Upanishads · Kṛṣṇa 1.3
॥
Devanāgarī
मोदितास्ते सुरा सर्वे कृतकृत्याधुना वयम् । यो नन्दः परमानन्दो यशोदा मुक्तिगेहिनी
Transliteration (IAST)
moditāste surā sarve kṛtakṛtyādhunā vayam | yo nandaḥ paramānando yaśodā muktigehinī
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
मोदिताः ते सुराः सर्वेmoditāḥ te surāḥ sarverejoiced all those gods
कृत-कृत्याः अधुना वयम्kṛta-kṛtyāḥ adhunā vayam"having accomplished our duty are we now"
यः नन्दः परम-आनन्दःyaḥ nandaḥ parama-ānandaḥwho is Nanda — he is supreme bliss
यशोदा मुक्ति-गेहिनीyaśodā mukti-gehinīYaśodā — mistress of liberation
Translation
"All those gods rejoiced: 'now we have accomplished our duty.' Who is Nanda — he is supreme bliss; Yaśodā is the mistress of liberation."
Version
2a37801c44ee · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here begins what the book was written for, and its structure from here to the twenty-fifth verse will be one and the same. A person or object from the story of Kṛṣṇa is taken — and named as something else: Nanda is bliss, Yaśodā is liberation, Kuvalayāpīḍa is pride, Kaṃsa is the age of kali. This device deserves naming: it is rūpaka, "allegory," or, more precisely, the interpretation of a story as a teaching.
Let us say at once how to regard this, for two errors are possible here. The first error — to think the book cancels the story: since Nanda is bliss, there was no Nanda at all. The second — to think the interpretation is arbitrary and that anything can be called anything.
The Vaiṣṇava side rejects both and holds a rule worth voicing: allegory does not cancel the event. She applies this rule to her own chief books as well. The Bhāgavatam is full of interpretations, where every figure of the story means something; and yet the events themselves are spoken of there as having occurred, and the story does not turn into a parable.
The reason given is this: a parable does not save. One cannot take refuge in a parable; a parable cannot be loved; one cannot yearn for a parable. Hence interpretations like the present one should be read as an addition to the story, not a replacement for it; and whenever the book says "this is that," it should be understood: "in this, that too is seen."