Radha Krishna - Chapter 60: Lord Krishna Teases Queen Rukminî

(1) The son of Bâdarâyana [of Vyâsa] said: 'Once comfortably sitting, positioned on her bed was He, the Spiritual Master of the Universe, served by Rukminî who fanned Him, the Husband, together with her female companions. (2) This then was His play: that He, as the Supreme Controller who sends forth, protects and devours the universe, indeed was born to defend His own rule [*] as the Unborn Lord among the Yadus [see also 6.3: 19]. (3-6) In that private part of the palace so brilliant, hung with strings of pearls and resplendent with a canopy, with lamps made with jewels, with jasmine flower garlands swarming with humming bees, with the light of the spotless moon filtered through the openings of the lattice windows, with the fragrance carried by the wind from the grove of pârijâta trees wafting the atmosphere of the garden and with the exciting scent produced from aguru escaping from the window openings, o King, served she her Husband, the Controller of All Worlds, comfortably seated on an excellent pillow of the bed that shone white as the foam of milk. (7) Taking a yak-hair fan with a jeweled handle from the hand of a maidservant fanned the goddess her Master with it in performing worship. (8) Next to Krishna with the rumour of her ankle bells she appeared beautiful with her rings, bangles and fan in her hand and her garment with its tip concealing her breasts red of the kunkum, the glow of her necklace and the priceless belt she wore on her hips. (9) Seeing her appearing as the goddess of fortune with no other purpose in her life, as the woman who pleased and smiling with her locks, earrings and jewels around her neck and her bright and happy face, for the sake of His pastime corresponds with bodies befitting the forms He assumes [**], gave the Lord a nectarine smile and spoke He.

(10) The Supreme Lord said; 'O princess you were desired by kings, rulers of the world of beauty, strength and generosity who were abundantly endowed with great powers, influence and opulence. (11) Rejecting those suitors at your disposition like S'is'upâla and others who mad of Cupid were offered to you by your brother and father, do I wonder why you've chosen for Us so different from them. (12) Afraid of the kings, o lovely-browed one, and moved to the ocean for shelter [to Dvârakâ], have We, of enmity with the ones in power, practically abandoned the throne. (13) O beautiful eyebrows, women usually have to suffer who take to men whose behavior is uncertain in following a path not acceptable to normal society. (14) We without possessions are always very dear to those who have nothing either and are therefore as a rule indeed not so popular with the rich who rarely pay Me tribute o fine-waisted lady. (15) Marriage and friendship is there between two people equal in property, birth, influence, physique and prospects and never ever between a superior and an inferior [in this]! (16) O princess of Vidarbha, this you couldn't foresee, you didn't know, when you chose for Us so void of good qualities, We who are praised by beggars out of their mind! (17) Now please accept for yourself a husband that indeed is suitable, a first class noble able to fulfill all your wishes in this life and the next. (18) S'is'upâla, S'âlva, Jarâsandha, Dantavakra and other kings all hate Me, o beautiful thighs, and so does your elder brother Rukmî. (19) In order to dispel of those, who are blinded by the intoxication of their strength, the pride and arrogance have I married you o good one; We did that to remove the power from the wicked [see also B.G. 4: 7]. (20) We indifferent about a home and the body really do not really care for wives, children and wealth; We, free from any endeavoring, remain completely satisfied within Ourselves like a light existing for itself does.'

