Krishna Teases Rukmini

In the sixtieth chapter Krsna grinds the camphor like heart of Rukmini with his pestle like words. Being bewildered and relieved, she replies to Krsna’s statements.

Rukmini and her friends fanned Krsna because he was her husband and the guru of the universe.

In order to show that the cause of interrupting Rukmini’s service was Krsna’s pastime and nothing else, this verse states that the creation and destruction of the world also is his pastime. Though he is birthless, he appeared in the Yadu dynasty to maintain respect for the laws created by himself (sva setunam gopithaya). Thus it can never be his desire to stop the service of prema of his dear devotee, but rather to cause a strengthening of that prema.

The palace of Rukmini is described in order to show the perfection of all elements in her serving Krsna with love. The room was splendid, with shining jewels and a canopy hanging with clusters of bright pearls. It was splendid with the pure red rays of the rising moon, entering through the lattice work of the windows, and with aguru incense streaming out through the lattice work. There she served Krsna who was lying on the best of beds (kasiputtame).

Rukmini appeared splendid with her jeweled anklets, as she stood close to Krsna. Because her whole body was moving due to her fanning with her hand, the anklets and belt made musical sounds. Her hands were decorated with rings, bracelets and fan. She was splendid with breasts covered by her bodice and the edge of her sari, with the glow of kumkuma and gold necklaces, and a priceless belt around her waist.

Seeing her, with beauty greater than that of Laksmi in Vaikuntha, Krsna spoke.

The reason is given: she had assumed a form corresponding to the form of the Lord for pastimes. Parasara has said, “When the Lord assumes the form of a deva, Laksmi assumes a devi form, and when he assumes a human form, she also assumes a human form. She will assume a form suitable to the form that the Lord assumes.” As Krsna is more beautiful than the lord of Vaikuntha, so Rukmini is more beautiful than Laksmi. Krsna smiled slightly, thinking, “It is proper that Rukmini has assumed a form appropriate to my form. I will now joke with her, and hear what she will say.” She had a sweet smile on her face which illuminated the directions, being decorated with curling locks of hair, earrings and throat ornaments.

By seeing the Lord’s statements later on, one can understand his thinking at this moment. “When I gave Rukmini one parijata flower, Satyambhama became full of anger and pride, so much so that I was unable to pacify her even by falling at her feet. Only when I brought a whole tree and gave it to her was she satisfied. However, though Rukmini saw me give her a whole tree, she showed no anger. How will I be able to taste the sweetness of her anger, when anger is not possible in her, being always sober and speaking sweet words? By these words I will make her angry.” According to some this was the thinking in Krsna’s mind. Others explain it that Krsna spoke as he did with a desire to see how his beloved would act if he pulled out the root of the tree of prema.

“You think that you are very intelligent. Though you are endowed with all good qualities, you are ignorant of your own welfare. Therefore you are not intelligent. Why do I say this? Just listen. (He then speaks eleven verses.) O princess, you are the daughter of a king and I am a penniless son of Vasudeva. Why did you accept me (nah plural) as your husband? You cannot say that you accepted me because there was no alternative, for many kings wanted you as their wife. Nor can you say that those kings were inferior in wealth, beauty and qualities to me, for they were endowed with wealth, power, beauty and courage like the lokapalas. They were not devoid of wealth and enjoyment like Rantideva and others. You cannot say that they were far away. They came to your place to request you (praptan). Nor can you say that your relatives were opposed, for your brother and father wanted to give you them. And you also failed to notice my cowardly nature, a great fault in one born as a ksatriya. I fled from the kings out of fear and now live in the ocean. You cannot say that though I showed fear, I have proper conduct, for I made enemies with many strong forces, having only a few friends like Arjuna. Being a Yadava, it was not proper for me to be a king just by killing Kamsa, rather than by being born as a Yadava, and therefore I gave the throne to Ugrasena.”

“Pious women who follow the path of men like us, whose course of action is unclear, having questionable religious principles, who sometimes take others wives and at other times follow the rules of Vedic conduct, and who do not follow even common social behavior (since I offended your brother even in your presence), must almost always (prayah) suffer. If some do not suffer, it is to their credit.”

“I am without any wealth, in the sense that I have no attraction at all for material acquisition.”

In this verse, using niti sastra, Krsna implies that it is not proper that she be his wife.

