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KB 1970-2-5 / Talks Between Krsna and Rukmini
5 / Talks Between Krsna and Rukmini
Once upon a time, Lord Krsna the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, the bestower of all knowledge to all living
entities from Brahma to the insignificant ant, was sitting in
the bedroom of Rukmini, who was engaged in the service of the
Lord along with her assistant maidservants. Krsna was sitting
on the bedstead of Rukmini, and the maidservants were engaged
in fanning Him with camaras (yak-tail fly-whisks).
Lord Krsna's dealings with Rukmini as a perfect husband is a
perfect manifestation of the supreme perfection of the
Personality of Godhead. There are many philosophers who
propound a concept of the Absolute Truth in which God cannot do
this or that. They deny the incarnation of God, or the Supreme
Absolute Truth in human form. But actually, the fact is
different: God cannot be subject to our imperfect sensual
activities. He is the all-powerful, omnipresent Personality of
Godhead, and by His supreme will, He can not only create,
maintain and annihilate the whole cosmic manifestation, but He
can also descend as an ordinary human being in order to execute
the highest mission. As stated in the Bhagavad-gita, whenever
there are discrepancies in the discharge of human occupational
duties, He descends. He is not forced to appear by any external
agency, but descends by His own internal potency in order to
reestablish the standard functions of human activities as well
as to simultaneously annihilate the disturbing elements in the
progressive march of human civilization. In accordance with
this principle of the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, He descended in His eternal form of Sri
Krsna in the dynasty of the Yadus.
The palace of Rukmini was wonderfully furnished. There were
many canopies hanging on the ceiling with laces bedecked
with pearl garlands, and the whole palace was illuminated by
the effulgence of valuable jewels. There were many flower
orchards of baela and cameli, which are considered to be the
most fragrant flowers in India. There were many clusters of
these plants, with blooming flowers enhancing the beauty of the
palace. And because of the exquisite fragrance of the flowers,
little groups of humming bees were gathered around the trees,
and at night the pleasing moonshine glittered through the
network of holes in the windows. There were many heavily
flowered trees of parijata, and the mild wind stirred the
flavor of the flowers all around. Within the
walls of the palace, there was incense burning, and the
fragrant smoke was leaking out of the window shutters.
Within the room there were mattresses covered with white
bedsheets resembling the foam of milk; the bedding was as soft
and white as milk foam. In this situation, Lord Sri Krsna was
very comfortably sitting and enjoying the service of Rukminiji
assisted by her maidservants.
Rukmini was also very eager to get the opportunity of serving
the Supreme Personality of Godhead as her husband.
She therefore wanted to serve the Lord personally and took the
handle of the camara from the hand of the maidservant and began
to move the fan. The handle of the camara was made of gold,
decorated and bedecked with valuable jewels, and it became more
beautiful when it was taken by Rukmini, because all of her
fingers were beautifully set with jeweled rings. Her legs were
decorated with ankle bells and jewels, which rang very
softly between the pleats of her sari. Rukmini's raised breasts
were smeared with kunkuma and saffron; thus her beauty was
enhanced by the reflection of the reddish color emanating from
her covered breasts. The highly raised lower part of her
buttocks was decorated with a jeweled lace girdle, and a
locket of great effulgence hung on her neck. Above all, because
she was engaged in the service of Lord Krsna -- although at
that time she was old enough to have grown-up sons -- her
beautiful body was beyond compare in the three worlds. When we
take account of her beautiful face, it appears that the curling
hair on her head, the beautiful earrings on her ears, her
smiling mouth, and her necklace of gold, all combined to shower
rains of nectar; and it was definitely proved that Rukmini
was none other than the original goddess of fortune who is
always engaged in the service of the lotus feet of Narayana.
The pastimes of Krsna and Rukmini in Dvaraka are accepted by
great authorities as manifestations of those of Narayana and
Laksmi, which are of an exalted opulence. The pastimes of Radha
and Krsna in Vrndavana are simple and rural, distinguished from
the polished urban characteristics of those of Dvaraka. The
characteristics of Rukmini were unusually bright, and Krsna was
very much satisfied with her behavior.
Krsna had experienced that when Rukmini was offered a parijata
flower by Narada Muni, Satyabhama had become envious of her co-
wife and had immediately demanded a similar flower from Krsna.
In fact, she could not be pacified until she was promised the
whole tree. That was actually done by Krsna; the
tree was brought down to the earth planet from the heavenly
kingdom. After this episode, Krsna expected that because
Satyabhama had been rewarded by a full tree of parijata,
Rukmini would also demand something. Rukmini did not mention
anything of the incident, however, for she was grave and simply
satisfied in her service. Krsna wanted to see her a bit
irritated, and therefore He schemed in order to see the
beautiful face of Rukmini in an irritated condition. Although
Krsna had more than 16,100 wives, He used to behave with each
of them with familial affection; He would create a particular
situation between Himself and His wife in which the wife would
criticize Him in the irritation of love, and Krsna would enjoy
this. In this case, because Krsna could not find any fault with
Rukmini, for she was very great and always engaged in His
service, He smilingly, in great love, began to speak to her
. Rukmini was the daughter of
King Bhismaka, a powerful king. Thus Krsna did not address her
as Rukmini; He addressed her this time as the princess. "My
dear princess, it is very surprising. Many great personalities
in the royal order wanted to marry you. Although not all of
them were kings, all possessed the opulence and riches of the
kingly order; they were well-behaved, learned, famous among
kings, beautiful in their bodily features and personal
qualifications, liberal, very powerful in strength, and
advanced in every respect. They were not unfit in any way, and
over and above that, your father and your brother had no
objection to such marriages. On the contrary, they
gave their word of honor that you would be married with
Sisupala; the marriage was sanctioned by your
parents. Sisupala was a great king and was so lusty and mad
after your beauty that if he had married you, I think he would
always have remained with you just like your faithful servant.
"In comparison to Sisupala, with his personal qualities, I am
nothing. And you may personally realize it. I am surprised that
you rejected the marriage with Sisupala and accepted Me, who am
inferior in comparison to Sisupala. I think Myself completely
unfit to be your husband because you are so beautiful, sober,
grave and exalted. May I inquire from you the reason that
induced you to accept Me? Now, of course, I can address you as
My beautiful wife, but still I may inform you of My actual
position -- that I am inferior to all those princes who wanted
to marry you.
"First of all, you may know that I was so much afraid of
Jarasandha that I could not dare to live on the land, and thus
I have constructed this house within the water of the sea. It
is not My business to disclose this secret to others, but you
must know that I am not very heroic; I am a coward and am
afraid of them. Still I am not safe, because all the
great kings of the land are inimical to Me. I have personally
created this inimical feeling by fighting with them in many
ways. Another fault is that although I am on the throne of
Dvaraka, I have no immediate claim. Although I got a kingdom by
killing My maternal uncle, Kamsa, the kingdom was to go to My
grandfather; so actually I have no possession of a kingdom.
Besides that, I have no fixed aim in life. People cannot
understand Me very well. What is the ultimate goal of My life?
They know very well that I was a cowherd boy in Vrndavana.
People expected that I would follow the footsteps of My
foster father, Nanda Maharaja, and be faithful to Srimati
Radharani and all Her friends in the village of Vrndavana. But
all of a sudden I left them. I wanted to become a famous prince.
Still I could not have any kingdom, nor could I rule as a
prince. People are bewildered about My ultimate goal of life;
they do not know whether I am a cowherd boy or a prince,
whether I am the son of Nanda Maharaja or the son of Vasudeva.
Because I have no fixed aim in life, people may call Me a
vagabond. Therefore, I am surprised that you could select such
a vagabond husband.
