Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.61.6
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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dāsyam
—
service
The second of the five primary rasas in Gauḍīya rasa-śāstra (śānta, dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya, mādhurya). Even queens in mādhurya add the flavor of dāsya — Rūpa Gosvāmī notes that the higher rasas include the lower as sub-flavors.
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pāda
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His feet
Kṛṣṇa's lotus feet — the supreme object of bhakti throughout the Bhāgavatam (caraṇāravinda). Washing them is the canonical act of devotion, performed here by queens rather than delegated.
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tāmbūla
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betel-nut preparation
A specific aṣṭa-kāliya-līlā service in later Gauḍīya manuals (Govinda-līlāmṛta) — offering tāmbūla after meals is a fixed ingredient of nitya-sevā in Vraja-rasa, here visible already in Dvārakā-līlā.
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vījana
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fanning
From √vīj, to fan. One of the 64 aṅgas of arcana listed by Rūpa Gosvāmī. The queens execute by hand what later devotees offer in mānasī-sevā.
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vibhoḥ
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for the almighty Lord
Genitive of vibhu, the all-pervading. The contrast is exquisite: the One who pervades all is bathed and fanned by His own consorts. Bhakti delights in this paradox — Bhagavān accepts service from the very persons He sustains.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī explains that Śukadeva Gosvāmī is so eager to describe these glorious pastimes of the Lord with His queens that he has repeated these verses. That is, text 5 of this chapter is almost identical with text 44 of the Fifty-ninth Chapter in this canto, and text 6 is identical with text 45 of that chapter. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains that the term varārhaṇa (“excellent offerings”) indicates that the queens offered the Lord palmfuls of flowers ( puṣpāñjali ) and palmfuls of jewels ( ratnāñjali ).
This verse describes their actions of menial service to express their love (anubhava), having Krsna as the object of their prema. They served him by offering the best items (bara arhanam) such as handfuls of flowers and jewels.
Sometimes prasādha is seen instead of prasāra. In this order they served him. Varārahṇa refers to sprinkling handfuls of flowers, popped rice and jewels. Śrīdhara Svāmī refers to descriptions of their service in the First Canto.
- What service to Kṛṣṇa am I outsourcing that I could lovingly perform myself?
- How can the small physical acts of my day become direct offerings to the Lord?
Like Lakṣmī herself, who has unlimited servants but personally massages Nārāyaṇa's feet on Śeṣa, the queens dismiss their hundreds of maidservants and take up the broom, the fan, the betel-tray themselves — because dāsya done by one's own hand is the only kind that tastes of prema.
When Sudāmā arrived in Dvārakā (SB 10.80–81), Kṛṣṇa Himself washed his friend's feet with water that Rukmiṇī then sprinkled on her own head. The queen of Dvārakā, served by uncountable maidservants, took up that water with her own hands.
Gauḍīya ācāryas point to this as the same dāsya-bhāva that animates the present verse: the very women adored by Lakṣmī's standard see service to Kṛṣṇa as too precious to delegate.
My note
Source: vedabase.io