Text 20
priya-sakha punar āgāḥ preyasā preṣitaḥ kiṁ
varaya kim anurundhe mānanīyo ’si me ’ṅga
nayasi katham ihāsmān dustyaja-dvandva-pārśvaṁ
satatam urasi saumya śrīr vadhūḥ sākam āste
priya — of My beloved; sakha — O friend; punaḥ — once again; āgāḥ — you have come; preyasā — by My beloved; preṣitaḥ — sent; kim — whether; varaya — please choose; kim — what; anurundhe — do you wish; mānanīyaḥ — to be honored; asi — you are; me — by Me; aṅga — My dear one; nayasi — you are bringing; katham — why; iha — here; asmān — us; dustyaja — impossible to give up; dvandva — conjugal connection with whom; pārśvam — to the side; satatam — always; urasi — on the chest; saumya — O gentle one; śrīḥ — the goddess of fortune; vadhūḥ — His consort; sākam — together with Him; āste — 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, Śrīla Prabhupāda explains the context of this verse: “While Rādhārāṇī 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.’ Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī was very careful this time not to say anything against Kṛṣṇa.”
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains that the goddess of fortune, Śrī, 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 Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, this statement of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s expresses pratijalpa, as described by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī:
dustyaja-dvandva-bhāve ’smin
prāptir nārhety anuddhatam
dūta-sammānanenoktaṁ
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 Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī has given up Her harsh feelings and humbly acknowledges the greatness of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.