Rukmani, The Wife

Rukmani, The Wife

I don’t know why it took me so long to pen down Rukmani’s story after writing Meera and Radha, maybe she was not on top of the mind,  

also, for the world may be, less talked about?

Three days back, I opened my blog after years, I used to write regularly on anything random, fictional stories, on mythology, on Marketing, Brands and so on. I reminded myself how writing blogs used to take me in the imaginary world, the illusions I used to create through my stories.

I started reading my blog on Meera and Radha, A devotee and a lover of Krishna and how their life revolved around Krishna.

Krishna was a charmer, witty, smart, playful, intelligent and so on, the kinds women always fall for.

Women love Men who know how to play the games of love, kindness, Men who respect them and are not harmful, Men who are little flirtatious, Men who enjoy the process of owning them.

 Isn’t it?  

Coming back to the story, If Meera defined what is devotion, then Radha defined how to love a man.

But this story is about Rukmani, The wife.

Rukmani was a woman of great beauty, she was also called Vaidarbhi as she hailed from Vidharbha region. Legends say that she was a bit arrogant woman.

A little bit of arrogance or proudness comes naturally when a woman is beautiful? isnt it? i believe little dose of self proudness should come.

When Rukmani met Krishna for the first time, she was smitten by his charm, she fell in love with him, she knew that he was the one whom she would marry. 

When her syamwar was organized in her kingdom, with boldness under her sleeves, she wrote a letter to Krishna declaring her love for him and implored him to kidnap her. Krishna smiled in acknowledgement.

In sending that letter to Krishna, Rukmani took a bold step, she went against the patriarchal system of ‘arranged marriage’, She was brave, how could Krishna not respond to this call of love?

One day, when Rukmani came to visit a temple, Krishna abducted her and took her along with him after fighting a battle on the way.

When you love someone, you forget everything, you get consumed by it as you go through the journey.

Legends say that Rukmani even stayed with Radha for some time, Radha gave her secrets on how to love Krishna. Radha showed Rukmani the way to winning Krishna's heart.

She told her once to make kheer for Krishna as she knew that Kanha loved kheer very much, Rukmani made the kheer on instructions of Radha. When Krishna took the first spoon, he knew that it was not made by Radha but praised Rukmani which elated her.

Did Rukmani ever got love of Krishna?, Krishna loved her always and respected her but in his heart, Radha remained as lover.

Can wife be a lover? or does a wife want to become a lover? I am guessing, the answer will be yes, Being a wife adds a lot of responsibilities, responsibilities of taking care of the home along with the man himself?

What is a responsibility of a lover? It is to love, simple?, It isn't. 

Rukmani wanted to be lover of Krishna too, She wanted to feel the love which Krishna felt for Radha,  Not the love out of respect but love of a lover.

Rukmani imagined Krishna to be lover than a husband, but she remained wife, a loved wife.

But can a woman accept it easily that his husband is loved by over 16 thousand women?, A woman can not share her man with anyone, however Rukmani had to accept it as his man was someone who was for the world including her, so she accepted this gracefully.

But still?

Is marriage the answer to love? You love someone, if you get married, then only you will get completed, No, it is not true, Radha was as complete as Rukmani was.

They say for mankind, its instinctive to love again and again.

For Krishna, If Radha was love, then Rukmani was Kartavya.

Krishna loved both Kartavya and Love, not dividing anything between the two.

Was there ever a fight between Radha and Rukmani? Was Rukmani ever insecure?

The love between Krishna and Radha was divine and to do divine love with Krishna, one should be incarnation of Laxmi only and nobody else, hence it is said that when there is Radha, there is no Rukmini and vice-versa. And in such case the question of jealousy does not arise.

There is one tale which says that once during his voyage in Dwarka, A saint asked Rukmani and Krishna to give him water, Krishna said that water is not available to which saint cursed Krishna that there will always be shortage of water in Dwarka. Krishna pleaded him and then with his one-foot thumb created a fountain of water. At the same place, there is a temple of Rukmani near Dwarka.

Rukmani was incarnation of Lakshmi, Krishna proclaimed that she would always be on her side, he blessed her with the name “Sri”, and said that her name will be taken before his, hence people call him Sri Krishna.

There is one tale of rivalry between Rukmani and Krishna’s other wife Satyabhama. She told Rukmani to gift her husband Krishna to her & in return she could take all the gold in the world.

So, a mischievously complicit Krishna sat on one side of the scale, watching all proceedings. 

Satyabhama put all the gold and jewellery she had on the other side of the scale, but it did not move, In despair, Satyabhama swallowed her pride and begged Rukmini to help.

Rukmini readily stepped forth with just a tulsi leaf in hand. And when she placed that leaf on the scale, it moved and finally outweighed Krishna.

The strength of Rukmini’s love was there for all to see. She was, indeed, the first among equals.