"Besides this, I am not very much polished, even in social
etiquette. A person should be satisfied with one wife, but you
see I have married many times, and I have more than
16,000 wives. I cannot please all of them as a
polished husband. My behavior with them is not very nice, and I
know you are very much conscious of it. I sometimes create
a situation with My wives which is not very happy. Because I
was trained in a village in My childhood, I am not well
acquainted with the etiquette of urban life. I do not know the
way to please a wife with nice words and behavior. And from
practical experience it is found that any woman who follows My
way or becomes attracted by Me is ultimately left to cry for
the rest of her life. In Vrndavana, many gopis were attracted
to Me, and now I have left them, and they are living but are
simply crying for Me in separation. I have heard from Akrura
and Uddhava that since I left Vrndavana, all My cowherd
boy friends, the gopis and Radharani, and My foster
father Nanda Maharaja, are simply crying constantly for Me. I
have left Vrndavana for good and am now engaged with the queens
in Dvaraka, but I am not well-behaved with any of you. So you
can very easily understand that I have no steadiness of
character; I am not a very reliable husband. The net result of
being attracted to Me is to acquire a life of bereavement only.
"My dear beautiful princess, you may also know that I am always
penniless. Just after My birth, I was carried penniless to the
house of Nanda Maharaja, and I was raised just like a cowherd
boy. Although My foster father possessed many hundreds of
thousands of cows, I was not proprietor of even one of them.
I was simply entrusted to take care of them and tender
them, but I was not the proprietor. Here also, I am not
proprietor of anything, but am always penniless. There is no
cause to lament for such a penniless condition; I possessed
nothing in the past, so why should I lament that I do not
possess anything at present? You may note also that My devotees
are not very opulent persons; they also are very poor in
worldly goods. Those who are very rich, possessing worldly
wealth, are not interested in devotion to Me or Krsna
consciousness. On the contrary, when a person becomes penniless,
whether by force or by circumstances, he may become interested
in Me if he gets the proper opportunity. Persons who are proud
of their riches, even if they are offered association with My
devotees, do not take advantage of consciousness of Me. In
other words, the poorer class of men may have some interest in
Me, but the richer class of men have no interest. I think,
therefore, that your selection of Me was not very intelligent.
You appear to be very intelligent, trained by your father and
brother, but ultimately you have made a great mistake in
selecting your life's companion.
"But there is no harm;
it is better late than never. You are at liberty to select a
suitable husband who is actually an equal to you in opulence,
family tradition, wealth, beauty, education -- in all respects.
Whatever mistakes you may have made may be forgotten. Now you
may chalk out your own lucrative path of life. Usually a person
does not establish a marital relationship with a person who is
either higher or lower than his position. My dear daughter of
the King of Vidarbha, I think you did not consider very
sagaciously before your marriage. Thus you made a wrong
selection by choosing Me as your husband. You mistakenly heard
about My having very exalted character, although factually I
was nothing more than a beggar. Without seeing Me and My actual
position, simply by hearing about Me, you selected Me as your
husband. That was not very rightly done. Therefore I advise you
that it is better late than never; you can now select
one of the great ksatriya princes and accept him as your life's
companion, and you can reject Me."
Krsna was proposing that Rukmini divorce Him at a time when
Rukmini already had many grown-up children. Therefore Krsna's
whole proposition to Rukmini appeared to be something
unexpected, because according to Vedic culture there was no
such thing as separation of husband and wife by divorce. Nor
was it possible for Rukmini to do so in
advanced age, when she had many married sons. Each and
every one of Krsna's proposals appeared to Rukmini to be crazy,
and she was surprised that Krsna could say such things. Simple
as she was, her anxiety was increasing more and more at the
thought of separation from Krsna.
Krsna continued: "After all, you have to prepare yourself for
your next life. I therefore advise that you select someone who
can help you both in this life and the next life, for I am
completely unable to help. My dear beautiful princess, you know
that all the members of the princely order, including Sisupala,
Salva, Jarasandha, Dantavakra and even your elder brother Rukmi,
are all My enemies; they do not like Me at all. They hate Me
from the cores of their hearts. All these princes were very
much puffed up with their worldly possessions, and they did not
care a fig for anyone who came before them. In order to teach
them some lessons, I agreed to kidnap you according to your
desire; otherwise I actually have no love for you, although you
loved Me even before the marriage.
"As I have already explained, I am not very much interested in
family life or love between husband and wife. By nature, I am
not very fond of family life, wife, children, home and
opulences. As My devotees are always neglectful of all these
worldly possessions, I am also like that. Actually, I am
interested in self-realization; that gives Me pleasure, and not
this family life." After submitting His statement, Lord Krsna
suddenly stopped.
The great authority Sukadeva Gosvami remarks that Krsna almost
always passed His time with Rukmini, and Rukmini was a bit
proud to be so fortunate that Krsna never left her even for a
moment. Krsna, however, does not like any of His devotees to be
proud. As soon as a devotee becomes so, by some tactic He cuts
down that pride. In this case also, Krsna said many things
which were hard for Rukmini to hear. She could only conclude
that although she was proud of her position, Krsna could be
separated from her at any moment.
Rukmini was conscious that her husband was not an ordinary
human being. He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the
master of the three worlds. By the way He was speaking, she was
afraid of being separated from the Lord, for she had never
heard such harsh words from Krsna before. Thus she became
perplexed with fear of separation, and her heart began to
palpitate. Without replying to a word of Krsna's statement, she
simply cried in great anxiety, as if being drowned in an
ocean of grief. She silently scratched the ground with the
nails of her toes, which were reflecting reddish light
on the ground. The tears from her eyes were pink, mixed with
the black cosmetic ointment from her eyelids, and the
waters were dropping down, washing the kunkuma and saffron from
her breasts. Choked up on account of great anxiety, unable to
speak even a word, she kept her head downward and remained
standing just like a stick. Due to extremely painful
fearfulness and lamentation, she lost all her reasoning powers
and became so weak that immediately her body lost
so much weight that the bangles on her wrists became slackened.
The camara rod with which she was serving Krsna immediately
fell from her hand. Her brain and memory became puzzled, and
she lost consciousness. The nicely combed hair on her head
scattered here and there, and she fell down straight, like a
banana tree cut down by a whirlwind.
Lord Krsna immediately realized that Rukmini had not taken His
words in a joking spirit. She had taken them very seriously,
and in her extreme anxiety over immediate separation from Him,
she had fallen into this condition. Lord Sri Krsna is naturally
very affectionate toward His devotees, and seeing
Rukmini's condition, His heart immediately became softened. At
once He became merciful to her. The relationship between
Krsna and Rukmini was as Laksmi-Narayana;
therefore, He appeared before her in His four-handed
manifestation of Narayana. He got down from the bedstead,
brought her up by her hands, and, placing His cooling hands on
her face, smoothed the scattered hairs on her head. Lord Krsna
dried the wet breast of Rukminiji with His hand. Understanding
the seriousness of Rukmini's love for Him, He embraced her to
His chest.
The Supreme Personality is very expert in putting a thing
reasonably for one's understanding, and thus He tried to
retract all that He said before. He is the only resort for
all the devotees, and so He knows very well how to satisfy His
pure devotees. Krsna understood that Rukmini could not follow
the statements which He had made in a joking way. To counteract
her confusion, He again began to speak, as follows.
"My dear daughter of King Vidarbha, My dear Rukmini, please do
not misunderstand Me. Don't be unkind unto Me like this. I know
you are sincerely and seriously attached to Me; you are My
eternal companion. The words which have affected you so much
are not factual. I wanted to irritate you a bit, and I was
expecting you to make counter answers to those joking
words. Unfortunately, you have taken them seriously; I am very
sorry for it. I expected that your red lips would tremble in
anger on hearing My statement and you would
chastise Me in many words. O perfection of love, I never
expected that your condition would be like this. I expected
that you would put your blinking eyes upon Me in
retaliation, and in that way, I would be able to see your
beautiful face in that angry mood.
"My dear beautiful wife, you know that we are
householders. We are always busy in many household affairs, so
we long for a time that we can enjoy some joking words between
us. That is our ultimate game in household life. Actually, the
householders work very hard day and night, but all fatigue of
the day's labor becomes minimized as soon as they meet, husband
and wife together, and enjoy life in many ways." Lord Krsna
wanted to exhibit Himself just an ordinary
householder who delights himself by exchanging joking words
with his wife. He therefore repeatedly requested Rukmini not to
take those words very seriously.
