krishna ha 16000+ wives.....?

[vinay]

it is said that krishna had 16000+ wives. is it true? is there any mention of this in the scriptures?

and what are we supposed tio imbibe from this?

 

[Sirona]

Yes it is true. It appears several times in the Bhagavatam.

I think there are two ways of interpreting it:

(1) Powerful men have many women and because Krishna is the most Powerful he has really a lot of women.

(2) A relation between a man and a woman is by its very nature something that excludes others. However, from the Gita we learn that Krishna is not prejudiced or discriminating against anyone because of what they are. So if several souls desire to adopt a lover's attitude towards the Lord he rejects no one. Anyway one should also take into consideration the rasa-lila. Krishna was dancing with 108 gopis at the same time while each gopi perceived he was dancing with her only. While Krishna was living with his 16108 princesses he manifested 16108 times his form so every wife could have her own husband. The women were not living together in a harem but they had their own homes respectively.

If mystical souls desire to be loved by God He does not pick one to leave the others behind. Instead He becomes the Lover of them all.

 

Last but not least: Krishna freed the princesses who were kept as prisoners by a demon. According to harsh Indian moral standards they could not marry any more after their liberation because they were considered "impure". Krishna's act of marrying them was an act of great compassion to save them from loss of social status leading to misery. And don't forget they were all in love with him what brings us back to the topic of loving God.

 

 

 

 

 

[leyh]

Vinay:

The following is an excerpt from Krsna --- The Supreme Personality of Godhead,also known as the "Krsna Book" (you can read the entire Krsna Book online at www.krsnabook.com) The "Krsna Book" is by His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (Founder-acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness) and the following excerpt might be of some help to you in understanding why Krsna had 16,108 wives.

 

The Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna certainly has no business being anyone's husband or son or father, because everything belongs to Him and everyone is under His control. He does not require anyone's help for His satisfaction. He is atmarama, self-satisfied; He can derive all pleasure by Himself, without anyone's help. When the Lord descends to play the part of a human being, He plays a role either as a husband, son, friend or enemy, in full perfection. As such, when He was playing as the perfect husband of the queens, especially of Rukminiji, He enjoyed conjugal love in complete perfection.

 

According to Vedic culture, although polygamy is allowed, none of the wives should be ill-treated. In other words, one may take many wives only if he is able to satisfy all of them equally as an ideal householder; otherwise it is not allowed. Lord Krsna is the world-teacher; therefore, even though He had no need for a wife, He expanded Himself into as many forms as He had wives, and He lived with them as an ideal householder, observing the regulative principles, rules and commitments in accordance with the Vedic injunctions and the social laws and customs of society. For each of His 16,108 wives, He simultaneously maintained different palaces, different establishments and different atmospheres. Thus the Lord, although one, exhibited Himself as 16,108 ideal householders.

 

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Sixtieth Chapter of Krsna, "Talks Between Krsna and Rukmini."

 

 

[This message has been edited by leyh (edited 12-11-2001).]

[shvu]

it is said that krishna had 16000+ wives. is it true?

Well, nobody knows the answer to that.

 

is there any mention of this in the scriptures?

The Mahabharata, the oldest source for Krishna does not say he had 16000 wives. Next came the Vishnu Purana and again, no mention of 16000 wives. Then came the Bhagavatam and now he had 16000+ wives. So the answer to your question is, yes and no.

 

..and what are we supposed to imbibe from this?

The 16000+ wives by itself, has no significance and so there is nothing to be imbibed from it. The Bhagavatam is about describing glories of Krishna and to understand that, you will have to study the text in full.

 

Cheers

 

[stonehearted]

Originally posted by shvu:

The 16000+ wives by itself, has no significance and so there is nothing to be imbibed from it. The Bhagavatam is about describing glories of Krishna and to understand that, you will have to study the text in full.

Cheers

stone: Ditto to the last sentence; the only way to really understand the Bhagavatam is to study it in full. I would add one thing: we are best served by studying it under the guidance of a competent professor of the subject matter--a spiritual master.

 

One thing we can understand from Krishna's marrying over 16,000 wives is that he is not one of us. The Bhagavatam says that Krishna was able to interact individually with each of his wives simultaneously and completely satisfy them in every way. If any of us can do so with just one spouse, we're considered extraordinary. Devotional students of the Bhagavatam accept this as evidence of Krishna's position as the Supreme Person.

 

 

[This message has been edited by stonehearted (edited 12-11-2001).]

[karthik_v]

Originally posted by shvu:

The 16000+ wives by itself, has no significance and so there is nothing to be imbibed from it. The Bhagavatam is about describing glories of Krishna and to understand that, you will have to study the text in full.Cheers

Excellent Shvu. It is not very often that I agree with you, but this time I do.

 

 

[Avinash]

I have read many objections against Hindu scriptures that these scriptures are obscene etc. etc. If we just read only a few sentences of the scriptures, then these objections seem to be correct. But if we read the books in totality, then we find that we were wrong. Irrespective of who wrote these books or when they were written, these are real classics. These books show both the literary mastery as well as greatness (as human beings) of those who authored these. As an example, just read in Ramayana, the dialogues between Rama and Sita, between Rama and Bharata and many other dialogues. All of these are full of great teachings. Also, the metaphors used in the shlokas are such that there is sublime poetic beauty in them. Those who have mastery over Sanskrit will appreciate this beauty more than others.

