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Sri RukmiNi KalyANam : Part II

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Sadagopan • August 22, 2000 


namo NarAyaNAya !
Srimath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Dear BhakthAs :

In this posting we will cover the birth of RukimiNi
as the avathAram of MahA Lakshmi to accompany Her 
Lord during KrishNAavthAram , Her beauty and Her
message to Her Lord to save Her from the marriage 
arranged by Her brother and parents to SisupAlan
as She reached marriagable age.

Sri RukmiNi PirAtti's avathAram
********************************
Our Lord Sriman NaarAyaNan takes many
avathArams .In every one of them , His consort
MahA Lakshmi joins Him with an appropriate avathAram to
be with Him.AchArya RaamAnujA celebrates this
avathAra rahasyam in his SaraNAgathigadhyam :

" Bhagavan NaarAyaNAbhimathaanurUpA ,SvarUpa-rUpa-guNa
Vibhava-Isvarya- SeelAdhyanavadhikAthisaya asankyEya
KalyANa guNAm ----BhagavathIm Sriyam dEvIm
NITHYAANAPAAYINEEM---akhila jaganmaatharam--
SaraNamaham prapadhyE "

During KrishNAvathAram , She incarnated according to 
this established tatthvam as RukmiNi , the daughter of  
BhIshmakan ,the king of Vidharbha desam . Swamy Desikan 
points this out in YadhAvAbhudayam about MahA Lakshmi 
taking such an anurUpam as RukmiNi (complimentary form) 
to His rUpam as Krishnan this way:

" asEsha rupEshu anurUpa-rUpA Devi 
  JagannEthu anupraJ~anjE "

Our Lord is present in Sri Vaikuntam,
Soorya MaNdalam and Milky Ocean . In all
these places, MahA Lakshmi is present 
with Him as the DayA GuNam and adapts
to every one of His states . During 
KrishNavathAram , She incarnated as 
RukmiNi , the daughter of the King of
Vidharbha dEsam .Swamy Desikan describes
this(Her) avathAram as DayA Moorthy this way:

dayEva nithyam dayithA ThridhAmna:
sarvEshu bhAvEshu SamAnabhAvA I
ParAvarANAm JananI prajAnAm-
aaseeth VidharbhAdhipatErapathyam II

The King BhIshmakan out of his aj~nAnam
thought of his daughter as a mere mortal.
His eldest son Rukmi also thought of his sister 
as an ordinary human being and wanted to marry Her
to his dear friend , SisupAlan, the enemy of the Lord.

The incomparable Beauty of RukmiNi Devi
****************************************   
Through 65 exquisite  slOkams , Swamy Desikan 
describes the saamudhrikA Lakshanams 
( the ideal beauty lakshaNams) of RukmiNi , 
the avathAram of MahA Lakshmi. Her prathyanga-
Soundharyam ( divine beauty of each limbs) 
and SamudhAya ShObhai ( the integrated beauty 
of all Her limbs)is visualized by Swamy Desikan 
in these slOkams befitting his title as Kavi Simham.
He describes Her indescribable beauty from head to toe
( KeSAdhi PaadhAntham ). Swamy Desikan's particular
salutation to the beauty of Her sacred pair of
feet is as follows:

rarAja dhivyai: adhirAja chihnai: 
slAgApadham tath padham aagamAnAm
asmAnam  aasthapayaTaa parastAth
yath paaNinA visvapathEravApyam 

(meaning) : Sri RukmiNI PirAtti's sacred 
ThiruvadikaL , celebrated especially by 
all the VedAs as the most auspicious 
objects , brimmed with dhivya chihnams
( marks) such as Lotus , Kalasam (nectar pot) , 
Sankham (Conch)Chakram (disc) et al.This was seen 
from Her imprints on the earth as She walked about. 
Later,during Her marriage to Lord KrishNA , He 
held those feet to lift them up to place
them on the ammi (grinding stone) and at
that time ,KrishNA acquired Isvarathvam due
to that association with the divine feet of Hers. 

This walking gem among ladies ( SthriyO: 
Jangama rathna srushti) appeared like 
the exquisite statue sculpted by the 
talents of Manmathan ( SrungAra- yOniriva
Silpa VidhyAm dhivyAm ) and the boundary 
of all wealth and auspicousness ( SampadhasthAm
Seemantha rEkhAmiva ) .

