Krsna Book Audio Dictation - Chapter 52
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Chapter Fifty-two. Subject: "Kṛṣṇa's contact with Rukmiṇī."
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In this way when Mucukunda, the celebrated descendant of the Ikṣvāku dynasty, became favored specifically by Lord Kṛṣṇa, he circambulated the Lord within the cave and then came out of it. When Mucukunda came out of the cave, he surprisingly saw that the status of the human being had reduced to pygmy size. Similarly, the trees also were far reduced in size. He could immediately understand that the running age was of Kali-yuga. Therefore, without diverting it…, his attention to any other direction, he began to march towards the northern side.
Gradually he reached towards the mountain known as Gandhamādana. It appears that in this mountain there are many trees, just like sandalwood trees and other flower trees, the flavor of which engladdens anyone who reaches there. He decided to remain in that Gandhamādana Mountain regions in order to execute austerity and penances for the rest of his life. It appears that this place is situated in the northernmost part of the Himalayan Mountain and where the place of Nara-Nārāyaṇa is situated. This place is still existing and is called Badarikāśrama. In this Badarikāśrama place he engaged himself in the worshipment of Lord Kṛṣṇa, tolerating all kinds of dualities, pains and pleasures of this material world.
Lord Kṛṣṇa also returned to the vicinity of the city of Mathurā and began to fight with the soldiers of Kālayavana and killed them one after another. And after this killing business, He collected all the booties out of the dead bodies and brought them back in Dvārakā. When the booties were being carried by hand under the direction of the Lord for depositing in Dvārakā by loading them on bullock carts, in the meantime, Jarāsandha again attacked Mathurā with bigger divisions of soldiers, numbering twenty-three akṣauhiṇīs.
On the arrival of the great military divisions of Jarāsandha, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa wanted to save them, because King Jarāsandha attacked the Mathurā City for the eighth (eighteenth) time. In order to save further killing of the soldiers and with an intention for attending other important business, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa pretended Himself as ordinary human being, and it appeared that He was afraid of the vast mass of soldiers of Jarāsandha. Therefore, He left the battlefield without fighting and in spite of presence of His immense soldiers and resources. He was not at all afraid of the great military strength of Jarāsandha, still, He was going away as if He has been very much afraid of Jarāsandha. His hand was completely empty, without any weapons, and in this fashion He began to proceed for a very, very long distance on legs, although His lotus feet was as soft as the petals of lotus flower.
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Jarāsandha, however, thought that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma this time has been very much afraid of his military strength and were fleeing away from the battlefield. Therefore, he began to follow Him with all his chariots, horses and infantry soldiers. He did not know that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were not ordinary human being; therefore, he wanted to measure the activities of the Lord.
Kṛṣṇa is known as Raṇacora, means "who has left the battlefield,” and in India, especially in Gujarat, there are many temples of Kṛṣṇa which is known as the temple of Raṇacorajī. In the ordinary way, if some king has left battlefield without fighting, he is designated as coward. But Kṛṣṇa’s this pastime of leaving the battlefield without fighting is worshiped by the devotee. That is the difference between a demon and devotee. A demon always tries to measure the opulence of Kṛṣṇa, whereas the devotee never tries to measure His strength and opulence but always surrenders unto Him and worships Him. By following the footsteps of pure devotees, we should know that Kṛṣṇa the Raṇacorajī did not leave the battlefield being afraid of it, but He had some other purpose within Him.
The purpose, as it will be revealed in next few lines, was to attend a confidential letter sent by Rukmiṇī, His future first married wife. This act of Kṛṣṇa leaving the battlefield is also one of the six opulences of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the supreme powerful, supreme influential, supreme famous, supreme wise, supreme beautiful; similarly, He is supreme renouncer. In this connection, in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is clearly stated that in spite of His having ample military strength, He left it. And even without having military strength, He alone personally was sufficient to kill all the soldiers and military strength of Jarāsandha, as He had already done for seven (seventeen) times. Therefore, His leaving the battlefield is an example of His supermost opulence of renunciation.
