Rukmiṇī’s Love Letter to Kṛṣṇa - Surrender, Anxiety, and Rebuttal

This article presents a thematic survey of Queen Rukmiṇī's famous love letter to Lord Kṛṣṇa, her intense anxiety before their marriage, and her profound philosophical dialogue with the Lord in Dvārakā. It organizes the beautiful verses found in the Vanisource category Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Verses Spoken by Queen Rukmiṇī.

Queen Rukmiṇī is the expansion of the Lord's internal potency (hlādinī-śakti). Her words demonstrate that hearing about the Lord (śravaṇam) is sufficient to arouse ecstatic love (prema). Whether she is plotting her own rescue from the clutches of Śiśupāla or debating the nature of the soul and the body with Kṛṣṇa, her focus remains unshakeably fixed on the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The Love Letter (Proposal and Plan)

Hearing of Kṛṣṇa's beauty and qualities from visiting guests, Princess Rukmiṇī falls in love with Him. When her brother Rukmī arranges her marriage to Śiśupāla, she sends a confidential letter to Kṛṣṇa via a trustworthy brāhmaṇa. This letter outlines her surrender and a strategic plan for Kṛṣṇa to kidnap her.

Hearing the Glories

Queen Rukmiṇī begins by admitting that she has lost her shame and mental composure simply by hearing about Kṛṣṇa.

  • "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."

The Proposal

Rukmiṇī argues that Kṛṣṇa is the only suitable husband for a girl of noble lineage and intelligence.

  • "O Mukunda, You are equal only to Yourself in lineage, character, beauty, knowledge, youthfulness, wealth and influence. O lion among men, You delight the minds of all mankind. What aristocratic, sober-minded and marriageable girl of a good family would not choose You as her husband when the proper time has come?"
  • "Therefore, my dear Lord, I have chosen You as my husband, and I surrender myself to You. Please come swiftly, O almighty one, and make me Your wife. My dear lotus-eyed Lord, let Śiśupāla never touch the hero's portion like a jackal stealing the property of a lion."
  • "If I have sufficiently worshiped the Supreme Personality of Godhead by pious works, sacrifices, charity, rituals and vows, and also by worshiping the demigods, brāhmaṇas and gurus, then may Gadāgraja come and take my hand, and not Damaghoṣa's son or anyone else."

The Strategic Plan

Anticipating Kṛṣṇa's concern about fighting her relatives inside the palace, Queen Rukmiṇī suggests a plan to kidnap her during a temple procession outside the city.

  • "O unconquerable one, tomorrow when my marriage ceremony is about to begin, You should arrive unseen in Vidarbha and surround Yourself with the leaders of Your army. Then crush the forces of Caidya and Magadhendra and marry me in the Rākṣasa style, winning me with Your valor."
  • "Since I will be staying within the inner chambers of the palace, You may wonder, 'How can I carry you away without killing some of your relatives?' But I shall tell You a way: On the day before the marriage there is a grand procession to honor the royal family's deity, and in this procession the new bride goes outside the city to visit Goddess Girijā."

The Ultimatum

Queen Rukmiṇī declares that she desires Kṛṣṇa not for material happiness but to destroy her ignorance. She vows to wait for many lifetimes if necessary, but she will accept no one else.

  • "O lotus-eyed one, great souls like Lord Śiva hanker to bathe in the dust of Your lotus feet and thereby destroy their ignorance. If I cannot obtain Your mercy, I shall simply give up my vital force, which will have become weak from the severe penances I will perform. Then, after hundreds of lifetimes of endeavor, I may obtain Your mercy."

Anxiety and Prayer (The Wait)

After sending the brāhmaṇa, Queen Rukmiṇī waits in her palace. As the wedding day dawns and the brāhmaṇa has not returned, she is seized with anxiety, fearing that Kṛṣṇa has rejected her.

Doubts and Fears

Queen Rukmiṇī wonders if her lack of luck or some fault in her has kept the Lord away.

  • "(Princess Rukmiṇī thought:) Alas, my wedding is to take place when the night ends! How unlucky I am! Lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa does not come. I don't know why. And even the brāhmaṇa messenger has not yet returned."
  • "Perhaps the faultless Lord, even while preparing to come here, saw something contemptible in me and therefore has not come to take my hand."
  • "I am extremely unfortunate, for the creator is not favorably disposed toward me, nor is the great Lord Śiva. Or perhaps Śiva's wife, Devī, who is known as Gaurī, Rudrāṇī, Girijā and Satī, has turned against me."

