Svāminī’s curly braid resembles a big dark cloud and Hari sits behind Her, slowly arranging that hair. Each hair is dearer to Him than millions of lives! He pours His whole life-airs into them! There is no limit to His ecstasy when He obtains the service of His beloved and His shivering hands are studded with goose pimples while He braids Her hair. Svāminī’s body is also studded with goose pimples when Hari touches Her.
Śyāma looks at Priyājī’s face from behind, over Her shoulders, afraid that She may feel pain, but Svāminī consoles Him with a blossoming smile, saying: “Why are You so worried? It didn’t hurt!”

When Nāgara-rāja hears that, He smiles.

After Kṛṣṇa has made Rādhikā’s braid, one sakhī comes with peacock feathers, slightly blooming flowers and guñjā-beads (shining red beads with black spots on them) which Śyāma uses to make Svāminī’s crown.

Also in Śrīmad Bhāgavata (10.30.34), there is a description of this prema vilāsa vivarta.

Śrī Śuka Muni said: tāni cūḍayatā kāntām: “Kṛṣṇa made a crown (like for Himself) for His beloved (Śrī Rādhikā)”.

Seeing Kṛṣṇa’s expertise in decorating Rādhikā, Tulasī is beside herself of ecstasy. It is as if ecstasy Himself appears before her eyes instead of in her mind. It is as if this ecstasy is not enjoyed within the mind, but within the eyes.

The practicing devotee who is fixed in smaraṇa must dive into this rasa also. The yearning for Rādhārāṇī’s devotional service does not awaken within an ordinary heart. It will awaken within the heart of someone who can give up everything in the world and who is not dependent on anything.

In the Bhagavad-Gītā Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna: bhaktimān me priyo naraḥ: “A person who is devoted is dear to Me.”
But to attain Rādhā’s service is even harder. Without total absorption it cannot be attained. The ācāryas have revealed how one can become dear to Rādhārāṇī.

Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī exclaims: tavaivāsmi tavaivāsmi na jīvāmi tvayā vinā – “I am Yours! I am Yours! I cannot live without You!”

We must experience some of this absorption also. We must expell the influence of māyā from the mind. The great words (mahā vāṇī) of the ācāryas will strengthen the weak devotees and will gradually bring them back on the path. Tulasī is absorbed in bliss when she sees Svāminī’s hair being done.

One transcendental pastime after the other appears before the eyes of Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, who is immersed in an ocean of rasika pastimes, giving him great joy. Then again, when these visions vanish he greatly laments and prays.

iyam avasthā khalu bhakta-janasya puruṣārtha-dātrī
(Śrīpāda Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa)

“Such a condition surely brings the highest goal of life to the devotee.”

When the worship of the all-sweet, all-ecstatic, all-loving and all-beautiful Lord becomes established within the heart the living entity obtains the relish of a complete bliss and thus become blessed. This is the great truth preached by the experienced loving devotees. When, by the Lord’s grace, the devotee gradually advances, his desires for personal happiness gradually subside and he will consider happiness, distress, good, bad, heaven, hell and liberation as useless as phantasmagorias. The desire for liberation must be counted amongst the different cheating propensities. Gradually the goddess of devotion Bhakti-devī will be established within the devotee’s heart, which will then be inundated by bhakti-rasa as he begins to yearn for rāgamayī sevā (devotional service with firm attachment to the deity).
Gradually the practicing devotee’s identification with his male body will vanish and he will start thinking of himself as a mañjarī, qualified for serving Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava. Thus the right demeanor will take place in his heart and he will become fixed in Vraja-bhajan. The whole scene of the material world will vanish from his eyes and he will start to perceive the eternally luscious, sweet and beautiful kingdom of God. There he will be blessed by floating and sinking in the ocean of all-sweet and all-beautiful Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s forms, qualities and pastimes, who are dearer to him than millions of lives in both meeting and separation. This is the highest fulfillment of the practicing devotee.

Lord Śrī Gaurasundara, who is the embodiment of blissful pastimes, love and deep taste, has preached this sweet kind of worship to the world and His dearmost associates Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī have shown the way to the people of the world by giving them the perfect example. It is most beneficial for a practicing devotee to hear and chant the stories of their worship and their love.

Śyāmasundara has finished decorating Svāminī’s hair. This is where Śrī Raghunātha’s vision (in the previous verse) ended. Now he perceives a new pastime of Śyāmasundara sitting behind Svāminī, trying to make Her hair nicely. How wonderful is His expertise in decorating the hair! The embodiment of erotic transcendental rasa engages Himself in the service of mahā bhāva.

