Text 39
tvaṁ nyasta-daṇḍa-munibhir gaditānubhāva
ātmātma-daś ca jagatām iti me vṛto ’si
hitvā bhavad-bhruva udīrita-kāla-vega-
dhvastāśiṣo ’bja-bhava-nāka-patīn kuto ’nye
tvam — You; nyasta — who have renounced; daṇḍa — the sannyāsī’s staff; munibhiḥ — by sages; gadita — spoken of; anubhāvaḥ — whose prowess; ātmā — the Supreme Soul; ātmā — Your own self; daḥ — who give away; ca — also; jagatām — of all the worlds; iti — thus; me — by me; vṛtaḥ — chosen; asi — You have been; hitvā — rejecting; bhavat — Your; bhruvaḥ — from the eyebrows; udīrita — generated; kāla — of time; vega — by the impulses; dhvasta — destroyed; āśiṣaḥ — whose hopes; abja — lotus-born (Lord Brahmā); bhava — Lord Śiva; nāka — of heaven; patīn — the masters; kutaḥ — what then of; anye — others.
Knowing that great sages who have renounced the sannyāsī’s daṇḍa proclaim Your glories, that You are the Supreme Soul of all the worlds, and that You are so gracious that You give away even Your own self, I chose You as my husband, rejecting Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and the rulers of heaven, whose aspirations are all frustrated by the force of time, which is born from Your eyebrows. What interest, then, could I have in any other suitors?
This is Queen Rukmiṇī’s refutation of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s statement in text 16. There the Lord Kṛṣṇa said, bhikṣubhiḥ ślāghitā mudhā: “I am glorified by beggars.” But Queen Rukmiṇī points out that those so-called beggars are actually sages in the paramahaṁsa stage of life — sannyāsīs who have reached the highest level of spiritual advancement and thus given up the sannyāsī rod. Lord Kṛṣṇa also made two specific accusations against His wife in text 16. He said, vaidarbhy etad avijñāya — “My dear Vaidarbhī, you were not aware of the situation” — and tvayādīrgha-samīkṣayā — “because you lack foresight.” In the present verse, Rukmiṇī’s statement iti me vṛto ’si indicates “I chose You as my husband because You possess the above-mentioned qualities. It was not a blind choice at all.” Rukmiṇī further mentions that she passed over lesser personalities like Brahmā, Śiva and the rulers of heaven because she saw that even though, materially speaking, they are great personalities, they are frustrated by the powerful waves of time, which emanate from the eyebrows of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, far from lacking foresight, Rukmiṇī chose Lord Kṛṣṇa after an exhaustive appraisal of the entire cosmic situation. Thus she lovingly rebukes her husband here.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī interprets Rukmiṇī’s mood as follows: “My dear husband, Your accusation that I lack foresight indicates that You did know of my deep insight into the situation. Actually, I chose You because I knew of Your true glories.”