Srimati Rukmini Devi
741203SB.BOM Laksmiji. Not one Laksmiji, sata-sahasra. Laksmi-sahasra-sata-sambhrama-sevyamanam. Narayana is being worshiped by many thousands of goddess of fortune, sambhrama, with great fear. Just like Rukmini-devi. She is Laksmi-devi, and she was always afraid of Krsna, that "He may not leave me away," always afraid. Sometimes Krsna was joking with Rukmini-devi, "My dear Rukmini-devi, raja-kanya, you are the daughter of a king, and you, it was better you could have married Sisupala. I am simply a cowherd boy." In this way, husband and wife, joking. Krsna was joking. And Laksmi, Rukmini-devi, became so afraid that immediately she fainted, that "Krsna is now finding out the way to give me up."
SB 1.10.29 The children of these ladies are Pradyumna, Samba, Amba, etc: Ladies like Rukmini, Satyabhama and Jambavati were forcibly taken away by Him from their svayamvara ceremonies after He defeated many powerful kings, headed by Sisupala. And other ladies were also forcibly taken away by Him after He killed Bhaumasura and thousands of his assistants. All of these ladies are glorious.
Exceptionally qualified daughters of powerful kings were allowed to make a choice of their own bridegrooms in open competition, and such ceremonies were called svayamvara, or selection of the bridegroom. Because the svayamvara was an open competition between the rival and valiant princes, such princes were invited by the father of the princess, and usually there were regular fights between the invited princely order in a sporting spirit. But it so happened that sometimes the belligerent princes were killed in such marriage-fighting, and the victorious prince was offered the trophy princess for whom so many princes died.
Rukmini, the principal queen of Lord Krsna, was the daughter of the King of Vidarbha, who wished that his qualified and beautiful daughter be given away to Lord Krsna. But her eldest brother wanted her to be given away to King Sisupala, who happened to be a cousin of Krsna. So there was open competition, and as usual Lord Krsna emerged successful, after harassing Sisupala and other princes by His unrivalled prowess. Rukmini had ten sons, like Pradyumna. There were other queens also taken away by Lord Krsna in a similar way. Full description of this beautiful prize of Lord Krsna will be given in the Tenth Canto. There were 16,100 beautiful girls who were daughters of many kings and were forcibly stolen by Bhaumasura, who kept them captive for his carnal desire. These girls prayed piteously to Lord Krsna for their deliverance, and the merciful Lord, called by their fervent prayer, released them all by fighting and killing Bhaumasura.
All these captive princesses were then accepted by the Lord as His wives, although in the estimation of society they were all fallen girls. The all-powerful Lord Krsna accepted the humble prayers of these girls and married them with the adoration of queens. So altogether Lord Krsna had 16,108 queens at Dvaraka, and in each of them He begot ten children. All these children grew up, and each had as many children as the father. The aggregate of the family numbered 10,000,000.
SB 1.11.16-17 Lord Krsna' s Entrance into Dvaraka: Pradyumna: Incarnation of Kamadeva or, according to others, incarnation of Sanat-kumara, born as the son of the Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Krsna and Laksmidevi Srimati Rukmini, the principal queen at Dvaraka. He was one of those who went to congratulate Arjuna upon his marrying Subhadra. He was one of the great generals who fought with Salva, and while fighting with him he became unconscious on the battlefield. His charioteer brought him back to the camp from the battlefield, and for this action he was very sorry and rebuked his charioteer. However, he fought again with Salva and was victorious. He is one of the four plenary expansions of Lord Sri Krsna. He is the third one. He inquired from his father, Sri Krsna, about the glories of the brahmanas. During the fratricidal war amongst the descendants of Yadu, he died at the hand of Bhoja, another king of the Vrsnis. After his death, he was installed in his original position.
SB 3.3.3 Attracted by the beauty and fortune of Rukmini, the daughter of King Bhismaka, many great princes and kings assembled to marry her. But Lord Krsna. stepping over the other hopeful candidates, carried her away as His own share, as Garuda carried away nectar.
