Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.55.7-8
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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ratiḥ-nama
—
named Rati
Rati = 'attachment, delight, the relish of union.' She is the personified śakti of Kāma; Gauḍīya theology treats rati as the seed-stage of bhāva-bhakti (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu). The līlā here is the Lord's poetic insistence that even Rati-tattva belongs ultimately inside His pastime.
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nirdagdha-dehasya
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of him whose body was burnt to ashes
Compound: nir-dagdha (completely burnt) + dehasya (whose body). The pluperfect tense of the marriage: bodyless husband, embodied wife, waiting. A figure for every devotee separated from the Lord's manifest form — the body of the relation has been 'burnt,' the relation persists.
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pratīkṣatī
—
waiting, looking forward to
Present participle of prati-√īkṣ — 'looking-toward.' The whole bhakti-sādhana of viraha (separation) is contained in this participle. The bhakta does not 'cope' with the Lord's absence; she pratīkṣati — actively orients her seeing toward His return.
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sūda-odana-sādhane
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in the preparation of vegetables and rice
Compound: sūda (vegetable-cookery) + odana (boiled rice) + sādhane (in the work of). Honest kitchen work as the medium of pratīkṣā. Gauḍīyas read every act of cooking-for-the-Lord (Yaśodā, Rohiṇī, Mother Śacī) as sevā; here Rati's cooking is sevā for a Lord she has not yet seen reborn.
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kāma-devam
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as Kāmadeva
Compound: kāma (desire) + devam (the divine). Rati recognizes the deva-form, not merely the infant. Gauḍīya note: when the bhakta sees through Nārada's tattva, even an infant in a kitchen is identified as the deva He is.
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sneham
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love, affection
Sneha — literally 'wetness, oiliness,' the same root-family that names mother's milk flowing in Canto 10.9. Here the affection is conjugal-not-yet-known, mother-to-infant-on-the-surface: Rati must hold sneha in two registers at once until Pradyumna comes of age.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains this story as follows: When Cupid’s body was burned to ashes, Rati worshiped Lord Śiva to obtain another body for Cupid. Śambara, having also come to Śiva for a benediction, was recognized by the lord first, who told him, “You should now ask for your benediction.” Śambara, struck with lust at seeing Rati, replied that he wanted her as his benediction, and Śiva complied. Lord Śiva then consoled the sobbing Rati, telling her, “Go with him, and in his very home you will attain what you desire.” Thereupon, Rati bewildered Śambara with her deluding power and, taking the name Māyāvatī, remained in his house untouched.
Matsya Purana explains why Mayavati was waiting for Kamadeva to take a new body. When Kamadeva was burned to ashes by Siva, his wife Rati worshipped Siva so that he could get a new body. Sambara also came to Siva for some benediction. Pleasing Siva, Siva said to him first, "Please choose your boon." Sambara. seeing rati there, asked Siva for her. Siva comforted the weeping Rati by saying " Go with him, and your desire will be fulfilled." Rati then bewildered Sambara and remained in his house with the name Mayavati, without being touched by him.
There is story in Matsya Purāṇa. When her husband was burned to ashes by Śiva, Rati worshipped Śiva for a long time so that her husband would get another body. Śambara also was worshipping Śiva for a different benediction. On seeing Rati, he asked Śiva for her as a result of his worship. Śiva said to Rati, “Go with him. There you will attain your desire.” She was renowned (yaśasvinī), since she prepared vegetables in his house in order to attain her husband. Nārada speaks to Rukmiṇī in Viṣṇu Purāṇa: iyaṁ māyāvatī bhāryā tanayasyāsya te satī / śaṁbarasya na bhāryeyaṁ śrūyatām atra kāraṇam // manmathe tu gate nāśaṁ tad udbhava-parayaṇā / śaṁbaraṁ mohayām āsa māyā-rūpeṇa rūpiṇī // vihārādy- upabhogeṣu rūpaṁ māyāmayaṁ śubham / darśayām āsa daityasya tasyeyaṁ madirekṣaṇā // This chaste Māyāvatī is the wife of your son. She is not the wife of Śambara. Please listen to the reason. When Kāma-deva was destroyed she desired that he appear again. She bewildered Śambara. By her illusory powers she became most beautiful. She showed the demon a beautiful form made of māyā for his enjoyment and recreation. Hari-vaṁśa tells a similar story. She became the chief cook for preparing rice and soups. Viṣṇu Purāṇa says kārayām āsa sudānāṁ ādhipatyam anindatā: she was made the chief cook and was not criticized. She began to act with affection for Pradyumna. Hari-vaṁśa says she gave him nurses. rasāyanopayogaiś ca śīghram eva vyavardhayat : he grew quickly by the use of special medicines. By the power of her illusions, Śambara could not understand that a child was present. Instead of tadā sometimes sadā is seen.
The word ca means “but.” This distinguishes her from Śambara. Vai means well known. She was well known as Cupid’s wife. Thus she was not the wife of Śambara. His ātmā was not burned but his body was burned up completely. Thus he still resides in everyone’s heart at all times. She waited from him to reappear, living in Śambara’s house. By the mercy of Nārada, or Śiva, or by the power of her knowledge as a devatā, she could understand. Since she was famous, she just cooked the soup and rice since these are always the most excellent part of the meal. Or these items indicate other items as well. She was qualified for cooking all things. Viṣṇu Purāṇa says kārayām āsa sudānāṁ ādhipatyam anindatā: she was made the chief cook and was not criticized. Though Parāśara says she was Śambara’s wife, it is understood that she had no intimate relations with him. Nārada speaks to Rukmiṇī in Viṣṇu Purāṇa: iyaṁ māyāvatī bhāryā tanayasyāsya te satī / śaṁbarasya na bhāryeyaṁ śrūyatām atra kāraṇam // manmathe tu gate nāśaṁ tad udbhava-parayaṇā / śaṁbaraṁ mohayām āsa māyā-rūpeṇa rūpiṇī // vihārādy- upabhogeṣu rūpaṁ māyāmayaṁ śubham / darśayām āsa daityasya tasyeyaṁ madirekṣaṇā // This chaste Māyāvatī is the wife of your son. She is not the wife of Śambara. Please listen to the reason. When Kāma-deva was destroyed she desired that he appear again. She bewildered Śambara. By her illusory powers she became most beautiful. She showed the demon a beautiful form made of māyā for his enjoyment and recreation. . Hari-vaṁśa says the same. She developed prema for the child. Hari-vaṁśa says she gave him nurses. rasāyanopayogaiś ca śīghram eva vyavardhayat : he grew quickly by the use of special medicines
Rati, husbandless since Śiva's third eye reduced Kāma to ashes, has waited in a demon's kitchen chopping vegetables — and now her husband is laid into her arms as an infant. The Lord's economy of separation and reunion is exact: years of widow's labor in an enemy's house resolve in a single bowl handed to her by cooks.
Purāṇic memory (collated across Śiva-Purāṇa and Matsya-Purāṇa): after Śiva incinerated Kāmadeva, Rati would not be consoled. She accepted Pārvatī's promise that her husband would return — bodied again at Kṛṣṇa's discretion — and waited in disguise, doing menial work in Śambara's palace until that day arrived.
Gauḍīya hearing: separation from one's Lord, even unjust separation, is to be borne by sevā — vegetables chopped, rice cooked. The wife of Kāma keeps house in an asura's kitchen because the day of reunion is fixed by Bhagavān, not by her circumstances.
My note
Source: vedabase.io