Your father and grandfather are very wealthy, whereas my father Vasudeva has no wealth. I have only wealth that I have earned on my own. You come from a great dynasty, and I, being a Yadava, am without great heritage. You have jurisdiction over many towns such as Kundina in Vidarbha state, whereas I have only Dvaraka in Anarta state. You are fair complexioned, and I am black. Your prosperity (bhava can mean welfare, the lord or material life) is assured, whereas mine is uncertain, because I have many enemies.

Those who are equal in wealth, birth, beauty along with power, and prosperity should marry and not those who are unequal in these matters.”

“I have been accepted by you as husband, because you are short sighted (adirgha samiksa), not considering the overall picture.”

“Whatever has happened has happened. But since you are still young, there is no loss for you even now. Right now (atha) you should use your intelligence, and choose a suitable ksatriya husband.”

She may ask,“Then why did you take me as your wife?”

He therefore says, “I took you because Sisupala, Salva, Jarasanda, Dantavakra and your brother Rukmi were my enemies.”

“I took you just to destroy the pride (smayanuttaye) of those conceited kings who were intoxicated with valor.”

“You shouldn’t worry that I will suffer if you take another person as your husband. I am indifferent to both houses (the body and the household). Therefore I remain a witness without action, like a flame.”

Having thus spoken to Rukmini, who was thinking herself the dear most of his queens out of her intense love, he broke her pride. Because he was constantly with her, she thought that, even though she was unqualified to be his wife, just by her qualities he had made her his wife, and she became proud that she had such an ocean of qualities. Though the word vallabha would normally be masculine, to agree with atmanam, it remains feminine here to express the she was thinking herself as the dearmost wife. That he destroyed her pride by his joking words is stated later in verse twenty five. Krsna himself explains this also in his own words in verse twenty nine.

The symptoms of her anxiety are described in this verse. She scratched the ground with her feet, which were tender and shone with red nails.

She became very unhappy because of his unaffectionate words. She became fearful because she feared he would leave her. She became distressed because of the unhappiness and fear. She lost her intelligence to understand that he was only joking because of unhappiness, fear and distress. Her bracelets fell off because her body became thin due to the pain of impeding separation. Due to loss of consciousness, her intelligence was lost, and suddenly she attained the ninth state (muhyan), and thus fell on the ground . She displayed all the sativa bhavas beginning with stambha and ending with pralaya.

Just as the materialist is bound by ignorance, Rukmini, not understanding the depth of his joking, was bound by prema (prema bandhanam). Anuraga, attraction caused by prema, produces a sense of wretchedness within the experiencer, so that the person feels unworthy and consequently fears that she will be rejected by the lover.

Krsna showed four hands in order to raise her from the ground, embrace her and wipe her face. He bound up her hair (samuhya).

He wiped her eye brimming with tears (asru kale) and her breasts afflicted with tears of sorrow (suca).

“How will I be able to bear the burden if you give up your body? I will then have to give up my body“

“Having already created problems for me by showing false love with embraces and wiping my tears, do you now want to cause me further suffering?” Fearing such a response from her, Krsna then spoke this verse.

“O Rukmini, do not be angry with me.”

“O, I am not angry with you, the most merciful person, but hearing you say that I should go to another man for my own benefit, after having suffered sorrow by staying by your side, then I fainted in bliss. Why did you wake me from that swoon? If I had remained in that state a moment longer both you and I could have reach the supreme goal (death). “

Fearing such sarcastic words from Rukmini, Krsna then says, “I know that you have made me your only goal in life.”

“Then why did you say such cruel words?”

“Desiring to hear some crooked words from you, I spoke some joking words. They were not true, O beautiful woman!”

In this verse he gives other reasons for joking with her. “I wanted to see your face with lips trembling with the anger of love (prema samrambha), with reddened eyes throwing angry glances, and eye brows frowning.”

But if that was the Lord’s desire then why did Rukmini not comply and show anger?

The Lord’s iccha sakti is under his control, but prema controls the Lord. Next to prema, the iccha sakti has no power. Prema, in order to give even more pleasure to the Lord, sometimes goes against the desire of the Lord. That is the situation here.

Rukini and others possess the seven types of sthayi bhava called rati, prema, sneha, pranaya, mana, raga, and anuraga. Among those bhavas, at the proper moment one will become manifest. Thus while fanning the lord Rukmini displayed anuraga sthayi bhava. Because of the prominence of the sancari bhava of dainya in it, she experienced sorrow, anxiety and bewilderment rather than frowning eyebrows arising from the anger in love. These symptoms would arise later when the sthayi bhava of mana would appear. Because her affection is ghrta sneh, even Rukmini’s mana does not appear in the extreme. Satyabhama however, with madhu sneha, shows mana even in anuraga, and gives Krsna pleasure with her trembling lips, angry glances and furrowed brows.