Rukmani loved Krishna, hence she loved Radha too, believing whatever Krishna loves, she should love that too.

Krishna was lucky, to have devotee in Meera, a lover in Radha and  a wife in Rukmani.

Can we take some portion of each and love? Or as we do, expect other person to do the same for us first?

Stories.

#kahanibaaz

P.S- This is pure work of fiction, any resemblance to anything is purely coincidental, it is for light reading & entertainment only, not to be produced in any form anywhere, Not for commercial purpose. All the images used are taken from google (which were put in public domain).Views expressed are personal.

Meera, Krishna, Radha and Rukmani

Meera, Krishna, Radha and Rukmani

Yes, there is my logic to the order of the names, logic not in terms of importance of the women or their relationship with Krishna, logic in the way I saw beauty in each of them, their love for Krishna.

 I asked her, so, given a chance, whom you would like to marry, Ram or Krishna? Both are avtaar’s of lord Vishnu.

She thought for a while and replied,”Ram”.

She knew I will ask the reason for whatever answer she will give.Looking in my curious eyes, she said, “because Ram had values in him, he lived by rules.”

I saw a compromise in her eyes, she wanted to say something else, she knew it. Sensing my curiosity, she was silent, not knowing what to answer.

I asked, “so is it Krishna?”

She said, “Yes”.

Like any other confused woman ( Pun intended), she was looking for answers why she said Ram First and then Krishna.I thought may be I could shed some light on her response.

“Your mind said Ram because you felt he was the manly guy who lived by rules, Maryadapurshotam Ram, one woman guy, who is simple and easy going, who doesn’t lie, who is honest and he will take care of you.”

“but your heart always wanted Krishna, the playful, jolly, smart, who with his wit can make anyone fall for him, he was mischievous, with girls all around him always, he was the Casanova, real but un-harmful, he will never betray anybody but with his tactics he will conquer, life will be fun with him, worth living”. I said.

Isn't it always a battle of mind and heart, sometimes Mind dominates the heart and vice versa. They say there is a cost of following mind or heart, one has to pay, always, if you follow mind, you will be someone logical ( Perceptions!), if you follow your heart, you will be someone who is imaginative, the one who sees dreams and attempts to fulfill them. Both types are ok, one gets enough chances to follow each of both.

While my research was on, someone said, Ram is only popular in north india while Krishna is popular in north, south,west and east, all parts of india.

Yes, it is not about popularity index, its about two distinct personalities.

This blog is about 3 women who loved Krishna in their own magical way, they told the world that love could be of many types, but love is only thing which is real.

Meera

From my childhood, I was fascinated with the name ‘ Meera’, I don’t know why, whenever I used to hear this name, some mystical feelings I used to get, someone in a desert, someone alone, some deep soul,someone selfless.

Born in Rajasthan in a rich kingdom, she was full with all the luxuries of life, she loved Krishna who had died thousands of years ago. You know how this love started? Lemme tell you.

One day she saw someone getting married in his family, being curious , she was sitting with her mom in a room.

“Who will be my husband”, when I will get married? She asked her mom.

“He is your husband” Her mom pointed finger at idol of Krishna.

That was the day Meera fell in love with Krishna, he was the only one in this world who was hers she always told herself, nobody could understand her better than Krishna. Meera always believed Krishna is the only man on this mighty earth.

Meera was beautiful woman, such was her beauty that it reached thousand of kms across india across states, a elegant dancer, singer, she was dream of every man.

She lived in an era when it was necessary for all the women to cover their faces, nobody should see a woman’s face, yet she would dance on the road, her saree would slip down, face exposed, but she would continue dancing and singing.

Her feminine heart fell for Krishna, she always believed that there was something between her and Krishna which nobody in this world would understand, she never wanted the world to understand her emotions for Krishna, they were divine not following worldly rules. Selfless love, Meera was definition of love, she was love.

Meera got married also, to a prince Bhojraj. He was in awe of the beauty of Meera, but Meera was so delved in Krishna that no worldly man could take that role, ever.

She told Bhojraj, “You are not my husband, Krishna is my husband.”

 Can this be real? This love, in today’s world when everything is becoming a transaction, a series of transactions in love, Could there be someone who loved someone so selflessly, without any expectations, without the hope of getting them. 

I came across a article which listed down wrong reasons why people get married in india, some of them written : marriage is one stop solution for all problems, marriage is a compulsion in india, fear of staying single ( most ridiculous reason, where is love), marriage is a reason which sets women free ( financially also), dowry etc.

Meera’s love for Krishna was unconditional, she didn’t knew who she was in love with, she loved someone without any physical form, someone who will never be around as a man, but still she loved, because she believed.

