Summary Description of Lord Krsna’s Pastimes 347
developing Krsna consciousness one can be transferred to the spiritual
world, one can simply imagine how blissful and blessed were the queens
of Lord Krsna, who talked with Him personally and who saw Lord Krsna
eye to eye. No one can properly describe the fortune of the wives of Lord
Krsna. They took care of Him personally by rendering various transcenden-
tal 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
Dvaraka.

Sukadeva Gosvami informed Maharaja Pariksit that for self-realization
the austerities and penances performed by the queens at Dvaraka have no
comparison. The objective of self-realization is one: Krsna. Therefore,
although the dealings of the queens with Krsna appear just like ordinary
dealings between husband and wife, the principal point to be observed is the
queens’ attachment for Krsna. The entire process of austerity and penance
is meant to detach one from the material world and to enhance one’s
attachment to Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Krsna 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. Krsna 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 Krsna is the center.
For example, the. members of the Yadu dynasty lived in the family of
Krsna, and Krsna was the center of all their activities.

Renunciation is not as important as enhancing one’s attachment to
Krsna. The Krsna consciousness movement is especially meant for this
purpose. We are preaching on the principle that it does not matter whether
a man is a sannyasi or grhastha. One simply has to increase his attachment
for Krsna, and then his life is successful. Following in the footsteps of Lord
Sri Krsna, 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 Krsna by advancing in attachment for Him. There are four princi-
ples of elevation from conditional life to the life of liberation, which are
technically known as dharma, artha, kama and moksa (religion, economic
development, sense gratification and liberation). If one lives a family life
following in the footsteps of Lord Krsna’s family members, one can
achieve all four of these principles of success simultaneously by making
Krsna the center of all activities.

It is already known to us that Krsna had 16,108 wives. All these wives
were exalted liberated souls, and among them Queen Rukmini was the