[Guest guest]

Sri Krishna has always been the supreme sympathiser for those who have been hurt.Narakasura had these 16,000 princes kidnapped.When krishna destroyed Narakasura, these women pleaded with our beloved lord sri krishna about their destiny and that's when sri krishna accepted them as his wives since then nobody would dare to speak about them having been imprisoned by narakasura.Such was the greatness of our lord sri krishna

[sushil_kanoria]

Hari Bol,

 

After reading all the scriptures still people are confused, what is

right & what is not ??

This is because the srciptures are called Achintya(Inconcievable)

Thats why it is recommended to approach a bonafide spiritual

master, who will clear our doubts, just reading the scriptures

ourselves will not help us to understand everything.

When Ved-Vyasa confirms in the Bhagwatam that Lord Krishna has

16,000 plus wives, we have to accept it.

If we try to find out the answer just on our own, we will end nowhere

or rather say, just confusing our mind.

 

Hari Bol,

Sushil /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Abhishek]

There Are five Entities and they are "Jiva,Eshwara,Maya,Brahman,ParaBrahman".

Out of these five ParaBrahman is the Ultimate.Whan there was a need on the earth Parabrahman through his Shakti made an avtar of Krishna.So the fact that Krishna had 16000+ wives is true and they were not bodily related to him but related as devotees.They were such staunch devotees to him that when they asked him to show his abode Krishna did not show Golok But showed them the abode of Parabrahman.having so many wives is also a manushya Charitra done by lord.Krishna is not the ParaBrahman but is the form given by ParaBrahman Through his Shakti to kill Kans.

[Abhishek]

There Are five Entities and they are "Jiva,Eshwara,Maya,Brahman,ParaBrahman".

Out of these five ParaBrahman is the Ultimate.Whan there was a need on the earth Parabrahman through his Shakti made an avtar of Krishna.So the fact that Krishna had 16000+ wives is true and they were not bodily related to him but related as devotees.They were such staunch devotees to him that when they asked him to show his abode Krishna did not show Golok But showed them the abode of Parabrahman.having so many wives is also a manushya Charitra done by lord. Krishna is not the ParaBrahman but is the form given by ParaBrahman Through his Shakti to kill Kans.Only Radha's idol is placed beside Krishna Out 16000 wives because she was the best devotee of Krishna.If we become a devotee like Radha then only we can achieve Krishna.

[Guest guest]

There seems to be a terrible mistake in understanding the number of wives Krishna had. Perhaps one should ponder over such stories very carefully, before expressing his/her opinion about the same. When Krishna, killed Narakasur, there were many (over 16000) girls, languishing in Narakasur's jail. When Krishna released them and asked them to go home, they asked Him, where could they go as nobody would marry them. Krishna took pity on them and declared that, all those girls were his wives. However, the declaration was only for the sake of getting a good life for each of them and not for developing any conjugal relationship with each one. Thus because of His benevolence, the girls could lead a normal lives in the society.

[Guest guest]

I saw the movie Lagaan. I learned that Radha was nto Krishna's wife. Is this true?

[maadhav]

yes it is true,

else vyasdev would nto write it in bhagavatam.

 

never imitate god, perticularly krishna.

but do as he says.

 

[Guest guest]

If krishna THE SUPREME is in need of a mate and thats not one, its more than 16000, why cant these poor humans have more than one wife! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[hshk]

Because you are filled with desires not love. Krishna is an incarnation of Love and free of desires. That's why he is called Ajanma Brahmachari even after having so many wives. It is the internal condition or the consciousness of the highest type. You won't be able to understand unless you reach that state of consciousness or at least accept the supreme completely and surrender.

[anisha_astrologer]

as far as my knowledge goes, krishna pursued and killed Narakasur who had kidnapped many thousand princesses and kept them captive. after killing him Krishna freed them but the social code of the time dictated that they be discarded out of their father's house since they spent time with an unrelated man without marrying him. they had no other choice but to die. so to save them Krishna married all of them and gave them a respectable position in society.

Anisha Starstell.com

[lovetruth]

Finally it is fully upto each of us to interpret it correctly.

 

What do I feel?

1. I dont know if Krishna had 16k+ wives?

 

My view :

Krishna, to me, was a human being, who was enlightened, hence merged with God. Such a person has infinite love, zero sexual interests. According to me, anybody who loved him truly, he would have surely loved, in the purest of love. And probably any body who saw him / knows him would have felt in love with him. Even a man, that is because, an enlightened person has such pure love. And 16K + wives can be "imibibed" as a human being who can purely love (not physical) 16k+. Ideally, it is infinite. Now what about the physical love, he can till infinity, but he never will. And that is probably we should "imbibe". Love means pure love.

 

So the author must have tried to convey that love, which in this time, gets confused because of the way "wife" and "love" gets defined.

 

Thank you.

 

 

it is said that krishna had 16000+ wives. is it true? is there any mention of this in the scriptures?

and what are we supposed tio imbibe from this?