Srimad Bhagavatam — Dashama Skandha, Shloka 57
Kṛṣṇa Teases Rukmiṇī; Her Devotional Reply and the Lord’s Assurance
दूतस्त्वयात्मलभने सुविविक्तमन्त्र: प्रस्थापितो मयि चिरायति शून्यमेतत् । मत्वा जिहास इदमङ्गमनन्ययोग्यं तिष्ठेत तत्त्वयि वयं प्रतिनन्दयाम: ॥ ५७ ॥
dūtas tvayātma-labhane su-vivikta-mantraḥ prasthāpito mayi cirāyati śūnyam etat matvā jihāsa idaṁ aṅgam ananya-yogyaṁ tiṣṭheta tat tvayi vayaṁ pratinandayāmaḥ
When you sent the messenger with your most confidential plan and yet I delayed going to you, you began to see the whole world as void and wanted to quit your body, which could never have been given to anyone but Me. May this greatness of yours remain with you always; I can do nothing to reciprocate except joyfully thank you for your devotion.
Śrīmatī Rukmiṇī-devī had no intention whatsoever of accepting any other husband but Lord Kṛṣṇa, as she stated in her message to the Lord ( Bhāg. 10.52.43 ): yarhy ambujākṣa na labheya bhavat-prasādaṁ / jahyām asūn vrata-kṛśān śata-janmabhiḥ syāt. “If I cannot obtain Your mercy, I shall simply give up my vital force, which will have become weak from the severe penances I will perform. Then, after hundreds of lifetimes of endeavor, I may obtain Your mercy.” The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam firmly establishes the unique glories of Queen Rukmiṇī-devī.
FAQs
This verse shows Rukmiṇī’s intense viraha-bhakti: without Kṛṣṇa’s response she experiences emptiness, and her body itself feels meaningful only for Him—expressing exclusive, one-pointed devotion.
Believing Kṛṣṇa had rejected her and that her messenger had not returned, she felt her body had no purpose apart from serving Kṛṣṇa; this reveals her ananya-bhakti—exclusive belonging to Him alone.
Cultivate single-hearted devotion: let your choices, relationships, and identity align with service to Kṛṣṇa, and when feeling “emptiness,” turn it into prayerful remembrance rather than despair.