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Why Lord krishna had more than 16000 wives

Article by Sarin

As per the bhagavatam, Krishna had 16,108 wives, of which eight were chief – including Rukmini, Satyabhama and Jambavati. Now in many Islamic forums, I see a post saying that Krishna was a sex addict or a playboy by citing example of 16,108 wives. Instead of finding out the real truth, they make their own assumptions so as to ridicule Hinduism. So, in this article, we will see why he had 16, 108 wives. Krishna Eight Principal Wives Krishna is said to have 8 principles wives (or the Ashta-Bharyas). They are: 1) Srimati Rukmini Devi (or “Rukmini”): Of all his wives, Krishna loved Rukmini the most since she was his first wife and his main consort (called a Patrini). Originally Rukmini was the daughter of the great King Bhishmaka, Lord of Vidarbha. He in no way wanted to have Krishna marry his daughter and he was in the process of betrothing her away to Prince Shishupala of Chedi. Since Rukmini was so in love with Krishna, she requested Krishna to rescue her or she will commit suicide. Then on her wedding day, Krishna kidnapped her with consent and took her to Dwaraka where they wed. Krishna kidnapping rukmini when she told him to do so. 2) Satyabhama: The tale of his second wife begins in her previous life. She was host to much suffering in her life and after her death she sought shelter in Vishnu’s “celestial palace (Vaikuntha).” While she was there she was a tireless servant for Vishnu and his care-taker. Seeing his affection and love, lord Vishnu promised she would be one of his wives in his next incarnation. During this life Krishna (Vishnu’s reincarnation) sought to always make her happy. He did this by doing whatever she wished, regardless of the wish. A tale is told of her infamous tantrums; while the Lord Indra came to Earth and visited Krishna he complemented Rukmini’s beauty and gave her a Parijata flower. Satyabhama threw a tantrum and Krishna went into the spirit realm and brought her back an entire Parijata tree to plant. However, while these tantrums were not always appreciated, Krishna loved her fighting spirit. She was gifted with archery in warfare and also was very good at picking arguments which entertained Krishna immensely. 3) Jambavati: She was actually given in marriage to Krishna by her father, bear-king Jambavan. She was a very devoted disciple of Lord Rama. 4) Kalindi: She was the daughter of the Sun god Surya. She also was technically the keeper of the River Yamuna. When Krishna saw her, she was in deep penance. She was absolutely obsessed with marrying Vishnu and could not love another. Seeing her devotion, perseverance and restlessness, Krishna offered marriage. 5) Mitravrinda: She was sister to the Kings of Avantipura. 6) Nagnajiti: She was Princess of Kosala. 7) Bhadra: She was actually his cousin. She chose him as her husband in a Swayamvara Ceremony. 8) Lakshana: To win her hand in marriage, Krishna competed in an archery competition. He competed with Arjuna and Duryodhana. Thus, Krishna married Rukmini, Mitrabinda, Satyabhama, Jambavati and others, winning each by great deeds. Krishna and his 16000 wives Demon named Narakasura had 16000 women in his harem, whom he had snatched in different wars. Krishna came to his palace to rescue those 16000 princesses. When the princesses saw the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna, enter the palace, they immediately became captivated by the beauty of the Lord and prayed for His causeless mercy. Within their minds, they decided to accept Lord Krishna as their husband without hesitation. Each one of them prayed to Providence that Krishna might become her husband. Sincerely and seriously, they offered their hearts to the lotus feet of Krishna with an unalloyed devotional attitude. After defeating Narakasura, when Krishna released 16000 princesses, their families/husbands refused to take them back as they had become sinner by living with a demon. ( In Vedic system, if a girl is touched by a man or is in custody of some demon then nobody will marry that girl.) All 16000 princess reminded krishna of kshatriiya dharma which says that if any warrior rescue or win any woman, then that woman belong to that warrior until death Addressing this, they pleaded Lord Krishna to accept them because nobody else is going to marry them and if he doesn’t accept them, they will commit suicide. Being trapped in dharma, Shri Krishna declared all of them as his wives so that they live a respectable life and no one could mock at them as they were wives of Krishna. By expanding Himself in 16,108 forms, He simultaneously married them all in different palaces at the same auspicious moment. All the palaces of the over 16,000 queens of Krishna were filled with suitable gardens, furniture and other paraphernalia, of which there is no parallel in this world. The queens of Krishna are considered to be expansions of the goddess of fortune, Lakshmiji

