Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.83.39
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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ātma - ārāmasya
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of Him who is self-satisfied
Ātma (self) + ārāma (pleasure, garden). Bhagavān takes pleasure in His own self — He needs no external object. Gauḍīya doctrine: yet His devotees serve Him precisely because He is ātmārāma — they serve not to please Him but to be near Him. The grammar of nirhetukī bhakti.
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gṛha - dāsikāḥ
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maidservants of the household
Gṛha (house) + dāsikā (maidservant). The queens' final self-description. The chapter has refused 'queen' as the operative word from beginning (Rukmiṇī's arcanā) to end (Lakṣmaṇā's gṛha-dāsikā). Gauḍīya dāsya as the sthāyī-bhāva of even mādhurya.
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saṅga - nivṛttyā
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by the cessation of (material) association
Saṅga (attachment, association) + nivṛtti (cessation). The technical Vaiṣṇava term for vairāgya. The queens did not arrive at Bhagavān's house with their old attachments intact — each had let go of something (Rukmiṇī her arranged match, Kālindī her solitary tapas, Mitravindā her brothers' favor).
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tapasā
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by austerity
Tapas — the same word that named Kālindī's marriage-route at verse 11. Here generalized: every queen has practiced some tapas, whether years of penance or merely the heat of bearing the suitors' violence. Gauḍīya: tapas is heat applied to the body so the soul may show through.
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addhā
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directly, in truth
Addhā — adverb meaning 'truly, indeed, directly'. The queens insist their dāsīhood is not metaphorical or honorific — it is direct, actual service. Gauḍīya bhakti rejects vague metaphorical service in favor of concrete sevā.
In the opinion of Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, Śrīmatī Lakṣmaṇā became embarrassed when she realized that she had been talking about herself, and so she spoke this verse praising her co-wives. In her humility Lakṣmaṇā claimed that Kṛṣṇa’s queens, unlike ordinary wives, could not bring their husband under control, and thus they could relate to Him only as servile housekeepers. In fact, however, since the Lord’s queens are direct expansions of His internal pleasure potency ( hlādinī-śakti ), they fully controlled Him with their love.
Being absorbed, she described profusely about herself. Now, to satisfy all her elders such as Rukmini, she summarizes about all eight queens. "We eight queens cannot control him like other wives can control their husbands." She says this out of great humility. In fact, they are expansions of the Lord in the form of hladini sakti, and actually control him with prema.
Having described herself profusely out of enthusiasm, she now in embarrassment satisfies all the elder queens and concludes. Because of being complete in himself, he is qualified to perform pastimes only with himself. Still, we have become his household servants. The cause is only his mercy. She hides the boldness she showed in telling her story by indicating her humility as a servant, which indicates her bhakti.
She now in embarrassment satisfies all the elder queens and concludes. We have become maidservants of the Lord, though he is detached from his (ātmārāmasya). This is stated out of humility, with special bhakti. We are household servants, cleaning the house. The suffix kāḥ indicates their inferior status. We are low servants, not wives. Being indifferent to all attachments (saṅga) to wealth and sons, and doing the austerity of servant’s work as a svadharma, we have become his maid servants. This includes the elder queens, and indicates their mutual affection. Or she uses the plural to show reverence for her own position as a household servant.
- What renunciation would prepare me for the service position I actually want?
- Where am I asking for the result without taking the path?
Lakṣmaṇā closes her narration with a wider 'we'. All the queens, however differently they arrived, have ended at the same place — gṛha-dāsikāḥ, household maidservants of the ātmārāma Lord, by tapasā and saṅga-nivṛtti. The chapter's polyphony resolves into a single chord: not 'I am queen of Dvārakā' but 'I am His sweeper in the house', because the house itself is the Lord.
My note
Source: vedabase.io