She was given poison also, what on earth she did not face, expulsion from the family, hate from the society, but her love for Krishna was real. I don’t think so in today’s world anybody would be able to take that kind of love or for that matter receive that kind of love. We don’t have the strength to love someone that way, I don’t have the strength. Meera had, will always have.

Meera in her last days was in Dwarka when some Pandits from her family came to take her back, begging, requesting, Meera denied to go back. Not because she didn’t get respect in her hometown but she couldn’t live without Krishna.

 Dwarka temple was her home where she danced and sang,  people said she was alone but she never felt loneliness, she always believed Krishna was with him. She didn’t need world’s approval for considering Krishna as her husband.

When Pandits said that they will not go back if she was not going with them, Meera agreed. She agreed to go back. Only she knew where she was going.

One day, she entered Krishna’s room in the temple and closed the doors from inside, never to return again in this selfish world. They say when the doors were opened, nobody was there, Krishna’s idol was draped, draped with saree of Meera, Meera had lost herself in Krishna’s idol.

They call her Krishna’s devotee, I have no words for her, love is the word, selfless.

Lets love more and more….

Next section is Radha, another woman who loved Krishna in her own way.

Stay connected!

Vikas Sachdeva



Radha

Radha

Before I started writing about Radha, the visual imagery of Radha filled in my eyes, dressed in beautiful ghagra choli with earrings, bangles in her hand, bindi on her forehead, Girl who was full of life, running around here and there, A imagery flashed before my eyes as I kept my hands on the keyboard.

Do we believe in imageries? Whenever we are told something which we don’t know, don’t we imagine, whenever we told our grandparents to tell us a story, we imagined when words flew from their mouth, we reached in some other world and then our mind was at peace, no turbulence.

Radha always imagined, she imagined about Krishna, love of her life, the legends say she had not opened her eyes till 11 months after she was born as she was waiting for Krishna. The wait of her life ended when Krishna appeared in her dreams.

Krishna had promised Radha’s friend Ratanmala that he will never leave Radha and would appear in her dreams whenever he is not around. Radha didn’t want to miss a single glimpse of Krishna, so much love she had for him.

I heard somewhere in a temple, Radhe means ‘Raah de’ e.g Give directions and when this name is used with Krishna i.e Radhe Krishna meaning ‘Give me directions Krishna’, I liked this explanation.

Many a times, we get stuck at various points in life for a brief period, be it relationships, be it people, be it anything, isn’t it? Krishna says keep walking, your duty is to keep moving irrespective of whatever happens, Practice detachment.

Can someone Practice detachment? Of course there is a degree to it, During my conversations with my father-in-law once, he said, just imagine yourself standing near the window, you can see people moving on the street, you can’t control anything except shutting down the window, so don’t control, let the world do whatever it wants to do and you focus on whatever you want to do.

Radha never controlled herself, never wanting to be separated from Krishna, they were always together, They say when Krishna left Vrindavan for killing the demon Kans , Radha also went with him as a shadow.

I believe Radha was the luckiest one among Meera and Rukmani, she got maximum time with Krishna, playing with him always, teasing him, she lost herself in Krishna’s love, Krishna was her companion.

Companionship is wonderful, always, it is different from marriage, you can be a companion with anyone, share your stories, confess, be vulnerable. Krishna had many companions, some in the form of wives, some in the form of girlfriends, he believed in love, pure love rather than putting it into buckets of relationships, he loved people, all the people.

That’s why Radha loved her more, she always felt attracted towards Krishna and never complained to him that why he is always surrounded by women. She knew that’s how Krishna was, the day she would try to put brakes on Krishna , she would loose him, but she expressed her love to Krishna often.

Why all the temples have idols of Radha and Krishna? And not Rukmani Krishna, Rukmani was Krishna’s wife?, That was the power of love Radha showered on Krishna.

Radha was very playful with Krishna, one day Radha asked Krishna to do entire make up of her, Krishna readily agreed and with his whole heart, he put efforts in making sure that Radha looked beautiful.

One point, if you are a man who liked this make up aspect, you know what the expectation of a woman are, she can expect anything, and when she asks, do your best.If you are a woman who has liked this aspect, this is how a man can show his love to a woman.

They say Radha and Krishna can never be separated and they demonstrated ‘Companionship’.

While Meera’s love for Krishna was selfless, Radha got the maximum share of love in the form of companionship of Krishna.

But then they never got married? Where did Radha go? Was she playing her part in telling the world that fairy tale love exists, one needs to believe in companionship, her name is chanted with Krishna.

Who was Rukmani? When did she enter Krishna’s life? Why did Krishna marry her?  What kind of love Rukmani displayed with Krishna (  Meera selfless love and Radha’s companionship)

Rukmani had a different story to tell….

