In the culture of Sanatana Dharma, there are seven Moksha Dwara nagaris or cities. These are places where the focus is Moksha. Those who are more ritualistic minded, they feel that if one lives and dies here, one will be free. These nagaris are –

1. Ayodhya — It is significant because Bhagavan Rama was born here. When Bhagavan Rama left this world, all the people who lived in Ayodhya also left with Him to be with Him.
2. Mathura — It is significant as it is the birthplace of Bhagavan Krshna. When He left Mathura, all the people went with Him.
3. Haridwara — It is significant as it is a place where Maya cannot come. If we imagine Bhagavan Narayana and Bhagavati Lakshmi living in Haridwara, and Bhagavan Narayana leaving home to go to work, who does He work with? Devi Maya. But when He returns home to Haridwara in the night, Devi Maya cannot come into the house with Him, and has to stay outside as He has to be with Bhagavati Lakshmi. So Maya cannot enter Haridwara.
4. Varanasi or Kashi — It is significant because Bhagavan Shiva speaks and teaches the glory of Bhagavan Narayana in this nagari. If one dies here, it is Bhagavan Shiva who whispers into our ears so that our last thought is of Bhagavan Narayana.
5. Kancheepuram — This nagari is associated with the Sundara Kanda of the Ramayana. What is beautiful about Kancheepuram is that there is a focus on both Bhagavan Shiva and Bhagavan Narayana. In Sundara Kanda itself, the first half focuses on Bhagavan Shiva, that is Hanumanji and the second half focuses on Bhagavan Vishnu, that is Vibheeshana who is a devotee of Bhagavan Vishnu.
6. Avantika — It is significant because this is where Bhagavan Krshna learned about life, where Rishi Sandeepany taught Bhagavan Krshna. For us particularly, there is such an emphasis on the Guru Shishya parampara because the greatest contribution of Swami Chinmayananda in Chinmaya Mission is the Sandeepany Sadhanalaya. With reference to Ramayana, the Vibheeshana Gita is one of the focal points in this kanda where Bhagavan Rama teaches Vibheeshana like Rishi Sandeepany as if taught Bhagavan Krshna.
7. Dwaraka — What is unique about this Moksha Dwara nagari or the seventh kanda of Ramayana is that this is when Bhagavan Rama got to be the raja, this is when Bhagavan Krshna gets to be the raja. So there is Ram rajya, there is Krshna rajya.

These Moksha Dwara nagaris are not physical places for us to check off on our list of places to visit. These nagaris are metaphysical spaces inside of us. Through our Vedanta in Bhagavata class, we are going to all of these nagaris. As we go through our course, week after week, month after month, we hopefully feel more free. We are not just going to these nagaris, we are in these nagaris. Aren’t we always talking about Bhagavan Narayan and Bhagavan Shiva? We should indeed be grateful for having this opportunity to travel all over Bharat and get to know the intricacies of these nagaris.

In the Purva portion of Bhagavan Krshna’s life, when He was a child, He never used a weapon on any of the rakshas He encountered. He just used His own body to correct these Asuras as the focus of the Purva part of His life is madhura or sweetness, almost like a controlled environment. In the Uttara or later part of Bhagavan Krshna’s life that we are studying right now, Bhagavan Krshna had to use a weapon as soon as He came into Mathura. What this symbolizes is for us to adapt in an uncontrolled environment, that is to use weapons metaphysically, like using a planner, getting up earlier, thinking before we speak. These are weapons that we need in an uncontrolled environment and if we live like that, then there will still be sweetness.

In our last class, we focused on Raja Muchukunda. The Devas offered him whatever he wanted, but stipulated that they couldn’t grant him moksha. There is a deep insight into this — Just like the Devas are subject to time, everything other than moksha, is also subject to time. Time is one of our greatest fears and in the Bhagavad Gita is symbolized as death. When we know that whatever we are doing with our life, whatever we have in our lives is subject to time, that is when we shift our worship from the semi-Gods, that is the Devas, to the Absolute God, that is Bhagavan Krshna. This is perfectly shown when Raja Muchukunda said he wanted the possession that Bhaktas depended on when Bhagavan Krshna asked him what he wanted. Bhaktas depend only on Bhakti, and nothing else, and this is what Raja Muchukunda wanted as he knew that Bhakti is the ends, the fulfilment. In the Chapter that follows, Raja Muchukunda leaves Bhagavan Krshna and he lives his life depending on Bhagavan Krshna. He never feels separate from Bhagavan Krshna. Our katha continues…

Skanda 10:52:31 — Bhagavan Krshna is sharing with this Brahmana who is acting as a messenger — One should be content with whatever comes into our lives. This is powerful as this is how we should live, especially as this course is completing. Let us not externalize who a Brahmana is. Brahmana is one who loves Brahman. Whatever comes, whatever goes, a Brahmana is content. Where is that contentment coming from? Themselves. How is this possible? They never make excuses when it comes to their own Dharma. Vivekji had earlier shared a practice of no annotating, no blaming, no complaining. With such a vision or lifestyle, they get everything they need or want. It’s as if Kamadhuk lives with them. Many of us who live like this, we find we get everything we want and need in our life. If we choose peace, prosperity comes with it.

In the last class, Kalayavana was burned up by Raja Muchukunda. Bhagavan Krshna then went back to Mathura and defeated the rest of the Yavanas. Kalayavana was their leader. Next, Jarasandha came again for the 18th time, hoping this time he would be able to defeat Bhagavan Krshna.