In this way, when Lord Krsna pacified Rukmini by His sweet
words, she could understand that what was formerly spoken by
Him was not actually meant, but was spoken to evoke
some joking pleasure between themselves. She was therefore
pacified by hearing the words of Krsna. Gradually she was freed
from all fearfulness of separation from Him, and she began to
look on His face very cheerfully with her naturally smiling
face. She said, "My dear lotus-eyed Lord, Your statement that
we are not a fit combination is completely right. It is not
possible for me to come to an equal level with You because You
are the reservoir of all qualities, the unlimited Supreme
Personality of Godhead. How can I be a fit match for You? There
is no possibility of comparison with You, who are the master of
all greatness, controller of the three qualities and
object of worship for great demigods like Brahma and Lord Siva.
As far as I am concerned, I am a production of the three modes
of material nature. The three modes of material nature are
impediments towards the progressive advancement of devotional
service. When and where can I be a fit match for You? My dear
husband, You have rightly said also that being afraid of the
kings, You have taken shelter in the water of the sea
. But who is the king of this
material world? I do not think that the so-called royal
families are kings of the material world. The kings of the
material world are the three modes of material nature. They are
actually the controllers of this material world. You are
situated in the core of everyone's heart, where You remain
completely aloof from the touch of the three modes of material
nature, and there is no doubt about it.
"You say You always maintain enmity with the worldly kings. But
who are the worldly kings? I think the worldly kings are the
senses. They are most formidable, and they control everyone.
Certainly You maintain enmity with these material senses. You
are never under the control of the senses; rather, You are the
controller of the senses, Hrsikesa. My dear Lord, You have said
that You are bereft of all royal power, and that is also
correct. Not only are You bereft of material world supremacy,
but even Your servants, those who have some attachment to Your
lotus feet, also give up the material world supremacy because
they consider the material position to be the darkest region,
which checks the progress of spiritual enlightenment. Your
servants do not like material supremacy, so what to speak of
You? My dear Lord, Your statement that You do not act as an
ordinary person with a particular aim in life is also perfectly
correct. Even Your great devotees and servants, known as great
sages and saintly persons, remain in such a state that no one
can get any clue to the aim of their lives. They are considered
by the human society to be crazy and cynical. Their aim of life
remains a mystery to the common human being; the lowest of
mankind can know neither You nor Your servant. A contaminated
human being cannot even imagine the pastimes of You and Your
devotees. O unlimited one, when the activities and endeavors of
Your devotees remain a mystery to the common human being, how
can they understand Your motive and endeavor? All kinds of
energies and opulences are engaged in Your service, but still
they are resting at Your shelter.
"You have described Yourself as penniless, but this condition
is not poverty. Since there is nothing in existence but
Yourself, You do not require to possess anything -- You
Yourself are everything. Unlike others, You do not require to
purchase anything extraneously. With You all contrary things
can be adjusted because You are absolute. You do not possess
anything, but no one is richer than You. In the material world
no one can be rich without possessing. Since Your Lordship is
absolute, You can adjust the contradiction of possessing
nothing but at the same time being the richest. In the Vedas it
is stated that although You have no material hands and legs,
You accept everything which is offered in devotion by the
devotees. You have no material eyes and ears, but still You can
see everything everywhere, and You can hear everything
everywhere. Although You do not possess anything, the great
demigods who accept prayers and worship from others come and
worship You to solicit Your mercy. How can You be categorized
among the poor?
"My dear Lord, You have also stated that the richest section of
human society does not worship You. This is also correct,
because persons who are puffed up with material possessions
think of utilizing their property for sense gratification. When
a poverty-stricken man becomes rich, he makes a program for
sense gratification. This is due to his ignorance of how to
utilize his hard-earned money. Under the spell of the external
energy, he thinks that his money is properly employed in sense
gratification, and thus he neglects to render
transcendental service. My dear Lord, You have stated that
persons who possess nothing are very dear to You; renouncing
everything, Your devotee wants to possess You only. I see,
therefore, that a great sage like Narada Muni who does not
possess any material property is still very dear to You. And
such persons do not care for anything but Your Lordship.
"My dear Lord, You have stated that a marriage between persons
equal in status of social standing, beauty, riches, strength,
influence and renunciation can be a suitable match. But this
status of life can only be possible by Your grace. You are
the supreme perfectional source of all opulences. Whatever
opulent status of life one may have is all derived from You. As
described in the Vedanta-sutra, janmadyasya yatah:
You are the supreme source from which everything
emanates, the reservoir of all pleasures. Therefore, persons
who are endowed with knowledge desire only to achieve You, and
nothing else. To achieve Your favor, they give up everything --
even the transcendental realization of Brahman. You are the
supreme ultimate goal of life. You are the reservoir of all
interests of the living entities. Those who are actually well-
motivated desire only You, and for this reason they give up
everything to attain success. They therefore deserve to
be associated with You. In the society of the servitors
and served in Krsna consciousness, one is not subjected to the
pains and pleasures of material society, which functions
according to sex attraction. Therefore, everyone, man
or woman, should seek to be an associate in Your society of
servitors and served. You are the Supreme Personality of
Godhead; no one can excel You, nor can anyone come up to an
equal level with You. The perfect social system is that in
which You remain in the center, being served as the Supreme,
and all others engage as Your servitors. In such a perfectly
constructed society, everyone can remain eternally happy and
blissful.
"My Lord, You have stated that only the beggars praise Your
glories, and that is also perfectly correct. But who are those
beggars? Those beggars are all exalted devotees, liberated
personalities and those in the renounced order of life. They
are all great souls and devotees who have no other business
than to glorify You. Such great souls forgive even the worst
offender. These so-called beggars execute their spiritual
advancement of life, tolerating all kinds of tribulations in
the material world. My dear husband, do not think that out of
my inexperience I accepted You as my husband
; actually, I followed all these great souls. I
followed the path of these great beggars and decided to
surrender my life unto Your lotus feet.
"You have said that You are penniless, and that is correct.
You distribute Yourself completely to these great souls and
devotees. Knowing this fact perfectly well, I rejected even
such great personalities like Lord Brahma and King Indra. My
Lord, the great time factor acts under Your direction only. The
time factor is so great and powerful that within moments it can
effect devastation anywhere within the creation. Considering
all these factors, I thought Jarasandha, Sisupala and similar
other princes who wanted to marry Me to be no more important
than ordinary insects.
"My dear all-powerful son of Vasudeva, Your statement that You
have taken shelter within the water of the ocean, being
afraid of all the great princes, is quite suitable, but my
experience with You contradicts this. I have actually seen that
You kidnapped me forcibly in the presence of all these princes.
At the time of my marriage ceremony, simply by giving a jerk to
the string of Your bow, You very easily drove the others away
and kindly gave me shelter at Your lotus feet. I still remember
vividly that You kidnapped me in the same way as a lion
forcibly takes his share of hunted booty, driving away all
other small animals within the twinkling of an eye.
"My dear lotus-eyed Lord, I cannot understand Your statement
that women and other persons who have taken shelter under Your
lotus feet pass their days only in bereavement. From the
history of the world we can see that princes like Anga, Prthu,
Bharata, Yayati and Gaya were all great emperors of the world,
and there were no competitors to their exalted positions. But
in order to achieve the favor of Your lotus feet, they
renounced their exalted positions and entered into the forest
to practice penances and austerities. When they voluntarily
accepted such a position, accepting Your lotus feet as all in
all, does it mean that they were in lamentation and bereavement?
