Outweighing Krishna

By Staff

Monday, July 7, 2008, 11:45

There is a small story in the Mahabharata. With a view to get Krishna on her side, Satyabhama, one of his consorts, went to Narada and requested him to tell her some way, a short-cut by which she can achieve her objective. Narada knew that Satyabhama was very selfish and that selfishness will never work in matters relating to God.

Narada wanted to teach a lesson to Satyabhama and said he knew of a method which would get Krishna on her side, a ritual in which she gives away her husband as a gift to someone and then buys him back by paying money, equivalent in weight to the weight of the Lord. Narada said that Krishna will belong solely to Satyabhama under all circumstances if she went through this ritual. Satyabhama was lured into the plan. Therefore, she did the ritual of gifting Krishna to Narada and then getting Him back. In one pan of the balance, she made Krishna sit and she put all her jewels in the other pan but it was no match to the weight of Krishna. Narada saw an excellent opportunity in the situation and told Satyabhama that since she is not able to give gold needed to equal her husband's weight, he was taking away Krishna and that from that day, Krishna would not belong to her; He would belong to him.

In that situation, Satyabhama thought of Rukminî and went in search of her. She found her performing Tulasî puja. Rukminî went with a few Tulasî leaves in her hand. She was astonished to find that Satyabhama was trying to outweigh the Lord himself with gold. She knew that this would never be possible. She said that gold will never outweigh God and only God's name can match Him in weight. Narada did not agree with this and asked that since Krishna has a form which can be seen, He must be weighed against something which can also be seen. Rukminî immediately grasped the situation and she told herself that whether it is fruit, a flower, or a leaf or even a spoon of water, if given in full faith, God will surely respond. If there is any truth in this, she expected Krishna to respond to what she was going to do and in full faith, she placed a Tulasî leaf in the other pan of the balance, uttering the name of Krishna. It is only with affection, love and pure heart that one can get God. She won !