Krishna marriage with 16000 wives was similar to ras-lila This incident is very similar to the rasa-lila where krishna would dance with 108 gopis at the same time while each gopi perceived he was dancing with her only. While Krishna was living with his 16108 princesses he manifested 16108 times his form so every wife could have her own husband. The women were not living together in a harem but they had their own homes respectively. Krishna 16108 wives were not ordinary women The women who became the wives of the Lord are certainly not ordinary women, because to get the Lord as one’s husband is the result of many, many millions of births’ tapasya (austerity). When the Lord appears on different lokas, or planets, or on this planet of human beings, He displays His transcendental pastimes just to attract the conditioned souls to become His eternal servitors, friends, parents and lovers respectively in the transcendental world, where the Lord eternally reciprocates such exchanges of service

Krishna treated all princesses equally All the 16,108 wives of Krsna were princesses, and when each saw that Krsna was always present in her respective palace and did not leave home, they considered Krsna to be a henpecked husband who was very much attached to them. Every one of them thought that Krsna was her very obedient husband, but actually Krsna had no attraction for any of them. Although each thought that she was the only wife of Krsna and was very, very dear to Him, Lord Krsna, since He is atmarama, self-sufficient, was neither dear nor inimical to any one of them; He was equal to all the wives and treated them as a perfect husband just to please them. For Him, there was no need for even a single wife. In fact, since they were women, the wives could not understand the exalted position of Krsna nor the truths about Him.

All princesses served krishna with enthusiasm and love Each and every wife had hundreds and thousands of maidservants, yet when Krsna entered the palaces of His thousands of wives, each one of them used to receive Krsna personally by seating Him in a nice chair, worshiping Him with all requisite paraphernalia, personally washing His lotus feet, offering Him betel nuts, massaging His legs to relieve them from fatigue, fanning Him to make Him comfortable, offering all kinds of scented sandalwood pulp, oils and aromatics, putting flower garlands on His neck, dressing His hair, getting Him to lie down on the bed and assisting Him in taking His bath. Thus they served always in every respect, especially when Krsna was eating. They were always engaged in the service of the Lord.

Krishna didn’t marry 16,000 wives for sexAll the princesses who were wives of Krsna were exquisitely beautiful, and each one of them was attracted by Krsna’s eyes, which were just like lotus petals, and by His beautiful face, long arms, broad ears, pleasing smile, humorous talk and sweet words. Influenced by these features of Krsna, they all used to dress themselves very attractively, desiring to attract Krsna by their feminine bodily appeal. They used to exhibit their feminine characteristics by smiling and moving their eyebrows, thus throwing sharpened arrows of conjugal love just to awaken Krsna’s lusty desires for them. Still, they could not arouse the mind of Krsna or His sex appetite. This means that Krsna never had any sex relations with any of his wives or he had sex only to fulfill his dharma of loving his wife and giving her the pleasure and happiness of raising a childThe Supreme Personality of Godhead Krsna certainly has no business being anyone’s husband or son or father, because everything belongs to Him and everyone is under His control. He does not require anyone’s help for His satisfaction. He is atmarama, self-satisfied; He can derive all pleasure by Himself, without anyone’s help. When the Lord descends to play the part of a human being, He plays a role either as a husband, son, friend or enemy, in full perfection. As such, when He was playing as the perfect husband of the queens, he enjoyed conjugal love in complete perfection.

Source: http://www.mallstuffs.com/Blogs/BlogDetails.aspx?BlogId=56&BlogType=Spiritual&Topic=Why%20Lord%20krishna%20had%20more%20than%2016000%20wives

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Myself, a programmer, software developer,Poet writes articles on programming and on spirituality. I also maintains my own website where new articles on spirituality and programming are added frequently. Check out http://www.mallstuffs.com for more