PURPORT
Princess Rukmini, the daughter of King Bhismaka, was actually as attractive as fortune itself because she was as valuable as gold both in color and in value. Since the goddess of fortune, Laksmi, is the property of the Supreme Lord, Rukmini was actually meant for Lord Krsna. But Sisupala was selected as her bridegroom by Rukmini's elder brother, although King Bhismaka wanted his daughter to be married to Krsna. Rukmini invited Krsna to take her away from the clutches of Sisupala, so when the bridegroom, Sisupala, came there with his party with the desire to marry Rukmini, Krsna all of a sudden swept her from the scene, stepping over the heads of all the princes there, just as Garuda carried away nectar from the hands of the demons. This incident will be clearly explained in the Tenth Canto.
SB 3.20.25 It is the devotee's inclination to worship a particular form, and he engages in devotional service to that form. In a verse in the Ramayana, Hanuman, the great devotee of Rama, said, "I know that there is no difference between the Sita-Rama and Laksmi-Narayana forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but nevertheless, the form of Rama and Sita has absorbed my affection and love. Therefore I want to see the Lord in the forms of Rama and Sita." Similarly, the Gaudiya Vaisnava loves the forms of Radha and Krsna, and Krsna and Rukmini at Dvaraka. The words bhaktanam anurupatma-darsanam mean that the Lord is always pleased to favor the devotee in the particular form in which the devotee wants to worship and render service unto Him. In this verse it is stated that Brahma approached Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This form of the Lord is Ksirodakasayi Visnu.
Whenever there is some trouble and Brahma has to approach the Lord, he can approach Ksirodakasayi Visnu, and it is the grace of the Lord that whenever Brahma approaches about disturbances in the universe, the Lord gives him relief in so many ways.
SB 3.22.16 To give a daughter in charity to a suitable son-in-law is considered to be one of the pious activities of a householder. There are eight forms of marriage mentioned in the scripture Manu-smrti, but only one process of marriage, brahma or rajasika marriage, is now current. Other kinds of marriage-- by love, by exchange of garlands or by kidnapping the bride-- are now forbidden in this Kali age. Formerly, ksatriyas would, at their pleasure, kidnap a princess from another royal house, and there would he a fight between the ksatriya and the girl's family; then, if the kidnapper was the winner, the girl would be offered to him for marriage. Even Krsna married Rukmini by that process, and some of His sons and grandsons also married by kidnapping. Krsna's grandsons kidnapped Duryodhana's daughter, which caused a fight between the Kuru and Yadu families. Afterward, an adjustment was made by the elderly members of the Kuru family. Such marriages were current in bygone ages, but at the present moment they are impossible because the strict principles of ksatriya life have practically been abolished. Since India has become dependent on foreign countries, the particular influences of her social orders have been lost; now, according to the scriptures, everyone is a sudra.
SB 4.23.25 We can observe that even in the history of this world, when Lord Krsna, the supreme Visnu, was ruling over Dvaraka, Queen Rukmini, who was the chief of all Krsna's queens, used to serve Lord Krsna personally in spite of having many hundreds of maidservants to assist her. Similarly, the goddess of fortune in the Vaikuntha planets also serves Narayana personally, although there are many thousands of devotees prepared to serve the Lord. This practice is also followed by the wives of the demigods, and in days past the wives of men also followed this same principle. In Vedic civilization the husband and wife were not separated by such man-made laws as divorce. We should understand the necessity for maintaining family life in human society and should thus abolish this artificial law known as divorce. The husband and wife should live in Krsna consciousness and follow in the footsteps of Laksmi-Narayana or Krsna-Rukmini. In this way peace and harmony can be possible within this world.
SB 10 Chapter Fifty-two contains forty-four verses. In this chapter, Mucukunda offers prayers to Krsna, and then Krsna kills all the soldiers of Kalayavana and returns to Dvaraka with their booty. When Jarasandha attacked Mathura again, Rama and Krsna, as if afraid of him, fled to the top of a mountain, to which Jarasandha then set fire. Unseen by Jarasandha, Krsna and Balarama jumped from the mountain and entered Dvaraka, which was surrounded by the sea. Jarasandha, thinking that Krsna and Balarama had been killed, returned with his soldiers to his own country, and Krsna continued to live in Dvaraka. Rukmini, the daughter of Vidarbha, was very much attracted to Krsna, and she sent Krsna a letter through a brahmana. Chapter Fifty-three contains fifty-seven verses. Following Rukmini's request, Krsna went to the city of Vidarbha and kidnapped her in the presence of such enemies as Jarasandha. Chapter Fifty-four contains sixty verses. As described in this chapter, Krsna defeated all the opposing princes and disfigured Rukmini's brother Rukmi. Then Krsna returned with Rukmini to Dvaraka, where they were united in a regular marriage. Rukmi, however, remained in a place known as Bhojakata, being angry at his brother-in-law, Krsna. Chapter Fifty-five, containing forty verses, describes the birth of Pradyumna, how Pradyumna was kidnapped by Sambarasura, and how Pradyumna later killed Sambarasura and returned to Dvaraka with
his wife, Ratidevi.
