364 Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

His clutches, I shall no more return to my capital city, Kundina. I make
this vow before you all, and you will see that I shall fulfill it.” After thus
vibrating all these boasting words, Rukmi immediately got on his chariot
and told his chariot driver to pursue Krsna. He said, “I want to fight with
Him immediately. This cowherd boy has become very proud because of
His tricky way of fighting with the ksatriyas, but today I shall teach Him a
good lesson. Because He has the impudency to kidnap my sister, I, with
my sharpened arrows, shall teach Him very good lessons indeed.” Thus this
unintelligent man, Rukmi, ignorant of the extent of the strength and ac-
tivities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, began to voice impudent
threats.

In great stupidity he soon stood before Krsna, telling Him repeatedly,
“Stop for a minute and fight with me!” After saying this he drew his
bow and directly shot three forceful arrows against Krsna’s body. Then he
condemned Krsna as the most abominable descendant of the Yadu dynasty
and asked Him to stand before him for a minute so that he could teach
Him a good lesson. “You are carrying away my sister just like a crow
stealing clarified butter meant for use in a sacrifice. You are simply proud
of Your military strength, but You cannot fight according to regulative
principles. You have stolen my sister; now I shall relieve You of Your
false prestige. You can keep my sister under Your possession only as long
as I do not pinion You to the ground for good with my arrows.”

Lord Krsna, after hearing all these crazy words from Rukmi, im-
mediately shot an arrow and severed the string of Rukmi’s bow, making
him unable to use another arrow. Rukmi immediately took another bow
and shot another five arrows at Krsna. Being attacked for the second time
by Rukmi, Krsna again severed his bowstring. Rukmi took a third bow,
and Krsna again cut off its string. This time, in order to teach Rukmi a
lesson, Krsna personally shot six arrows at him, and then He shot another
eight arrows. Thus four horses were killed by four arrows, the chariot
driver was killed by another arrow, and the upper portion of Rukm?s
chariot, including the flag, was chopped off with the remaining three
arrows. |

Having run out of arrows, Rukmi took the assistance of swords, shields,
tridents, lances and similar other weapons used for fighting hand-to-hand,
but Krsna immediately severed them all in the same way. Being repeatedly
baffled in his attempts, Rukmi simply took his sword and ran very swiftly
toward Krsna, just as a fly proceeds toward a fire. As soon as Rukmi
reached Krsna, Krsna cut his weapon to pieces. This time Krsna took out
His sharp sword and was about to kill him immediately, but Rukmi’s
