priya-sakha punar ÄgÄḥ preyasÄ preá¹£itaḥ kiá¹
varaya kim anurundhe mÄnanÄ«yo 'si me 'á¹…ga
nayasi katham ihÄsmÄn dustyaja-dvandva-pÄrÅ›vaá¹
satatam urasi saumya Å›rÄ«r vadhūḥ sÄkam Äste
priya - of My beloved; sakha - O friend; punaḥ - once again; ÄgÄḥ - you have come; preyasÄ - by My beloved; preá¹£itaḥ - sent; kim - whether; varaya - please choose; kim - what; anurundhe - do you wish; mÄnanÄ«yaḥ - to be honored; asi - you are; me - by Me; aá¹…ga - My dear one; nayasi - you are bringing; katham - why; iha - here; asmÄn - us; dustyaja - impossible to give up; dvandva - conjugal connection with whom; pÄrÅ›vam - to the side; satatam - always; urasi - on the chest; saumya - O gentle one; Å›rīḥ - the goddess of fortune; vadhūḥ - His consort; sÄkam - together with Him; Äste - is present.
O friend of My dear one, has My beloved sent you here again? I should honor you, friend, so please choose whatever boon you wish. But why have you come back here to take us to Him, whose conjugal love is so difficult to give up? After all, gentle bee, His consort is the goddess Śrī, and she is always with Him, staying upon His chest.
In Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, ÅšrÄ«la PrabhupÄda explains the context of this verse: “While RÄdhÄrÄṇī was talking with the bee and the bee was flying hither and thither, it all of a sudden disappeared from Her sight. She was in full mourning due to separation from Kṛṣṇa and felt ecstasy by talking with the bee. But as soon as the bee disappeared, She became almost mad, thinking that the messenger-bee might have returned to Kṛṣṇa to inform Him all about Her talking against Him. ‘Kṛṣṇa must be very sorry to hear it,’ She thought. In this way She was overwhelmed by another type of ecstasy.
“In the meantime, the bee, flying hither and thither, appeared before Her again. She thought, ‘Kṛṣṇa is still kind to Me. In spite of the messenger’s carrying disruptive messages, He is so kind that He has again sent the bee to take Me to Him.’ ÅšrÄ«matÄ« RÄdhÄrÄṇī was very careful this time not to say anything against Kṛṣṇa.â€
ÅšrÄ«la ViÅ›vanÄtha CakravartÄ« explains that the goddess of fortune, ÅšrÄ«, has the power to assume many different forms. Thus when Kṛṣṇa enjoys other women, she stays on His chest in the form of a golden line. When He is not consorting with other women, she puts aside this form and gives Him pleasure in Her naturally beautiful form of a young woman.
According to ÅšrÄ«la ViÅ›vanÄtha CakravartÄ«, this statement of ÅšrÄ«matÄ« RÄdhÄrÄṇī’s expresses pratijalpa, as described by ÅšrÄ«la RÅ«pa GosvÄmÄ«:
dustyaja-dvandva-bhÄve ’smin
prÄptir nÄrhety anuddhatam
dÅ«ta-sammÄnanenoktaá¹
yatra sa pratijalpakaḥ
“When the lover humbly states that although she is unworthy of attaining her beloved she cannot give up hoping for a conjugal relationship with Him, such words, spoken with respect for her beloved’s message, are called pratijalpa.†(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 14.198)
Here ÅšrÄ«matÄ« RÄdhÄrÄṇī has given up Her harsh feelings and humbly acknowledges the greatness of ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa.
