of Ugrasena's courtiers. (Please correct me if I'm wrong).

Second thing - his - and particularly his wife's - character have been saas-bahufied beyond belief. In the previous track, they made Paundrak's fictitious wife a saint, who inherited the kingdom once her husband was dead (never mind that it was inconsistent w/ the prevailing customs then, or else, Devaki or Rukmini would have taken over the Yadavas after the fratricide) and now, they are making Udhav's wife one of those jealous jethani/devrani types whose role is pnpc of someone not even related to her. I was just put off by the depiction of these 2 - and no, seeing one more so-called leela of Krishna doesn't justify this depiction at all!

Another thng is the time shift - Udhav (rather than Akrura) was the messenger that Krishna once sent to the Gopis - in fact, it was Udhav, rather than Satyabhama, who Krishna was trying to educate regarding devotion, and the next time Uddhav appeared was towards the end of events, when Krishna foresaw that Dwarka was nearing its end, and so he imparted to him teachings that went into the Udhav Gita.

When did Sudama become such a major figure in Krishna's life? He was involved in the poha-for riches incident, that was it.

As I mentioned in the Udhav thread, it was Uddhava was a close companion, bhakt and confidante of Krishna. In fact the creatives have superimposed Uddhava's character onto Sudama. And the Uddhava being depicted here is a far cry from the one described in Srimad Bhagavatham. True, Uddhava realised what bhakti yog / prema bhakti was, as opposed to gyana yog, but that was from the gopis, not Sudama.

I have written more on Uddhava here