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In this way, the two brothers continually began to run away from the battlefield, and after traversing a very, very long distance They pretended to become very much tired. And to mitigate the tiredsomeness, both of Them got up on a very high hill, which was several miles high from the sea level. This hill, this mountain was so high that it was generally known as Pravarṣaṇa. It was so named because the summit of this mountain…
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Jarāsandha, however, took it for granted that these two brothers being afraid of his military power now have taken shelter on the top of the hills, and thus They must have hidden Themselves. First of all he tried to find Them out, searching out for a long time, but when he failed, then he thought it wise that the two brothers may be captivated there and killed by setting fire on all sides of the summit. In this way he surrounded with fuel all around the summit and set on fire. When the blazing fire gradually become more and more expanding, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, in order to save Themselves for being burned into ashes, as Jarāsandha thought it, jumped from the top down to the ground, comprising a distance of eighty-eight miles. In this way, while the summit of the mountain was in burning fire, Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma escaped, and neither Jarāsandha nor Their own men could see Them. And thus gradually They reached the city of Dvārakā, which was surrounded all sides by the sea.
Note: the word summit may be replaced by the word peak.
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Jarāsandha, however, concluded that the two brothers have been burned into ashes, so there was no need of fighting anymore. He was successful in his attempt, and therefore he left the city of Mathurā and went back to his home in the kingdom of Magadha.
After this, Śrī Balarāma was married. The king of the Ānarta Province, known as Raivata, got his daughter Revatī married with Balarāma. This incident is explained in the Ninth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. After the marriage of Baladeva, Kṛṣṇa was also married with Rukmiṇī, the daughter of King Bhīṣmaka. King Bhīṣmaka was the ruler of the province known as Vidarbha. As Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Vāsudeva, similarly, Rukmiṇī is also the supreme goddess of fortune, Mahā-Lakṣmī. According to the authority of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the expansion of Kṛṣṇa and expansion of Śrī Rādhārāṇī are simultaneous. As Kṛṣṇa expands Himself into various viṣṇu-tattva forms, similarly, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī expands Herself into various śakti-tattva, or internal potency, in multiforms of goddess of fortune.
Kṛṣṇa and Rukmiṇī was married in the process of rākṣasa system. According to Vedic convention, there are eight kinds of marriages, out of which the first-class marriage system is that the parents of the bride and bridegroom arranges the marriage date, and the bridegroom in royal style goes to the house of the bride, and in the presence of brāhmaṇas and priests and relatives the bride is given in charity to the bridegroom. Besides that, there are other procedures, like gāndharva or rākṣasa marriages. So Rukmiṇī was married with Kṛṣṇa by the rākṣasa’s process, because she was kidnapped by Kṛṣṇa in the presence of His many rivals, like Śiśupāla and his associates. The story is that while Rukmiṇī was being given in charity for marriage to Śiśupāla, she was snatched from the marriage arena by Kṛṣṇa, exactly like Garuḍa snatched the pot of nectarean from the demons. Rukmiṇī, the only daughter of King Bhīṣmaka, was exquisitely beautiful. Specifically she is known as Rucirānanā, which means "the beautiful faced expanding like lotus flower."
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The story of Kṛṣṇa’s kidnapping Rukmiṇī from the marriage arena is very interesting. Amongst the kṣatriyas, mostly the marriage takes place in such a way, and Kṛṣṇa married Rukmiṇī in the presence of His many contemporary royal enemies like Śālva, Jarāsandha, Śiśupāla and others. Devotees of Kṛṣṇa, they are always anxious to hear about the transcendental activities of the Lord. Therefore, His fighting activities or His kidnapping activities or His running away from the battlefield activities, all of them being equally on the absolute platform, they are all transcendental, and devotees take transcendental interest in hearing all of them. The pure devotee does not make any distinction that a particular type of activities of the Lord should be heard and the other should be avoided. There is, however, a class of so-called devotees known as prākṛta-sahajiyā; they are very much interested in hearing about kṛṣṇa-rāsa-līlā with gopīs but not His fighting activities with His enemies, without knowing that Kṛṣṇa's fighting activities with the enemies and His friendly activities with the gopīs are equally transcendental and on the absolute platform. The transcendental pastimes of Kṛṣṇa described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are therefore relished by submissive aural reception by pure devotees, without rejecting even a drop of it.
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The story of Kṛṣṇa’s marriage with Rukmiṇī are described as follows. The king of Vidarbha, Mahārāja Bhīṣmaka, was very qualified and devotee prince, and he had very qualified sons and one daughter. He had five sons, one daughter only. The first son was known as Rukmī; the next son was known as Rukmaratha; the third son was known as Rukmabāhu; the fourth and the youngest son was known as Rukmakeśa; the last son was known as Rukmamālī. All these five brothers had one younger sister, and she was known as Rukmiṇī, the most beautiful, qualified, chaste daughter of King Bhīṣmaka meant for being married with Kṛṣṇa. As usual, many saintly persons and sages like Nārada Muni and others used to visit the palace of King Bhīṣmaka. Naturally, Rukmiṇī had the chance of talking with them, and she got information about Kṛṣṇa from such saintly persons. She was informed about the six opulences of Kṛṣṇa, and even without seeing Kṛṣṇa, simply by hearing about Him, Rukmiṇī surrendered herself to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa to become His future wife.
