English
16th May 2019
Encourage everybody to keep chanting and chant with attention. Attentive chanting or meditative chanting, offence less chanting Sravanam, kirtanam leads to smaranam. It helps us in remembering the Lord. We are chanting to remember the Lord’s pastimes. Each day could be an opportunity, a reason to remember different pastimes. If we remember what day it is then that also becomes a reason to remember different pastimes. What we have heard the day before can also help us remember different pastimes.
So today is Rukmini Dvadasi, appearance day of Rukmini Maharani. So naturally while chanting we remember form of Rukmini, pastimes of Rukmini, abode of Rukmini which is related to Dwarkadhish. As we hear and remember the consorts of the Lord we get attached to the Lord. We feel we should get the association of Sri Sri Rukmini Dwarkadhish and Vitthala Rukmini.
dhyayato visayan pumsah
sangas tesupajayate [BG 2.62]
When we contemplate on something we get attached to it. From the life of Rukmini we can understand as She heard about Dwarkadhish She got attached to Him. Sometimes we write, ‘How I came to Krsna Consciousness in Back To Godhead magazine. I also wrote. It is interesting to know how Rukmini became Krsna conscious. First of all we can remember Her birthplace, Rukmini was born in Kundinpur, Vidarbha Central India about 150 kms from Nagpur.
There lived king Bhīsmaka and She is daughter of Bhīsmaka so She was called Bhīsmaka kanya. She was born in Vidarbha so She is also called Vaidarbhi. Her complexion is golden so She is called Rukmini - rukma means gold. As she grew as a child in Kundinpur, there were many opportunities to hear about the Lord from saints visiting King Bhīsmaka. Those parivrajakacaryas had association of Dwarkadhish and they traveled to Kundinpur and shared the pastimes of Dwarkadhish with King Bhīsmaka. Rukmini would sit around and hear.
Sri Suka uvaca, Sukadev Goswami has narrated pastimes of Rukmini in the 10th canto from chapter 52 onwards as to how She was brought up in Kundinpur, how She was kidnapped by Lord Dwarkadhish. An interesting detail about Rukmini is She is Chandravali. Just like Radha becomes Satyabham in Dwarka.
Lailta becomes Jambavati and Vishaka becomes Kalindi. So the gopis become consorts of Dwarkadhish in Dwarka.
sopaśrutya mukundasya
rūpa-vīrya-guṇa-śriyaḥ
gṛhāgatair gīyamānās
taṁ mene sadṛśaṁ patim [SB 10.52.23]
Sukadev Goswami is narrating with great joy how Rukmini heard about the Lord who is described here as Mukunda about His Rupa, His pastimes, His qualities. Rukmini heard from those parivrajakacaryaa of Dwarka.
taṁ mene sadṛśaṁ patim
Her determination was that She would only marry Dwarkadhish. ‘I love you, Oh Lord!She had never seen or met Him. Just by hearing about Him She wanted to marry Him only. This could also happen to us. We could also come to such a conclusion that I will accept the Lord only as my husband. ‘My Lord and no one else and I will be chaste about it and I will not go to anyone else. Not to this Demigod or this person or that person nayti nayti mam yeti fixed on the Lord only. This is attentive chanting.
vyavasayatmika buddhir
ekeha kuru-nandana
bahu-sakha hy anantas ca
buddhayo 'vyavasayinam [BG 2.41]
Fixed get determination only on Krsna and not on many branches, so cut of all those branches that's called vyavasayatmika buddhi. So she got such buddhi by hearing about the Lord. Elder brother of Rukmini Rukmi was against Rukmini getting married to Krsna because he had proposed Krsna’s number one enemy Sisupala to be Her husband. So Rukmini sat down and wrote a love letter to the Lord. First thing She wrote Sukadev Gowami has narrated that letter in Bhagavatam it contains 7 sloks.
So first thing She mentions is,
rī-rukmiṇy uvāca
śrutvā guṇān bhuvana-sundara śṛṇvatāṁ te
nirviśya karṇa-vivarair harato ’ṅga-tāpam [SB 10. 52.37]
She admits and writes: ‘You are so sundar, You are so beautiful. I heard through ears and those sounds reached my heart and that has given me relief. My temperature has gone done. I was missing You, separation from You, but hearing about You I am pacified and it has made me happy.
You could read rest of the pastimes which run through different chapters. And you could also sometime visit the birth place of Rukmini. That's also part of my preaching zone. We are happy we are serving Kaundinpur. Its also called as Kaundinyapur in Maharashtra. Today there is a big celebration, big birthday
party. We have 5 acres land and we are confident that it is where the kidnapping of Rukmini occurred and Balarama had also come. Our land is between the palace of Bhīsmaka and Ambikadevi. As you know She would go to pray to Ambikadevi so that She gets Lord Dwarkadhish as Her husband. We also find kadamba trees on our property. Nowhere else you will find kadamba trees in Vidarbha. So how did the kadamba tree grow there. We like to believe that when Dwarkadhish had come to kidnap Rukmini some flowers must have fell from the garland He was wearing. Now more and more trees are growing on our property. Nobody was planting them. Akrura Prabhu is taking care of that land he had showed me many tress growing there. So please come to Kaundinpur. Also we have Rukmini Dwarkadhish temple in Amravati. We are planning to build a big temple in Kaundinpur.
Rukmini Dwarkadhish ki jai
Kaundinpur dhama ki jai
