Sanatanhindusite

https://sites.google.com/site/sanatanhindusite/home

Namaste,

I briefly looked over the above site. It describes eight types of marriage in ancient times. The seventh kind is interesting.....

7. rakshasa
"In the raksasa form the groom battles with the girl's family, overcomes them and carries her away. It was in this manner that krsna Paramatman married Rukmini."

God Himself was overcome with lust and married in the dishonorable Rakshasa tradition? This kind of writing is what turns the youth of today off.

Any comments? Is my interpretation wrong?

Pranam.

Dear Friend,


"This kind of writing is what turns the youth of today off." Very well said


Half-knowledge put on internet is always dangerous and hence lets look into some more details..


"God Himself was overcome with lust and married in the dishonorable Rakshasa tradition?"



Well, atleast according to Srimad Bhagavatam, this interpretation is wrong.


While Sri Shuka Maharishi was narrating the stories of Lord Vaasudeva, Parikshita maharaja, asks the following question


Srimad Bhagavatam 10.52.18

śrī-rājovāca
bhagavān bhīṣmaka-sutāṁ
 rukmiṇīṁ rucirānanām
rākṣasena vidhānena
 upayema iti śrutam

Parikshita Maharaja says I have heard that Bhagawan Sri Krishna married the charming faced Rukmini, daughter of Bhishmaka, in the "Rakshasa Vidhana"
and then asks Sri Shuka Maharshi to explain the story in detail...for which he tells the story....

Rukmi, the evil brother of Rukmini, had decided that he would give Her hand to the even more evil Shishupala. Rukmini decided that She will inform Krishna..


Its very clearly mentioned that Sri Rukmini is a form Sri Maha Lakshmi and hence Her marriage with Sri Hari was inevitable...

Rukmini sends a learned Bhramin as a messenger to Krishna and in the messege from her

Srimad Bhagavatam 10.52.38

kā tvā mukunda mahatī kula-śīla-rūpa-
 vidyā-vayo-draviṇa-dhāmabhir ātma-tulyam
dhīrā patiṁ kulavatī na vṛṇīta kanyā
 kāle nṛ-siṁha nara-loka-mano-’bhirāmam

She praises Sri Mukunda saying there is no one equivalent to Him in any thing [charecter, beauty, knowledge, etc] and which "kanya" who is intelligent will not
choose you as her husband when it is time to get married.
Srimad Bhagavatam 10.52.39

tan me bhavān khalu vṛtaḥ patir aṅga jāyām
 ātmārpitaś ca bhavato ’tra vibho vidhehi
.......

And therefore, I have taken the "vrata" to be your wife and am surrendering Myself to You. Please come swiftly and make Me Your wife ....

She goes on describing Her "pure devotion" towards Sri Krishna , also reminding Him that Shishupala should not even come close, and then says


Srimad Bhagavatam 10.52.41

śvo bhāvini tvam ajitodvahane vidarbhān
 guptaḥ sametya pṛtanā-patibhiḥ parītaḥ
nirmathya caidya-magadhendra-balaṁ prasahya
 māṁ rākṣasena vidhinodvaha vīrya-śulkām

Sri Rukmini tells Sri Krishna who is unconquerable, that the next day is her marriage and hence He should come to Vidarbha, secretly, and with your

army crushing Shishupala and Jarasandha, you marry me in the Rakshasa style...that is by fighting with her family...

Now the point to be carefully understood here is the term "vidhana"...meaning the way in which or the manner or style...now this is absolutely not about

"God Himself was overcome with lust and married in the dishonorable Rakshasa tradition?"

Also, the term dishonorable can start a debate as this is still a recognized "manner to get married "...but lets not get into that...

Here is a case of pure unadulterated love and devotion between Sri Rukmini and Sri Krishna....She has dedicated Herself to Sri Vaasudeva...However
Her brother is evil and doing "Adharma" by going against Her and was trying to get Her married to a person who represents Adharma....so, She
asks Sri Krishna to help Her and Sri Krishna helps Her as its His Dharma to protect Dharma ...so there is no question of lust to get married in a particular way..

Sri Krishna Paramathma uses different techniques to protect Dharma and as long as the techniques help in protection of Dharma, they can never be
considered wrong....Some mischievous spiritually less intelligent sinful people say "If Krishna can marry 16,000 women, if Krishna can elope Rukmini..why

shouldn't

we do similar things..."

The answer to such poor souls is very simple ..."Sri Krishna lifted Govardhana mountain at a tender age with one hand and did a lot of other great things ...

so try that first and then why 16,000, elope and marry 32,000 women...:)"

Again when the term "Dharma" comes into picture, one has to go very deep to even understand the basics...else lot of things will be
unclear and questions start to rise...

Namaste,

I see that there is a lot of sub-text, a whole different story to the marriage in question. Shri Krishna's marriage to Rukmini in this context is not in the Rakashasa tradition and it should not be classified as one. Using this marriage as an example of a dishonorable way to marry is very very wrong. Rukmini is the one who initiated the whole thing and for a good reason.

Many sites claim to be Hindu sites and we blindly give them our attention/reverence due to our love for Sanatan Dharma. I would think that we would spend a little time on a new site before recommending it to others. The misinformation contained in many well meaning Hindu sites is incredible and would alienate our young rather than attract them towards our dharma.

Pranam.