All the princes led by Jarasandha became very angry at Krsna's kidnapping Rukmini. Struck by the beauty of Rukmini, they had fallen from the backs of their horses and elephants, but now they began to stand up and properly arm themselves. Picking up their bows and arrows, they began to chase Krsna on their chariots, horses and elephants. To check their progress, the soldiers of the Yadu dynasty turned and faced them. Thus terrible fighting between the two belligerent groups began. The princes opposing Krsna were led by Jarasandha and they were all very expert in fighting. They began to shoot their arrows at the soldiers of Yadu just as a cloud splashes the face of a mountain with torrents of rain. Gathered on the face of a mountain, a cloud does not move very much, and therefore the force of rain is much more severe on a mountain than it is anywhere else.

The opposing princes were determined to defeat Krsna and recapture Rukmini from His custody, and they fought with Him as severely as possible. Rukmini, seated by the side of Krsna, saw arrows raining from the opposing party onto the faces of the soldiers of Yadu. In a fearful attitude, she began to look on the face of Krsna, expressing her gratefulness that He had taken such a great risk for her sake only. Her eyes moving, she appeared to be very sorry and Krsna could immediately understand her mind. He encouraged her with these words: "My dear Rukmini, don't worry. Please rest assured that the soldiers of the Yadu dynasty will kill all the opposing soldiers without delay."

As Krsna was speaking with Rukmini, the commanders of the Yadu dynasty's soldiers, headed by Lord Balarama, who is also known as Sankarsana, as well as Gadadhara, not tolerating the defiant attitude of the opposing soldiers, began to strike their horses, elephants, and chariots with arrows. As the fighting progressed, the princes and soldiers of the enemy camp began to fall from their horses, elephants and chariots. Within a very short time, it was seen that millions of severed heads, decorated with helmets and earrings, had fallen on the battlefield. The soldiers' hands were cut up along with their bows and arrows and clubs; one head was piled upon another, and one horse was piled upon another. All the infantry soldiers, as well as their camels, elephants and asses, fell down with severed heads.

When the enemy, headed by Jarasandha, found that they were gradually being defeated by the soldiers of Krsna, they thought it unwise to risk losing in the battle for the sake of Sisupala. Sisupala himself should have fought to rescue Rukmini from the hands of Krsna, but when the soldiers saw that Sisupala was not competent enough to fight with Krsna, they decided not to lose their strength unnecessarily; therefore they ceased fighting and dispersed.

Some of the princes, as a matter of etiquette, appeared before Sisupala. They saw that Sisupala was very much discouraged, like one who has lost his wife. His face appeared to be dried up, and he had lost all his energy, and all the luster of his body had disappeared. They began to address Sisupala thus: "My dear Sisupala, don't be discouraged in this way. You belong to the royal order and are the chief amongst the fighters. There is no question of distress or happiness for a person like you because neither of these conditions is everlasting. Take courage. Don't be disappointed by this temporary reverse. After all, we are not the final actor; as puppets dance in the hands of a magician, we are all dancing by the will of the Supreme, and according to His grace only we suffer distress or enjoy happiness, which therefore balance equally in all circumstances."

The whole catastrophe of the defeat was due to the envious nature of Rukmini's elder brother, Rukmi. Having seen his sister forcibly taken away by Krsna after he had planned to marry her with Sisupala, Rukmi was frustrated. So he and Sisupala, his friend and intended brother-in-law, returned to their respective homes. Rukmi, very much agitated, was determined to personally teach Krsna a lesson. He called for his own soldiers--a military phalanx consisting of several thousand elephants, horses, chariots and infantry--and, equipped with this military strength, he began to follow Krsna to Dvaraka. In order to show his prestige, Rukmi began to promise before all the returning kings, "You could not help Sisupala marry my sister, Rukmini, but I cannot allow Rukmini to be taken away by Krsna. I shall teach Him a lesson. Now I am going there." He presented himself as a big commander and vowed before all the princes present, "Unless I kill Krsna in the fight and bring back my sister from His clutches, I shall no more return to my capital city, Kundina. I make this vow before you all, and you will see that I shall fulfill it." After thus vibrating all these boasting words, Rukmi immediately got on his chariot and told his chariot driver to pursue Krsna. He said, "I want to fight with Him immediately. This cowherd boy has become very proud because of His tricky way of fighting with the ksatriyas, but today I shall teach Him a good lesson. Because He has the impudency to kidnap my sister, I, with my sharpened arrows, shall teach Him very good lessons indeed." Thus this unintelligent man, Rukmi, ignorant of the extent of the strength and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, began to voice impudent threats.

