Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.90.25
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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bhāvena
—
by the mood
Instrumental of bhāva — mature emotional state on the way to prema. Rūpa Gosvāmī's middle stage in sādhana → bhāva → prema. The verse explicitly credits bhāva, not external practice, with delivering the queens to the goal.
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yoga-īśvara-īśvare
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the master of all masters of yoga
Contiguous compound: yoga + īśvara + īśvare. Locative — directed toward Kṛṣṇa. He is yoga-īśvara-īśvara: master even of those who themselves master yoga. Bhakti reaches Him; yoga only approximates.
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paramām gatim
—
the supreme destination
param (supreme) + gati (destination). Not mokṣa understood as merging; in Gauḍīya reading, parama-gati is the spiritual world, eternal kṛṣṇa-sevā, the prayojana of Caitanya's siddhānta.
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mādhavyaḥ
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the wives of Mādhava
From Mādhava (a name of Kṛṣṇa — husband of Lakṣmī / spring-lord). The queens are named relationally, by Him. Sambandha defines identity in Vaiṣṇava theology: who you are is whose you are.
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lebhire
—
they attained
Perfect of √labh — to obtain. The decisive verb. Not 'they tried' or 'they aspired' — they actually attained the highest destination. Bhāva-bhakti delivers; the chapter's psychological argument lands here.
According to Ācārya Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, here Śukadeva Gosvāmī uses the present tense of the word kriyamāṇena to indicate that the Lord’s queens attained His eternal abode immediately, without delay. By this insight the ācārya helps refute the false notion that after Lord Kṛṣṇa’s departure from this world, some primitive cowherds kidnapped His queens while they were under the protection of Arjuna. In fact, as the self-realized Vaiṣṇava commentators elsewhere explain, Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself appeared in the guise of the thieves who abducted the queens. For further information on this subject, see Śrīla Prabhupāda’s purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.15.20 . Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī remarks that the supreme goal attained by these exalted women was not the liberation of the impersonal yogīs but the perfect state of prema-bhakti, pure loving devotion. Indeed, since they were already imbued with divine love of God from the very beginning, they possessed transcendental bodies of eternity, knowledge and bliss, in which they were fully able to relish the pleasure of reciprocating with the Supreme Lord in his most intimate, sweet pastimes. Specifically, in the opinion of Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, their love of God matured into the ecstasy of madness in pure love ( bhāvonmada ), just as the gopīs’ love did when Kṛṣṇa disappeared from their midst during the rāsa dance. At that time the gopīs experienced the full development of ecstatic madness, which they expressed in their inquiries from the various creatures of the forest and in such words as kṛṣṇo ’haṁ paśyata gatim: “I am Kṛṣṇa! Just see how gracefully I move!” ( Bhāg. 10.30.19 ) Similarly, the vilāsa, or flourishing transformation, of the ecstatic love of Lord Dvārakādhīśa’s principal queens has produced the prema-vaicitrya symptoms they have exhibited here.
"What goal did these women, possessing such love, for Krsna attain?" This verse answers. (It seems that in visvanatha’s version the last words are vaisnavim gatim, rather than paramam gatim, and thus his comments are upon the words vaisnavim gatim. ) They attained what is to be obtained by the vaisnavas, prema bhakti (vaisnavim gatim). But for those queens, who were beyond the material influence, purely spiritual entities, the most beloved eternal consorts of the Lord, endowed with sat cid ananda bodies, who relished the sweetness of the Lord rather than the taste of living in impersonal Brahman, the attainment could only be more intense prema, since it was impossible for them to attain liberation or any other such goal. Or "vaisnavi" can also mean "of visnu or of Krsna". Therefore vaisnavim gatim means that they attained the position (gatim) of Krsna, a state of oneness with Krsna, caused by the climax of madness in prema. The gopis of Vraja, after asking various questions when Krsna disappeared during the rasa dance, attained a state of identification with Krsna with the increase o their madness, thinking "I am Krsna. See my movements. Sb 10.30.19" In the same way, the queens, after asking questions to the osprey and others, attained that state of oneness. Attaining this state of oneness with Krsna and the prema vaicitrya exhibited by the queens is manifested at the stage of anuraga. This stage of anuraga attained by the queens is explained in the Ujjvala Nilamani.
Śukadeva now explains the greatness of the queens having such prema. By such mutual love as described, enacted for Svayam Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa, the most rare to attain (yogeśvareśvare), the wives of Kṛṣṇa born in the Madhu dynasty attained the condition of Kṛṣṇa who spreads everywhere as Svayam Bhagavān (vaiṣṇavīm gatim). They become like him. Or, just as he is all pervading thay also become all pervading. Instead of vaiṣṇavīm sometimes paramām is seen. They attained a purely spiritual condition. The form kriyamānena (present) indicates that some of the queens after the defeat of Arjuna by the thieves (after Kṛṣṇa’s disappearance) had some obstacles, and attained another condition—in the material world (where they continued to serve). It is suitable that they attained the goal since it has been shown that they were the Lord’s svarūpa-śakti in relation to their marriage with him.
Śukadeva now explains the greatness of the queens having such prema, by which they controlled the Lord (iti). In the manner stated, by a similar bhāva, they attained the goal. This indicates the greatness of that bhāva. This love was directed to Kṛṣna, who attracts all hearts. But it is difficult to attain for others, since he is the Lord of all masters of yoga. With effort they can attain something, serving in the mind. And by his special śakti (yoga) he was able to enjoy with each one of the queens at the same time. This bhāva was continuous, not ever bringing full satisfaction (kriyamānena). They were the wives of he appeared in the Madhu dynasty (mādhavyaḥ). They attained a condition similar to his (gatim). Or they attained the state of highest pastimes. Each of them directly realized “Controlled by his devotee, he is enjoying with me alone at all times, in all ways. He never separates from me at any time for any reason.”
- Where do I limit my devotion to 'reasonable' rather than ecstatic?
- What in me fears the loss of composure that ecstatic love would require?
Śukadeva calmly closes the song: the queens' madness was the highest reason. By speaking and feeling this way they reached the param gati — the same supreme destination austerities cannot guarantee. Vipralambha is itself a path; the queens' tears are the praxis.
Rūpa Gosvāmī's plays — Vidagdha-mādhava, Lalita-mādhava — exist precisely to systematize the rasa of these viraha-songs. He categorized the gopīs' and queens' utterances, their bhāvas, their physical signs, and demonstrated that vipralambha-rasa carries the devotee to the goal more swiftly than sambhoga-rasa.
SB 90.25 is the verse Rūpa Gosvāmī's whole science rests on: 'by such feeling they attained the supreme destination.' Gauḍīya practice — rāgānugā-sādhana in the mood of separation — is the lived inheritance of this verse.
My note
Source: vedabase.io