"My dear Lord, You have advised me that I can still select
another from the princely order and divorce myself of Your
companionship. But, my dear Lord, it is perfectly well-known to
me that You are the reservoir of all good qualities. Great
saintly persons like Narada Muni are always engaged simply in
glorifying Your transcendental characteristics. If someone
simply takes shelter of such a saintly person, he immediately
becomes freed from all material contamination. And by
coming in direct contact with Your service the goddess of
fortune agrees to bestow all her blessings. Under the
circumstances, what woman who has once heard of Your glories
from authoritative sources and somehow or other has
tasted the nectarean flavor of Your lotus feet can be
foolish enough to agree to marry someone of this material
world who is always afraid of death, disease, old age and
rebirth? I have therefore accepted Your lotus feet, not without
consideration, but after mature and deliberate decision. My
dear Lord, You are the master of the three worlds. You can
fulfill all the desires of all Your devotees in this world and
the next, because You are the Supreme Soul of everyone. I have
therefore selected You as my husband, considering You to be the
only fit personality. You may throw me in any species of life
according to the reaction of my fruitive activities, and I
haven't the least concern for this. My only ambition is that I
may always remain fast to Your lotus feet, because You can
deliver Your devotees from illusory material existence and are
always prepared to distribute Yourself to Your devotees.
"My dear Lord, You have advised me to select one of the princes
such as Sisupala, Jarasandha or Dantavakra, but what is their
position in this world? They are always engaged in hard labor
to maintain their household life, just like the bulls working
hard day and night with the oil-pressing machine. They are
compared to asses, beasts of burden. They are always dishonored
like the dogs, and they are miserly like the cats. They have
sold themselves like slaves to their wives. Any unfortunate
woman who has never heard of Your glories may accept such a man
as her husband, but a woman who has learned about You -- that
You are praised not only in this world, but in the halls of the
great demigods like Lord Brahma and Lord Siva -- will not
accept anyone besides Yourself as her husband. A man within
this material world is just a dead body. In fact, superficially,
the living entity is covered by this body, which is nothing
but a bag of skin decorated with beards and moustaches,
hairs on the body, nails on the fingers and hairs on the head.
Within this decorated bag there are bunches of muscles, bundles
of bones, and pools of blood, always mixed up with stool, urine,
mucus, bile and polluted air, and enjoyed by different kinds
of insects and germs. A foolish woman accepts such a dead body
as her husband and, in sheer misunderstanding, loves him as her
dear companion. This is only possible because such a woman
has never tasted the ever-blissful flavor of Your lotus
feet.
"My dear lotus-eyed husband, You are self-satisfied. You do not
care whether or not I am beautiful or qualified; You are not at
all concerned about it. Therefore Your nonattachment for me is
not at all astonishing; it is quite natural. You cannot be
attached to any woman, however exalted her position and beauty.
Whether You are attached to me or not, may my devotion and
attention be always engaged at Your lotus feet. The material
mode of passion is also Your creation, so when You passionately
glance upon me, I accept it as the greatest boon of my life. I
am ambitious only for such auspicious moments."
After hearing Rukmini's statement and her clarification of each
and every word which He had used to arouse her anger of love
toward Him, Krsna addressed Rukmini as follows: "My dear chaste
wife, My dear princess, I was expecting such an
explanation from you, and for this purpose only I spoke
all those joking words, so that you might be cheated of the
real point of view. Now My purpose has been served. The
wonderful explanation that you have given to each and every
word of Mine is completely factual and approved by Me. O most
beautiful Rukmini, you are My dearmost wife. I am greatly
pleased to understand how much love you have for Me. Please
take it for granted that no matter what ambition and desire you
might have and no matter what you might expect from Me, I am
always at your service. And it is a fact also that My devotees,
My dearmost friends and servitors, are always free from
material contamination, even though they are not inclined to
ask from Me such liberation. My devotees never desire
anything from Me except to be engaged in My service. And yet
because they are completely dependent upon Me, even if they are
found to ask something from Me, that is not material. Such
ambitions and desires, instead of becoming the cause of
material bondage, become the source of liberation from this
material world.
"My dear chaste and pious wife, I have tested, on the basis of
strict chastity, your love for your husband, and you have
passed the examination most successfully. I have purposely
agitated you by speaking many words which were not applicable
to your character, but I am surprised to see that not a pinch
of your devotion to Me has been deviated from its fixed
position. My dear wife, I am the bestower of all benedictions,
even up to the standard of liberation from this material world,
and it is I only who can stop the continuation of material
existence and call one back to home, back to Godhead. One whose
devotion for Me is adulterated worships Me for some material
benefit, just to keep himself in the world of material
happiness, culminating in the pleasure of sex life. One who
engages himself in severe penance and austerities just to
attain this material happiness is certainly under the illusion
of My external energy. Persons who are engaged in My devotional
service simply for the purpose of material gains and sense
gratification certainly are very foolish. Material
happiness based on sex life is available in the most
abominable species of life, such as the hogs and dogs. No one
should try to approach Me for such happiness, because it is
available even if one is put into a hellish condition of life.
It is better, therefore, for persons who are simply after
material happiness and not after Me to remain in that hellish
condition."
Material contamination is so strong that everyone is working
very hard day and night for material happiness. The show of
religiousness, austerity, penance, humanitarianism,
philanthropy, politics, science -- everything is aimed at
realizing some material benefit. For the immediate success of
material benefit, the materialistic persons generally worship
different demigods, and under the spell of material
propensities they sometimes take to the devotional service of
the Lord. Sometimes it so happens that if a person
sincerely serves the Lord and at the same time maintains
material ambition, the Lord very kindly removes the sources of
material happiness. Without finding any recourse in material
happiness, the devotee then engages himself absolutely in pure
devotional service.
Lord Krsna continued, "My dear best of the queens, it is
clearly understood by Me that you have no material ambition;
your only purpose is to serve Me, and you have long been
engaged in unalloyed service. Exemplary unalloyed devotional
service not only can bestow upon the devotee liberation from
this material world, but it also promotes him to the spiritual
world for being eternally engaged in My service. Persons who
are too addicted to material happiness cannot render such
service. Women whose hearts are polluted and full of material
desires devise various means of sense gratification while
outwardly showing themselves to be great devotees.
"My dear honored wife, although I have thousands of wives, I do
not think that any one of them can love Me more than you. The
practical proof of your extraordinary position is that
you had never seen Me before your marriage; you had simply
heard about Me from a third person, and still your faith in Me
was so fixed that even in the presence of many qualified,
rich and beautiful men of the royal order, you did not select
any one of them as your husband, but insisted on having Me. You
neglected all the princes present, and very politely you sent
Me a confidential letter inviting Me to kidnap you. While I was
kidnapping you, your elder brother Rukmi violently protested
and fought with Me. As a result of the fight, I defeated him
mercilessly and disfigured his body. At the time of Aniruddha's
marriage, when we were all engaged in playing chess, there was
another fight with your brother Rukmi on a controversial verbal
point, and My elder brother Balarama finally killed him. I
was surprised to see that you did not utter even a word of
protest over this incidence. Because of your great anxiety that
you might be separated from Me, you suffered all the
consequences without speaking even a word. As the result of
this great silence, My dear wife, you have purchased Me for all
time; I have become eternally under your control. You sent your
messenger to Me inviting Me to kidnap you, and when you found
that there was a little delay in My arriving on the spot, you
began to see the whole world as vacant. At that time you
concluded that your beautiful body was not fit to be touched by
anyone else; therefore, thinking that I was not coming, you
decided to commit suicide and immediately end that body. My
dear Rukmini, such great and exalted love for Me will always
remain within My soul. As far as I am concerned, it is not
within My power to repay you for your unalloyed devotion to Me."
The Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna certainly has no
business being anyone's husband or son or father, because
everything belongs to Him and everyone is under His control. He
does not require anyone's help for His satisfaction. He is
atmarama, self-satisfied; He can derive all pleasure by Himself,
without anyone's help. When the Lord descends to play the
part of a human being, He plays a role either as a husband, son,
friend or enemy, in full perfection. As such, when He was
playing as the perfect husband of the queens, especially of
Rukminiji, He enjoyed conjugal love in complete perfection.
According to Vedic culture, although polygamy is allowed, none
of the wives should be ill-treated. In other words, one may
take many wives only if he is able to satisfy all of them
equally as an ideal householder; otherwise it is not allowed.
Lord Krsna is the world-teacher; therefore, even though He had
no need for a wife, He expanded Himself into as many forms as
He had wives, and He lived with them as an ideal householder,
observing the regulative principles, rules and commitments in
accordance with the Vedic injunctions and the social laws and
customs of society. For each of His 16,108 wives, He
simultaneously maintained different palaces, different
establishments and different atmospheres. Thus the Lord,
although one, exhibited Himself as 16,108 ideal householders.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Second Volume,
Fifth Chapter, of Krsna, "Talks Between Krsna and Rukmini."
