Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.13.11

api nah suhridas tāta

bāndhavāh krishna-devatāh

drishtāh śrutā vā yadavah

sva-puryām sukham āsate

SYNONYMS

api — whether; nah — our; suhridah — well-wishers; tāta — O my uncle; bāndhavāh — friends; krishna-devatāh — those who are always rapt in the service of Lord Śrī Krishna; drishtāh — by seeing them; śrutāh — or by hearing about them; vā — either; yadavah — the descendants of Yadu; sva-puryām — along with their residential place; sukham āsate — if they are all happy.

TRANSLATION

My uncle, you must have visited Dvārakā. In that holy place are our friends and well-wishers, the descendants of Yadu, who are always rapt in the service of the Lord Śrī Krishna. You might have seen them or heard about them. Are they all living happily in their abodes?

PURPORT

The particular word krishna-devatāh, i.e., those who are always rapt in the service of Lord Krishna, is significant. The Yādavas and the Pāndavas, who were always rapt in the thought of the Lord Krishna and His different transcendental activities, were all pure devotees of the Lord like Vidura. Vidura left home in order to devote himself completely to the service of the Lord, but the Pāndavas and the Yādavas were always rapt in the thought of Lord Krishna. Thus there is no difference in their pure devotional qualities. Either remaining at home or leaving home, the real qualification of a pure devotee is to become rapt in the thought of Krishna favorably, i.e., knowing well that Lord Krishna is the Absolute Personality of Godhead. Kamsa, Jarāsandha, Śiśupāla and other demons like them were also always rapt in the thought of Lord Krishna, but they were absorbed in a different way, namely unfavorably, or thinking Him to be a powerful man only. Therefore, Kamsa and Śiśupāla are not on the same level as pure devotees like Vidura, the Pāndavas and the Yādavas.

Mahārāja Yudhishthira was also always rapt in the thought of Lord Krishna and His associates at Dvārakā. Otherwise he could not have asked all about them from Vidura. Mahārāja Yudhishthira was therefore on the same level of devotion as Vidura, although engaged in the state affairs of the kingdom of the world.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness