Verse 1.7.101-102

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 1.7.101-102:

मद्-अनाप्त्या तु रुक्मिण्या वाञ्छन्त्याः प्राण-मोचनम् ।
श्रुत्वास्या विप्र-वदनाद् आर्ति-विज्ञप्ति-पत्रिकाम् ॥ १०१ ॥
महा-दुष्ट-नृप-श्रेणि-दर्पं संहरता मया ।
पाणि-गृहीतः सङ्ग्रामे हृत्वा राज्ञां प्रपश्यताम् ॥ १०२ ॥

mad-anāptyā tu rukmiṇyā vāñchantyāḥ prāṇa-mocanam |
śrutvāsyā vipra-vadanād ārti-vijñapti-patrikām || 101 ||
mahā-duṣṭa-nṛpa-śreṇi-darpaṃ saṃharatā mayā |
pāṇi-gṛhītaḥ saṅgrāme hṛtvā rājñāṃ prapaśyatām || 102 ||

Śrī Rukmiṇī-devī had taken a vow to give up her life if she did not get Me; therefore, she sent me news via a letter of distress. After hearing the news from the lips of the brāhmaṇa who brought the letter, I smashed the false pride of those wicked kings, abducted Śrī Rukmiṇī right in front of those besieged kings and accepted her hand in marriage.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

(By Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī himself including a deep purport of that commentary)

Very well then, if You had no desire to marry, why did You abduct the daughter of Bhīṣmaka with such great concern in the svayamvara ceremony and accept her hand in betrothal? He is reconciling this doubt in the two verses beginning with mad-anāptyā (without getting Me).

Śrī Rukmiṇī had taken the vow to give up her life if she did not obtain Me. Here, from mad-anāptya comes madana (madana-aptyā), that is, Rukmiṇī acquired some kāma-vega or impetuous desire and had taken a vow to give up her life if she did not obtain me (in a joking manner).

Śrī Rukmiṇī mentions this at the end of her dispatched letter in the Tenth Canto (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.52.43):

यर्ह्य् अम्बुजाक्ष न लभेय भवत्-प्रसादं
जह्याम् असून् व्रत-कृशान् शत-जन्मभिः स्यात्

yarhy ambujākṣa na labheya bhavat-prasādaṃ
jahyām asūn vrata-kṛśān śata-janmabhiḥ syāt

“O lotus-eyed One, if I cannot obtain Your indispensable mercy despite performing intense austerities for hundreds of lifetimes, then I shall give up my life-airs by performing austerities that emaciate my body.”

Then despondently she added something more (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.52.43):

श्रुत्वा गुणान् भुवन-सुन्दर शृण्वतां ते निर्विश्य कर्ण-विवरैर् हरतो’ङ्ग-तापम्
रूपं दृशां दृशिमताम् अखिलार्थ-लाभं त्वय्य् अच्युताविशति चित्तम् अपत्रपं मे

śrutvā guṇān bhuvana-sundara śṛṇvatāṃ te nirviśya karṇa-vivarair harato’ṅga-tāpam
rūpaṃ dṛśāṃ dṛśimatām akhilārtha-lābhaṃ tvayy acyutāviśati cittam apatrapaṃ me

“O beauty of the world, O Acyuta! My mind has become shamelessly attached after hearing of all your qualities, which pierces the ears of your audience and removes their distress, and to that form of yours upon seeing which spectators receive all kinds of fruitful results…”

In this pathetic way, she recounted her condition. Upon receiving that letter sent through the son of a priest and hearing the information in the letter from his mouth, I abducted Rukmiṇī and married her. She is present before Me, so do not consider the account spoken by Me to be false. This is the import of the word asyā (of her).

After hearing the account written in the aforesaid letter, I abducted Śrī Rukmiṇī-devī in front of the besieged kings to crush the false pride of such kings as Jarāsandha and Śiśupāla. Darpaṃ saṃharatā means to crush their false pride, and rājñā prapaśyatām means by disrespecting those kings. In other words, I married her by bringing her to Dvārakā from Kuṇḍinapura by forcibly abducting her right in front of everyone, in the war fought by Rukmī and other enemies. In this way, I married her, pressed hard by the approach of inevitable duty, not by My own sweet will.