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KB 60: Talks Between Krsna and Rukmini
CHAPTER SIXTY
Talks Between Krsna and Rukmini
Once upon a time, Lord Krsna, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, the bestower of all knowledge upon all living entities,
from Brahma to the insignificant ant, was sitting in the
bedroom of Rukmini, who was engaged in the service of the Lord
along with her assistant maidservants. Krsna was sitting on the
bedstead of Rukmini, and the maidservants were
fanning Him with camaras (yak-tail fly-whisks).
Lord Krsna's dealings with Rukmini as a perfect husband are a
perfect manifestation of the supreme perfection of the
Personality of Godhead. There are many philosophers who
propound a concept of the Absolute Truth in which God cannot do
this or that. They deny the incarnation of God, or the Supreme
Absolute Truth in human form. But actually the fact is
different: God cannot be subject to our imperfect sensual
activities. He is the all-powerful, omnipresent Personality of
Godhead, and by His supreme will He can not only create,
maintain and annihilate the whole cosmic manifestation but
also descend as an ordinary human being to execute
the highest mission. As stated in the Bhagavad-gita, whenever
there are discrepancies in the discharge of human occupational
duties, He descends. He is not forced to appear by any external
agency, but He descends by His own internal potency in order to
reestablish the standard functions of human activities and
simultaneously annihilate the disturbing elements in the
progressive march of human civilization. In accordance with
this principle of the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, He descended in His eternal form as Sri
Krsna in the dynasty of the Yadus.
The palace of Rukmini was wonderfully furnished. Hanging
from the ceiling were many canopies with laces bedecked
with pearl garlands, and the whole palace was illuminated by
the effulgence of valuable jewels. There were many flower
groves of mallika and cameli, which are considered the
most fragrant flowers in India. There were many clusters of
these plants, with blooming flowers enhancing the beauty of the
palace. And because of the exquisite fragrance of the flowers,
little groups of humming bees gathered around the trees,
and at night the pleasing moonshine glittered through the
network of holes in the windows. There were many heavily
flowered trees of parijata, and the mild wind stirred the
fragrance of the flowers all around. Incense burned within the
walls of the palace, and the
fragrant smoke leaked out of the window shutters.
Within the room were mattresses covered with white
bedsheets; the bedding was as soft
and white as milk foam. In this situation, Lord Sri Krsna sat
very comfortably and enjoyed the service of Rukminiji,
who was assisted by her maidservants.
Rukmini was very eager to get the opportunity to serve
her husband, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
She therefore wanted to serve the Lord personally and took the
handle of the camara from the hand of a maidservant and began
to move the fan. The handle of the camara was made of gold
and bedecked with valuable jewels, and it became more
beautiful when taken by Rukmini because all of her
fingers were beautifully set with jeweled rings. Her legs were
decorated with jeweled ankle bells, which rang very
softly between the pleats of her sari. Rukmini's raised breasts
were smeared with kunkuma and saffron; thus her beauty was
enhanced by the reflection of the reddish color emanating from
her covered breasts. Her high
hips were decorated with a jeweled lace girdle, and a
locket of great effulgence hung on her neck. Above all, because
she was engaged in the service of Lord Krsna -- although at
that time she was old enough to have grown-up sons -- her
beautiful body was beyond compare in the three worlds. When we
take account of her beautiful face, it appears that the curling
hair on her head, the beautiful earrings on her ears, her
smiling mouth and her necklace of gold all combined to shower
rains of nectar, and thus it was definitely proved that Rukmini
was none other than the original goddess of fortune, who is
always engaged in the service of the lotus feet of Narayana.
The pastimes of Krsna and Rukmini in Dvaraka are accepted by
great authorities as manifestations of those of Narayana and
Laksmi, which are of an exalted opulence. The pastimes of Radha
and Krsna in Vrndavana are simple and rural, distinguished from
the polished urban characteristics of those of Dvaraka. The
characteristics of Rukmini were unusually bright, and Krsna was
very much satisfied with her behavior.
Krsna had experienced that when Rukmini was offered a parijata
flower by Narada Muni, Satyabhama had become envious of her co-
wife and had immediately demanded a similar flower from Krsna.
In fact, she could not be pacified until she was promised the
whole tree. And Krsna actually fulfilled His promise: He
brought the tree down to the earth planet from the heavenly
kingdom. After this episode, Krsna expected that because
Satyabhama had been rewarded with a full tree of parijata,
Rukmini would also demand something. Rukmini did not mention
anything of the incident, however, for she was grave and simply
satisfied in her service. Krsna wanted to see her a bit
irritated, and therefore He schemed to see the
beautiful face of Rukmini in an irritated condition. Although
Krsna had more than 16,100 wives, He used to behave with each
of them with familial affection; He would create a particular
situation between Himself and His wife in which the wife would
criticize Him in the irritation of love, and Krsna would enjoy
this. In this case, because Krsna could not find any fault with
Rukmini, for she was very grave and always engaged in His
service, He smilingly, in great love, began to speak to her
just to provoke her loving anger. Rukmini was the daughter of
Bhismaka, a powerful king. Thus Krsna did not address her
as Rukmini; He addressed her this time as the princess. "My
dear princess, it is very surprising. Many great personalities
in the royal order wanted to marry you. Although not all of
them were kings, all possessed the opulence and riches of the
kingly order; they were well behaved, learned, famous among
kings, beautiful in their bodily features and personal
qualifications, liberal, very powerful in strength, and
advanced in every respect. They were not unfit in any way, and
over and above that, your father and your brother had no
objection to such a marriage. On the contrary, they
gave their word of honor that you would be married with
Sisupala. Indeed, the marriage was sanctioned by both your
parents. Sisupala was a great king and was so lusty and mad
after your beauty that if he had married you I think he would
always have remained with you just like your faithful servant.
"In comparison to Sisupala, with his personal qualities, I am
nothing. And you may personally realize it. I am surprised that
you rejected the marriage with Sisupala and accepted Me, who am
inferior in comparison to Sisupala. I think Myself completely
unfit to be your husband because you are so beautiful, sober,
grave and exalted. May I inquire from you the reason that
induced you to accept Me? Now, of course, I may address you as
My beautiful wife, but still I may inform you of My actual
position -- that I am inferior to all those princes who wanted
to marry you.
"First of all, you may know that I was so much afraid of
Jarasandha that I could not dare live on the land, and thus
I have constructed this house within the water of the sea. It
is not My business to disclose this secret to others, but you
must know that I am not very heroic; I am a coward and am
afraid of My enemies. Still I am not safe, because all the
great kings of the land are inimical to Me. I have personally
created this inimical feeling by fighting with them in many
ways. Another fault is that although I am on the throne of
Dvaraka, I have no immediate claim. Although I got a kingdom by
killing My maternal uncle, Kamsa, the kingdom was to go to My
grandfather; so actually I have no possession of a kingdom.
Besides that, I have no fixed aim in life. People cannot
understand Me very well. What is the ultimate goal of My life?
They know very well that I was a cowherd boy in Vrndavana.
People expected that I would follow in the footsteps of My
foster father, Nanda Maharaja, and be faithful to Srimati
Radharani and all Her friends in the village of Vrndavana. But
all of a sudden I left them. I wanted to become a famous prince.
Still I could not have any kingdom, nor could I rule as a
prince. People are bewildered about My ultimate goal of life;
they do not know whether I am a cowherd boy or a prince,
whether I am the son of Nanda Maharaja or the son of Vasudeva.
Because I have no fixed aim in life, people may call Me a
vagabond. Therefore, I am surprised that you could select such
a vagabond husband.