(21) S'rî S'uka said: 'The Supreme Lord, saying this much as the destroyer of the pride of she who as His beloved thought herself inseparable, then stopped. (22) From the Master of the Lords of the Three worlds, her own Beloved, had she, the goddess, never before heard such an unpleasant thing, and with the fear growing in her heart started she, trembling with a terrible anxiety, to sob [see S'rî S'rî S'ikshâshthaka verse 6 &7]. (23) With her most delicate foot glowing red of her nails scratching the earth, and with her tears smearing the makeup of her eyes and sprinkling the red kunkuma powder on her breasts, froze she, face downward, with her speech checked by her extreme sorrow. (24) Of her great grief, fear and anguish not thinking clearly anymore, slipped her bangles and fan from her hand and fell, with her mind disrupted swooning, her body suddenly to the ground with her hair scattering, like she was a plantain tree blown over by the wind [see rasa]. (25) Seeing what, not being understood, the full import of His joking meant to the bond of divine love of His beloved, felt the Supreme Lord, merciful Krishna, sorry for her. (26) Stepping down from the bed picked He, with four arms, her quickly up and wiped He, gathering her hair, her face with His lotus hand. (27-28) Wiping her tear-filled eyes and breasts smeared by her tears, put He, o King, His arm around her who chaste had no other object of desire. The Master, the Expert in Pacification, consoled compassionately her who, so pitiable with her mind confounded of His clever joking, had not deserved this with the Goal of the Pure Ones. (29) The Supreme Lord said: 'O Vaidarbhî, don't be unhappy with Me, I know you're fully dedicated to Me, My dearest, I acted in jest to hear what you would say. (30) I so wanted to see the face of love with lips trembling in agitation, glances cast from the corners of reddish eyes and beautiful brows knit together. (31) To spend time joking with one's beloved is indeed for a mundane householder the greatest thing to achieve in family life, o timid one of temperament.'

(32) S'rî S'uka said: 'She, Vaidarbhî, o King, thus completely pacified by the Supreme Lord, understanding His words to be jocular gave up her fear of being rejected by her Beloved. (33) Bashfully with a charming smile looking the Supreme Lord in the face addressed she, o descendant of Bharata, with affectionate glances the Best of All Men. (34) S'rî Rukminî said: 'Well, so be it with this what You said o Lotus-eyed One; who would I, unequal to the Supreme Lord, be compared to the Almighty One who takes pleasure in His own glory, to the Controller, the Supreme Lord of the Three [principal deities] - what is the position of me in being someone whose feet because of her material qualities are held by fools? (35) True, You did, o Urukrama [Lord of the Greater Order], as if You'd be afraid of the modes, lay Yourself down in the ocean, always in the pure awareness of the Supreme Soul battling against the badness of the material senses and have, just as Your servants, rejected the position of a king as being of blind ignorance [see also S'rî S'rî Shadgosvâmî-ashthaka verse four and S'rî S'rî S'ikshâshthaka verse 4]. (36) For sages who relish the honey of Your lotuslike feet is Your path, that for animals in a human form for sure is impossible to comprehend, not quite clear because - [so one may wonder] - is it really so that they, who otherworldly present themselves with activities in service of the Supreme Controller [of Time], o All-powerful One, are following You [as a person]? (37) You indeed are without possessions, You beyond whom there is nothing and to whom even the enjoyers of tribute headed by Brahmâ pay tribute; persons materially satisfied do, blinded by their status, not know You as their death, but to the great enjoyers are You the One most dear, as they are to You [see also 1.7: 10]. (38) You indeed are the ultimate goal comprising all the goals of human life, You are the very Self longing for whom intelligent persons discard everything; Your association, o Omnipotent one, is appropriate to them and not to a man and woman in lust being happy and unhappy. (39) You, the Supreme Soul of all the Worlds giving away Your Self, of whose prowess speak the sages who gave up on the staff [of wandering, becoming Paramahamsas, see 5.1*], have thus by me been chosen in rejection of those masters of heaven, born on the lotus [Brahmâ] and ruling existence [S'iva], whose aspirations are destroyed by the force of Time generated from Your eyebrows. What then would my interest be in others? (40) How foolish were the words You used about taking shelter in the ocean out of fear, o Gadâgraja, You who by twanging Your S'ârnga drove back the kings in taking me, Your proper tribute, away the way a lion snatches his share away from the animals [see also jalpa 10.47: 12-21]. (41) For want of You have the kings Anga [father of Vena, 4.13: 47], Vainya [Prithu, 4.23], Jâyanta [Bharata, 6.7: 11], Nâhusha [Yayâti, 9.19], Gaya [15.15: 6-7] and others abandoning their crown, their absolute sovereignty over their kingdoms, entered the forest, o Lotus-eyed One; how could they, fixed on Your path in this world, be of trepidation? (42) What woman would take shelter of another man, once having smelled the by the saints described aroma of Your lotus feet where Lakshmî resides and that for all people bestow liberation; what mortal woman with the insight to ascertain what's best for her, would not take You seriously as the Abode of All Qualities, and go for one who is always in great fear [of his false ego]? (43) For Him, You Yourself, have I chosen as the Ultimate Master and Supreme Soul of All Worlds to fulfill our desires in this life and the next [see last verse S'rî S'rî S'ikshâshthaka]; may there for me who wandered on different paths be the shelter of Your feet which, indeed approaching their worshiper, award with liberation from the untrue. (44) Let the kings You mentioned, o Acyuta, be of those women in whose homes they are like asses, oxen, dogs, cats and slaves and whose ears never came close to the core of You who vex Your enemies; You who are sung and discussed in the scholarly assemblies of Mrida [the gracious one or S'iva] and Viriñca [the pure one beyond passion or Brahmâ]. (45) The woman who's not smelling the honey of Your lotus feet has a totally bewildered idea; she worships as her partner a living corpse covered by skin, whiskers, bodily hair, nails and head-hair with inside flesh, bones, blood, worms, stool, mucus, bile and air. (46) Let there be, o lotus-eyed one, my steady attraction to the feet of You who are more taking pleasure in the True Self than in me, You who for the increase of this universe assume an abundance in passion and with Your glance in that looking at me indeed show us the greatest mercy [see also 10.53: 2]. (47) Factually I don't consider Your words false o Killer of Madhu, it is sure often so that with a maiden [as I with the kings] the attraction raises as it once happened to Ambâ [daughter of the king of Kâs'î attracted to S'âlva, see Mahâbhârata and note 9.22: 20*]. (48) A promiscuous woman is even being married attracted to newer and newer men; being intelligent should one not keep such an unfaithful woman because one staying attached to her then will have fallen in two ways [in this as well as in the next life, see also 9.14: 36]. '

