Purāṇa / Bhāgavata / Uddhava Gītā
Uddhava Gītā (उद्धवगीता)
Kṛṣṇa's last talk with Uddhava, in the eleventh skandha of the Bhāgavata. The Yadus are beginning to end. Uddhava asks to go with him. Kṛṣṇa tells him not to follow, but to renounce and wander. Then he teaches. The talk runs from the chapter where an avadhūta (अवधूत) names twenty-four teachers, through the close of what Kṛṣṇa has to say before the city is left. Uddhava is sent to Badarī. The whole talk is not sat line by line. The verse that names the twenty-four is sat here, because it is the contents page of that story. The lesson of each teacher is not sat as a commentary. A copied commentary would not be this shelf's, and a guessed lesson would be worse.
The twenty-four
Inside the teaching, Kṛṣṇa tells of King Yadu and a wandering brāhmaṇa. Yadu asks how a man so capable can walk the world as if he needed nothing. The brāhmaṇa says he learned by watching. Bhāgavata 11.7.33–35 is that list.
पृथिवी वायुराकाशम् आपोऽग्निश्चन्द्रमा रविः ।
कपोतोऽजगरः सिन्धुः पतङ्गो मधुकृद् गजः ॥
मधुहा हरिणो मीनः पिङ्गला कुररोऽर्भकः ।
कुमारी शरकृत् सर्प ऊर्णनाभिः सुपेशकृत् ॥
एते मे गुरवो राजन् चतुर्विंशतिराश्रिताः ।
शिक्षा वृत्तिभिरेतेषाम् अन्वशिक्षमिहात्मनः ॥ pṛthivī vāyur ākāśam āpo 'gniś candramā raviḥ |
kapoto 'jagaraḥ sindhuḥ pataṅgo madhukṛd gajaḥ ||
madhuhā hariṇo mīnaḥ piṅgalā kuraro 'rbhakaḥ |
kumārī śarakṛt sarpa ūrṇanābhiḥ supeśakṛt ||
ete me guravo rājan caturviṃśatir āśritāḥ |
śikṣā vṛttibhir eteṣām anvaśikṣam ihātmanaḥ ||
The line
Earth, air, sky, water, fire, moon, and sun. A pigeon, a python, the sea, a moth, a honeybee, an elephant. A honey-thief, a deer, a fish, Piṅgalā, a kurara, a child. A girl, an arrow-maker, a serpent, a spider, and a wasp. These twenty-four I have taken as my teachers, king. By their conduct I learned, here, for myself.
नेपालीमा
पृथ्वी, वायु, आकाश, पानी, आगो, चन्द्र, र सूर्य। परेवा, अजिंगर, समुद्र, पुतली, मौरी, हात्ती। मह चोर्ने, मृग, माछा, पिङ्गला, कुरर, बालक। केटी, काँड बनाउने, सर्प, माकुरो, र बारुलो। यी चौबीस मैले गुरु मानेँ, राजन्। तिनीहरूको चालबाट मैले यहाँ आफ्नो लागि सिकेँ।
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| pṛthivī (पृथिवी) | nominative singular | Earth. |
| vāyuḥ (वायुः) | nominative singular | Air. Heard vāyur (वायुर्) before ākāśam (आकाशम्). |
| ākāśam (आकाशम्) | nominative singular, neuter | Sky. Space. |
| āpaḥ (आपः) | nominative plural | Water. Heard āpo (आपो) before agniḥ (अग्निः). |
| agniḥ (अग्निः) | nominative singular | Fire. Heard agniś (अग्निश्) before candramās (चन्द्रमास्). |
| candramās (चन्द्रमास्) | nominative singular | The moon. Heard candramā (चन्द्रमा) before raviḥ (रविः). |
| raviḥ (रविः) | nominative singular | The sun. |
| kapotaḥ (कपोतः) | nominative singular | A pigeon. Heard kapoto (कपोतो) before ajagaraḥ (अजगरः). |
| ajagaraḥ (अजगरः) | nominative singular | A python. |
| sindhuḥ (सिन्धुः) | nominative singular | The sea. |
