Text 10
iti muṣṭiṁ sakṛj jagdhvā
dvitīyāṁ jagdhum ādade
tāvac chrīr jagṛhe hastaṁ
tat-parā parameṣṭhinaḥ
iti — thus speaking; muṣṭim — a handful; sakṛt — one time; jagdhvā — eating; dvitīyam — a second; jagdhum — to eat; ādade — He took; tāvat — thereupon; śrīḥ — the goddess of fortune (Rukmiṇī-devī); jagṛhe — seized; hastam — the hand; tat — to Him; parā — devoted; parame-sthinaḥ — of the Supreme Lord.
After saying this, the Supreme Lord ate one palmful and was about to eat a second when the devoted goddess Rukmiṇī took hold of His hand.
Queen Rukmiṇī took hold of Kṛṣṇa’s hand to prevent Him from eating any more of the flat rice. According to Śrīpāda Śrīdhara Svāmī, with this gesture she meant to tell the Lord, “This much of Your grace is sufficient to assure anyone vast riches, which are merely the play of my glance. But please do not force me to surrender myself to this brāhmaṇa, as will happen if You eat one more handful.”
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains that by taking hold of the Lord’s hand Rukmiṇī implied, “If You eat all of this wonderful treat Your friend brought from his house, what will I have left for my friends, co-wives, servants and myself? There will not be enough left to distribute even one grain to each of us.” And to her maidservant companions she said by her gesture, “This hard rice will upset my Lord’s tender stomach.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda comments that “when food is offered to Lord Kṛṣṇa with love and devotion and He is pleased and accepts it from the devotee, Rukmiṇīdevī, the goddess of fortune, becomes so greatly obliged to the devotee that she has to go personally to the devotee’s home to turn it into the most opulent home in the world. If one feeds Nārāyaṇa sumptuously, the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, automatically becomes a guest in one’s house, which means that one’s home becomes opulent.”