On the other hand, Śrī Kṛṣṇa also heard of Rukmiṇīabout her intelligence, good bodily symptoms, liberal-mindedness, exquisite beauty, upright behavior, and the reservoir of all transcendental qualities—and thus Kṛṣṇa also decided that she was the fit woman who could be His equal matchable wife. He therefore decided that He would marry Rukmiṇī only. Family members and relatives of King Bhīṣmaka and other brothers of Rukmiṇī, all of them decided that Rukmiṇī should be given in marriage to Kṛṣṇa. But her elder brother was no...
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...the black-eyed, beautiful daughter of the king of Vidarbha heard the settlement, she immediately become very much morose. But after all, she was also a king’s daughter; she knew all kinds of politics and diplomacy. Therefore, she decided that there was no use simply to become morose, but some steps should be taken immediately. Considering this, she wanted to select one brāhmaṇa as her messenger to send news to Kṛṣṇa without delay. After deliberation, she wanted to select a qualified brāhmaṇa to be her messenger because a qualified brāhmaṇa is always truthful and a devotee of Viṣṇu. She wanted therefore to disclose her mind to such brāhmaṇa so that he may not deceive her. The brāhmaṇa messenger who was selected by Rukmiṇī went to Dvārakā to see Kṛṣṇa on behalf of Rukmiṇī.
Reaching the gate of Dvārakā, the brāhmaṇa sent news to Kṛṣṇa about his arrival through the doorkeeper, and the doorkeeper led him to the place where Kṛṣṇa was sitting on a golden throne. Taking the opportunity of becoming the messenger of Rukmiṇī, the brāhmaṇa was fortunate enough to see personally the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa, who is the original cause of all causes. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa also, in order to teach everyone the etiquette how to respect a brāhmaṇa, immediately got up from His seat and offered it to the brāhmaṇa for his reception. Although Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, still, in order to teach the Vedic social convention, He showed respect to the brāhmaṇa, who is supposed to be the spiritual teacher of all the different social divisions. When the brāhmaṇa was seated on the golden throne, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa worshiped the brāhmaṇa exactly in the manner in which the demigods worship Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. By this incidence, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa taught everyone that worshipment of His devotee is still more valuable than the worshipment of the Lord Himself.
Thus the brāhmaṇa gradually took his bath and accepted his meals, and when he was given to rest on a bedstead completely bedecked with soft silk, and when the brāhmaṇa began to rest on it, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa very silently approached the brāhmaṇa and with great respect took the legs of the brāhmaṇa on His lap for massaging. In this way, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa introduced Himself to talk with the brāhmaṇa and began to say as follows: "My dear brāhmaṇa, I hope your execution of religious principles are being done without any difficulty, and I hope your mind must be always in peaceful condition." As different grades of people in the social status are engaged in different professional business, the inquiry of well-being of a particular person must be on the basis of that occupation. Therefore, when a brāhmaṇa is to be inquired about his welfare, the questions should be whether circumstantial condition of life are not disturbing for him.
Peaceful condition of the mind is a basic principle for becoming truthful, cleansed, equilibrium, self-controlled, forbearance, and thereby attaining knowledge and its practical application in life, and thereby becoming convinced about the Absolute Truth. This brāhmaṇa, as it will be revealed in the following lines, knew Lord Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and still he accepted the respectful service of the Lord on the grounds of Vedic social convention. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was playing just like a human being belonging to the kṣatriya division of social status and happened to be a young boy. Therefore, it was His primary duty to show respect to such brāhmaṇas.
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa continued to advise the brāhmaṇa: "My dear the best of all brāhmaṇas, you should always remain satisfied, because if a brāhmaṇa is always self-satisfied, then he cannot be deviated from his prescribed duties. And simply by sticking to one’s prescribed duties, especially the brāhmaṇas, one can attain the highest perfection of all desires." Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa continued to say that "A person, even he happens to be most opulent as good as the king of heaven, Indra, still, if he is not satisfied in his mind, then he has to inevitably transmigrate from one planet to another, thus can never be happy in any circumstances, whereas a person, even he is bereft of all possessions, but if he is satisfied in his mind, then he can live anywhere and everywhere in completely relief."
