English
20 May 2024
Speaker: Srish Krishna Prabhuji
Theme: Sri Rukmini Mangalam
Hare Krsna!
I am feeling very happy. I know the fact that many disciples of HH Lokanath Swami Maharaj from different locations join this zoom conference daily and chant with him with firm faith and obey his orders. I have been told to speak upon Rukmini Mangalam as today is Rukmini Dwadashi, a very pious day. Rukmini ji had appeared today. It’s important to know that there has been no description of Rukmini Mangalam in the original Bhāgavata; though only marriage of Rukmini has been described. Mangalam means benefactor. Sridhara Swami had written a very beautiful commentary on Bhāgavata which is followed by many Acāryās and named as Rukmini Mangalam by him.
(02:08:03) rukmini mangalam nama bahu mangalam sarva mangalamayam mahapataka nasanam
Those who contemplate on the divine personality Rukmini, he is bound to get blessed with auspiciousness. If we want our behavior to be right, we must listen to Rukmini Mangalam. Without her mercy, we cannot progress in devotional life. Even the biggest problems can be destroyed just by listening to Rukmini Mangalam. It has been described in Bhāgavata that just by remembering and surrendering unto the Lord, all our miseries get vanished.
tasmin praviṣṭe ’sura-kūṭa-karmajā
māyā vineśur mahinā mahīyasaḥ
svapno yathā hi pratibodha āgate
hari-smṛtiḥ sarva-vipad-vimokṣaṇam
Translation
As the dangers of a dream cease when the dreamer awakens, the illusions created by the jugglery of the demons were vanquished by the transcendental prowess of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as soon as He entered the battlefield. Indeed, simply by remembrance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one becomes free from all dangers. (ŚB 8.10.55)
Theme: the importance of hearing
How did Rukmini ji choose Sri Krishna? It has been described that at first, she heard about the Lord.
śrī-rukmiṇy uvāca
śrutvā guṇān bhuvana-sundara śṛṇvatāṁ te
nirviśya karṇa-vivarair harato ’ṅga-tāpam
rūpaṁ dṛśāṁ dṛśimatām
akhilārtha-lābhaṁ
tvayy acyutāviśati cittam apatrapaṁ me
Translation
Śrī Rukmiṇī said [in her letter, as read by the brāhmaṇa]: O beauty of the worlds, having heard of Your qualities, which enter the ears of those who hear and remove their bodily distress, and having also heard of Your beauty, which fulfills all the visual desires of those who see, I have fixed my shameless mind upon You, O Kṛṣṇa. (ŚB 10.52.37)
It is said that Parikshit Maharaj is an exemplary personality for śravana but Rukmini ji is the primary exemplary personality for śravana, who heard about the Lord just for once from Nārada Muni and accepted the Lord for the lifetime. Bhajan is also known as Śravana Bhakti (hearing). The main pillar of devotional service is śravana or hearing about the Lord, just like strong pillars of a building act as a base for a tall or strong building. Therefore, we must learn from Rukmini ji. She saw the Lord through hearing. Actually, hearing is also seeing. When we hear something, we start imagining or seeing those things. So, śravana or hearing about the Lord is very important. As soon as Rukmini ji heard about the Lord, she wrote a love letter to Him. She expressed Her feelings or prayers to Him.
śrī-rukmiṇy uvāca
śrutvā guṇān bhuvana-sundara śṛṇvatāṁ te
nirviśya karṇa-vivarair harato ’ṅga-tāpam
rūpaṁ dṛśāṁ dṛśimatām
akhilārtha-lābhaṁ
tvayy acyutāviśati cittam apatrapaṁ me
Translation
Śrī Rukmiṇī said [in her letter, as read by the brāhmaṇa]: O beauty of the worlds, having heard of Your qualities, which enter the ears of those who hear and remove their bodily distress, and having also heard of Your beauty, which fulfills all the visual desires of those who see, I have fixed my shameless mind upon You, O Kṛṣṇa. (ŚB 10.52.37)
We should recite this verse frequently. We tend to start a letter by addressing that person with a relation or bond we have with him like respected sir, my dear, etc. Similarly, Rukmini ji addressed the Lord in Her letter as Bhuvana Sundara or beauty of the worlds. She says, “O beauty of the worlds, having heard of your qualities from Nārada Muni, who always talks, hears and contemplates about you, I have fixed my shameless mind upon You. Since that time, all my miseries have gone.” So how can we expect to situate our mind unto the lotus feet of the Lord till the time we don’t hear about Him. Therefore, hearing is very important. We should hear about the Lord again and again. Valmiki Ramayan describes, when Śrī Rāma asked Hanuman ji to come to Saket Dhāma, he denied. He said to Śrī Rāma that he enjoys hearing His pastimes which will not be available in the Saket Dhāma but wherever the pastimes of the Lord are spoken, the Lord will be there. That’s why he surrendered himself in listening to the Lord’s pastimes. And that is the reason Rukmini ji also surrendered herself unto the Lord because the Lord is really very beautiful in and out.
advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam
ādyaṁ purāṇa-puruṣaṁ nava-yauvanaṁ ca
vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham
ātma-bhaktau
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
Translation
I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the Vedas, but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal puruṣa; yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth. (Śrī brahma-samhitā 5.33)
īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
Translation
Kṛṣṇa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes. (Śrī brahma-samhitā 5.1)
Everything about the Lord is beautiful be it His body, His mind or His heart. He is the same inside out. The Lord is not like us who just pretend to be beautiful from inside but filled with so many sins. He is all beautiful. That’s why Rukmini ji, while writing a letter to Krishna, mentioned His character, His potential and His temperament. The Lord’s character is sweet.
