Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.59.44
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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ramā - patim
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Lord of the goddess of fortune (husband of Lakṣmī)
Compound: Ramā (Lakṣmī) + pati (husband). One of Viṣṇu's standing epithets. The verse opens with His most exalted title — and ends with the queens' shy glances. The juxtaposition is the chapter's poetic key.
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brahmā - ādayaḥ
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Brahmā and others
Compound: Brahmā + ādi (etc.). Even the highest functionaries — Brahmā, Śiva, Indra — do not know the padavī. Gauḍīyas insist this is not metaphor; it is theological: aiśvarya-jñāna cannot purchase mādhurya-līlā.
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padavīm
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the path, the means of attaining
From pada (foot, step). Padavī is the trodden way — the path to His feet. Gauḍīyas distinguish jñāna-padavī (cognitive approach) from bhakti-padavī (devotional approach); only the latter reaches.
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anurāga
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loving attraction
From anu (along, after) + √rañj (to color). Anurāga is colored-along-with — a heart dyed by another's color. In Gauḍīya rasa-theory, anurāga is the deepening stage of prema, beyond bhāva and ordinary love.
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saṅgama
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association, union
From sam + √gam (to come together). Saṅga/saṅgama is the Vaiṣṇava category of intimate association — sat-saṅga (with devotees) prepares for kṛṣṇa-saṅga (with the Lord). The queens have the latter.
Brahma and others do now know the method of attaining Krsna, who is the husband of those perfect Laksmis. What then to speak of others, and what to speak of directly knowing him? And what to speak of actually attaining him? With continuously increasing joy, they experienced his smiling glances filled with love, bodily contact, exchanges of words and then they displayed bashfulness.
Kṛṣṇa was the husband of Rukmiṇī, the full form of Lakṣmī (ramā). The queens, who were aṁśas of Rukmiṇī, attained as their husband this husband of Rukmiṇī, most rare, since he displayed intimate bhāvas and gestures with her. They attained him by their qualifications, not with others’ help. Brahmā, what to speak of others, do not know even the method of attaining him, what to speak of knowing him. And what to speak of attaining him! It is possible to attain him even serving him as a wife. This position as a wife is considered most desirable. Though he associated with them for a long time and constantly, the association was always fresh (nava-saṅgama) because of the happiness experienced each time. They experienced constantly increasing joy (mudā) through smiling glances, then association, then conversations and then shyness, in that order. Or they enjoyed (bhejuḥ) him with joy (mudā), because of anurāga, by their smiling glances, association, conversations and shyness.
Kṛṣṇa, rare and skillful in love, was the husband of Rukmiṇī. These women (tā) having inconceivable credits attained him as a husband, independently. They were qualified (śtriyaḥ). Brahma and others do not even know his foot, what to speak of knowing or attaining Kṛṣṇa himself. They enjoyed with him constantly because they perceived him as ever fresh (nava-saṅgama). They exchanged loving glances, associated and then spoke shyly. The pleasure continually increased. This shows it was greater than the bliss of Brahman. Brahman’s bliss does not increase (since it never changes). The love however increased at all times, with special sweetness, being ever new, attaining the highest levels.
- Where do you assume relationships must decay over time?
- How does devotion to Kṛṣṇa offer a different curve?
Even Brahmā, the universe's architect, does not know the path to Kṛṣṇa's intimate quarters — but the princesses, His queens, exchange shy glances with Him at breakfast. The verse's miracle is not that the queens reached Him; it is that He let them have what cosmic functionaries cannot find. Mādhurya outranks aiśvarya.
When Uddhava visited Vraja to console the gopīs (SB 10.46-47), he found himself praying to become a blade of grass in Vṛndāvana — because not even the highest minister of Dvārakā could touch what the gopīs naturally possessed. Brahmā himself, at SB 10.14, confessed he did not know the means (padavī) of Kṛṣṇa's intimate līlā.
Verse 44 here gives the queens this same un-findable padavī. Gauḍīyas read it carefully: the Dvārakā queens have access to Bhagavān that Brahmā lacks — though they have a different bhāva from the Vraja gopīs (svakīya vs. parakīya), the same prema-currency is what they hold.
My note
Source: vedabase.io