Sri RukmiNi KalyANam : Part II

[Guest guest]

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