When Bhagavan Krshna had defeated the Yavanas, He had taken all the wealth that they had stolen from Mathura, but upon seeing Jarasandha, He left all that wealth and ran away. So Jarasandha coming there for the 18th time, seemed to have worked. Bhagavan Krshna ran to this mountain area, and Jarasandha was so vicious that he lit a fire at the bottom of the mountain hoping Bhagavan would be burned up. Bhagavan Krshna jumped off the top of the mountain and returned to Dwarka and Jarasanda returned to Magadha.

Next, Raja Parikshita, who is no ordinary seeker himself, is asking Rishi Shuka about the marriage between Bhagavan Krshna and Rukmini, the handsome daughter of Bheeshmaka, following the rakshasa form of marriage. These two are like poets reveling in the life and teachings of Bhagavan Krshna –“Oh thou knower of Brahman, where is the connoisseur who feels satisfied with and get tired of hearing the accounts of Krshna, which are sanctifying, delightful and destructive of man’s ignorance and possessed of the quality of ever renewing novelty”. Rishi Shuka then starts describing how Balarama got married to Revati and Bhagavan Krshna is going to get married to Devi Rukmini.

In the land of Vidharba, near Nagpur, there is a leader called Bheeshmaka, and his oldest child is Rukmi and his youngest child is Rukmini. Devi Rukmini has heard lots about Bhagavan Krshna, how He ties His dhoti, how He is self-trained in music, and she takes the sankalpa or resolve to marry Bhagavan Krshna and be with Him for the rest of her life. Bhagavan Krshna as well, has heard a lot about Devi Rukmini, how she ties her sari, how she is trained in Bharatanatyam, and how she is the most virtuous. So He also resolves to marry her. However, Devi Rukmini’s oldest sibling, Rukmi is a close friend of Shishupala, and Rukmi had made arrangements for Devi Rukmini to marry Shishupala in two days. One of the reasons that Bhagavan has incarnated is to correct or defeat Shishupala.

So Devi Rukmini calls a trusted messenger and she writes one of the first love letters in history and sends this through the messenger who is a Brahmana. To reach Dwarka he has to swim across the ocean. Now as Bhagavan Krshna and the messenger are sitting together, Bhagavan asks the messenger why he would swim through the ocean for fun like that, and the Brahmana gives Bhagavan Devi Rukmini’s love letter or message. This is called Rukmini uvacha — Chapter 52, verses 37–43. It has lovely descriptions which show how Devi Rukmini knows in detail who Bhagavan Krshna is.

At the end of the message, Devi Rukmini writes that her Svayamvara is happening soon, where she gets to choose who she will be marrying. She asks Bhagavan to come incognito. Being thoughtful, she says since Bhagavan would not want to hurt or kill anyone, He should come a day ahead when they will be going to their family mandir to worship Devi Parvati. She asks Him to come at that time and take her away. So that is why Raja Parikshita referred to their marriage as getting married like Rakshasas.

And finally Devi Rukmini signs off this letter, saying she would engage in tapa life after life after life, until Bhagavan is her pati. Imagine her mumukshutvam, her Ananya Bhakti. So who is Devi Rukmini? She is Devi Sita, she is Devi Lakshmi. She is born and is living as a princess because Bhagavati Lakshmi told Bhagavan Narayana that she got too tired in the previous incarnation, being first in Janakapuri, then to Ayodhya, to Lanka, then back to Ayodhya, and finally back to the forest and was tired. So she says that in this incarnation, she will just stay in her kingdom and that Bhagavan should come and get her.

This Brahmana is Rishi Valmiki who was quite in tune with how much Bhagavan Rama loved Devi Sita, because Devi Sita was living with him. So he wanted to reunite them, but she had left her body before that could happen. So he reincarnates to reunite them now.

Skanda 10:53:46: This is Devi Rukmini praying to Bhagavati Parvati. She is at the mandir and says to Bhagavati, “I revere you Devi Ambika again and again, and also to your children and to your husband, Lord Shiva, and ask that you be gracious that Bhagavan be my husband. His name is Krshna. May this please you and please me.”

Hearing the message of the Princess of Vidharba, Krishna holds the Brahmana’s hand and says smilingly, “I too am always thinking of her, just as she does of Me, so I do not get to sleep at night”. Valmikiji is the original author or kavi, so Bhagavan verbalises this to him. “I know that because of the opposition of Rukmi, My marriage with her has been blocked. Defeating those degenerate kings in battle, I shall take away that handsome girl, so absorbingly in love with Me, just as fire is extracted out of the firestick in a sacrifice”. Ascertaining the day fixed for Rukmini’s marriage, Krshna ordered His charioteer Daruka to get His chariot ready immediately. Soon Daruka brought the chariot to which were harnessed the four horses, Shybya, Sugreeva, Megapushpa and Valahaka and they stood together before Krshna saluting Him. Together with the Brahmana messenger, Krshna ascended the chariot, and thanks to the fleet-footed horses, covered the distance to Vidarbha in one night. For our reference, to go from Dwarka in Gujarat to Nagpur is 24 hours by car!.

Bheeshmaka, Devi Rukmini’s father, had sneha or attachment for his son Rukmi. Sneha is different from Prema which is love, exactly like Raja Dhritarashtra, who had sneha for Duryodhana when he should have had Prema. When one is attached, one is weakened and acts out of fear. So Bheeshmaka let Rukmi decide who Devi Rukmini would marry and Rukmi had decided that it would be Shishupala. So Rukmi and Shishupala’s father started preparing for their vivaha. And now the scene is Devi Rukmini is at the mandir of Bhagavati Parvati lying down and praying for who her husband should be. To be continued…