“You become unhappy with my services such as fanning, but derive pleasure when I give up those services and use angry words against you. You are not pleased to see my smiling face but are pleased to see my frightening face with moving eyebrows discolored by anger and disfigured with sorrow. Is this your nature?”

He answers with this verse. “Householders derive the greatest pleasure from joking like this.”

Taking the same statements by which Krsna previously denigrated himself, and praised Rukmini, Rukmini now gives an opposite meaning to those points.

Krsna had said, “You should not have accepted me because we are not equal in qualities.”

Rukmini here replies, “Oh Lotus eyed Lord, that is true (nunma), I can never be equal to you. You are the supreme Lord endowed with six opulences, the controller of the three gunas (tryadhisa). And I am controlled by the three gunas. I am vastly inferior to you. It is not possible that I can be equal to you. Out of a feeling of great humility, Rukmini identified herself with the material energy, which is just a portion of her energy.”

Krsna said, “Out of fear of the kings I took shelter in the ocean, building a house (saranam) there.”

“That is true, o most powerful one (urukrama). You actually have no fear. You seem to have fear of the sense objects such as sound (gunebhyah), which are kings because they control, since the devotees have fear of these sense objects, and you are dependent on your devotee. Out of that fear, you reside within the devotee hearts which are deep like the sea.”

“What is the proof that I reside there?”

“You, paramatma (atma) are perceived there through your form, taste, fragrance, sound and touch (upalambhana matra). Your beauty, and other qualities are perceived by your devotees through meditation.”

This is understood from statements of Brahma and the Navayogendras. “O my Lord, persons who smell the aroma of Your lotus feet, carried by the air of Vedic sound through the holes of the ears, accept Your devotional service. For them You are never separated from the lotus of their hearts.” (napaisi natha…)

“The devotees bind your lotus feet in their hearts with ropes of love.” (pranayarasanaya dhrta) (11.2.5).

Krsna said, “I made enemies of many strong warriors.”

Rukmini replies, “You battle with the senses of your devotees, which are longing for material enjoyment, in order to deliver them from the sorrow of material life. In the beginning the sadhaka realizes a little of your sweetness through meditation, but does not see you directly. It appears that you enter their hearts and go to sleep as if out of fear of the sense objects. When the devotee’s devotion increases, and he conquers the enemy senses, he loses his attachment for the sense objects. Then it appears that you wake up and rise, make yourself visible to the devotee and give him your full sweetness.”

“I have given up the throne.”

“Yes, that is quite proper. Your servants also give up royal positions because it gives rise to complete loss of discrimination.. If they do so, what to speak of you?”

By the reference to the servants here, it can be understood that the previous statements of this verse are in relation to the Lord’s devotees, not the Lord (the lord does not fear, or battle with the senses but does so in relation to the devotee.)

In this verse she replies to Krsna ’s statement that his path is unclear.

“Yes it is true, your path is unclear even to the munis. Certainly it is incomprehensible to the animalistic men. It is true that you do not follow the customary path. As your activities are uncommon, so also those who follow you have uncommon activities.

This verse she replies to his statement that he is niskincana, poverty stricken.

“You are niskincana in the sense that nothing is greater than you.” Or “You are niskincana in the sense that you do not have small quantities of power, sweetness fame , strength, knowledge and vairagya, but possess all of these in full.”

“The meaning of niskcana as poverty stricken does not apply to you at all, because those who are worshipped by all others worship you (yasmai).”

She replies to his statement that wealthy men do not worship him by saying “Those materialistic men, blinded by wealth, whose very life is their money, do not know you who is the punisher, death. What then to speak of their worshipping you?”

“I favor those who have nothing.” She replies to this statement by taking the meaning , “You are dear to those have nothing. Since you are the dear most of Brahma and other mixed devotees, what to speak of the devotees without material desires.” She also takes the meaning “You favor those who are materialistic devotees such as Brahma, so what to speak of favoring the pure devotees (niskincana).”

Those who desire nothing except worship of the Lord, who have no desire to acquire other things, who have not desire to know other things are called niskincana by the wise. According to the statements of the Puranas, niskincana means the devotee of the Lord.

“You have said that one should marry only a person equal in wealth. That is possible for others, but not for you. You are the end goal ( phala atma) of all human endeavors. The association ( samajah) or relation is between the served and servitor , between Narayana and Laksmi, between yourself and myself. It is not an equal relation between material men and women based on lust.”

