Devanagari
एवं सभाजितो गोपै: कृष्णभक्त्या नराधिप ।
उद्धव: पुनरागच्छन्मथुरां कृष्णपालिताम् ॥ ६८ ॥
Verse text
evaṁ sabhājito gopaiḥ
kṛṣṇa-bhaktyā narādhipa
uddhavaḥ punar āgacchan
mathurāṁ kṛṣṇa-pālitām
Synonyms
evam
—
thus
;
sabhājitaḥ
—
shown honor
;
gopaiḥ
—
by the cowherds
;
kṛṣṇa
—
bhaktyā — with devotion for Kṛṣṇa
;
nara
—
adhipa — O ruler of men (Parīkṣit)
;
uddhavaḥ
—
Uddhava
;
punaḥ
—
again
;
āgacchat
—
returned
;
mathurām
—
to Mathurā
;
kṛṣṇa
—
pālitām — which was being protected by Lord Kṛṣṇa .
Translation
[Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued:] O ruler of men, thus honored by the cowherd men with expressions of devotion for Lord Kṛṣṇa, Uddhava went back to the city of Mathurā, which was under Kṛṣṇa’s protection.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
[Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued:] O ruler of men, thus honored by the cowherd men with expressions of devotion for Lord Kṛṣṇa, Uddhava went back to the city of Mathurā, which was under Kṛṣṇa's protection.
KB 10.47.68
When Uddhava had been fully honored and worshiped by the pure devotees of Vṛndāvana, he returned to Mathurā and to his master, Kṛṣṇa.
Purport
The word
kṛṣṇa-pālitām
indicates that even though Uddhava became quite attached to the land of Vṛndāvana, he returned to Mathurā because Śrī Kṛṣṇa was personally displaying His transcendental pastimes there.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Though Uddhava was very attracted to Vraja, being fully devoted to Krsna , he returned to Mathura which was protected by Krsna. Sukadeva intends to criticize Krsna here, for if he is protecting Mathura, why does he not also protect Vraja by coming there?
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Two chapters have described the sequence of events. Now Uddhava was worshipped with attachment to Kṛṣṇa (kṛsṇa-bhakyā) and with attachment to Vṛndāvana as expressed by Uddhava in verse 61. Why did he return to Mathurā? Mathurā was protected by Kṛṣṇa. How would it be possible to protect Mathurā without his dearest servant Uddhava?
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Honored in this way (evam) and by other means also, asking many times if Kṛṣṇa would return,
Uddhava returned to Mathurā. Because they were cowherds, they worshipped him with prema-bhakti for Kṛṣṇa. The cowherds had prayed in this way because of humility arising from prema. O King! You can understand this.
Or Uddhava returned to Mathurā because of the cowherds’ bhakti to Kṛṣṇa, to inform others of this (kṛṣṇa-bhaktyā). There was great joy when Uddhava (meaning joy) returned to his house. How were the people of Mathurā stiall happy in Uddhava’s long absence, since he should give advice? Mathurā was protected by Kṛṣṇa at that time. Because of Kṛṣṇa, Mathurā was much wealthier than previously.