Bhadrā and Mitravindā
The Brahma Khaṇḍa of the Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa tells of two of the wives of Kṛshṇa, Bhadrā and Mitravindā. Each was born with a special purpose (kāraṇa-janma). In an earlier birth (pūrvajanma) each was born in an ordinary house and lived a life of complete devotion to Vishṇu. Each taught a deep teaching about Hari to her own father, and then each died in dhyāna (meditation). In their next births both were born in the family of Kṛshṇa’s aunts, and both became his wives.
Bhadrā
Her earlier birth
In her earlier birth, Bhadrā was the daughter of an ordinary man named Nala. He was not the king of the Nishādha but a common householder. From childhood she thought only of Vishṇu. She was always busy with pūjā, naivedya (food offered to Bhagavān Vishṇu) and pradakshiṇa (walking around the mūrti). She left aside all the usual play of a girl.
When her father asked her to think of marriage, she answered with a full teaching (pravachana) on Hari-bhakti (devotion to Hari). It changed her father:
“Father, whatever puṇya a person does, it must be meant for Bhagavān Vishṇu alone. Offer everything to him with bhakti, and try to please that devadeva. If a person does not offer naivedya, upachāras and stotras to him with bhakti, does Bhagavān Vishṇu himself not receive those offerings and become pleased? Even gifts made to others are received by Mādhava himself, who comes and accepts them through the one who receives. One must honour the receiver of a gift (dāna-grāhita) as if Mādhava had come to receive it. That Vāsudeva is the deva who lives (vasinch) in our home and in our own body as the inner lamp.”
Then she spoke a śloka:
kāśī-nivāsena ca kiṃ prayojanaṃ
kiṃ vā prayāge maraṇena tāta
kiṃ vā raṇāgre maraṇena saukhyaṃ
kiṃ vā makhādeḥ samanushṭhitena
samasta tīrtheshaṭanena kiṃ kim
adhīta śāstreṇa sutīkshṇabuddhy
āyeshāṃ jihvāgre harināma naiva
yeshāṃ gātrair namanaṃ nāpi vishṇoḥ
yeshāṃ padbhyāṃ nāsti hareḥ pradakshiṇaṃ
teshāṃ sarvaṃ vyartham āhur mahāntaḥ
This is Brahma Khaṇḍa 20, verses 10 to 12.
She then gave the meaning in her own words: “What is the use of living in Kāśī? Of dying at Prayāga? Of dying at the front of a battle? Of doing countless yajñas? Of visiting all the tīrthas? Of studying all the śāstras with the sharpest mind? The great ones say that all of it is useless for those on whose tongue the name of Hari does not rest, whose bodies do not bow to Vishṇu, and whose feet do not walk around Hari.”
She also named her own first duty (kartavya): “The first duty of every living being, in all conditions and at all times, is to remember Hari always, to do his pūjā, to walk around him, to do japa and to offer stutis (praises). Let us give our whole life to him.”
Her father was changed by this teaching. Father and daughter spent the rest of their lives in the service of Hari (Hari-upāsana), and both passed away in dhyāna.
Her next birth and marriage
In her next birth, Bhadrā was born in the house of Kṛshṇa’s mēnatta (his father’s sister). The family had at first thought to name her Kaikeyī. But the ṛshis and elders who saw her good marks (lakshaṇa) called her Bhadrā, and that name stayed. Kṛshṇa married her in the proper way.
Mitravindā
Her earlier birth
In her earlier birth, Mitravindā held one firm belief. Of all spiritual practices (sādhana), the best (śreshṭha) is the śravaṇa (hearing) of the accounts of Bhagavān Vishṇu from the sāttvika Purāṇas. She decided that life itself is useless (vyartha) without hearing the kathā of Vishṇu.
She taught about the company one must look for:
“One must not stay even for a moment in a place where the great river of the kathās of Vishṇu does not flow, where the shelter of the lotus feet of Nārāyaṇa is not found, and where the name of Hari does not rise from the mouth like the humming of a bee from a lotus. In a village where the Bhāgavata is not discussed and there are no lovers of its rasa, in a house where the essence of the Gītā is not present, in a city where Vishṇu-sahasra-pārāyaṇa (the reading of the thousand names of Vishṇu) and the singing of Hari-kathā do not happen, one must not live even briefly, whatever the need.”
yasmin grāme bhāgavataṃ na śāstraṃ
na vartate bhāgavatā rasajñāḥ
yasmin gṛhe nāsti gītārtha-sāro
yasmins grāme nāma sahasrakaṃ vā
tayor rasajñā yatra na saṃti tatra
na saṃvaset kshaṇa mātraṃ kathañchit
yasmin dine divya kathā cha vishṇor nāsti
jantos tasya chāyur vṛthaiva
This is Brahma Khaṇḍa 20, verses 29 and 30.
She also said that the true ornament of the ears is not a golden earring (kuṇḍala) but the songs of Hari (Hari-gāthā) always ringing in them. She said that only those who listen every day to the truth of the Bhāgavata and talk about it have a life that bears fruit (saphala jīvita).
Mitravindā lived hearing the kathās of Vishṇu and speaking of nothing else, and she died in that way. The resolve of her mind (manaḥ-saṅkalpa) had always been: “I will hear his true kathās and pass away while hearing them.”
Her next birth and marriage
In her next birth, Mitravindā was born as the daughter of Sumitrā, another of Kṛshṇa’s aunts. At her svayaṃvara (the gathering at which a woman chooses her husband), she passed over all the kshatriya heroes who had come and put her garland round the neck of Kṛshṇa. Some kings tried to carry her away. Kṛshṇa fought them and beat them. He brought her to Dvārakā and married her by the rules of the śāstra.
What the two accounts teach
Both Bhadrā and Mitravindā lived with complete devotion to Vishṇu across births, and Kṛshṇa received them as wives. Bhadrā taught that the name of Hari is above all tīrthas, yajñas and learning of the śāstras. Mitravindā taught that hearing the Bhāgavata kathā is the highest sādhana.
Sources
- Garuḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 20
- Brahma Khaṇḍa 20, verses 10 to 12 (the śloka on the name of Hari)
- Brahma Khaṇḍa 20, verses 29 and 30 (the śloka on places without Vishṇu-kathā)