Text 41
śvo bhāvini tvam ajitodvahane vidarbhān
guptaḥ sametya pṛtanā-patibhiḥ parītaḥ
nirmathya caidya-magadhendra-balaṁ prasahya
māṁ rākṣasena vidhinodvaha vīrya-śulkām
śvaḥ bhāvini — tomorrow; tvam — You; ajita — O unconquerable one; udvahane — at the time of the marriage ceremony; vidarbhān — to Vidarbha; guptaḥ — unseen; sametya — coming; pṛtanā — of Your army; patibhiḥ — by the leaders; parītaḥ — surrounded; nirmathya — crushing; caidya — of Caidya, Śiśupāla; magadha-indra — and the King of Magadha, Jarāsandha; balam — the military strength; prasahya — by force; mām — me; rākṣasena vidhinā — in the Rākṣasa style; udvaha — take in marriage; vīrya — Your prowess; śulkām — the payment for whom.
O unconquerable one, tomorrow when my marriage ceremony is about to begin, You should arrive unseen in Vidarbha and surround Yourself with the leaders of Your army. Then crush the forces of Caidya and Magadhendra and marry me in the Rākṣasa style, winning me with Your valor.
As Śrīla Prabhupāda points out in Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Rukmiṇī, being born of royal blood, certainly had a brilliant grasp of political affairs. She advised Śrī Kṛṣṇa to enter the city alone and unnoticed and then surround Himself with His military commanders so He could do what was needed. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī compares the coming fight to the Lord’s churning of the ocean to extract the goddess Lakṣmī. Gorgeous Rukmiṇī, the goddess of fortune, would be gained in the coming turbulence.