In this verse she replies to Krsna’s statement “O fool, I am praised only by beggars.”

Explaining the meaning of the word “bhiksu” she speaks of the excellence of being praised by the bhiksu.

“Those who have renounced the danda are called bhiksu. Your powers are praised (gadit anubhava) by the bhiksus or paramahamsas. You are paramatma (atma), the dear most of everyone, being the soul of everyone. Therefore praising you is not foolish. Rather if you say it is foolish, you are foolish. Knowing that you give yourself to those in the universe who worship you, I have chosen you as my husband. You said, “out of ignorance you have chosen me as your husband.” This shows you did not know my intelligence in this matter. Rejecting persons such as Brahma whose benedictions are all destroyed by the force of time emanating from the movement of your eyebrow, I have chosen you. What then to speak of rejecting inferior persons like those kings? You have said I am short sighted. But you were not aware of my foresight.”

Then suddenly she began to manifest the sthayi bhava of mana (anger). Having already hinted at his ignorance of her knowledge and foresight, becoming more angry because of his descriptions of the good qualities of the other kings, she clearly indicates his ignorance while showing sidelong glances and moving eyebrows.

“Your words are foolish. Since you defeated the other kings and took me away as your prize, when you say that you took shelter of the ocean out of fear of them, it shows your foolishness.”

“But earlier you said that it was true that I took shelter of the ocean out of fear.” verse 35.

“True that was my foolishness to say that.”

“You have said that almost all women who follow your path end up suffering. That is also a foolish statement. Bharata (Jayanta) and other great kings took shelfer of you, but did they suffer? Were they foolish? You have said that because I am a foolish princess I suffer.”

“You should choose a more suitable husband.” She replies to Krsna’s statement in two verses.

“Let other princesses who have not heard of your glories take shelter of other husbands. But which mortal woman, who has once smelled the fragrance of your lotus feet (heard your glories ), praised by sages who are like bees (san mukaritam), and which give liberation to any human being by being heard, can give up those feet (a daughter of a raksasa or preta perhaps could) and take shelter of someone else, always afflicted with great fear? Let those who are blind, without discrimination, take shelter of others. You are the abode of all good qualities.” By this statement she refutes his statement that he is devoid of good qualities (verse 16).

“But I, being the daughter of a human, having heard about your qualities, have taken shelter of you,. Since you are the paramatma (atmanam) I should surrender to you, most favorable to me.”

With the sudden appearance of humility, thinking of herself as an ordinary human bound by karma, she prays for the opportunity to worship him. “May I surrender unto your lotus feet after wandering from many birth (sriti bhih).”

There is another reading srutibhih. In that case the meaning is “ May I surrender unto your lotus feet after becoming confused by hearing that you had abandoned Sita in a previous incarnation, that in your present incarnation you had abandoned the gopis, and by hearing your words today . I surrender to those feet which by their mercy of their own accord approach the person worshipping them, and which destroy a multitude of illusions. May I surrender unto the lotus of your feet which give happiness and a steady taste to persons like us.”

She hints that she would rather surrender to his feet than his lotus face, because that face (mouth) sometimes emanates poison, even death inflicting poison ( by words), and at other times gives life restoring nectar.

In two verses she condemns with anger, showing her finger, the kings whom Krsna had praised. “They are like donkeys, to be kicked with the foot, or oxen who suffer with heavy loads on their backs. They are like dogs, who are kept to protect the house, and think of intruders as enemies. They are like cats, who eat the leftovers. Like servants, they must humbly serve. Let such men become the husband of low women who never hear topics of you. O destroyer of enemies ( ari karsana), you pull my enemies like Sisupala to the kingdom of death.”

Because of the scriptural statement that the husband should deliver his wife from all fear, you are actually the husband of all women at all times. But that woman who does not take you as a husband accepts only a dead body as a husband. The body is covered by skin, otherwise it would be covered by flies and other insects attracted to the foul smell. Inside are flesh, bones, blood, worms, stool, and phlegm. The foolish woman who thinks of that corpse as her lover accepts him as her husband. Why are they foolish? Because they do not smell the sweetness of the feet of you who are famous as having a body of sac cid ananda, a sweetness which has been spread everywhere by wind in the form of the reciters of the Puranas.”

She replies to his statement that he is indifferent to family life. Just by considering his indifference or neutrality she reached a calm state in the sthayi bhava of neutrality , and then became merged in an ocean of humility. “Let me have attachment to your feet even if you are indifferent. It is right that you should be indifferent to me. Just as you, being atma rama, self satisfied, glance on the universe with indifference, you should not show special favor to me. When you assume the mode of passion for increasing the universe with eagerness, then you will certainly (u) glance upon me and I will rejoice (ha). That is a great show of mercy to me. I consider that to be my greatest fortune.”