In great stupidity he soon stood before Krsna, telling Him repeatedly, "Stop for a minute and fight with me!" After saying this he drew his bow and directly shot three forceful arrows against Krsna's body. Then he condemned Krsna as the most abominable descendant of the Yadu dynasty and asked Him to stand before him for a minute so that he could teach Him a good lesson. "You are carrying away my sister just like a crow stealing clarified butter meant for use in a sacrifice. You are simply proud of Your military strength, but You cannot fight according to regulative principles. You have stolen my sister; now I shall relieve You of Your false prestige. You can keep my sister under Your possession only as long as I do not pinion You to the ground for good with my arrows."

Lord Krsna, after hearing all these crazy words from Rukmi, immediately shot an arrow and severed the string of Rukmi's bow, making him unable to use another arrow. Rukmi immediately took another bow and shot another five arrows at Krsna. Being attacked for the second time by Rukmi, Krsna again severed his bowstring. Rukmi took a third bow, and Krsna again cut off its string. This time, in order to teach Rukmi a lesson, Krsna personally shot six arrows at him, and then He shot another eight arrows. Thus four horses were killed by four arrows, the chariot driver was killed by another arrow, and the upper portion of Rukmi's chariot, including the flag, was chopped off with the remaining three arrows.

Having run out of arrows, Rukmi took the assistance of swords, shields, tridents, lances and similar other weapons used for fighting hand-to-hand, but Krsna immediately severed them all in the same way. Being repeatedly baffled in his attempts, Rukmi simply took his sword and ran very swiftly toward Krsna, just as a fly proceeds toward a fire. As soon as Rukmi reached Krsna, Krsna cut his weapon to pieces. This time Krsna took out His sharp sword and was about to kill him immediately, but Rukmi's sister Rukmini, understanding that this time Krsna would not excuse her brother, fell down at the lotus feet of Krsna and in a very grievous tone, trembling with great fear, began to plead with her husband.

Rukmini first addressed Krsna as "Yogesvara." Yogesvara means one who is possessed of inconceivable opulence and energy. Krsna possesses inconceivable opulence and energy, whereas Rukmini's brother had only limited military potency. Krsna is immeasurable, whereas her brother was measured in every step of his life. Therefore, Rukmi was not even comparable to an insignificant insect before the unlimited power of Krsna. She also addressed Krsna as the God of the gods. There are many powerful demigods, such as Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, Indra, and Candra; Krsna is the Lord of all these gods, whereas Rukmini's brother was not only an ordinary human being, but was, in fact, the lowest of all because he had no understanding of Krsna. In other words, a human being who has no conception of the actual position of Krsna is the lowest in human society. Rukmini also addressed Krsna as "Jagatpati," the master of the whole cosmic manifestation. In comparison, her brother was only an ordinary prince.

In this way, Rukmini compared the position of Rukmi to that of Krsna and very feelingly pleaded with her husband not to kill her brother just before the auspicious time of her being united with Krsna, but to excuse him. In other words, she displayed her real position as a woman. She was happy to get Krsna as her husband just at the moment when her marriage to another was to be performed, but she did not want it to be at the loss of her elder brother, who, after all, loved his young sister and wanted to hand her over to one who was, according to his own calculations, a better man. While Rukmini was praying to Krsna for the life of her brother, her whole body trembled, and because of her anxiety, her face appeared to by dried up, her throat became choked, and, due to her trembling, the ornaments on her body loosened and fell scattered on the ground. Lord Krsna immediately became compassionate and agreed not to kill the foolish Rukmi. But, at the same time, He wanted to give him some light punishment, so He tied him up with a piece of cloth and snipped at his moustache, beard and hair, keeping some spots here and there.

While Krsna was dealing with Rukmi in this way, the soldiers of the Yadu dynasty, commanded by Balarama Himself, broke the whole strength of Rukmi's army just as an elephant in a tank discards the feeble stem of a lotus flower. In other words, as an elephant breaks the whole construction of a lotus flower while bathing in a reservoir of water, so the military strength of the Yadus broke up Rukmi's forces. Yet when the commanders of the Yadu dynasty came back to see Krsna, they were all surprised to see the condition of Rukmi. Lord Balarama became especially compassionate for His sister-in-law, who was newly married to His brother. In order to please Rukmini, Balarama personally untied Rukmi, and in order to further please her, Balarama, as the elder brother of Krsna, spoke some words of chastisement. "Krsna, Your action is not at all satisfactory," He said. "This is an abomination very much contrary to our family tradition! To cut someone's hair and shave his moustache and beard is almost comparable to killing him. Whatever Rukmi might have been, he is now our brother-in-law, a relative of our family, and You should not have put him in such a condition."