(49) The Supreme Lord said: 'All that you replied is correct indeed; what I have said fooling you, o princess, was for My want of hearing you speak on this, o saintly lady! (50) Whatever benedictions you hanker for in order to be freed from lust, o fair one, are there, o auspicious one, always for you who indeed are exclusively devoted to Me. (51) O sinless one, I've seen your pure love and adherence in vows to the husband; as far as words could upset you, could your mind attached to Me, not be diverted. (52) Those falling for civil status who worship Me with penances and adherence to vows, are, lusty of nature, bewildered by the illusory energy of Me, the Controller of the Final Beatitude. (53) O reservoir of love, for those who with obtaining Me, the Treasure of Emancipation, not as fortunate desire from Me, the Master of that, only the material treasures that are there even available for persons living in hell, is it, because they are obsessed with sense gratification, [then also] hell what suits them best [see also 3.32, and 7.5: 32]. (54) Fortunately, o mistress of the house, were you rendering the constant faithful service to Me that gives liberation from a material existence, the service which is most difficult for especially tricky women with bad intentions, who care for the breath of their own life only and delight in cutting off [relations]. (55) In my palaces can I find no wife as loving as you, o respectful one; you who at the time of her own marriage disregarded the kings who had arrived; you by whom, having heard the true stories, a brahmin carrier was sent to Me with a confidential message. (56) When your brother was disfigured being defeated in battle [10.54] and on the appointed day of the marriage ceremony [of Aniruddha, her grandson, see next chapter] got killed during a gambling match, you suffered unbearable sorrow from Us, but afraid of separation you didn't say a word and by that were We conquered by you. (57) When, with the messenger sent with the most confidential bidding to obtain My person, I was delayed, wanted you, thinking this world all empty, to give up this body that wouldn't be there for the service of anyone else [see 10.53: 22-25]; may you always be that way [of fortitude] with Us rejoicing in response.'

(58) S'rî S'uka said: 'This way in conjugal conversations imitating the human world took the Supreme Lord pleasure in enjoying Himself with Ramâ. (59) Similarly behaving like a householder in the residences of the other queens, did the Almighty Lord and Spiritual master of All the Worlds carry out the duties of a family man.'