In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna “fooling” everybody at Vidharba and stalking away Rukmini Devi within a jiffy, even before anyone realized what was happening. This type of marriage in our Sanaatana Dharma is referred to as “Raakshasa Vivaaha”. Many of us might be familiar that “Vivaaha” means marriage. In fact, there are several types of “Vivaha” as mentioned in the Sanaatana Dharma literature and here, Bhagawan Krishna performs the “Raakshasa Vivaaha” with Rukmini Devi. “Raakshasa Vivaaha” means, the marriage happens without the consent of elderly people in both the families. In other words, there is a strong opposition for this marriage to happen amongst the family members, yet, the couple are steadfast in marrying each other. Thus, even without the consent and blessings of the family members, the couple “run away” with each other and tie the knot. We see this very often in today’s movies and also in real life too, isn’t it? Thus, this is something that is not happening only today! Even Bhagawan Krishna has done this around 5000 years ago! 🙂 Of course, this is on the lighter side of things, but the important point here is that, Bhagawan Krishna and Rukmini Devi were destined to get married to each other, as they had incarnated for the purpose of showering their divine grace over all of us together.
Thus, as Bhagawan Krishna escapes away with Rukmini Devi, Sishupala was fuming on one end. King Rukmi couldn’t bare the insult on the other end. Both of them decide to take Bhagwan Krishna head on, and they give a tough chase to His chariot. At one stage, Bhagawan Krishna decides that He has had enough with this “running and catching” business! He has already done this with Kaalayavana and we’ve seen this interesting story earlier. Hence, Bhagawan Krishna decides that He has to give it back. A huge fight breaks out, wherein both Sishupala and King Rukmi were given a befitting reply and both of them were made to run for their money! Thus, although Bhagawan Krishna won over King Rukmi, He decides not to kill him. He let’s King Rukmi escape because it would then become a crime that Bhagawan Krishna killed the father-in-law and abducted Rukmini Devi. He has to pay the due respects that a father-in-law requires. Hence, Bhagawan Krishna lets King Rukmi go without being killed.
With this, the couple reaches Dwaraka amidst a grand reception. A grand wedding and a feast were arranged the very next day, and the marriage ceremony took place in an elaborate manner. With this, we shall worship Bhagawan Krishna and Goddess Rukmini Devi together and conclude this project on “Shri Vishnu Puraana”. Of course, we’ve condensed this project a lot because, as I had mentioned earlier, the next big project that we’re going to undertake from tomorrow is going to cover the remaining points that we’ve not witnessed here. Thus, I take this opportunity to thank all readers once again for your enormous support and constructive feedback. We’ve been fortunate enough to continue this blog series for the past four years now, and with the divine grace of Bhagawan Krishna and Rukmini Devi, Bhagawan Rama and Mother Sita, I’m hoping to continue this series for a longer time, so that we shall together learn many important aspects from our Sanaatana Dharma as we move into the future.
So with this, I’m officially concluding the discussion on “Shri Vishnu Puraana”, and from tomorrow, we’re going to start with our next mega project on one of the two important epics that form the heart of our “Sanaatana Dharma”. We’ve already witnessed one of them in detail earlier, and it is now time to commence the next one! I’m sure, readers might have guessed the one that I’m talking about, but for today, let us keep guessing the same. We shall wait for tomorrow for a grand beginning! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 