"Besides this, I am not very much polished, even in social
etiquette. A person should be satisfied with one wife, but you
see that I have married many times, and I have more than
sixteen thousand wives. I cannot please all of them as a
polished husband. My behavior with them is not very nice, and I
know that you are very conscious of it. I sometimes create
a situation with My wives which is not very happy. Because I
was trained in a village in My childhood, I am not well
acquainted with the etiquette of urban life. I do not know the
way to please a wife with nice words and behavior. And from
practical experience it is found that any woman who follows My
way or becomes attracted to Me is ultimately left to cry for
the rest of her life. In Vrndavana, many gopis were attracted
to Me, and now I have left them, and they are living but are
simply crying for Me in separation. I have heard from Akrura
and Uddhava that since I left Vrndavana all My cowherd
boyfriends, the gopis and Radharani, and My foster
father, Nanda Maharaja, are simply crying constantly for Me. I
have left Vrndavana for good and am now engaged with the queens
in Dvaraka, but I am not well behaved with any of you. So you
can very easily understand that I have no steadiness of
character; I am not a very reliable husband. The net result of
being attracted to Me is to acquire a life of bereavement only.
"My dear beautiful princess, you may also know that I am always
penniless. Just after My birth, I was carried penniless to the
house of Nanda Maharaja, and I was raised just like a cowherd
boy. Although My foster father possessed many hundreds of
thousands of cows, I was not the proprietor of even one of them.
I was simply entrusted with taking care of them and tending
them, but I was not the proprietor. Here also I am not the
proprietor of anything, but am always penniless. There is no
cause to lament for such a penniless condition; I possessed
nothing in the past, so why should I lament that I do not
possess anything at present? You may note also that My devotees
are not very opulent; they also are very poor in
worldly goods. Persons who are very rich, possessing worldly
wealth, are not interested in devotion to Me, or Krsna
consciousness. On the contrary, when a person becomes penniless,
whether by force or by circumstances, he may become interested
in Me if he gets the proper opportunity. Persons who are proud
of their riches, even if they are offered association with My
devotees, do not take advantage of consciousness of Me. In
other words, the poorer class of men may have some interest in
Me, but rich men have no interest. I think,
therefore, that your selection of Me was not very intelligent.
You appear very intelligent, trained by your father and
brother, but ultimately you have made a great mistake in
selecting your life's companion.
"But there is no harm; the mistake can still be rectified, and
it is better late than never. You are at liberty to select a
suitable husband who is actually an equal to you in opulence,
family tradition, wealth, beauty, education -- in all respects.
Whatever mistakes you may have made may be forgotten. Now you
may chalk out your own lucrative path of life. Usually a person
does not establish a marital relationship with a person who is
either higher or lower than his position. My dear daughter of
the King of Vidarbha, I think you did not consider very
sagaciously before your marriage. Thus you made a wrong
selection by choosing Me as your husband. You mistakenly heard
about My having very exalted character, although factually I
was nothing more than a beggar. Without seeing Me and My actual
position, simply by hearing about Me, you selected Me as your
husband. That was not very rightly done. Therefore,
since it is better late than never, I advise you to now select
one of the great ksatriya princes and accept him as your life's
companion, and you may reject Me."
Krsna was proposing that Rukmini divorce Him at a time when
Rukmini already had many grown-up children. Therefore Krsna's
whole proposition appeared to be something
unexpected because according to the Vedic culture there was no
such thing as separation of husband and wife by divorce. Nor
was it possible for Rukmini to choose a new husband at her
advanced age, when she had many married sons. To Rukmini
every one of Krsna's proposals appeared crazy,
and she was surprised that Krsna could say such things. Simple
as she was, her anxiety was increasing more and more at the
thought of separation from Krsna.
Krsna continued: "After all, you have to prepare yourself for
your next life. I therefore advise that you select someone who
can help you in both this life and the next, for I am
completely unable to help. My dear beautiful princess, you know
that all the members of the princely order, including Sisupala,
Salva, Jarasandha, Dantavakra and even your elder brother Rukmi,
are My enemies; they do not like Me at all. They hate Me
from the cores of their hearts. All these princes were very
much puffed up with their worldly possessions and did not
care a fig for anyone who came before them. In order to teach
them some lessons, I agreed to kidnap you according to your
desire; otherwise I actually have no love for you, although you
loved Me even before the marriage.
"As I have already explained, I am not very much interested in
family life or love between husband and wife. By nature, I am
not very fond of family life, wife, children, home and
opulences. As My devotees are always neglectful of all these
worldly possessions, I am also like that. Actually, I am
interested in self-realization; that gives Me pleasure, and not
this family life." After submitting His statement, Lord Krsna
suddenly stopped.
The great authority Sukadeva Gosvami remarks that Krsna almost
always passed His time with Rukmini, and Rukmini was a bit
proud to be so fortunate that Krsna never left her even for a
moment. Krsna, however, does not like any of His devotees to be
proud. As soon as a devotee becomes so, by some tactic He cuts
down that pride. In this case also, Krsna said many things
which were hard for Rukmini to hear. She could only conclude
that although she was proud of her position, Krsna could be
separated from her at any moment.
Rukmini was conscious that her husband was not an ordinary
human being. He was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the
master of the three worlds. By the way He was speaking, she was
afraid of being separated from the Lord, for she had never
heard such harsh words from Krsna before. Thus she became
perplexed with fear of separation, and her heart began to
palpitate. Without replying to a word of Krsna's statement, she
simply cried in great anxiety, as if drowning in an
ocean of grief. She silently scratched the floor with
her toenails, which reflected reddish light
on the floor. The tears from her eyes mixed with
the black cosmetic ointment from her eyelids and dropped
down, washing the kunkuma and saffron from
her breasts. Choked up on account of great anxiety, unable to
speak even a word, she kept her head downward and remained
standing just like a stick. Due to extremely painful
fear and lamentation, she lost all her powers
of reason and became weak, her body losing
so much weight that the bangles on her wrists became slack.
The camara with which she was serving Krsna immediately
fell from her hand. Her brain and memory became puzzled, and
she lost consciousness. The nicely combed hair on her head
scattered here and there, and she fell down straight, like a
banana tree cut down by a whirlwind.
Lord Krsna immediately realized that Rukmini had not taken His
words in a joking spirit. She had taken them very seriously,
and in her extreme anxiety over immediate separation from Him,
she had fallen into this condition. Lord Sri Krsna is naturally
very affectionate toward His devotees, and when He saw
Rukmini's condition, His heart immediately softened. At
once He became merciful to her. The relationship between
Rukmini and Krsna was like that between Laksmi and Narayana;
therefore, Krsna appeared before Rukmini in His four-handed
manifestation of Narayana. He got down from the bedstead,
lifted her up by her hands and, placing His cooling hands on
her face, smoothed the scattered hair on her head. Lord Krsna
dried the wet breasts of Rukminiji with His hand. Understanding
the seriousness of Rukmini's love for Him, He embraced her to
His chest.
The Supreme Personality is expert in putting a thing
reasonably for one's understanding, and thus He tried to
retract all that He had said before. He is the only resort for
all devotees, and so He knows very well how to satisfy His
pure devotees. Krsna understood that Rukmini could not follow
the statements He had made in a joking way. To counteract
her confusion, He spoke as follows.
"My dear daughter of King Vidarbha, My dear Rukmini, please do
not misunderstand Me. Don't be unkind to Me like this. I know
that you are sincerely and seriously attached to Me; you are My
eternal companion. The words which have affected you so much
are not factual. I wanted to irritate you a bit, and I was
expecting you to make counteranswers to those joking
words. Unfortunately, you have taken them seriously; I am very
sorry for it. I expected that your red lips would tremble in
anger when you heard My statement and that you would
chastise Me with many words. O perfection of love, I never
expected that your condition would be like this. I expected
that you would cast your unblinking glance upon Me in
retaliation and that I would thus be able to see your
beautiful face in that angry mood.
"My dear beautiful wife, you know that because we are
householders we are always busy in many household affairs and
long for a time when we can enjoy some joking words between
us. That is our ultimate gain in household life." Actually,
householders work very hard day and night, but all fatigue of
the day's labor is minimized as soon as they meet, husband
and wife together, and enjoy life in many ways. Lord Krsna
wanted to exhibit Himself as being like an ordinary
householder who delights himself by exchanging joking words
with his wife. He therefore repeatedly requested Rukmini not to
take those words very seriously.
