546
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 1, Ch. 10]
becomes manifest without mundane affinity. The kissing of the Lord, either by His wives or His young girl friends who aspired to have the Lord as their fiance, is not of any mundane perverted quality. Had such things been mundane, a liberated soul like Śukadeva would not have taken the trouble to relish them, nor would Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu have been inclined to participate in those subjects after renouncing worldly life. The stage is earned after many lives of penance.
TEXT 29
या वीर्यशुल्केन हृताः स्वयंवरे
प्रमध्य चैद्यप्रमुखान् हि शुष्मिणः ।
प्रद्युम्नसाम्बाम्बसुतादयोऽपरा
याश्चाहृता भौमवधे सहस्रशः ॥२९॥
yā vīrya-śulkena hṛtāḥ svayaṁvare
pramathya caidya pramukhān hi śuṣmiṇaḥ
pradyumna-sāmbāmba-sutādayo 'parā
yāś cāhṛtā bhauma-vadhe sahasraśaḥ
yā —the lady;  vīrya —prowess;  śulkena —by payment of the price;  hṛtāḥ —taken away by force;  svayaṁvare —in the open selection of the bridegroom;  pramathya —harassing;  caidya —King Śiśupāla;  pramukhān —headed by;  hi —positively;  śuṣmiṇaḥ —all very powerful;  pradyumna —Pradyumna (Kṛṣṇa's son);  sāmba —Sāmba;  amba —Amba;  suta-ādayaḥ —children;  aparāḥ —other ladies;  yāḥ —those;  ca —also;  āhṛtāḥ —similarly brought;  bhauma-vadhe —after killing kings;  sahasraśaḥ —by the thousands.
TRANSLATION
Pradyumna, Sāmba, Amba, etc., are His children, and ladies like Rukmiṇī, Satyabhāmā, Jāmbavatī, etc., were forcibly taken away by Him when He selected them as brides after having defeated many powerful kings, headed by Śiśupāla. And other ladies were also forcibly taken away by Him after He killed Bhaumāsura and thousands of his assistants. All of them are glorious.
PURPORT
Exceptionally qualified daughters of powerful kings were allowed to make a choice of their own bridegrooms in open competition, and such ceremonies were called  svayaṁvara , or selecting the bridegroom. And