In plain words
He is playing. In these dice there are elephants, horses, all of them. Then she said, it seems, 'Move the horse out of the way and save the elephant.' While He is thinking of saving His elephant, from here the elephant is praying, 'Come, Īśvara!' Here he must save this elephant. There he must save that elephant. He heard, and said, 'Elephant, I am coming; do not be anxious.' She said, 'You are putting on a show to get out of saving this elephant; save this elephant first, and then you can go and save the other elephant.' Her way was her own. His way was his own. He is getting up and going. Nārada Maharṣi is there as a witness, to see which of the two will win. He leaves the dice and runs off. 'What is this? He is going as if he had gone mad! How strange!' said Lakṣmī to Nārada. He said. He is going to save someone. When He goes to save, He takes neither the discus nor the conch. Lakṣmī, who had been playing so merrily, was utterly bewildered to see Viṣṇu going to protect His devotee. In one situation there is this fun, but when it comes to divinity, all this vanishes. There, there is only one wondrous, blissful principle. 'What am I to do now?' she asked Nārada. 'Go and ask him, mother,' he said. He described beautifully her going to ask Him.
Thinking, 'I will ask Him,' she hurries off at great speed; fearing that her husband, asked, will not answer, she stops right there; trembling, flustered and faltering, dazed, she takes no step, for all her asking.
Even if she asks, will her husband answer or not? In her haste even her hair came loose. The end of her sari slipped off. She was filled with fear, it seems. She could not set her foot down; she could not take a step. Then he said: the inner meaning is that, however great a devotee she may be, even His consort is so bewildered at the moment He goes to protect a devotee. Only in worldly matters are they husband and wife; the two who go to protect a devotee turn into divinity. She forgot herself. He forgot everything. When you want to attain divinity, it is enough to pray in anguish. Prayer is not merely from the lips. It must come from the heart. Once prayer comes from the heart, all at once it strikes God like a shock. Like lightning, it reaches Him in an instant. Sound takes time to arrive. The light of the stars takes time to reach the earth. But for God's grace to come there is no time.