yadhavabhyudhaya-chapter12-Rukmini

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Chapter12 - Rukmini

 

thaThAviDHAnandhamahApayODHEH

tharangavrtthyA bajathO avathArAn

aSEsharoopEshvanurooparoopA

dhEvee jagannEthuh anuprajajnE

 

The Lord takes numerous incarnations like the waves of the sea of bliss.Lakshmi also takes many forms accordingly and follows Him in all His incarnations.

 

The upanishad says, 'sa Eko brahmaNa Anandhah,' the bliss is one and of Brahman. That bliss is like an ocean, Anandhalahari, and the waves of the ocean is the avatharas, differing only in the form like the waves which are nothing but the ocean.To Him who is the controller of the Universe, Sridevi becomes His fitting consort in all His incarnations, in some not manifest as in mathsya, koorma, vamana etc. She is like the light of the Sun as Seetha says to Ravana 'ananyA raghavEnAham bhasakareNa yaTHA prabhA,I am non-different from Rama as the light from the Sun (SK-20.15)

 

Sikhandakam nishprathimam SrutheenAm

SrngAraleelOpamavisvakrthyam

aDHeeyathE thanmiThunam svabhAvAth

anyOnyajeevAthum ananya bhOgyam

 

The divine couple, the unparalleled jewel of the vedas, to whom the creation of the universe is like a play of love. The two are mutual elixir to each other and the delight of the devotees who do not seek anything else.

 

The word anyonya jeevathum is explained by Appayya dkshitha as follows:

The meaning of aham, ' I', ahamarTha , is the Lord , being the real self of all.Sri is the ahamthA, the 'I-ness' being his dharmadharmiNi. That is, His shakthi or power. One who possesses power is called shakthimAn, and he ceases to be so without shakthi.Similarly shakthi, being a dharma cannot stand by itself without a substratum,dharmi, namely the one who has shakthi. So both are mutually dependent for their existence.

 

Desika , the author of Dhayasathaka, describes Sridevi as 'dhayEva nithyam dhayithA thriDHAmnah sarvEshu bhAveshu samAnabhAvA;parAvarANAm jananee prajAnAm.' She is like dhaya, mercy of the Lord , which cannot be dissociated from Him, because she is His dhaya. She is the mother of all beings great and small and attains equal status in all three abodes of HIs, namely, Srivaikunta,the supreme abode, Suryamandala, the orb of the Sun, and ksheerAbDHi, the milky ocean.

 

So Sridevi took the incarnation as Rukmini in the land of Vidharbha.Desika says,

amanyatha EnAm thanayAm sa rAjA

rukmee cha mOhAth anujAm ananyAm

yAm Ekapathneem anaghaScha pumsaH

prajAsrjAm mAtharam Amananthi

 

Bheeshmaka ,the knig of Vudharbha thought she was his daughter and his son Rukmi considered her as his sister out of delusion because she is the divine consort of the Lord, the mother of all beings, including Brahma, and birthless.

 

Almost the whole chapter has been dedicated to the description of Rukmini, since to Desika, a paramvaishnava, thayar, the divine mother, is more praiseworthy than even the Lord Himself, she being the personification of His mercy.

 

All the virtues found an ideal abode in her where they will be uncontaminated by faults and her form looked like the combination of the rays of the sun and the moon or of gold and gems, because her lustre was like a lightning.

 

She grew up more and more beautiful as though wishing to delight Krishna for whom she has taken birth. Her playful activities were uncognisable except by the subtlest intellects, says Desika, 'adhrsyabhEdhaih athisookshmabhAvAth jajnE jaganmangalathAm dhaDHAnaih.' and they were conferring blessings on the whole world.The celestial damsels showered flowers on her and thus her desire of playing in the dust, as is usual for children, was fulfilled by the pollen of the flowers which fell on her. Desika says that being apAmsula, clean and pure, her wish to play in dust,pAmsu vihAra vAncchA, is satisfied only in this manner.

