उद्धवायमहो गोपपुत्रो गोवर्धनोद्भवः ।
मादृशां त्वादृशानां च मृग्यन्वस्तु सुदुर्लभम् ॥
इतस्ततो भ्रमन्व्यग्रः कदाचिदपि कुत्रचित् ।
नातिक्रमति चित्तान्तर्लग्नं तं शोकमार्तिदम् ॥
uddhavāyam aho gopa-putro govardhanodbhavaḥ |
mādṛśāṁ tvādṛśānāṁ ca mṛgyan vastu sudurlabham ||
itas tato bhraman vyagraḥ kadācid api kutracit |
nātikramati cittāntarlagnaṁ taṁ śokam ārtidam ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.5.58–59)
“[Śrī Nārada of Gopa Kumāra:] Aho! Uddhava! This son of a cowherd born in Govardhana, restless and wandering here and there searching for an object most difficult to attain [i.e., completely unattainable] for those like me [i.e., bhaktas of Śrī Bhagavān] and those like you [i.e., friends of Śrī Bhagavān], never anywhere overcomes that sorrow fixed in his heart that causes it to ache.”
Commentary
Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmīpāda comments that the particle aho is said in amazement or lamentation (vismaye khede vā), that Gopa Kumāra’s wandering “here and there” (itas tataḥ) means all throughout the phenomenal planes and the planes beyond the phenomenal ones [i.e., throughout all the planes of a material universe and the planes of the spiritual world apart from Goloka] (itas tataḥ prapañceṣu prapañcātīteṣu ca sarvatra), and that the reason he does not overcome, that is, that he cannot relinquish (nātikrāmati parihartuṁ na śaknoti), this ineffable sorrow fixed in his heart is that he was born in Govardhana (tatra hetuḥ—Govardhanodbhava), meaning, that he is fully fixed in the sense of self (abhimāna) and attitude of a cowherd who is fully devoted to Śrī Kṛṣṇa of Vraja.