| pataṅgaḥ (पतङ्गः) | nominative singular | A moth. Heard pataṅgo (पतङ्गो) before madhukṛt (मधुकृत्). |
| madhukṛt (मधुकृत्) | nominative singular | A honeybee, a maker of honey. Heard madhukṛd (मधुकृद्) before gajaḥ (गजः). |
| gajaḥ (गजः) | nominative singular | An elephant. |
| madhuhā (मधुहा) | nominative singular | A honey-thief. |
| hariṇaḥ (हरिणः) | nominative singular | A deer. Heard hariṇo (हरिणो) before mīnaḥ (मीनः). |
| mīnaḥ (मीनः) | nominative singular | A fish. |
| piṅgalā (पिङ्गला) | nominative singular | Piṅgalā, the woman in the story who waits, and then stops waiting. |
| kuraraḥ (कुररः) | nominative singular | A kurara, a bird of the shore. Heard kuraro (कुररो) before arbhakaḥ (अर्भकः). |
| arbhakaḥ (अर्भकः) | nominative singular | A child. |
| kumārī (कुमारी) | nominative singular | A young girl. She breaks her bangles until one remains on each wrist, since two still clink. Solitude is the lesson. |
| śarakṛt (शरकृत्) | nominative singular | An arrow-maker, absorbed in the point. |
| sarpaḥ (सर्पः) | nominative singular | A serpent. Heard sarpa before ūrṇanābhiḥ. |
| ūrṇanābhiḥ (ऊर्णनाभिः) | nominative singular | A spider. One who draws the thread from its own body. |
| supeśakṛt (सुपेशकृत्) | nominative singular | A wasp, the one that shapes. The last of the twenty-four. |
| ete (एते) | nominative plural, masculine | These. |
| me (मे) | genitive of the first person, enclitic | My. |
| guravaḥ (गुरवः) | nominative plural | Teachers. Heard guravo (गुरवो) before rājan (राजन्). |
| rājan (राजन्) | vocative singular | King. The address to Yadu. |
| caturviṃśatiḥ (चतुर्विंशतिः) | nominative singular | Twenty-four. Heard caturviṃśatir (चतुर्विंशतिर्) before āśritāḥ (आश्रिताः). |
| āśritāḥ (आश्रिताः) | nominative plural | Taken as refuge. Resorted to. |
| śikṣā (शिक्षा) | nominative singular | The learning. |
| vṛttibhiḥ (वृत्तिभिः) | instrumental plural | By their ways of acting. Heard vṛttibhir (वृत्तिभिर्) before eteṣām (एतेषाम्). |
| eteṣām (एतेषाम्) | genitive plural | Of these. |
| anvaśikṣam (अन्वशिक्षम्) | imperfect, first person singular, of anu-śikṣ (अनु-शिक्ष्) | I learned, following them. |
| iha (इह) | indeclinable | Here. Joins ātmanaḥ (आत्मनः) as ihātmanaḥ (इहात्मनः). |
| ātmanaḥ (आत्मनः) | genitive singular | For myself. Of the self. |
The rest of the Uddhava Gītā is Kṛṣṇa speaking in his own voice again: the guṇas, devotion, the person who can leave, and the charge laid on Uddhava. Those chapters are the book. This page is the door and the one verse that lists the teachers.
Where it sits
The Bhagvad Gītā is the teaching on the field, before the war. This is the teaching in the city, before the departure. The four seed verses are what Brahmā heard before there was a world to leave. Three gītās, three hours. Inside this hour, the Haṃsa Gītā and the Bhikṣu Gītā are two stories Kṛṣṇa tells before he sends Uddhava on. The Nārada Bhakti Sūtras are the short śāstra beside all three.