The meaning is as follows. “Actually you are very attached to me, as your own words indicate: “Thinking of you I do not sleep at night (10.53.2). And you are also detached from me as indicated in statements such as “I am indifferent.” If you are attracted to me, then I become your internal svarupa sakti. Though you are atma rama, you attain bliss through me who arise from your very self. If you are indifferent to me, I become your external energy made of material gunas. Thus you have both attraction and indifference to me, and I have attraction and indifference to you as well.”

“Or you are teaching other men about the nature of women, taking me as an example since I am a woman. Thus your statements that I should marry a person of similar qualities I do not consider false. In this world sometimes a woman becomes attracted to some man before marriage. As an example, of the three daughters of king of Kasi, Ambika, Ambalika and Amba, Amba became attracted to Salva.”

“Even married women may desire newer and newer men. The intelligent man will not marry such a woman, for he will suffer in this and the next world. You, being omniscient, if you knew that I were such a woman, would have rejected me already.”

“We joked with you, wanting to hear your words.” This is in the plural (strotu kamaih) to indicate that not only Krsna, but some of her attendants wanted to hear. The plural can also indicate that all the functions of the sense of hearing had a desire to hear. “Having been the object of my joke, you interpreted whatever I said in another way (anu attha), which was true.”

“Being greatly pleased with you, what benediction can I give you? Whatever desires you have in regards to serving me and me alone, without self interest (akamaya)--with prema, O woman full of prema (kamini), are all fulfilled eternally.” The alternate reading is bhamini, “o angry one,” indicating that she was angry because he made obstacles to her service with his crooked words. The use of the word “unalloyed devotee” ( ekanta bhakta) excludes material meanings to the words kaman and kamayase.

“Because (yat), your mind, filled with intense love for me, did not decrease even a little in its love, what to speak of getting destroyed, by my words meant to break your love, I have understood the quality of that love.” In the scriptures prema is described as follows: that is called prema the love between the man and woman remains intact even if there is cause for its destruction. “O sinless one (anagha), who have committed no offense even through your servitors, please forgive me for my offense committed to you.”

In this verse he condemns the materialistic devotees. Those who for the sake of the household (dampatye), for enjoyment of happiness in material marriage, with prayers like “May my husband give me happiness” or “May my wife give me happiness” worship me, the giver of prema (apavargesa --this meaning is given in the fifth canto) , by doing austerities , are bewildered by maya.

Another meaning of apavargesa is “ the lord who makes the four material goals useless.”

In this verse he elaborates upon what he said in the previous verse.

“Approaching me, from whom comes the inferior material wealth and the bliss of liberation, they still desire material things. They are unfortunate in desiring those things, because I am the giver (patim) of those goals, and because very easily one can attain material happiness, association with women by taking birth in lower species. For those souls who take the forms of pigs and other low creatures (niraye), being completely absorbed in sense enjoyment (matratmaktvat) , such birth is ideally suitable ( susangamah), because in that condition they can get happiness from association with women and other objects.”

“You have performed devotion which releases you from the bondage of the material world (bhavamocani). But because you are eternally liberated already, bhakti has a debt to you.”

She may object as follows. “Therefore bhakti should liberate others. But then, will even the low class women will become liberated?”

He therefore says, “No, for those women who are ill motivated, self interested, and prone to cheating , this bhakti is very difficult to perform.”

“Among all my loving wives, you are the best, O one who honors me (manini). You sent a brahmana bearing a secret message to me, about whom you had heard many things (upasruta sat kathasya).”

“I killed your brother at the gambling match during the weeding of Aniruddha. Out of fear of separation from me you did not express your sorrow, or say “You should not have done that.” It was weak sorrow, expressed only for the common opinion. That sorrow also gave rise to joy, because there was happiness at the violence against Rukmi who was hostile to me.”

For this verse it is understood that this event took place after the marriage of Aniruddha.

“When the messenger was sent by you for obtaining me, and I was delayed , you considered the whole universe vacant and thought of giving up your life since your body should not be given to anyone else. That action remains with you, and I cannot repay you in any way. I can simply rejoice.”

In this way the Lord, who is self satisfied (svarata), enjoyed through playful conjugal conversations with his wife. Because he is self satisfied, he enjoyed with Rama (ramaya reme), who is expanded from his very self, condemning material life by showing its inferiority to his happiness.