The sakhis (play mates) of RukmiNi
admired Her Beauty and queried Her on
whom She would like to bless by Her marriage.
They wanted to know , who Her heart throb
(ishta varan ) was .The shy RukmiNi bent Her 
head in response and appeared as though She
was looking inward at Her Lord , for whom She
is the LakshaNam (Sva-lakshanam Sourim ananya 
lakshanam). For Sriya pathi , Sri Devi is
well established as SvarUpa NirUpaka LakshaNam .

Meanwhile , King DhamaghOshan's son by the name
of SisupAlan wanted to have RukimiNi's hand in
marriage. Both the parents and the eldest brother
of RukmiNi consented to that proposal. SisupAlan
had aaasuric guNams and marriage to him would be
like offering Deva Havis to a lowly dog ( SunAmiva
PurODAsa:). The woman servants of the inner
chambers began to adorn RukmiNi in preparation
for this marriage ,which She detested .She had
no one else in Her mind other than Lord KrishNA ,
"SaakshAth manmatha Manmathan " as Her husband.
The marriage preparations at Kundinapuram , 
the capital of Vidharbha dEsam continued. 
RukmiNi was desperate for finding a way to
escape this marriage and seek the hand of
KrishNan as Her bharthA . She sought the help of
a trusted Brahmin and asked him to rush to Her 
Lord's side at Dwarakai with an urgent message to
come to Her rescue and take Her away from
Her city and pleaded with Her Lord to take
Her hand in marriage.

The Message of RukmiNi to Lord KrishNan
****************************************

The messenger arrived quickly at DhwArakai
and was well received by the Lord , who
offered salutations to the Brahmin and asked 
him about the reason for the visit. The Brahmin
delivered the message of RukmiNI and described
Her desparate plight . RukmiNi's message starts 
with the famous slOkam : "SruthvA GuNAn 
Bhuvana Sundara --". The detailed and intimate 
message of RukmiNi was: " Oh AchyuthA of
captivating beauty! I have abandoned all my 
feelings of bashfulness of a noble-born girl of 
marriagable age and have chosen Thee as my 
husband and am offering myself to Thee as Your
wife. Oh Granter of Moksha sukham ! Please
accept me as Your wife. If I have accumulated
any puNyam by the worship of the Supreme Being
through niyamams , vrathams and AarAdhanams ,
May my hand be united with You alone in wedlock !"

RukmiNi then went on to convey through her message
a strategy for Her Lord to come to her rescue 
at Kundinapuram. She begged her Lord to arrive
incognito so that the armies of Chedi and MagadhA
kingdoms are fooled .She begged Him to abduct
Her and marry her by RaakshasA rite and accept
her as the prize money for such valor ( Nimarthya
Chaidhya-MagdhEndhra Balam PRASAHYA MAAM RAAKSHASENA
VIDHINODHVAHA VEERYASULKAAM ). After suggesting
this bold strategy , RukmiNi thought about any harm
that may come Her Lord's way during the encounter
with the armies of the kings of Chedi and Maghadhaa
and offered a more elegant way to abduct Her .She
gave KrishNa a hint :" My Lord! The day before 
my arranged marriage , there will be a grand
procession for worship at the temple of 
the family Mother-dity , IndhrANi , which is
outside the palace grounds. Please abduct me there
at the temple as I come out aftr worship and
take me away with You and marry me at DwArakai.
If You fail to rescue me from being married to
the loathsome SisupAlan , I will abandon my life 
by fasting and other austeriites.This shall 
continue in life after life , until I am
blessed to have Thee, O Lotus-eyed One, as
my Husband."

The BrahmaNA delivered this powerful message from
RukmiNi to her Lord and and implored the Lord to
do whatever that needed to be done in that matter 
swiftly . Lord KrishNA responded to the Brahmin
and confided in him about His deep desire to 
marry RukmiNi : " Oh noble Brahmin ! I am always
thinking of RukmiNi , just as She is thinking of me.
I do not sleep at night and I am aware of Rukmi's
(her brother's) opposition of Her marriage to me.
I shall come with You to Kundinapuram and take away 
this bride of mine , just as fire is extracted out of 
the fire stick in a Yaj~nam ".

Thereafter , Lord KrishNA ordered His charioteer 
to get His ratham for the travel to Kundinapuram 
and together with the Brahmin reached His
destination in one night , thanks to His 
fleet-footed horses and skilled Saarathy. 

We will conclude the RukmiNi KalYANam postings
tomorrow with the description of the abduction of
RukmiNi and Her marriage with the Lord at DwArakai
as the Vikrama samvathsara Sri KrishNa Jayanthi 
celebration commneces . 

Sri RukmiNI SamEtha Sri KrishNa ParabrahmanE nama: 
Daasan, Oppilaippan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan  
     
              
 
 


  


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