When Śrī Kṛṣṇa left the city of Dvārakā to seek out the Syamantaka jewel, He was late returning home. Uddhava became so afflicted that the symptoms of disease became manifest on his body. Actually, due to his excessive ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa, Uddhava became known in Dvārakā as crazy. To his great fortune, on that day Uddhava's reputation as a crazy fellow was firmly established. Uddhava's craziness was practically proved when he went to Raivataka Hill to minutely observe the congested black clouds. In his disturbed condition, he began to pray to these clouds, and he expressed his jubilation by bowing down before them.
Uddhava informed Kṛṣṇa, "My dear leader of the Yadu dynasty, Your servants in Vṛndāvana cannot sleep at night thinking of You, so now they are all lying down on the bank of the Yamunā almost paralyzed. And it appears that they are almost dead because their breathing is very slow." This is an instance of becoming unconscious due to separation from Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa was once informed, "You are the life and soul of all the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana. So because You have left Vṛndāvana, all of the servitors of Your lotus feet there are suffering. It is as if the lakes filled with lotus flowers have dried up from the scorching heat of separation from You." In the example given here, the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana are compared to lakes filled with lotus flowers, and because of the scorching heat of separation from Kṛṣṇa, the lakes—along with the lotus flowers of their lives—are being burned up. And the swans in the lakes, who are compared to the vitality of the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, are no longer desiring to live in that lake. In other words, because of the scorching heat, the swans are leaving the lakes. This metaphor is used to describe the condition of the devotees separated from Kṛṣṇa.