śrī-rukmiṇy uvāca
nanv evam etad aravinda-vilocanāha
yad vai bhavān bhagavato 'sadṛśī vibhūmnaḥ
kva sve mahimny abhirato bhagavāḿs try-adhīśaḥ
kvāhaḿ guṇa-prakṛtir ajña-gṛhīta-pādā
sri-rukmini uvaca -- Sri Rukmini said; nanu -- well; evam -- so be it; etat -- this; aravinda-vilocana -- O lotus-eyed one; aha -- said; yat -- which; vai -- indeed; bhavan -- You; bhagavatah -- to the Supreme Lord; asadrisi -- unequal; vibhumnah -- to the almighty; kva -- where, in comparison; sve -- in His own; mahimni -- glory; abhiratah -- taking pleasure; bhagavan -- the Supreme Lord; tri -- of the three (principal deities, namely Brahma, Vishnu and Siva); adhisah -- the controller; kva -- and where; aham -- myself; guna -- of material qualities; prakritih -- whose character; ajna -- by foolish persons; grihita -- taken hold of; pada -- whose feet.
Sri Rukmini said: Actually, what You have said is true, O lotus-eyed one. I am indeed unsuitable for the almighty Personality of Godhead. What comparison is there between that Supreme Lord, who is master of the three primal deities and who delights in His own glory, and myself, a woman of mundane qualities whose feet are grasped by fools?
Srila Sridhara Svami lists the faults Lord Krishna had described in Himself that He claimed disqualified Him from being Rukmini's husband. These include incompatibility, fearfulness, taking shelter in the ocean, quarreling with the powerful, abandoning His kingdom, uncertainty as to His identity, acting against ordinary standards of behavior, having no good qualities, being praised falsely by beggars, aloofness, and lack of desire for family life. The Lord claimed that Rukmini had failed to recognize these bad qualities in Him. Now she begins to respond to all the Lord's statements.
First she responds to Sri Krishna's statement in Text 11 of this chapter: kasman no vavrishe 'saman. "Why did you select Us, who are not equal to you?" Here Srimati Rukmini-devi says that she and Krishna are certainly not equal, for no one can be equal to the Supreme Lord. Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti further points out that in her extreme humility Rukmini is identifying herself with the Lord's external energy, which in fact is her expansion, Rukmini being the goddess of fortune.
