Devanagari
त्वं न्यस्तदण्डमुनिभिर्गदितानुभाव
आत्मात्मदश्च जगतामिति मे वृतोऽसि ।
हित्वा भवद्भ्रुव उदीरितकालवेग
ध्वस्ताशिषोऽब्जभवनाकपतीन् कुतोऽन्ये ॥ ३९ ॥
Verse text
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
Synonyms
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 .
Translation
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?
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
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?
KB 10.60.39
“You have said that You are penniless, and that is correct, for You distribute Yourself completely to these great souls and devotees. Knowing this fact perfectly well, I rejected even such great personalities as Lord Brahmā and King Indra. My Lord, the great time factor acts under Your direction only. The time factor is so great and powerful that within moments it can effect devastation anywhere within the creation. Considering all these factors, I thought Jarāsandha, Śiśupāla and similar princes who wanted to marry me to be no more important than ordinary insects.
Purport
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 avijṣāya
— “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.”
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
In this verse she replies to Krsna’s statement "O fool, I am praised only by beggars."
Explaining the meaning of the word "bhiksu" she speaks of the excellence of being praised by the bhiksu.
"Those who have renounced the danda are called bhiksu. Your powers are praised (gadit anubhava) by the bhiksus or paramahamsas. You are paramatma (atma), the dear most of everyone, being the soul of everyone. Therefore praising you is not foolish. Rather if you say it is foolish, you are foolish. Knowing that you give yourself to those in the universe who worship you, I have chosen you as my husband. You said, "out of ignorance you have chosen me as your husband." This shows you did not know my intelligence in this matter. Rejecting persons such as Brahma whose benedictions are all destroyed by the force of time emanating from the movement of your eyebrow, I have chosen you. What then to speak of rejecting inferior persons like those kings? You have said I am short sighted. But you were not aware of my foresight."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
She speaks this verse on remembering the battle with the kings. Your glories (anubhavaḥ) are voiced by sages, ātmārāmas, who have given up pride (nyāsta-daṇḍa) and thus beggars. She then describes those glories. You, the svarūpa of all things (ātmātmā), give yourself. As the instigator of time, you have made it continuous. Your devotees are eternal but not the rest. I reject devatās like Indra and even Brahmā (abja-bhava) and their blessings since they remain alive only for a movement of your eyebrow.
She shows disrespect to Brahmā and the rest. She does not mention Śiva because he was not the object of her attention. This omission was caused by her intense emotions. Though her attraction to Kṛṣṇa was natural and spontaneous, and not dependent on logical analysis, some deliberation was necessary in spite of the spontaneity. Taking advantage of that portion of logic she came to the proper conclusion since doing so was proper for her.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Your glories are sung even by sannyāsīs who aspire for liberation (nyasta-daṇḍa), what to speak of Nārada and others who disregard liberation. What is that glory? You are the ātmā, the antaryāmī, the Lord. And you give yourself (ātma-daḥ). You are chosen by me. The choice is fixed.
As the instigator of time, you are not controlled by time, or limited by time. You exist eternally in Vaikuṇṭha. The aspirations of Brahmā and others remain only for the time that you move your eyebrow. I reject Brahmā, what to speak of Indra and the other devatās. Śiva is not mentioned since he is included in the devatās.