Krsna, the Ranchor 349

by Jarasandha. Jarasandha concluded that the two brothers had been
burned to ashes and that there was no need of further fighting. Thinking
himself successful in his efforts, he left the city of Mathura and returned
to his home in the kingdom of Magadha. Gradually Krsna and Balarama
reached the city of Dvaraka, which was surrounded on all sides by the sea.

Following this, Sri Balarama married Revati, daughter of King Raivata,
ruler of the Anarta province. This is explained in the Ninth Canto of
Srimad-Bhagavatam. After the marriage of Baladeva, Krsna married Ruk-
mini. Rukmini was the daughter of King Bhismaka, ruler of the province
known as Vidarbha. Just as Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
Vasudeva, Rukmini is the supreme goddess of fortune, Maha-Laksmi.
According to the authority of Caitanya-caritamrta, the expansion of Krsna
and Sri Radharani is simultaneous; Krsna expands Himself into various
Visnu-tattva forms, and Srimati Radharani expands Herself into various
Sakti-tattva forms by Her internal potency, as multi-forms of the goddess
of fortune.

According to Vedic convention, there are eight kinds of marriages. In
the first-class marriage system, the parents of the bride and bridegroom
arrange the marriage date. Then, in royal style, the bridegroom goes to the
house of the bride, and in the presence of brahmanas, priests and relatives,
the bride is given in charity to the bridegroom. Besides this, there are other
systems, such as the gandharva and raksasa marriages. Rukmini was married
to Krsna in the raksasa style because she was kidnapped by Him in the
presence of His many rivals, like Sisupala, Jarasandha, Salva ‘and others.
While Rukmini was being given in charity to Sisupala, she was snatched
from the marriage arena by Krsna, exactly as Garuda snatched the pot of
nectar from the demons. Rukmini, the only daughter of King Bhismaka,
was exquisitely beautiful. She was known as Ruciranana, which means
“one who has a beautiful face, expanding like a lotus flower.”

Devotees of Krsna are always anxious to hear about the transcendental
activities of the Lord. His activities of fighting, kidnapping and running
away from the battlefield are all transcendental, being on the absolute
platform, and devotees take a transcendental interest in hearing of them.
The pure devotee does not make the distinction that some activities of the
Lord should be heard and others should be avoided. There is, however, a
class of so-called devotees known as prakrta sahajiya who are very in-
terested in hearing about Krsna’s rasa-lila with the gopis, but not about His
fighting activities with His enemies. They do not know that His bellicose
activities and His friendly activities with the gopis are equally transcen-
dental, being on the absolute platform. The transcendental pastimes of