Prayer to Ambikā

When she finally goes to the temple, she prays to Goddess Ambikā (Durgā). Unlike ordinary worshipers who ask for wealth or a handsome husband, Queen Rukmiṇī asks only for Kṛṣṇa.

  • "(Princess Rukmiṇī prayed:) O mother Ambikā, wife of Lord Śiva, I repeatedly offer my obeisances unto you, together with your children. May Lord Kṛṣṇa become my husband. Please grant this!"

Saving Her Brother Rukmī

Kṛṣṇa arrives, kidnaps Rukmiṇī, and defeats the armies of Śiśupāla and Jarāsandha. However, her brother Rukmī pursues them. Kṛṣṇa defeats Rukmī and prepares to kill him. Seeing this, Queen Rukmiṇī pleads for her brother's life.

  • "Śrī Rukmiṇī said: O controller of all mystic power, immeasurable one, Lord of lords, master of the universe! O all auspicious and mighty-armed one, please do not kill my brother!"

Identifying Pradyumna

Years later, Pradyumna (Rukmiṇī's son who was kidnapped as an infant) returns to Dvārakā. Queen Rukmiṇī recognizes him through her maternal affection and his resemblance to Kṛṣṇa.

  • "(Śrīmatī Rukmiṇī-devī said:) Who is this lotus-eyed jewel among men? What man's son is He, and what woman carried Him in her womb? And who is this woman He has taken as His wife?"
  • "If my lost son, who was kidnapped from the maternity room, were still alive somewhere, He would be of the same age and appearance as this young man."
  • "But how is it that this young man so much resembles my own Lord, Kṛṣṇa, the wielder of Śārṅga, in His bodily form and His limbs, in His gait and the tone of His voice, and in His smiling glance?"
  • "Yes, He must be the same child I bore in my womb, since I feel great affection for Him and my left arm is quivering."

The Lovers' Quarrel (Philosophy of the Soul)

In a playful mood, Kṛṣṇa teases Queen Rukmiṇī, suggesting that since He is a cowherd boy constantly in fear of kings like Jarāsandha, she made a mistake in marrying Him. He suggests she could still choose a better king like Śiśupāla. Queen Rukmiṇī, after recovering from the shock, delivers a profound rebuttal, interpreting Kṛṣṇa's words to reveal His absolute supremacy.

Unequals

Queen Rukmiṇī agrees that they are unequal, but only because Kṛṣṇa is the master of the three modes and she is a product of material nature.

  • "Śrī Rukmiṇī said: Actually, what You have said is true, O lotus-eyed one. I am indeed unsuitable for the almighty Personality of Godhead. What comparison is there between that Supreme Lord, who is master of the three primal deities and who delights in His own glory, and myself, a woman of mundane qualities whose feet are grasped by fools?"

Fear of the Material Modes

Queen Rukmiṇī explains that Kṛṣṇa "ran away to the ocean" not out of fear of kings, but because the Supersoul resides in the ocean of the heart, transcendental to the modes of nature.

  • "Yes, my Lord Urukrama, You lay down within the ocean as if afraid of the material modes, and thus in pure consciousness You appear within the heart as the Supersoul. You are always battling against the foolish material senses, and indeed even Your servants reject the privilege of royal dominion, which leads to the blindness of ignorance."

Incomprehensible Activities

Śrī Rukmiṇī states that if even sages cannot understand Him, how can ordinary humans?

  • "Your movements, inscrutable even for sages who relish the honey of Your lotus feet, are certainly incomprehensible for human beings who behave like animals. And just as Your activities are transcendental, O all-powerful Lord, so too are those of Your followers."

The "Poor" Lord

Kṛṣṇa called Himself poor. Queen Rukmiṇī counters that He owns everything, and that the demigods pay tribute to Him.

  • "You possess nothing because there is nothing beyond You. Even the great enjoyers of tribute—Brahmā and other demigods—pay tribute to You. Those who are blinded by their wealth and absorbed in gratifying their senses do not recognize You in the form of death. But to the gods, the enjoyers of tribute, You are the most dear, as they are to You."
  • "You are the embodiment of all human goals and are Yourself the final aim of life. Desiring to attain You, O all-powerful Lord, intelligent persons abandon everything else. It is they who are worthy of Your association, not men and women absorbed in the pleasure and grief resulting from their mutual lust."