 

Her words were perfect, grammatically and phonetically, equal to the vedas and such that it presented a challenge even to sarasvathi, the goddess of learning.

Rukmini attained her youth which was like the moon free from the clouds,the natural intellect combined with scriptural knowledge and the unerring and fruitful justice. 'niSena chandhrENa ghanavyapAyE,naisargikee buddhiriva SruthEna;phalena sa neethiriva apramAdhA yukthA babhou noothana youvanEna.' She seemed to be a golden lotus that manifested at the time of the appearance of Lakshmi from the milky ocean.

 

Desika, not satisfied by the objects of comparison for her beauty finds comfort in the thought that comparing something which is inferior only extols the glory of the thing compared. Appayya dikshitha commenting on the line 'nidharSanam thairapi nithyadhrshtAm yEshAm nikarshOpi guNo yathaH syAth,' says, 'yEshAm, AkASAdheenAm,yathaH paramAthmAdhEH nikarshO api gunaH SyAth, yaTHA 'AkASavath sarvagathasya nithyaH' ithyAdhi Sruthishu.' Just as the Brahman is compared with Akasa as in the text 'He is eternal and all pervading like the Akasa,' when there is nothing equal to the subject , even comparing with an inferior object is a merit as it denoted the incomparable nature of the subject.

 

But Desika continues to describe Rukimini kesadhipadhantham as Narayana bhattadhri described the form of Narasimha, after saying that it defies description, in his Narayaneeyam.

 

She reached the marriageable age and her mind has gone to Krishna already.When her friends asked her about the bridegroom she had in her mind she bent her head with shyness as though by looking at herself she indicated that the one in her heart is her counterpart.'asoochayan noonam anEna thasyAH svalakshaNam Sourim ananya lakshyam.'

 

Desika differs from the account of Srimadbhagavatham where it is mentioned that Rukmini sent a letter to Krishna, in the the famous passage, 'SruthvA guNAn bhuvanasundhara,' etc. in as much as he never refers to it at all. His idea may be that as soon as the devotee thinks of the Lord earnestly He makes His appearance Himself because residing in the heart as the real self He need not be told about the wishes of the devotees.

 

But nevertheless there is a veiled reference to the letter of Rukmini in Bhagavatham as Desika relating the intention of Sisupala to marry her says, 'alipsatha SvA iva haviH thadhA EnAm dhaithyasvabhAvO dhamaghoshajanmA,' the son of Dhamagosha, Sisupala, who had the attributes of an asura,though a human, desired her as a dog wishing to get the offering of the devas. Rukmini says in her letter to Krishna, 'mA veerabhAgam abhimarSathu chaidhya ArAth gOmAyuvath mrgapathEh balim ambujAksha, let not,chaidhya,that is, Sisupala, carry me away like a jackal stealing the prey of the lion.

 

Andal also says in her Nacchiar thirumozi,'vanidai vazum avvanavarkku maraiyavar vELviyi lvaguttha vavai, kAnidai thirivadhOr nari pugundhu kadappadhum mOppadhum Seivadhoppa,'meaning that to give her in marriage to a human being is like the offering consecrated for the devas by the vedic scholars being smelled and carried away by a fox that roams in the forest.

 

Rukmini was decorated for the marriage with Sisupala, which was agreed upon by her brother Rukmi,and Desika gives an elaborate description of her adorned beauty by 16 slokas.Rukmini was thinking only of Krishna and the other chaste ladies blessed her for the fulfilment of her desire even without knowing her heart.She was taken to the temple of Indra and she prayed to the goddess for the fulfilment of her desire.( In Bhagavatham Rukmini was mentioned as worshipping goddess Durga bur here Desika says that it was IndhraNi, the goddess of marriage.)

 

Her left thigh and left eye throbbed to indicate that Krishna has come and the air was full of the fragrance of Tulasi and she heard the sound of Panchajanya.Thus ends the 12th chapter and the next one describes the marriage of Rukmini.