Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.90.16
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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acyuta
—
the infallible Lord
a + cyuta — never fallen. A Vaiṣṇava-specific name; impersonalists cannot use it. The queen addresses her viraha to one who Himself never lapses — only His promised return delays. Hope is theologically grounded.
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dāsyam
—
servitude
From dāsa — servant. The queen names her relationship as dāsya, not aiśvarya. Even as queens of Dvārakā their inner posture is servant-of-Kṛṣṇa. Sambandha is bhakti's bedrock — knowing oneself as His nitya-dāsa.
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pāda
—
feet
The locus of all Vaiṣṇava service. Pāda-padma, pāda-rajaḥ, pāda-tīrtha — the foot-dust of Bhagavān is treasured above brahma-jñāna. Caitanya-caritāmṛta 2.22.69: bhakti is the foot of Kṛṣṇa, given by His grace.
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srajam
—
garland
A garland that has touched Kṛṣṇa's feet. In Hari-bhakti-vilāsa such a garland is mahā-prasāda — never to be thrown away, worn with reverence. The queen wants it for the bird's braid; nothing higher could be offered.
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spṛhayase
—
you long for
Second singular of √spṛh — to hanker. Spṛhā is the devotee's tug toward what is Kṛṣṇa-related. Rūpa Gosvāmī marks lobha (greed) for Kṛṣṇa-bhakti as the precondition for entering rāgānugā-sādhana.
They speak to the cakravaki. "Can you not see your husband (adrsta bandhuh)? Such a painful cry is possible because of separation from your child." They then speak of an alternative reason for the lament. "Perhaps you are like us, who have become servants of Acyuta, and desire to bind in your hair the garland which touched his feet."
Hearing the even more plaintive cry of the cakravākī they speak. Your dear lover is unseen. You cry with great pain and pitifully. Bata indicates lamentation. We are in a similar situation. We cannot cry so loudly on not seeing our husband, but we cry with a special emotion for the Lord. Becoming a servant like us, do you desire to wear in your hair the garland used as a pillow by the feet of the Lord full of all qualities and beauty (acyutasya)? Do you desire his touch indirectly in this way because of you intense love? Touching the feet is only suitable for the bhakti of a wife. Thus they ask the bird about an article that had touched his feet. Or, like us you have become a servant--becoming his lover, you desire the good fortune suitable for that position. They do not state this directly because of shyness. Similarly the wives of the brāhmaṇas said: prāptā vayaṁ tulasi-dāma padāvasṛṣṭaṁ keśair nivoḍhum atilaṅghya samasta-bandhūn We simply wish to remain here in the forest so we may carry upon our heads the garlands of tulasī leaves you may neglectfully kick away with your lotus feet. SB 10.23.29
Hearing the even more plaintive cry of the cakravākī they speak. Your dear lover is unseen. You cry with great pain and pitifully. Bata indicates lamentation. We are in a similar situation. We cannot cry so loudly on not seeing our husband, but we cry with a special emotion for the Lord. Becoming a servant like us, do you desire to wear in your hair the garland accepted with love by the feet of the Lord who is full of all qualities and beauty (acyutasya)? The goal of this is to attain a service attitude. prāptā vayaṁ tulasi-dāma padāvasṛṣṭaṁ keśair nivoḍhum atilaṅghya samasta-bandhūn We simply wish to remain here in the forest so we may carry upon our heads the garlands of tulasī leaves you may neglectfully kick away with your lotus feet. SB 10.23.29 Though the bird does not have a braid, they refer to themselves, or imagine this out of madness) in prema. This should be understood in later verses also. Kim can indicate conjecture. Do you cry out because of a desire to carry the garland with devotion?
- What night-separation in my life is teaching me about my distance from God?
- Where could I lean into the longing rather than try to numb it?
A cakravākī, parted from her mate at night, cries with closed eyes — the queen reads her own life into the bird's: 'Have you, like us, become Acyuta's servant, longing to wear His foot-touched garland in your braid?' The garland the gopīs wore is the highest aspiration, even from the lips of His married queens.
In SB 10.47.21 the gopīs declare: 'Let us be the grass and herbs of Vraja that Kṛṣṇa's feet touch.' They prefer foot-dust to royal status. The queens in 90.16 echo this exactly — they covet a foot-blessed garland for the bird's braid, not the bird's freedom.
Gauḍīyas mark this as the queens' tell: they speak in gopī-grammar. The highest aspiration in mādhurya-rasa is not union but contact with anything Kṛṣṇa has touched — pādukā, mālā, even the dust under His step (Caitanya-caritāmṛta records Mahāprabhu rolling in such dust).
My note
Source: vedabase.io