Devanagari
प्रियसख पुनरागा: प्रेयसा प्रेषित: किं
वरय किमनुरुन्धे माननीयोऽसि मेऽङ्ग ।
नयसि कथमिहास्मान् दुस्त्यजद्वन्द्वपार्श्वं
सततमुरसि सौम्य श्रीर्वधू: साकमास्ते ॥ २० ॥
Verse text
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
Synonyms
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 .
Translation
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.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
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.
KB 10.47.20
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. “My dear friend, I welcome you,” She said. “Kṛṣṇa is so kind that He has again sent you. Kṛṣṇa is so kind and affectionate to Me that He has fortunately sent you back, in spite of your carrying My message against Him. All good fortune to you, My dear friend. Now you may ask from Me whatever you want. I shall give you anything because you are so kind to Me. You have come to take Me to Kṛṣṇa because He is not able to come here, being surrounded by new girlfriends in Mathurā. But you are a tiny creature. How can you take Me there? How will you be able to help Me meet Kṛṣṇa while He is taking rest there with the goddess of fortune and embracing her to His chest? Never mind. Let us forget all these things about My going there or sending you.
Purport
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.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Though the bee was buzzing around that place, Radha out of the madness of prema, could not find him. Not seeing him for a moment, she began to consider. "Because of my sharp words, that messenger, being afflicted, has gone off to Mathura, and must have told everything to Krsna. Now he has become indifferent to me."
Considering this Rahda gave up her quarrelsome mood, and staring at the path said, "Perhaps my beloved, the ocean of love, and crown of good qualities, will again send his messenger here."
Suddenly seeing him, she said respectfully, "O friend of the dearmost of my life! Though wounded by the arrows of my words, by your own good qualities, you have forgotten my offenses and returned here. Can I understand that my dearmost, has sent you here again, not considering my thousands of offenses? If that is so, then you should pray for one boon from me. What do you desire? I will fulfill your request. O bee, if you say, 'I want you to go to Mathura' then I will answer, 'Yes, I will go to Mathura.'
After saying that she thought, "If I see my beloved surrounded by other women in Mathura, I will get uncontrollable jealously." So she said, "Why are you taking me to Krsna, who cannot give up loving affairs?"
"I swear that he is alone in Mathura."
"O one of pure intelligence! Laksmi is by his side. Not only that, she is constantly there. Not only that, she is on his chest, taking shelter of the Lord."
As Laksmi has the power to take many forms, when Krsna enjoys with other women, Laksmi sits on his chest as a golden line. But when other women are not present, she gives up the form as a golden line and and taking the form of a young woman, enjoys with him.
Although she respects the bee in this verse, after acceptings the bee’s statements, she rejects them after showing how they are inappropriate. This is an example of prati jalpa.
The qualities of prati jalpa are explained in the ujjvala nila mani. "Humble statements expressing respect for the messenger, but with refusal to meet Krsna because of his relationships with other women is called pratijalpa."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
The bee went some distance away, since that is its nature, or it left for some other place. Or from either unmāda or fainting she did not search out the bee. Or, not seeing the bee for a moment, she suddenly developed the mood of the kalahāntaritā (a woman in separation), fearing that Kṛṣṇa would disregard her, because of the nature of longing in prema. Or the bee returned, or another bee came, or she searched and found the bee. In joy she speaks to the bee in two verses. In the first verse she praises the bee in the first half. O pleasing friend! She says this because the bee is engaged in helping her. Have you been sent by my lover? She expresses great joy. What do you desire (anurundhe)? As previously the ending is ungrammatical. The verb should be anurundtse. Or I desire something. I desire that you go to Mathurā. Then in the second half of the verse she speaks mildly, reasonably and pitifully. By what method will you take us to the side of your friend, who is now having relationships with the women of Mathurā (dvandva), who are so unlike us? Those relationships will be hard for him to give up. But if you go there, the women will criticize you. They are certainly of low character. Lakṣmī has gone from here to Mathurā with him. She is keeping him there for her pleasure. She speaks of Lakṣmī with hatred. She resides on his chest with great happiness (sākam). She refers to the golden line on his chest. The expression is similar to the following:
gopyaḥ kim ācarad ayaṁ kuśalaṁ sma veṇur
dāmodarādhara-sudhām api gopikānām
My dear gopīs! What auspicious activities must the flute have performed to enjoy the nectar of Dāmodara’s lips independently and leave only a taste for us gopīs, for whom that nectar is actually meant! SB 10.21.9
Her statement indicates her opposite intention. This shows her boldness. She shows malice and envy.
Though she is constantly there with him, because he respects only prema, which is the very nature of Vraja, he does not respect her in the same way. He respects her greatly there because of the presence of a wealth of the four goals of human life. How can we go there? Therefore, bring him here. This expresses hatred, envy and desire.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Recovering after a short time, she saw the bee return. Also Uddhava quickly went to get some water (to help her recover from fainting) and she saw him return. O dear friend! The bee was dear because it had returned. She thought that Kṛṣṇa had sent the bee back. Separation is difficult. Thus Lakṣmī stays on his chest constantly. O peaceful bee! You should not be friends with him (who is not peaceful).
Or though the bee was present, in madness she thought the bee had gone. When her mood changed, she thought the bee had returned. In lamentation she utters this verse. Have you returned, sent by him? Since we are very proud, your desire was not fulfilled. Let that be. It is said that the words of a truthful messenger should never be ignored. Thus I must respect you (māninīyaḥ). I will do as you want. “I request that you come to Mathurā.” O bee, beautiful to behold like the moon (saumya)! You are nice to see but have no intelligence! Will you take us to Mathurā? He is always with the women from whom he cannot separate. Our going there is useless. This is a statement of hatred. “When you come, he will give them up.” Lakṣmī is famous for being is eternal favourite. He remains there happily (kam) with her (sā) on his chest, dominating him. This is uttered with envy.