Rukmani in my next blog, Thank you for reading

Vikas Sachdeva

My latest blog- my dwarka visit

My Dwarka Experience

All the people mentioned in this blog are real and hold resemblance to situations. No feelings are hurt in writing this blog, only various incidents which happened during my visit to dwarka have been described.

I must say God is kind to me, my visits to these religious places have been spontaneously planned and have been executed with ease. They say " More you plan, it never happens" so just spur of the moment and i executed darshan of dwarkadheesh and nageshwar.

There are 12 jyotilings of shiva in india and after covering 10 of them there was a strong urge in me to cover rest 2. While Shiva has devastated kedarnath , only one jyotiling which i could cover in next  1 year was "Nageshwar" in dwarka.

I reached Rajkot from Mumbai at 8 pm and as suggested by my respected seniors, i went to railway station for retiring room, since my train from Rajkot to dwarka was at 3 am in the morning next day, i started roaming around in rajkot city at 9 pm. With silence all over, less crowd and small shops, i was away from madness of mumbai, people seemed to have lot of time for each other and seemed in love with each other talking. I just spotted a panipoori thela who was staring at me from a distance asking me to consume him entirely. being a golgappa lover ( its called golgappa in Punjab and delhi, Puchka in east, Gupchup in raipur, Pani ke Patase in UP) , i was defeated and soon found myself standing next to thela eating so good panipooris ( 8 pcs in Rs 10, worth mentioning). Then i returned to my room and started waiting for the train.

Being a keen observer, my mind was thinking about gujrati people ( i love them for what they are, culture, food is awesome). I was thinking in a city like rajkot if you are not building relationships with local community and get word of mouth about your brand,  no matter how much money you spend in advertising, a brand will face hard time.

I reached dwarka station at 7.30 am and then i witnessed few interesting people and stories:

Auto driver- The networker

After seeing my face, this guy noticed skillfully that i am looking for a hotel and help in planning my day's itenery. after he agreed for rs 40 for a drop to dwarka temple and help in hotel, he started talking ( gujratis love that) , in 15 minutes, he told me all mythology behind dwarka city and his rates if i wanted to take his auto for the day. After being impressed ( shocked!) by the autowala's knowledge, he stopped in front of a hotel. based on appearnce i denied, he insisted if i could see the rooms first and then decide. I bowed down , he was taking his commsion from hotel guy after i agreed for the room. he left the hotel with a winning smile ( money from me and hotel guy).

Hotel owner

He was in hotel business for last 10 years. The valuation of his place had increased 100 times from the price he had bought this hotel long back. Wondering how did i know? he just told me as i was getting room keys. I was surprised as with just a hello, he told me his story of life. he then narrated the way he does business focusing on small revenues then increasing the prices in the season ( navratri and janamashtmi)

Dwarka Darshan

I was mesmerized to see the temple, such a huge old strucure ( 5000 years old reportedly), my speed was slow in the temple, i wanted to see each and every brick, wanted to hear every story, then somebody told me this temple was a court for lord Krishna, this was his office from where he used to operate. Krishna was such a politician, he used every technique to win mahabharata, create his own aura, anyway thats a seprate story altogether. I was told by my wife that dwarka is one of the 4 dham. I did darshan of dwarkadheesh, thanked him for everything and like every indian had my list of wishes ready to ask from him.

Then i was taken for a tour of 5 hours covering 4 locations which had their own story. the good thing about travelling is you get to know many things , many people, many stories.

Nageshwar

as i mentioned earlier, i was the fortunate to cover 11th jyotilinga of shiva out of 12, i was simply in love with the temple, they had constructed a big shiva statue outside the temple. There was no major rush and my purpose of visiting dwarka was complete as i met shiva.

Gopi talab

story goes like this, Post mahabharata, Arjuna was in lot of awe of himself thinking he is the best with his Dhanush, Krishna being the best judge thought of correcting arjun. he sent 1,00,108 Gopis with arjun to be travllelled from dwarka to Mathura. krishna with his power created few people who had a battle with arjun and arjun lost and 1,00,108 gopis immersed themselves in a pond which is now called Gopi talab.i saw that talab and was ready for next spot.

Bhent Dwarka

They said it was home of krishna, he used to live with his family, this dwarka was mae of gold and was immersed in sea by krishna fearing people will fight for gold when he will not be around. sudama came there with some rice and gave it to krishna, hence name ,'Bhent dwarka" , we covered almost 25 minutes in the sea to reach to this place.

Then there was a Rukmani temple which had its own story.

Back to hotel tired but satisfied with the day, i slept and woke up next day , covered 6 hours in bus travelling inside gujrat and then flight back to mumbai from rajkot.

 This experience of 1 day was eventful, heard many stories, many people.


"Pappa, main aavi gayu" , i heard this voice at mumbai airport, somebody calling home.


"Traveling is like a book, the one who has not traveled , is on one page only throughout"


Vikas sachdeva