The third Skanda of the Bhagavata Purana features two lengthy dialogues, one between Uddhava and Vidhura, and the other between Vidhura and Maitreya. Before narrating these in detail to Parikshit, Suka highlights the fact that all three are great devotees of Krishna and also great jnanis, pointed out Sri R. Krishnamurthy Sastrigal in a discourse. Suka refers to Vidhura’s extraordinary devotion to Krishna that becomes explicit when Krishna prefers to stay in Vidhura’s humble home though he had been invited by Duryodhana to his palace.
Vidhura stood for righteousness and would often try his best to remind Dhritarashtra that the Kauravas should have to give back to Yudhishtira his rightful dues. Just before the outbreak of the war, when he repeated the same advice, Duryodhana flew into a rage and insulted him and drove him away. Vidhura had departed peacefully without any hatred in his mind. Vidhura now meets Uddhava on the banks of the Yamuna and wishes to know about what had happened in his absence. When he makes enquiries about Krishna, and from the way he talks to Uddhava, it is clear that Vidhura is so realised that he finds nothing surprising in whatever that happens as he can discern only the Lord’s hand in everything.
Vidhura wishes to hear about the Supreme Lord Krishna whose incarnation has been explicitly to protect the good and the holy from the atrocities of the evil minded. For, none but the Lord can restore the balance between evil and good. He is aware of the purpose of the Krishna avatar which was to offer solace and salvation to those who have taken shelter in Him. When Vidhura learns from Uddhava that just before His ascension to Vaikunta, Krishna had ordained that Maitreya should impart the highest knowledge to him, he is so overwhelmed that Krishna had thought of him at that moment when the avatar was to end.