In this way, when Lord Krsna pacified Rukmini by His sweet
words, she could understand that what He had formerly
said was not actually meant seriously but was spoken to evoke
some joking pleasure between themselves. She was therefore
pacified by hearing the words of Krsna. Gradually she was freed
from all fear of separation from Him, and she began to
look at His face very cheerfully with her naturally smiling
face. She said, "My dear lotus-eyed Lord, Your statement that
we are not a fit combination is completely right. It is not
possible for me to come to an equal level with You, for You
are the reservoir of all qualities, the unlimited Supreme
Personality of Godhead. How can I be a fit match for You? There
is no possibility of comparison with You, who are the master of
all greatness, the controller of the three qualities and the
object of worship for great demigods like Brahma and Lord Siva.
As far as I am concerned, I am a product of the three modes
of material nature,
which impede the progressive advancement of devotional
service. When and where can I be a fit match for You? My dear
husband, You have rightly said that
You have taken shelter in the water of the sea as if You
were afraid of the kings. But who are the kings of this
material world? I do not think that the so-called royal
families are kings of the material world. The kings of the
material world are the three modes of material nature, who are
actually its controllers. You are
situated in the core of everyone's heart, where You remain
completely aloof from the touch of the three modes of material
nature, and there is no doubt about it.
"You say You always maintain enmity with the worldly kings. But
who are the worldly kings? I think the worldly kings are the
senses. They are most formidable, and they control everyone.
Certainly You maintain enmity with these material senses. You
are never under the control of the senses; rather, You are the
controller of the senses, Hrsikesa.
"My dear Lord, You have said that You are bereft of all royal
power, and that is also correct. Not only are You bereft of
supremacy over the material world, but even Your servants,
those who have some attachment to Your lotus feet, also give up
supremacy over the material world because they consider the
material position to be the darkest region, which checks the
progress of spiritual enlightenment. Your servants do not like
material supremacy, so what to speak of You? My dear Lord, Your
statement that You do not act as an ordinary person with a
particular aim in life is also perfectly correct. Even Your
great devotees and servants, known as great sages and saintly
persons, remain in such a state that no one can get any clue as
to the aim of their lives. Human society considers them crazy
and cynical. Their aim of life remains a mystery to the common
human being; the lowest of mankind can know neither You nor
Your servants. A contaminated human being cannot even imagine
the pastimes of You and Your devotees. O unlimited one, when
the activities and endeavors of Your devotees remain a mystery
to the common human beings, how can Your motives and endeavors
be understood by them? All kinds of energies and opulences are
engaged in Your service, but still they rest at Your shelter.
"You have described Yourself as penniless, but this condition
is not poverty. Since there is nothing in existence but
You, You do not need to possess anything -- You
Yourself are everything. Unlike others, You do not require to
purchase anything extraneously. With You all contrary things
can be adjusted because You are absolute. You do not possess
anything, but no one is richer than You. In the material world,
no one can be rich without possessing. Since Your Lordship is
absolute, You can adjust the contradiction of possessing
nothing but at the same time being the richest. In the Vedas it
is stated that although You have no material hands and legs,
You accept everything offered in devotion by the
devotees. You have no material eyes and ears, but still You can
see and hear everything
everywhere. Although You do not possess anything, the great
demigods who accept prayers and worship from others come and
worship You to solicit Your mercy. How can You be categorized
among the poor?
"My dear Lord, You have also stated that the richest section of
human society does not worship You. This is also correct,
because persons who are puffed up with material possessions
think of utilizing their property for sense gratification. When
a poverty-stricken man becomes rich, he makes a program for
sense gratification due to his ignorance of how to
utilize his hard-earned money. Under the spell of the external
energy, he thinks that his money is properly employed in sense
gratification, and thus he neglects to render You
transcendental service. My dear Lord, You have stated that
persons who possess nothing are very dear to You; renouncing
everything, Your devotee wants to possess You only. I see,
therefore, that a great sage like Narada Muni, who does not
possess any material property, is still very dear to You. And
such persons do not care for anything but Your Lordship.
"My dear Lord, You have stated that a marriage between persons
equal in social standing, beauty, riches, strength,
influence and renunciation can be a suitable match. But this
status of life can be possible only by Your grace. You are
the supreme perfectional source of all opulences. Whatever
opulent status one may have is all derived from You. As
described in the Vedanta-sutra, janmady asya yatah [SB 1.1.
1] -- You are the supreme source from which everything emanates,
the reservoir of all pleasures. Therefore, persons
endowed with knowledge desire only to achieve You, and nothing
else. To achieve Your favor, they give up everything -- even
the transcendental realization of Brahman. You are the supreme,
ultimate goal of life. You are the reservoir of all interests
of the living entities. Those who are actually well motivated
desire only You, and for this reason they give up everything to
attain success. They therefore deserve to associate
with You. In the society of the servitors and served in Krsna
consciousness, one is not subjected to the pains and pleasures
of material society, which functions according to sex
attraction. Therefore everyone, whether man or woman, should
seek to be an associate in Your society of servitors and served.
You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead; no one can excel
You, nor can anyone come up to an equal level with You. The
perfect social system is that in which You remain in the center,
being served as the Supreme, and all others engage as Your
servitors. In such a perfectly constructed society, everyone
can remain eternally happy and blissful.
"My Lord, You have stated that only the beggars praise Your
glories, and that is also perfectly correct. But who are those
beggars? Those beggars are all exalted devotees, liberated
personalities and those in the renounced order of life. They
are all great souls and devotees who have no other business
than to glorify You. Such great souls forgive even the worst
offenders. These so-called beggars execute their spiritual
advancement in life, tolerating all tribulations in
the material world. My dear husband, do not think that
I accepted You as my husband out of my
inexperience; actually, I followed all these great souls. I
followed the path of these great beggars and decided to
surrender my life unto Your lotus feet.
"You have said that You are penniless, and that is correct, for
You distribute Yourself completely to these great souls and
devotees. Knowing this fact perfectly well, I rejected even
such great personalities as Lord Brahma and King Indra. My
Lord, the great time factor acts under Your direction only. The
time factor is so great and powerful that within moments it can
effect devastation anywhere within the creation. Considering
all these factors, I thought Jarasandha, Sisupala and similar
princes who wanted to marry me to be no more important
than ordinary insects.
"My dear all-powerful son of Vasudeva, Your statement that You
have taken shelter within the water of the ocean out of
fear of all the great princes is quite unsuitable, for my
experience with You contradicts this. I have actually seen that
You kidnapped me forcibly in the presence of all these princes.
At the time of my marriage ceremony, simply by giving a jerk to
the string of Your bow, You very easily drove the others away
and kindly gave me shelter at Your lotus feet. I still remember
vividly how You kidnapped me in the same way that a lion
forcibly takes its share of hunted booty, driving away all
small animals within the twinkling of an eye.
"My dear lotus-eyed Lord, I cannot understand Your statement
that women and other persons who have taken shelter under Your
lotus feet pass their days only in bereavement. From the
history of the world we can see that princes like Anga, Prthu,
Bharata, Yayati and Gaya were all great emperors of the world,
and there were no competitors to their exalted positions. But
in order to achieve the favor of Your lotus feet, they
renounced their exalted positions and entered the forest
to practice penances and austerities. When they voluntarily
accepted such a position, accepting Your lotus feet as all in
all, does it mean that they were in lamentation and bereavement?