SB 10.2.11-12 P Because Krsna and His energy appeared simultaneously, people have generally formed two groups--the saktas and the Vaisnavas--and sometimes there is rivalry between them. Essentially, those who are interested in material enjoyment are saktas, and those interested in spiritual salvation and attaining the spiritual kingdom are Vaisnavas.
Because people are generally interested in material enjoyment, they are interested in worshiping Mayadevi, the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Vaisnavas, however, are suddha-saktas, or pure
bhaktas, because the Hare Krsna maha-mantra indicates worship of the Supreme Lord's energy, Hara. A Vaisnava prays to the energy of the Lord for the opportunity to serve the Lord along with His spiritual
energy. Thus Vaisnavas all worship such Deities as Radha-Krsna, Sita-Rama, Laksmi-Narayana and Rukmini-Dvarakadhisa, whereas durga-saktas worship the material energy under different names.
Adi 14.62 According to the Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika, verse 45, Laksmi was formerly Janaki, the wife of Lord Ramacandra, and Rukmini, the wife of Lord Krsna in Dvaraka. The same goddess of fortune descended as Laksmi to become the wife of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Adi 15.29 Vanamali Ghataka, a resident of Navadvipa and a brahmana by caste, arranged the marriage of the Lord to Laksmidevi. He was formerly Visvamitra, who negotiated the marriage of Lord Ramacandra, and later he was the brahmana who negotiated the marriage of Lord Krsna with Rukmini. That same brahmana acted as the marriage-maker of the Lord in caitanya-lila.
Madhya 8.90 Even a devotee of the Personality of Godhead Narayana cannot actually understand the transcendental attractive features of Krsna. Indeed, a devotee of Krsna who is attached to the sublime attractive features of the Lord does not consider Narayana very important. When the gopis sometimes saw
Although according to the material conception Narayana, Rukmini-ramana and Krsna are one and the same, in the spiritual world one cannot use the name Rukmini-ramana or Narayana in place of the name Krsna. If one does so out of a poor fund of knowledge, his mellow with the Lord becomes spiritually faulty and is called rasabhasa, an overlapping of transcendental mellows. The advanced devotee who has actually realized
the transcendental features of the Lord will not commit the mistake of creating a rasabhasa situation by using one name for another. Because of the influence of Kali-yuga, there is much rasabhasa in the name of
extravagance and liberal-mindedness. Such fanaticism is not very much appreciated by pure devotees.
Madhya 19.202 This verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.60.24) refers to Krsna's speaking to Rukmini in His bedroom. Just to test her sincerity, He began to joke with her, presenting Himself as poor, incapable and
unfit to be her lover. Not understanding that He was joking, Rukmini took Him seriously and thought that He wanted to leave her company. This misunderstanding made her very unhappy, and her whole body was
affected. Her fan and bangles fell to the floor, and she also fell down like a banana tree knocked down by high winds.
TLC 30 Because the Lord is on the absolute platform, there is no difference between the holy name of the Lord and the Supreme Lord Himself. There are different names for the Supreme Lord, and these names have different purposes and meanings. For instance, He is known as Paramatma, the Supersoul, Brahman the Supreme Absolute, Srstikarta the creator, Narayana the transcendental Lord, Rukminiramana the
husband of Rukmini, Gopinatha the enjoyer of the gopis, and Krsna. In this way the Lord has different names, and these names indicate different functions.
The aspect of the Supreme Lord as the creator is different from the aspect of the Lord as Narayana. Some of the names of the Lord as the creator are conceived by materialistic men. One cannot fully realize the essence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by understanding the name of the creator because this material creation is a function of the external energy of the Supreme Lord.
Thus the conception of God as the creator includes only the external feature. Similarly, when we call the Supreme Lord Brahman, we cannot have any understanding of the six opulences of the Supreme Lord.
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