Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.90.23
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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madhu-pateḥ
—
of the Lord of Madhu
madhu (Mathurā / the demon Madhu) + pati (lord). Kṛṣṇa as conqueror of Madhu, lord of Mathurā. The queen calls Him by His Mathurā-Dvārakā name — pointed reminder that He left Vraja and married elsewhere; viraha is geographic.
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praṇaya-avalokam
—
affectionate glance
praṇaya (intimate love) + avaloka (glance). Praṇaya is one of the higher gradations of love in Rūpa Gosvāmī's taxonomy (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu) — love with the freedom to behave casually, as among intimates. Its absence parches.
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muṣṭa-hṛdayāḥ
—
whose hearts are stolen
muṣṭa (stolen) + hṛdaya (heart). Bhagavān is hari — He steals hearts and gives them back as gifts only sometimes. The queens' hearts are gone; the rivers' hearts are gone; the lotuses' hearts are gone.
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sindhu-patnyaḥ
—
wives of the ocean
sindhu (ocean) + patnī (wife). Rivers personified as the ocean's wives. The queen finds a relational structure even in geography — every flow has a beloved, and every drying is a separation.
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iṣṭa-bhartuḥ
—
of their dear husband
iṣṭa (cherished) + bhartṛ (husband, supporter). The same vocabulary — bhartṛ — verse 27 uses of Kṛṣṇa as the queens' bhartṛ-buddhi (regarded-as-husband). The marriage frame holds throughout the songs.
During the summer the rivers do not receive downpours of water provided by their husband, the ocean, via the clouds. But the real reason for the rivers’ emaciation, as the queens see it, is that they have failed to obtain the loving glance of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the reservoir of all happiness.
"O wives of the ocean! O rivers! Your pools have all dried up. We will tell the cause. Similar to us who have not obtained the loving glance of the lord of the yadus, who is the giver of desired happiness even to you (istabhartuh), and who have thus become thin, with our hearts cheated, you also have been thin, with dried up pools and no beauty of lotuses."
Seeing the summer rivers with meager water, thinking the rivers have fainted, they speak among themselves about the rivers without even addressing the rivers, though they addressed the previous subjects. Bata expresses disappointment or lamentation. The wives of the ocean have lost their facial beauty because of no lotuses. Their hearts, the lakes, have dried up. Why? You do not receive the affectionate glance of your dear husband the ocean, because of separation in the form of summer. Ah! The rivers have become like us. Our faces have also withered. The word puru (abundant) indicates that they have become thin and have lost their facial beauty.
Seeing the rivers in the distance with lack of beauty because of meager water in the summer and no lotuses at night, the queens think the rivers are in great pain. Have you withered away because of not seeing your dear husband (īṣṭa-bhartuḥ)? Kṛṣna appeared in the Yadu dysnasty with all excellent to manifwst unlimited qualities. He should protect us also. But we do not even receive his affectionate glance. Or since he is the protector of the Yadus, he does not protect us. Not attaining his glance, we have lost our hearts (muṣṭa-hrḍayāḥ) and have become thinner than you. Hrāda (lake) sounds similar to hṛdaya (heart). Thus there is the suggestion that just as the lakes dry up in summer, the queen’s hearts have dried up. And as the rivers are devoid of the beauty of the lotus, so the lotus faces of the queens are devoid of beauty since they have withered. It is suggested also that they have become thin by wailing like the ocean and shedding tears like the cloud. The rivers also have great attachment to their husband, the ocean. Because of the ocean ignores them, they become thin.
- What drought in my life mirrors a drought in nature this season?
- Where could noticing the parallel deepen my honest reckoning?
Rivers, married to the ocean, have run dry — their pools shriveled, their lotuses vanished. The queen reads cosmic drought as cosmic vipralambha: 'You too withered from no glance of your dear lord?' Every absence in nature is the trace of the same absence.
My note
Source: vedabase.io