To Nanda and Yasodâ he said: — "Râma and Krishna are the efficient and the material cause of the Universe — Purusha and Pradhana. They pervade all beings and guide the workings of individual natures. Krishna would fulfil the promise he made to you on the wrestling ground and come back to Vraja ere long. Do not grieve O great ones. You shall see Krishna by your side: He is within the heart of all beings, as fire is inside all fuel, To him nothing is agreeable or disagreeable, nothing high or low. He has no father, no wife, no sons, no one near or distant, no body, no birth, no Karma. For the protection of Sâdhus he manifests himself in different births at his own pleasure. Though void of all Gunas, he seeks them at pleasure for the purpose of creation. As a stationary body appears to be moving, so Âtmâ appears to be working, though Chitta is the worker. Krishna is not your son only. But he is of all the sons, the self, father, mother and Ísvara. Nothing exists in reality but Krishna." Excited were the effusions of the Gopis, on seeing Uddhava. (They may be interesting to the general reader but to the student the message delivered by Uddhava is the only necessary portion at this stage of the story. The reader is therefore referred to other translations for those highly poetical effusions.) Uddhava informed the Gopis that he was the secret messenger of Krishna. He then delivered the following message from Bhagavân: — "You have no separation from me, for I am all-pervading. As the five elements earth, water, air, fire and ether enter into the composition of all beings, so I underlie Manas, Prana, the Bhûtas and the Indriyas, as also the Gunas themselves. I create, preserve and destroy self in self by self. By my Mâyâ, I become the Bhûtas, the Indriyas and the Gunas. But Âtmâ is pure, it is all consciousness (Jnâna), separate, unconnected with the Gunas. It is only by the mental states of wakefulness, dream and dreamless sleep that egoistic perceptions are caused in Âtmâ. (The objects of perception in one state appear to be unreal in another state.) The objects of dream perception appear to be unreal to the awakened man. The mind (being the common factor in all the three states) perceives these (unreal) objects of the senses and it underlies the senses themselves. Sleeplessly therefore control the mind. This is the final reach of the Vedas, of Yoga, and of Sânkhya, of relinquishment, of Tapas, of the control of senses, and of Truth itself. This is the ocean into which all rivers fall. "That I, though pleasing to your eyes, remain away from you is because I want you constantly to meditate on me, for such meditation will attract your mind more towards me. The mind of women does not dwell so much upon the lover, near at hand, dearest though he be, as it dwells upon a distant lover, being full of him.