Adharam Madhuram Vadanam Madhuram
Nayanam Madhuram Hasitam Madhuram
Hrdayam Madhuram Gamanam Madhuram
Madhura-Adhipater-Akhilam Madhuram
Translation
O Krishna, Your lips are sweet, Your face is sweet, Your eyes are sweet, Your smile is sweet, Your loving heart is sweet, Your gait (walk) is sweet, Everything is completely sweet about You, the Lord of Sweetness.
We should pray to Rukmini ji for Her mercy so that we can also situate our mind unto the lotus feet of the Lord. It is important to understand that śravana is more important than kīrtana. This is the reason we are given two ears and one mouth. We have to listen more than to speak. The more we listen about the Lord, the better we can perform devotional services. Some people just want to speak and not listen but we are given two ears to listen more and more. But when it comes to speak, we should speak less and just the truth. To speak the truth, we should first listen. So we must follow the footsteps of Rukmini ji and hear more and more about the Lord so we can also attain the lotus feet of Krsna and become dear to Him.
Theme: the advent of the love letter
Rukmini ji is a resident of Vidarbha, Amravati. Her father’s name is Hiranyaroman, also called Bhishmaka. He has five sons and one daughter. The eldest among five sons is Rukmi; then Rukmaratha, Rukmabahu, Rukmakesa and Rukmamali and the youngest is Rukmini ji. When Nārada Muni was glorifying Lord Krsna among Bhishmaka, his wife, five sons and Rukmini ji, Bhishmaka became very happy listening to the glories of Sri Krsna as every father would want a handsome groom for his daughter and Sri Krsna is the most beautiful and handsome in the three worlds. His wife also wanted her daughter Rukmini to get married to Sri Krsna. His four younger sons also wanted the same as Rukmini was very dear to all. Bhishmaka decided to get his daughter married to Sri Krsna but as soon as Rukmi, his eldest son and Rukmini’s eldest brother heard this, he got very angry. He said that Sri Krsna is the greatest thief. He won’t let his sister get married to Him. Then Bhishmaka ji asked him the reason for his denial as Sri Krsna has everything. He is beautiful, wealthy, knowledgeable, etc. Every parent must see two things before getting their daughter married. First, the behavior and character of the person and second, the capability of that person to run a household; in other words how wealthy he is. All these things are present in the Lord. That’s why Bhishmaka ji was in favor of this marriage. But Rukmi was not. On asking the reason for his denial, he said, “Krsna is a thief. He had stolen everything He has now in Dwarka. He further added that Krsna has no strength as He was unable to kill Kalayavana. He took help of a Mahatma to kill him whose name was Mukund and after the demon was killed, Krsna stole all his wealth. Otherwise Krsna had no wealth. Therefore, I would not allow my sister to marry such a thief.” Then he advised his father to marry Rukmini with his friend whose name was Shishupal. He told him that Shishupal is the son of King Damaghosha and about to be a king. He is wealthy and powerful. Rukmini ji was listening to her brother Rukmi and she didn’t like what all he said and felt miserable. Then Rukmi consoled his father saying that he will arrange everything for marriage with Shishupal in 2 days. This thing bothered Rukmini ji a lot. She immediately started writing a letter. She wrote,
śrī-rukmiṇy uvāca
śrutvā guṇān bhuvana-sundara śṛṇvatāṁ te
nirviśya karṇa-vivarair harato ’ṅga-tāpam
rūpaṁ dṛśāṁ dṛśimatām
akhilārtha-lābhaṁ
tvayy acyutāviśati cittam apatrapaṁ me
Translation
Śrī Rukmiṇī said [in her letter, as read by the brāhmaṇa]: O beauty of the worlds, having heard of Your qualities, which enter the ears of those who hear and remove their bodily distress, and having also heard of Your beauty, which fulfills all the visual desires of those who see, I have fixed my shameless mind upon You, O Kṛṣṇa. (ŚB 10.52.37)
The Lord is hearing these words of Rukmini very carefully. When the brahmanas went to Dwarka with the letter of Rukmini, the Lord became very excited to hear her out. Then a brahmana recited the letter to the Lord. The Lord reciprocated with her in His mind. He consoled Rukmini that He belongs to her now. Those who hear about the Lord and get attached to Him, the Lord becomes more attached to that person. Therefore, if we want the Lord to get attached to us, then we need to hear about Him. We can learn this from Rukmini ji.
Hare Krsna Hare Krsna
Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma
Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Hare Krsna!
