Summary Description of Lord Krṣṇa's Pastimes
347
developing Krṣṇa consciousness one can be transferred to the spiritual world, one can simply imagine how blissful and blessed were the queens of Lord Krṣṇa, who talked with Him personally and who saw Lord Krṣṇa eye to eye. No one can properly describe the fortune of the wives of Lord Krṣṇa. They took care of Him personally by rendering various transcendental services like bathing Him, feeding Him, pleasing Him and serving Him. Thus no one's austerities can compare to the service of the queens at Dvārakā.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī informed Mahārāja Parīkṣit that for self-realization the austerities and penances performed by the queens at Dvārakā have no comparison. The objective of self-realization is one: Krṣṇa. Therefore, although the dealings of the queens with Krṣṇa appear just like ordinary dealings between husband and wife, the principal point to be observed is the queens' attachment for Krṣṇa. The entire process of austerity and penance is meant to detach one from the material world and to enhance one's attachment to Krṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krṣṇa is the shelter of all persons advancing in self-realization. As an ideal householder, He lived with His wives and performed the Vedic rituals just to show less intelligent persons that the Supreme Lord is never impersonal. Krṣṇa lived with wife and children in all opulence, exactly like an ordinary conditioned soul, just to exemplify to those souls who are actually conditioned that one may enter into the circle of family life as long as Krṣṇa is the center. For example, the members of the Yadu dynasty lived in the family of Krṣṇa, and Krṣṇa was the center of all their activities.
Renunciation is not as important as enhancing one's attachment to Krṣṇa. The Krṣṇa consciousness movement is especially meant for this purpose. We are preaching on the principle that it does not matter whether a man is a  sannyāsī  or  grhastha . One simply has to increase his attachment for Krṣṇa, and then his life is successful. Following in the footsteps of Lord Śrī Krṣṇa, one can live with his family members or within the society or nation, not for the purpose of indulging in sense gratification but to realize Krṣṇa by advancing in attachment for Him. There are four principles of elevation from conditional life to the life of liberation, which are technically known as  dharma ,  artha ,  kāma  and  mokṣa  (religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation). If one lives a family life following in the footsteps of Lord Krṣṇa's family members, one can achieve all four of these principles of success simultaneously by making Krṣṇa the center of all activities.
It is already known to us that Krṣṇa had 16,108 wives. All these wives were exalted liberated souls, and among them Queen Rukmiṇī was the