This instruction of Kṛṣṇa to the brāhmaṇa is very significant. The idea is that a true brāhmaṇa should not be disturbed in any circumstances. In the modern age of Kali-yuga, the so-called brāhmaṇas have accepted abominable service of śūdras or less than a śūdra, and still they want to pass over as qualified brāhmaṇa. But actually a qualified brāhmaṇa always sticks to his principle and never accepts the occupation of a śūdra or less than a śūdra. It is advised in the authorized scriptures that a brāhmaṇa in awkward circumstances may accept the profession of a kṣatriya or even of a vaiśya, but never to accept the profession of a śūdra. Lord Kṛṣṇa, however, advised herein that a brāhmaṇa, if he scrupulously sticks to his religious principles, he will never be disturbed by any adverse condition of life.
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa in conclusion said that "My respectful obeisances are to the brāhmaṇas and the Vaiṣṇavas, because the brāhmaṇas are always self-satisfied and the Vaiṣṇavas are always engaged in actual welfare activities of the human society. They are the best friends of the people in general. Both of them are free from the false egotism, and both of them are always in peaceful condition of mind." Lord Kṛṣṇa therefore offered His obeisances unto them.
After finishing the inquiry of the brāhmaṇa, then Lord Kṛṣṇa desired to inquire about the kṣatriyas. Thus He inquired from the brāhmaṇa whether the citizens of his kingdom are all happy. A king’s qualification is judged by the temperament of the people in general in the kingdom. If the people in general in the kingdom are very happy in all respects, then it is to be understood that the king of that particular country is honest and executing his duties rightly. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa especially said in this connection that the king in whose kingdom the citizens are happy are very much dear to Him. Lord Kṛṣṇa, of course, could understand that the brāhmaṇa came to Him with some confidential message. Therefore, He requested the brāhmaṇa that if he had no objection, he could disclose the mission on which he had come there. The Lord said that "I am now giving you permission to speak about your mission."
The brāhmaṇa, thus being permitted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who was present before him as a human being in His transcendental pastimes, and the brāhmaṇa, being very much satisfied by the dealings of Lord Kṛṣṇa and being questioned by Him, narrated the whole history of his mission to come and see Him. After this, the brāhmaṇa got out the letter written by Rukmiṇī addressed to Kṛṣṇa and said, "These are the words of Princess Rukmiṇī as follows: 'My dear Kṛṣṇa, the infallible, the most beautiful, any human being who happens to hear about Your transcendental quality, form, pastimes, immediately he absorbs through his ears Your name, fame, quality, and thus he subsides all his material pangs and fixes Your form in his heart, and through such transcendental love for You he sees You always within himself. By this process, all his desires become fulfilled.
‘Fortunately, I have also similarly heard Your transcendental qualities, and I may be shameless because I am expressing myself to Yourself, but I have been captivated by You and my heart has been taken by You. It may be suspected by You that I am an unmarried girl, young in age, how could I approach You directly without any shame? And in that way You may doubt about my steadiness of character. But my dear Mukunda, You are the supreme lion amongst the human beings. You are the supreme person amongst the persons.
(break) …are the enjoyers. Any girl, even though she has not come out of home, or any woman who may be of the highest quality of chastity, after hearing about Your unprecedented character, knowledge, opulence, possessions, all of which can draw the attention of everyone, and after such understanding, who will not be captivated to get oneself married with You at the marriageable age like me?
‘I have therefore accepted You as my husband because I know You are the husband of the goddess of fortune. Not only that, You are very kind towards Your devotee. I know this fact very well; therefore, I have decided to become Your eternal maidservant, and after such decision, my dear Lord, I am offering my respectful obeisances unto Your lotus feet.
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‘My dear the Supreme Personality of Godhead, on account of the reasons above mentioned, I have already accepted Your Lordship as my selected husband, and I have dedicated my life and soul under Your lotus feet. I therefore request You to accept me as Your wife. You are the supreme powerful, O the lotus-eyed. Now I belong to You. If therefore the eatable or enjoyable things by the lion is taken away by the jackal, it will be a ludicrous affair. I request You, therefore, to be immediately taking care of me before I have been taken away by Śiśupāla and other princes like him. My dear Lord, if in my previous life I have done any pious activity as public welfare activities by digging well and sowing trees, performing ritualistic ceremonies and sacrifices, serving the superior spiritual master, brāhmaṇas and the Vaiṣṇavas, by which the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, might have been pleased upon me, then I wish that Yourself, Lord Kṛṣṇa, the brother of Lord Balarāma, may please come here and catch hold of my hand, thus may not allow me to be touched by Śiśupāla and his company.’"