Rejecting Other Suitors

Śrī Rukmiṇī declares that she rejected the greatest demigods (like Brahmā) and Śiśupāla because they are all subject to time, whereas Kṛṣṇa is the controller of time.

  • "Knowing that great sages who have renounced the sannyāsī's daṇḍa proclaim Your glories, that You are the Supreme Soul of all the worlds, and that You are so gracious that You give away even Your own self, I chose You as my husband, rejecting Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and the rulers of heaven, whose aspirations are all frustrated by the force of time, which is born from Your eyebrows. What interest, then, could I have in any other suitors?"
  • "My Lord, as a lion drives away lesser animals to claim his proper tribute, You drove off the assembled kings with the resounding twang of Your Śārṅga bow and then claimed me, Your fair share. Thus it is sheer foolishness, my dear Gadāgraja, for You to say You took shelter in the ocean out of fear of those kings."
  • "Wanting Your association, the best of kings—Aṅga, Vainya, Jāyanta, Nāhuṣa, Gaya and others—abandoned their absolute sovereignty and entered the forest to seek You out. How could those kings suffer frustration in this world, O lotus-eyed one?"

The Living Corpse vs. The Supreme Lord

In a scathing critique of material marriage, Queen Rukmiṇī describes the material body as a "living corpse" filled with stool and bile. She asks why any intelligent woman would choose such a bag of bones over the fragrant lotus feet of the Lord.

  • "The aroma of Your lotus feet, which is glorified by great saints, awards people liberation and is the abode of Goddess Lakṣmī. What woman would take shelter of any other man after savoring that aroma? Since You are the abode of transcendental qualities, what mortal woman with the insight to distinguish her own true interest would disregard that fragrance and depend instead on someone who is always subject to terrible fear?"
  • "Because You are suitable for me, I have chosen You, the master and Supreme Soul of all the worlds, who fulfill our desires in this life and the next. May Your feet, which give freedom from illusion by approaching their worshiper, give shelter to me, who have been wandering from one material situation to another."
  • "O infallible Kṛṣṇa, let each of the kings You named become the husband of a woman whose ears have never heard Your glories, which are sung in the assemblies of Śiva and Brahmā. After all, in the households of such women these kings live like asses, oxen, dogs, cats and slaves."
  • "A woman who fails to relish the fragrance of the honey of Your lotus feet becomes totally befooled, and thus she accepts as her husband or lover a living corpse covered with skin, whiskers, nails, head-hair and body-hair and filled with flesh, bones, blood, parasites, feces, mucus, bile and air."

The Nature of Lust

Queen Rukmiṇī concludes that lusty women change lovers constantly, but she is fixed on the Lord.

  • "O lotus-eyed one, though You are satisfied within Yourself and thus rarely turn Your attention toward me, please bless me with steady love for Your feet. It is when You assume a predominance of passion in order to manifest the universe that You glance upon me, showing me what is indeed Your greatest mercy."
  • "Actually, I don't consider Your words false, Madhūsudana. Quite often an unmarried girl is attracted to a man, as in the case of Ambā."
  • "The mind of a promiscuous woman always hankers for new lovers, even if she is married. An intelligent man should not keep such an unchaste wife, for if he does he will lose his good fortune both in this life and the next."
  • "(Queen Rukmiṇī said:) This is more than enough, O Soul of the universe, to secure him an abundance of all kinds of wealth in this world and the next. After all, one's prosperity depends simply on Your satisfaction."

Conversation with Draupadī (Recalling the Kidnapping)

Years later at Kurukṣetra, Queen Rukmiṇī recounts her marriage story to Draupadī, describing Kṛṣṇa as a lion taking His share.

  • "Śrī Rukmiṇī said: When all the kings held their bows at the ready to assure that I would be presented to Śiśupāla, He who puts the dust of His feet on the heads of invincible warriors took me from their midst, as a lion forcibly takes his prey from the midst of goats and sheep. May I always be allowed to worship those feet of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the abode of Goddess Śrī."

Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani

This article is a thematic compilation of the teachings presented in the Vaniquotes category Bhagavatam Verses Spoken by Queen Rukmini. We invite you to visit the link to read the complete collection of verses presented in alphabetical order.

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