Rukmini Sandesa

Sri Rukmini said: Hearing of Your qualities, O most beautiful one in the universe -- qualities that, entering through the ears of those who hear them, take away the pain of the body -- and knowing Your form to be the ultimate treasure for all who have eyes to see, my shameless mind, O infallible one, enters into You.

O Mukunda, You are equal only to Yourself in lineage, character, beauty, learning, youth, wealth and power, and You delight the minds of all people, O lion among men. What wise maiden of high standing and noble family, when the time has come, would not choose You as her husband?

Therefore, my lord, I have chosen You as my husband and have offered myself entirely to You; make me Yours here, O almighty one. Do not let Sisupala, prince of Cedi, seize the hero's due -- like a jackal snatching the lion's prey -- O lotus-eyed Lord.

If the Supreme Lord, elder brother of Gada, has truly been satisfied by my public works, sacrifices, gifts, vows, and worship of the gods, brahmanas and guru, then let Him come and take my hand -- not the son of Damaghosa nor anyone else.

Tomorrow, O unconquerable one, is my wedding. Come to Vidarbha unseen, surrounded by Your army commanders; forcibly crush the combined strength of the king of Cedi and the lord of Magadha, and carry me off by the rite of heroic marriage, as the prize won by Your own valor.

Lest You wonder how to marry me without killing my kinsmen, since I live within the inner palace quarters, let me tell You the means: the day before the wedding there is a great procession to the family deity, during which the bride-to-be goes outside to worship Girija.

Great souls, like Uma's husband, desire to bathe in the dust of Your lotus feet to dispel the darkness within themselves. If I fail to obtain Your grace, O lotus-eyed one, I shall give up this life worn thin by vows, so that after a hundred births Your grace may be mine.