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Rukmiṇīs marriage with Śiśupāla was already settled up. Therefore, Rukmiṇī tried to give a suggestion to Kṛṣṇa how the settled things can be unsettled. She therefore suggested Kṛṣṇa to kidnap her. This sort of marriage by kidnapping the girl under force was practiced among the kṣatriyas, or the administrative, martial-spirited class of men, and it is known the system of rākṣasa. Therefore, Rukmiṇī informed Kṛṣṇa that her marriage was already settled up to take place the next day. Therefore Kṛṣṇa should come there incognito, and after the kidnapping business is finished, He should fight with Śiśupāla and his allies like the king of Magadha. In this way, after fighting with the opposite party, certainly He would come out victorious because Kṛṣṇa's name is Ajita, nobody can conquer Him. She specifically therefore addressed Kṛṣṇa with the name Ajita, "unconquerable.”
In this way, Rukmiṇī suggested Kṛṣṇa that she may be married with Him in the rākṣasa’s process instead of being married with Śiśupāla under systematic royal process of marriage. As the king of a country thinks in all diplomatic ways for achieving his object, similarly Rukmiṇī, the daughter of a king, also gave Kṛṣṇa suggestion that He should not bother Himself on the fact that Rukmiṇī would be within the palace, and if the fighting takes place within the palace, then many of the Rukmiṇī's family members or women might be wounded or even be killed in order to kidnap Rukmiṇī. She therefore suggested Kṛṣṇa how this unnecessary and undesirable killing could be avoided.
She suggested that as it was the custom of their family to visit the temple of goddess Durgā, their family deity, before the marriage... The kṣatriya kings, although most of them were staunch Vaiṣṇavas, worshiper of Lord Viṣṇu either in Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa or Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa forms, still, for their material welfare they used to worship goddess Durgā. But they never did this mistake that the demigods were accepted as the Supreme Lord on the level of viṣṇu-tattva—although some of the less intelligent men class of men used to worship various demigods—but they were never bewildered about the supremacy of Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Rukmiṇī as such suggested Kṛṣṇa that as soon as she would go out of the palace to worship goddess Durgā, on the way to the temple or on the way to the palace after finishing the worship of the goddess, it would be easier for Kṛṣṇa to kidnap her without any unnecessary killing of her relatives.
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Rukmiṇī also explained to Kṛṣṇa why she was so much anxious to be kidnapped and married with Kṛṣṇa, although it was a settled fact that her marriage would take place with Śiśupāla, who was also a prince, a son of a big king, at the same times qualified. Why she should change her mind to marry Kṛṣṇa instead of Śiśupāla? Rukmiṇī therefore explained her position as follows. She did not think anyone greater than Kṛṣṇa. Even the greatest of all demigods, namely Lord Śiva, who is known as Mahādeva, the greatest of all demigods, he also seeks the pleasure of Lord Kṛṣṇa for being delivered from his entanglement in the quality of ignorance within this material world.
Lord Śiva is also the greatest of all great souls, mahātmās, and in spite of his becoming so, he desired to keep Ganges water on his head, which is emanating from the toe of Lord Viṣṇu. Lord Śiva is in charge of the material quality of ignorance. In order to keep himself always in the transcendental position, he is always in meditation of Lord Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa, and always tries to purify himself by the water of Ganges.
She therefore knew it very well that to obtain the favor of Kṛṣṇa is not easy job. For this purpose, even Lord Śiva tries to be purified, and what to speak of Rukmiṇī, who is only a daughter of a kṣatriya king. Therefore, she desired her life being sacrificed for attaining this success of achieving Kṛṣṇa's favor by observing severe austerities and penances, without any bodily comforts and fasting throughout. In that way, she wanted to give her life up. If it was not possible to attain Kṛṣṇa's mercies in that way in one life, she was prepared to do the same activities life after life unless she was able to achieve the favor of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, "Pure devotees of the Lord execute devotional service with great vow." Such kind of determination, as exhibited by Rukmiṇī-devī, is the only price for purchasing Kṛṣṇa’s favor. One should be strongly determined in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and that is the way of ultimate success.
In this way, after explaining the statement of Rukmiṇī-devī before Kṛṣṇa, the brāhmaṇa who brought the news said, "My dear the chief of the Yadu dynasty, Kṛṣṇa, I have brought this confidential message f or You from Rukmiṇī. Now it is placed before You for Your consideration, and after due deliberation You can act as You please. But if You want to do something, You must do it immediately. There is no much time for this action."
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Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Fifty-second Chapter Kṛṣṇa in the matter of "Kṛṣṇa the Raṇacora, who Fled Away from the Battle."