After this, in order to pacify her, Lord Balarama said to Rukmini, "You should not be sorry because your brother has been made very odd-looking. Everyone suffers or enjoys the results of his own actions." Lord Balarama wanted to impress upon Rukmini that she should not have been sorry for the consequences suffered by her brother due to his actions. There was no need of being too affectionate toward such a brother. Lord Balarama again turned toward Krsna and said, "My dear Krsna, a relative, even though he commits such a blunder and deserves to be killed, should be excused. For when such a relative is conscious of his own fault, that consciousness itself is like death. Therefore, there is no need in killing him." He again turned toward Rukmini and informed her that the current duty of the ksatriya in the human society is so fixed that, according to the principles of fighting, one's own brother may become an enemy on the opposite side. A ksatriya does not hesitate to kill his own brother. In other words, Lord Balarama wanted to instruct Rukmini that Rukmi and Krsna were right in not showing mercy to each other in the fighting, despite the family consideration that they happened to be brothers-in-law. Sri Balarama continued to inform Rukmini that ksatriyas are typical emblems of the materialistic way of life; they become puffed-up whenever there is a question of material acquisition. Therefore, when there is a fight between two belligerent ksatriyas on account of kingdom, land, wealth, women, prestige or power, they try to put one another into the most abominable condition. Balarama instructed Rukmini that her affection toward her brother Rukmi, who had created enmity with so many persons, was a perverse consideration befitting an ordinary materialistic person. Her brother's character was not at all adorable, considering his treatment toward other friends, and yet Rukmini, as an ordinary woman, was so affectionate toward him. He was not fit to be her brother, and still Rukmini was lenient toward him.

"Besides that," Balarama continued, "the consideration that a person is neutral or is one's friend or enemy is generally made by persons who are in the bodily concept of life. Such foolish persons become bewildered by the illusory energy of the Supreme Lord. The spirit soul is of the same pure quality in any embodiment of matter, but those who are not sufficiently intelligent see only the bodily differentiations of animals and men, literates and illiterates, rich and poor, and so on, which cover the pure spirit soul. Such differentiation, observed purely on the basis of the body, is exactly like differentiation between fires in terms of the different types of fuel they consume. Whatever the size and shape of the fuel, there is no such variety of size and shape of the fire which comes out. Similarly, in the sky there are no differences in size or shape."

In this way Balarama appeased them by His moral and ethical instruction. He stated further: "This body is part of the material manifestation. The living entity or spirit soul, being in contact with matter, is transmigrating, due to illusory enjoyment, from one body to another, and that is known as material existence. This contact of the living entity with the material manifestation has neither integration nor disintegration. My dear chaste sister-in-law, the spirit soul is, of course, the cause of this material body, as much as the sun is the cause of sunlight, eyesight and the forms of material manifestation." The example of the sunshine and the material manifestation is very appropriate in the matter of understanding the living entity's contact with this material world. In the morning, there is sun rise, and the heat and light expand gradually throughout the whole day. The sun is the cause of all material production and shapes and forms; it is due to the sun that integration and disintegration of material elements take place. But as soon as the sun is set, the whole manifestation is no longer connected to the sun, which has passed from one place to another. When the sun passes from the eastern to the western hemisphere, the result of interaction due to the sunshine in the eastern hemisphere remains, but the sunshine itself is visible again on the western hemisphere. Similarly, the living entity accepts or produces different bodies and different bodily relationships in a particular circumstance, but as soon as he gives up the present body and accepts another, he has nothing to do with the former body. Similarly, the living entity has nothing to do with the next body which he accepts. He is always free from the contact of this bodily contamination. Therefore, the conclusion is that the appearance and disappearance of the body have nothing to do with the living entity, as much as the waxing and waning of the moon have nothing to do with the moon. When there is waxing of the moon, we falsely think that the moon is developing, and when there is waning of the moon we think that the moon is decreasing. Factually the moon, as it is, is always the same; it has nothing to do with such visible waxing and waning activities.

"Consciousness of material existence can be compared to sleeping and dreaming. When a man sleeps, he dreams of many nonfactual happenings, and as a result of dreaming he becomes subjected to different kinds of distress and happiness. Similarly, when person is in the dreaming condition of material consciousness, he suffers the effects of accepting a body and giving it up again in material existence. Opposite to this material consciousness is Krsna consciousness. In other words, when a man is elevated to the platform of Krsna consciousness he becomes free from this false conception of life."

