Narada was curious. He had heard that Krishna had married 16100 princesses rescued from Bhaumasura’s captivity. In addition he already had Eight wives. How could he manage and maintain 16108 wives was the curiousity of Narada. So to have a firsthand account he travelled to Dwaraka.
Dwaraka was beautiful. The garden and parks were full of different kinds of flowers. The trees were over laden with fruits, the ponds had swans and cranes and the whole of Dwaraka had a sweet smell. And everywhere he looked there were beautiful palaces. Some had magnificent fountains, some had gardens in front. Rubies, pearls and other precious stones were ingrained on the sidewalks. All in all it was a splendid city.
Narada muni moved to a palace near him. He went to a window and peeped inside. He didn’t want to be seen, If Krishna would see him, he would have a grand welcome. Narada didn’t want that. He wanted to see his Lord on the sly. He wanted to see what Krishna does when He is alone with his queens.
When he peeped inside that was the palace of Rukmini Devi. He saw Krishna reclining and Rukmini Devi gently massaging His feet.
Narada smiled to himself. Now he was curious as to what the other queens do when Krishna is away. So he moved to another palace. But behold, what was this….Krishna was having a hearty meal with His queen there. Narada moved to another palace there he saw Krishna playing dice with his queen and everywhere that Narada went, he saw Krishna enjoying day to day life with his queens.
And then Narada bowed down and cried, “who am I to doubt you, My Lord, you are the creator and the maintainer of this whole creation and I was doubting as to how you manage your 16108 wives .”
Another time Narada went to meet Krishna in Dwaraka and saw him writhing in stomach ache. All the physicians were unable to detect the cause of the malady.
Narada suggested a ‘siddhi aushadhi’. If the dust of someone’s feet were applied to the Lord’s forehead, his malady could be cured. Narada asked for the Paada-dhuli (dust of the feet) of the queens. Though thery were worried none of the queen agreed to give the dust of their feet to their Lord. How could they incur bad karma by giving their paada dhuli?
Narada asked many devotees but none agreed tp give their paada dhuli. Then Narada thought of going to Vrindavan. When the gopis of Vrindavan saw Narada, they were overjoyed and came running to ask him about their Lord. And immediately fell silent on knowing that their Lord was sick. When Narada told about the siddhi aushadi, immediately the gopis bent down and gathered their paada dhuli in whatever spare cloth they could find and gave bundles and bundles of it to Narada,
Immediately Narada transported himself to Dwaraka took one of the bundles of dhuli and kept it on the Lords forehead. Lo and behold Krishna’s stomach ache disappeared and he sat up, hale and hearty. While the queens wept in happiness and also in shame. It so happened that some days back Krishna had been calling out the gopis names in His sleep. That had made the queens very jealous. To make the queens understand the greatness of the gopis the Lord had enacted this small drama with the cooperation of Narada. Now the queens understood how selfless the gopis were. The gopis were not worried about their fate; all they cared for was the happiness and well being of their Lord.
Lessons from these stories:
The Lord though opulent and has all resources at his disposal, still what He wants is only our undiluted Love for Him. Nothing more, nothing less. He says
man-mana bhava mad-bhakto
mad-yaji mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi yuktvaivam
atmanam mat-parayanah
Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, offer obeisances and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me (BG 9.34)