"My dear Lord, You have advised me that I can still select
another from the princely order and divorce myself from Your
companionship. But, my dear Lord, it is perfectly well known to
me that You are the reservoir of all good qualities. Great
saintly persons like Narada Muni are always engaged simply in
glorifying Your transcendental characteristics. Someone who
simply takes shelter of such a saintly person immediately
becomes freed from all material contamination. And when he
comes in direct contact with Your service, the goddess of
fortune agrees to bestow all her blessings. Under the
circumstances, what woman who has once heard of Your glories
from authoritative sources and has somehow or other relished
the nectarean fragrance of Your lotus feet would be
foolish enough to agree to marry someone of this material world,
who is always afraid of death, disease, old age and rebirth? I
have therefore accepted Your lotus feet not without
consideration but after mature and deliberate decision. My
dear Lord, You are the master of the three worlds. You can
fulfill all the desires of all Your devotees in this world and
the next because You are the Supreme Soul of everyone. I have
therefore selected You as my husband, considering You to be the
only fit personality. You may throw me in any species of life
according to the reactions of my fruitive activities, and I
haven't the least concern for this. My only ambition is that I
may always remain fast to Your lotus feet, for You can
deliver Your devotees from illusory material existence and are
always prepared to distribute Yourself to Your devotees.
"My dear Lord, You have advised me to select one of the princes
such as Sisupala, Jarasandha or Dantavakra, but what is their
position in this world? They are always engaged in hard labor
to maintain their household life, just like the bulls working
hard day and night with an oil-pressing machine. They are
compared to asses, beasts of burden. They are always dishonored
like dogs, and they are miserly like cats. They have
sold themselves like slaves to their wives. Any unfortunate
woman who has never heard of Your glories may accept such a man
as her husband, but a woman who has learned about You -- that
You are praised not only in this world but in the halls of the
great demigods like Lord Brahma and Lord Siva -- will not
accept anyone besides You as her husband. A man within
this material world is just a dead body. In fact, superficially,
the living entity is covered by this body, which is nothing
but a bag of skin decorated with a beard and mustache,
hairs on the body, nails on the fingers, and hairs on the head.
Within this decorated bag are bunches of muscles, bundles
of bones, and pools of blood, always mixed with stool, urine,
mucus, bile and polluted air and enjoyed by different kinds
of insects and germs. A foolish woman accepts such a dead body
as her husband and, in sheer misunderstanding, loves him as her
dear companion. This is possible only because such a woman
has never relished the ever-blissful fragrance of Your lotus
feet.
"My dear lotus-eyed husband, You are self-satisfied. You do not
care whether or not I am beautiful or qualified; You are not at
all concerned about it. Therefore Your nonattachment for me is
not at all astonishing; it is quite natural. You cannot be
attached to any woman, however exalted her position and beauty.
Whether You are attached to me or not, may my devotion and
attention be always engaged at Your lotus feet. The material
mode of passion is also Your creation, so when You passionately
glance upon me, I accept it as the greatest boon of my life. I
am ambitious only for such auspicious moments."
After hearing Rukmini's statement and her clarification of each
and every word He had used to arouse her anger of love
toward Him, Krsna addressed Rukmini as follows: "My dear chaste
wife, My dear princess, I expected such an
explanation from you, and only for this purpose did I speak
all those joking words, so that you might be cheated of the
real point of view. Now My purpose has been served. The
wonderful explanation you have given of My every
word is completely factual and approved by Me. O most
beautiful Rukmini, you are My dearmost wife. I am greatly
pleased to understand how much love you have for Me. Please
take it for granted that no matter what ambition and desire you
might have and no matter what you might expect from Me, I am
always at your service. And it is a fact also that My devotees,
My dearmost friends and servitors, are always free from
material contamination, even though they are not inclined to
ask Me for such liberation. My devotees never desire
anything from Me except to be engaged in My service. And yet
because they are completely dependent upon Me, even if they are
found to ask something from Me, that is not material. Such
ambitions and desires, instead of becoming the cause of
material bondage, become the source of liberation from this
material world.
"My dear chaste and pious wife, I have tested, on the basis of
strict chastity, your love for your husband, and you have
passed the examination most successfully. I have purposely
agitated you by speaking many words not applicable
to your character, but I am surprised to see that not a pinch
of your devotion to Me has been deviated from its fixed
position. My dear wife, I am the bestower of all benedictions,
even up to the standard of liberation from this material world,
and it is I only who can stop the continuation of material
existence and call one back home, back to Godhead. One whose
devotion for Me is adulterated worships Me for some material
benefit, just to keep himself in the world of material
happiness, culminating in the pleasure of sex life. One who
engages himself in severe penances and austerities just to
attain this material happiness is certainly under the illusion
of My external energy. Persons who are engaged in My devotional
service simply for the purpose of material gain and sense
gratification are certainly very foolish, for
material happiness based on sex life is available in the most
abominable species of life, such as the hogs and dogs. No one
should try to approach Me for such happiness, which is
available even if one is put into a hellish condition of life.
It is better, therefore, for persons who are simply after
material happiness and not after Me to remain in that hellish
condition."
Material contamination is so strong that everyone is working
very hard day and night for material happiness. The show of
religion, austerity, penance, humanitarianism,
philanthropy, politics, science -- everything is aimed at
realizing some material benefit. For the immediate success of
material benefit, materialistic persons generally worship
different demigods, and under the spell of material
propensities they sometimes take to the devotional service of
the Lord. But sometimes it so happens that if a person
sincerely serves the Lord and at the same time maintains
material ambitions, the Lord very kindly removes the sources of
material happiness. Not finding any recourse in material
happiness, the devotee then engages himself absolutely in pure
devotional service.
Lord Krsna continued: "My dear best of queens, I
clearly understand that you have no material ambition;
your only purpose is to serve Me, and you have long been
engaged in unalloyed service. Exemplary unalloyed devotional
service not only can bestow upon the devotee liberation from
this material world, but it also promotes him to the spiritual
world to be eternally engaged in My service. Persons
too much addicted to material happiness cannot render such
service. Women whose hearts are polluted and full of material
desires devise various means of sense gratification while
outwardly showing themselves to be great devotees.
"My dear honored wife, although I have thousands of wives, I do
not think that any one of them can love Me more than you. The
practical proof of your extraordinary position is that although
you had never seen Me before our marriage and had simply
heard about Me from a third person, still your faith in Me
was so much fixed that even in the presence of many qualified,
rich and beautiful men of the royal order, you did not select
any one of them as your husband but insisted on having Me.
As a result of the fight, I defeated him
mercilessly and disfigured his body. At the time of Aniruddha's
marriage, when we were all playing chess, there was
another fight with your brother Rukmi on a controversial verbal
point, and My elder brother, Balarama, finally killed him. I
was surprised to see that you did not utter even a word of
protest over this incident. Because of your great anxiety that
you might be separated from Me, you suffered all the
consequences without speaking even a word. As the result of
this great silence, My dear wife, you have purchased Me for all
time; I have come eternally under your control. You sent your
messenger inviting Me to kidnap you, and when you found
that there was a little delay in My arriving on the spot, you
saw the whole world as vacant. At that time you
concluded that your beautiful body was not fit to be touched by
anyone else; therefore, thinking that I was not coming, you
decided to commit suicide and immediately end that body. My
dear Rukmini, such great and exalted love for Me will always
remain within My soul. As far as I am concerned, it is not
within My power to repay you for your unalloyed devotion to Me."
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, certainly has no
business being anyone's husband or son or father, because
everything belongs to Him and everyone is under His control. He
does not require anyone's help for His satisfaction. He is
atmarama, self-satisfied; He can derive all pleasure by Himself,
without anyone's help. But when the Lord descends to play the
part of a human being, He plays a role either as a husband, son,
friend or enemy in full perfection. As such, when He was
playing as the perfect husband of the queens, especially of
Rukminiji, He enjoyed conjugal love in complete perfection.
According to Vedic culture, although polygamy is allowed, none
of one's wives should be ill-treated. In other words, one may
take many wives only if he is able to satisfy all of them
equally as an ideal householder; otherwise it is not allowed.
Lord Krsna is the world teacher; therefore, even though He had
no need for a wife, He expanded Himself into as many forms as
He had wives, and He lived with them as an ideal householder,
observing the regulative principles, rules and commitments in
accordance with the Vedic injunctions and the social laws and
customs of society. For each of His 16,108 wives, He
simultaneously maintained different palaces, different
establishments and different atmospheres. Thus the Lord,
although one, exhibited Himself as 16,108 ideal householders.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Sixtieth
Chapter of Krsna, "Talks Between Krsna and Rukmini."
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