In this way, Sri Balarama instructed them in spiritual knowledge. He addressed His sister-in-law thus: "Sweet, smiling Rukmini, do not be aggrieved by false motives caused by ignorance. Due to false notions only one becomes unhappy, but this unhappiness is immediately removed by discussing the philosophy of actual life. Be happy on that platform only."

After hearing such enlightening instruction from Sri Balarama, Rukmini immediately became pacified and happy and adjusted her mental condition, which was very much afflicted by seeing the degraded position of her brother, Rukmi. As far as Rukmi was concerned, neither was his promise fulfilled nor his mission successful. He had come from home with his soldiers and military phalanx to defeat Krsna and release his sister, but on the contrary, he lost all his soldiers and military strength. He was personally much degraded, and in that condition he was very sorry; but by the grace of the Lord he could continue his life to the fixed destination. Because he was a ksatriya, he could remember his promise that he would not return to his capital city, Kundina, without killing Krsna and releasing his sister, which he had failed to do; therefore, he decided in anger not to return to his capital city, and he constructed a small cottage in the village known as Bhojakata and began to reside there for the rest of his life.

After defeating all the opposing elements and forcibly carrying away Rukmini, Krsna brought her to His capital city, Dvaraka, and then married her according to the Vedic ritualistic principle. After this marriage, Krsna became the King of the Yadus at Dvaraka. On the occasion of His marriage with Rukmini, all the inhabitants were happy, and in every house there were great ceremonies. The inhabitants of Dvaraka City became so pleased that they dressed themselves with the nicest possible ornaments and garments, and they went to present gifts according to their means to the newly married couple, Krsna and Rukmini. All the houses of Yadupuri (Dvaraka) were decorated with flags, festoons and flowers. Each and every house had an extra gate specifically prepared for this occasion, and on both sides of the gate there were big water jugs filled with water. The whole city was flavored by the burning of high quality incense, and at night there was illumination by thousands of lamps, decorating each and every building.

The entire city appeared jubilant on the occasion of Lord Krsna's marriage with Rukmini. Everywhere in the city there was profuse decorations of banana trees and betel nut trees. These two trees are considered very auspicious in happy ceremonies. At the same time there was an assembly of many elephants, who carried the respective kings of different friendly kingdoms. It is the habit of the elephant that whenever he sees some small plants and trees, out of his sportive frivolous nature, he uproots the trees and throws them hither and thither. The elephants assembled on this occasion also scattered the banana and betel nut trees, but in spite of such intoxicated action, the whole city, with the trees thrown here and there, looked very nice.

The friendly kings of the Kurus and the Pandavas were represented by Dhrtarastra, the five Pandu brothers, King Drupada, King Santardana, as well as Rukmini's father, Bhismaka. Because of Krsna's kidnapping Rukmini, there was initially some misunderstanding between the two families, but Bhismaka, King of Vidarbha, being approached by Sri Balarama and persuaded by many saintly persons, was induced to participate in the marriage ceremony of Krsna and Rukmini. Although the incidence of Krsna's kidnapping was not a very happy occurrence in the kingdom of Vidarbha, kidnapping was not an unusual affair among the ksatriyas. Kidnapping was, in fact, current in almost all marriages. Anyway, King Bhismaka was from the very beginning inclined to hand over his beautiful daughter to Krsna. In one way or another his purpose had been served, and so he was pleased to join the marriage ceremony, even though his eldest son was degraded in the fight. It is mentioned in the Padma Purana that Maharaja Nanda and the cowherd boys of Vrndavana joined the marriage ceremony. Kings from the kingdoms of Kuru, Srnjaya, Kekaya, Vidarbha and Kunti came to Dvaraka on this occasion with all their royal paraphernalia.

The story of Rukmini's being kidnapped by Krsna was poeticized, and the professional readers recited it everywhere. All the assembled kings and, especially, their daughters were struck with wonder and became very pleased upon hearing the chivalrous activities of Krsna. In this way, all visitors as well as the inhabitants of Dvaraka City became joyful seeing Krsna and Rukmini together. In other words, the Supreme Lord, the maintainer of everyone, and the goddess of fortune were united, and all the people felt extremely jubilant.

Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Fifty-third Chapter of Krsna, "Krsna Defeats all the Princes and Takes Rukmini Home to Dvaraka."