VERSE 17:

VILĀSE VISMṚTYA SKHALITAM URU RAṄGAIR MAṆISARAṀ
DRUTAṀ BHĪTYĀGATYA PRIYATAMA SAKHĪ SAṀSADI HRIYĀ
TAM ĀNETUṀ SMITVĀ TAD AVIDITA NETRĀNTA NAṬANAIḤ
KADĀ ŚRĪMAN NĀTHĀ SVAJANAM ACIRĀT PRERAYATI MĀM

When, having forgotten the jewel necklace She dropped during Her pastimes, and suddenly arriving with fear and embarrassment in the assembly of Her dearmost girlfriends, will my beautiful mistress smile at me, her very own maidservant, and with dancing sidelong glances, send me back to the kuñja where She had left it?

Stavāmṛta Kaṇā Vyākhyā:

How vivid are Śrī Raghunātha’s visions! This is not a sphūrti (transcendental vision), it is a visphūrti – an imagination of a direct meeting with the deity. At that time here is no way to understand that it is a sphūraṇa instead of a direct meeting. When the sphūrti ends, then there is only its experience. How much he suffers then! In this way the heart of a loving devotee is tossed around on the waves of meeting and separation in the ocean of prema.  Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī can describe the sweetness of Rādhā and Mādhava’s pastimes because he has directly experienced them. These descriptions could never have been so sweet and relishable if he had not been such a realized soul. He is the Ṛṣi who has directly experienced the sweetness of the Divine Couple, and thus he is a genuine poet. Without being a Ṛṣi, or sage, one cannot be a genuine poet. A poet is known as someone who is expert in making descriptions and who is realized in bhāva and rasa.

In his Kāvyānuśāsana, Śrī Hemacandra quotes Bhaṭṭa Tauta, writing:

nānṛṣiḥ kavir ityuktam ṛṣiś ca kila darśanāt
vicitrābhāva dharmāṁś ca tattva prekṣā ca darśanam
sa tattva darśanād eva śāstreṣu paṭhitaḥ kaviḥ
darśanād varṇanāc cātha rūḍhā loke kavi śrutiḥ
tathāhi darśane svacche nito’pyādi kaver muneḥ
noditā kavitā loke yāvaj jātā na varṇanā

    “He who is not a Ṛṣi is also not a poet. A person who can see the wonderful bhāvas and the principles of rasa is a Ṛṣi, that is why he is called a poet in the scriptures. He who can see and describe this is famous in the world as a poet. The Ādi Kavi, the original poet Vālmikī, had fully experienced rasa and bhāva in his pure heart, but he did not become known as a poet until he began to describe this rasa.”

The verbal root kavṛ indicates ‘describing’. Śrī Rūpa, Sanātana, Raghunātha dāsa and Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī are all transcendental rasa-poets. There is such an extraordinary power hidden in their poetry, that it can crystallize rasa in the hearts of the devotees who hear and chant it.
In the previous verse, Śrī Raghunātha, in his rādhā-kiṅkarī svarūpa, had spat on the fresh monsoon-cloud and the garland of lightning-strikes after seeing the sweet forms of Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava.

After that he had entered the kuñja and had seen that Rādhā and Madhava were sitting up in bed in a wakeful state. Then Śrī Rādhā, becoming afraid that Her sakhīs would make jokes about Her, joins them in another kuñja. When the sakhīs see the signs of having performed amorous pastimes on Śrīmatī’s limbs, they make intimate jokes about Her and a tidal wave of joking and laughter wells up.

Suddenly, Śrīmatī remembers that She has left Her jewel necklace behind in the kuñja, being carried away by the love-game.

Thinking: “If My friends find out, I’ll die of embarrassment!”, with Her sidelong glances She gives a hint to Her own devotee and playful companion Tulasī to go back to the kuñja and pick up the lost necklace there.

Tulasī then leaves the sakhī-assembly to collect the necklace on the pretext of going out to pick flowers. As she proceeds to the vilāsa kuñja, she sees that the jewel string has fallen on the battered bed of flowers. Picking up the jewel-string, Tulasī thinks to herself: “How will I now place this necklace back on Svāminī’s chest without being noticed by the sakhīs?” Then she remembers that she had told the sakhīs that she would go and pick some flowers, so she might as well do exactly that – string a garland of these flowers and hide the jewel necklace in it.

The rasika kiṅkarī is expert in her service in all respects, according to her own rasa. Returning to the sakhī-samāja (assembly of gopīs) she hangs the “flower”-garland (with the jewel string in it) around Śrīmatī’s neck right in front of all the sakhīs! No one but Śrīmatī Herself noticed this clever service of Tulasī. Being most satisfied with Tulasī, Svāminī showers her with endless showers of merciful glances.

Suddenly the vision subsides and Śrīpāda anxiously prays to Rūpa Mañjarī:

mad īśvarī śrī rādhikā vilāsa kālete; skhalita ye maṇi-mālā atīva raṅgete
vismṛta sei maṇihāra ānite punarbāra; lajjā-śīlā dāsī jñāne more āpanāra
alpa hāsya kori dhani netra-bhaṅgi dvārā; priyatama sakhīra sabhāya pāṭhābe ki tvarā

    “During Her pastimes with Kṛṣṇa the jewel necklace of My mistress Śrī Rādhikā falls off and She forgets to take it along when She leaves.
When She finds out that She forgot it, She shyly tells me to bring it back to Her, knowing me to be Her maidservant.
Will She quickly sends me back with a hint of Her eyes, while She slightly smiles in the assembly of Her dearest girlfriends?”