Svāminī is most satisfied with Śyāmasundara’s expert arrangements and says: “How beautifully You have done My hair!”
She wonders: “How can I properly reward Him?” and then gives Him a sweet kiss. When He is kissed, our Hero then makes a mistake. He is out of His usual habit and forgets everything. The pastimes develop now in such a way, that Svāminī has to beat Him with Her play lotus like a teacher striking a pupil who has made some mistake.

She’s certainly a schoolmistress! Who can say in how many ways She can teach?

Śrīmatī eagerly comes to Śrī Rādhākuṇḍa to meet Kṛṣṇa (at noontime) and in the village of Kuñjerā (5 km north-west of Rādhākuṇḍa) She meets Her dearmost girlfriend Vṛndā.

kasmād vṛnde priya sakhi hareḥ pādamūlāt kuto’sau
kuṇḍāraṇye kim iha kurute nṛtya śikṣāṁ guru kaḥ
tam tvan mūrtiḥ prati taru latā dik vidikṣu sphurantī
śailusīva bhramati parito nartayantī sva pascāt
(Govinda Līlāmṛta 8,77)

“O Vṛnde, where have you come from?” Vṛndā replied: “From Hari’s foot soles”. Rādhā: “Where is He?” Vrndā: “In the forest by Your lake!” Rādhā: “What is He doing there?” Vṛndā: “He is learning how to dance.” Rādhā: “Who is His teacher?” Vṛndā: “Your very form, which is like a dancing girl whom He sees in each direction. He is simply wandering around, dancing behind You!”

Kṛṣṇa had His own experience:

rādhikāra prema -guru;
āmi śiṣya naṭa;
sadā āmā nānā nṛtye nācāya udbhaṭa
(C.C. Ādi 4, 124)

“Śrī Rādhikā’s love is the teacher and I am the dancing pupil. Thus She always makes Me dance in different ways.”

Kṛṣṇa has made a mistake in His play, for which He gets beaten by Rādhikā’s play lotus. Rasamaya Kṛṣṇa cannot even ascertain the value of this rasika beating! How much pleasure Her rebukes are giving Him!

priyā yadi māna kori koroye bhārtsana;
veda stuti hoite hare sei mora mana
(Caitanya Caritāmṛta Ādi 4, 26)

“When My beloved is angry with Me and chastises Me, that takes My mind away from the reverential hymns (to Me) of the Vedas!”

In that field, who can measure the ecstasy of this rasika chastisement in this pastime?

Śrī Kṛṣṇa dāsa Kavirāja’s honey-sweet statements are fully justified:

Kṛṣṇake korāya śyāma-rasa madhupāna;
nirantara pūrṇa kore kṛṣṇera sarva kāma
(C.C.)

“She makes Kṛṣṇa drink the honey-beverage named Śyāma-rasa (erotic flavours). Thus She always fulfills all of Kṛṣṇa’s desires!”

No one else than Śrī Rādhā is so expert in making Śrī Govinda, who is Himself the enchanter of millions of Cupids, relish the honey named Śyāma-rasa or śṛṅgāra rasa in so many ways. Śyāmasundara can simply not imagine how akhaṇḍa rasa vallabhā vārṣabhānavī (Śrī Rādhā, who is the complete rasika lady-love) serves Him by giving Him this indescribable rasa!

When Tulasī sees Svāminī striking Śyāma with Her līlā-kamala (play-lotus) she giggles, covering her mouth with her veil, and her accompanying mañjarīs laugh with her. Where our hero has failed and why Svāminī is not satisfied, is indicated by this meaningful giggling and this brings our Hero back to His senses.

Tulasī means to say: “When Kṛṣṇa sees me giggling, He will understand His own fickleness and where He has failed.”

How meaningful this giggling is, is indicated by the words gūḍha hāsya, secret laughing, in the text.

The kiṅkarīs are the embodiments of devotional service. They don’t display any other activity than service.

The practicing devotees will become qualified to serve Rasamaya Śyāma and Rasamayī Svāminī by following in their footsteps.

ye sthāne ye līlā kore yugala kiśora;
sakhīra saṅgiṇī hoiyā tā’he hao bhora
(Prārthanā)

“Be absorbed in the pastimes of the Yugala Kiśora, living in Their abode as a companion of the sakhīs.”

The stream of Śrī Raghunātha’s vision flows on without interruption.

– From the tikas of Srila Ananta das Babaji and Srila Ananda Gopal Goswami to Sri Sri Vilapa Kusumanjali