janasya kṛṣṇād vimukhasya daivād
Vidura said: O sage! Men in this world engage in action for material happiness, but do not attain happiness and do not destroy distress. Nor do they become detached. Rather by this, they increase their suffering. You know everything. Therefore please tell my about this.
Having received secret knowledge from Uddhava who had been taught by the Lord, Vidura considered himself unqualified. Being despondent, he considered in his mind. Uddhava has said:
tasyānuraktasya muner mukundaḥ
pramoda-bhāvānata-kandharasya
āśṛṇvato mām anurāga-hāsa-
samīkṣayā viśramayann uvāca
Kṛṣṇa spoke to the sage Maitreya, who was attached to the Lord, attentive to listening, with head bowed out of love and joy, while glancing at me with affection and smiling, which relieved me of fatigue. SB 3.4.10
The Lord taught the secret knowledge to Uddhava, the greatest and most intimate among Kṛṣṇa’s devotees, not to Maitreya who was listening. But that cannot be! To understand if Maitreya heard that knowledge or not, in the beginning I will not ask that great soul in case he does not know. I will ask only some of my own questions. If he knows that knowledge then he will say, “O Vidura! I was taught by the Lord just for giving this knowledge to you. Please understand this knowledge about the Lord who has no birth but takes birth, in which the contradictions are resolved, which the Lord explained to me.” On his own, he will explain this. In this way he begins speaking to Maitreya.
By these activities man does not get happiness and does not get relief from distress (anyad). Nor does he become detached (uparamam). Rather, again and again, by doing actions, he experiences suffering only. Please give an answer to this question.
|| 3.5.3 ||
|
