The cowherd boys jokingly implied that since Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the subduer of all bad things, the Lord should subdue their hunger by arranging for them to eat. In this statement by the cowherd boys, we observe the intimate loving friendship they enjoyed with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Lord Kṛṣṇa encouraged His boyfriends to request charity without being embarrassed. In case the boys felt they had no right to personally approach such respectable brāhmaṇas, the Lord told them to mention the names of Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa, the holy names of God.

The term bhūmi-devāḥ, “gods on earth,” refers here to the brāhmaṇas, who are supposed to closely represent the will of the Supreme Lord. The philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not a primitive polytheistic doctrine holding that human beings on the earth are gods. Rather, it is a science that traces the descent of authority from the Absolute Truth Himself, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The authority and power of God naturally extend along with the extension of His creation, and on the earth the Lord’s will and authority are represented by purified, enlightened men called brāhmaṇas.

This account will illustrate that the ritualistic brāhmaṇas approached by the cowherd boys were not at all properly enlightened and thus could not appreciate the position of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma or that of Their intimate associates. In fact, this pastime exposes the pretentious position of so-called brāhmaṇas who are not faithful devotees of the Supreme Lord.

The cowherd boys doubted the generosity of the brāhmaṇas, and thus they used the word bubhukṣitau, meaning that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma were hungry. The boys expected the brāhmaṇas to know the Vedic injunction annasya kṣuditaṁ pātram: “Anyone who is hungry is a fit candidate for receiving food in charity.” But if the brāhmaṇas would not recognize the authority of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, their title dvija would be taken to mean merely “born from two parents” (dvi — from two, ja — born) rather than “twice-born.” When the brāhmaṇas did not respond to the cowherd boys’ initial request, the boys addressed the brāhmaṇas, with a slight trace of sarcasm, as dharma-vit-tamāḥ, “O best of the knowers of religion.”

The cowherd boys anticipated the possible objection from the brāhmaṇas that they couldn’t give the boys any food because they themselves had not yet eaten, and that a priest initiated to perform a sacrifice should not eat. Therefore the boys humbly informed the brāhmaṇas about various technicalities of ritualistic sacrifice. The cowherd boys were not unaware of the formalities of Vedic culture, but their real intention was simply to render loving service to Lord Kṛṣṇa.

These childish brāhmaṇas were full of petty desires, such as the desire to attain to material heaven, and therefore they could not recognize the golden transcendental opportunity offered them by the arrival of Kṛṣṇa’s personal boyfriends. Presently, throughout the world, people are madly pursuing material advancement and thus cannot hear the message of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa that is being broadcast through the missionary activities of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Times have hardly changed, and proud, materialistic priests are still prevalent on the earth.

The ritualistic brāhmaṇas could not understand why the sacrificial food should be offered to Lord Kṛṣṇa, whom they considered an ordinary human being. Just as a person with rose-colored glasses sees the entire world as rose-colored, a conditioned soul with mundane vision sees even God Himself as mundane and thus loses the opportunity to go back home, back to Godhead.

By laughing, Lord Kṛṣṇa indicated to the cowherd boys that they need not be angry at the ritualistic brāhmaṇas but should understand that one who begs will often be refused.

While physically the wives of the brāhmaṇas remained at home, within their minds they resided in the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa because of intense affection for Him. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains that the reason Lord Kṛṣṇa did not have the cowherd boys tell the brāhmaṇas’ wives He was hungry is that He knew this would severely distress these devoted ladies. Simply out of affection for Lord Kṛṣṇa, however, the wives would be happy to give all the food requested of them. They would not heed their husbands’ prohibitions, since they resided within the Lord through their transcendental intelligence.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains that the wives of the brāhmaṇas experienced conjugal feelings toward Kṛṣṇa, as if He were their paramour; thus they could not be checked as they rushed to see Him.

Just as Śrī Kṛṣṇa welcomed the gopīs who came to dance with Him at night, He similarly welcomed the brāhmaṇas’ wives, whose pure love for Him was proved by their overcoming many hindrances to see the Lord. The word upapannam indicates that although these ladies had rejected their husbands’ orders, their behavior was not at all inappropriate, since their husbands had obviously tried to obstruct their loving service to Lord Kṛṣṇa.

The Supreme Lord informed the brāhmaṇas’ wives that not only they but all people who recognize their true self-interest take to the spiritual process of loving service to the Lord. Lord Kṛṣṇa is ātma-priya, the real object of love for everyone. Although each individual has his own taste and freedom, ultimately every living being is a spiritual spark of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; thus everyone’s primary loving attraction is constitutionally meant for Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Loving service to the Lord should be ahaitukī, without personal motive, and avyavahitā, unobstructed by mental speculation, selfish desire or any quirk of time and circumstance.

The word yat-samparkāt in this verse refers to contact with the individual self and ultimately with the Supreme Self, the Lord, who is the origin of the individual living being. By developing Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one automatically becomes self-realized, and thus one’s vital strength, intelligence, mind, relatives, body, family and wealth all become enhanced and brilliant by the central influence of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This happens because Kṛṣṇa consciousness is the optimum efficient conjunction of the individual self, who is pure consciousness, with the Supreme Self and supreme consciousness, Kṛṣṇa.

Here the brāhmaṇas’ wives are saying something similar to what the gopīs say at the beginning of the rāsa dance (Bhāg. 10.29.31), when Lord Kṛṣṇa tells them to go home as well. Like this verse, the gopīs’ statement begins with the words maivaṁ vibho ’rhati bhavān gadituṁ nṛ-śaṁsam.

Nigama refers to the Vedic literature, which states that one who surrenders at the lotus feet of the Lord does not return to this material world. Thus the brāhmaṇas’ wives appealed to the Lord that since they had surrendered to Him, it was unfair for Him to order them to return to their materialistic husbands.

According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, Lord Kṛṣṇa might have pointed out to the brāhmaṇas’ wives, “You young ladies are members of the aristocratic brāhmaṇa community, so how can you surrender at the feet of a mere cowherd boy?”

To this the ladies might have replied, “Since we have already surrendered at Your lotus feet, and since we desire to become Your servants, we are obviously not maintaining a false identification as members of the so-called brāhmaṇa community. You can easily ascertain this from our words.”

Lord Kṛṣṇa might have replied, “I am a cowherd boy, and My proper maidservants and girlfriends are the cowherd girls, the gopīs.”

The wives might have answered, “True, let them be so. Let them shine forth if You are embarrassed in front of Your relatives to make brāhmaṇa ladies Your maidservants. We certainly don’t want to embarrass You. We will not go to Your village but will rather remain in Vṛndāvana, like presiding deities of the forest. We simply desire to perfect our lives by even a slight trace of connection with You.”

Thus by the spiritual insight of Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, we learn that the brāhmaṇas’ wives offered to remain at a distance and simply take the tulasī leaves that would fall from the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa or be crushed by the feet of His girlfriends when He would embrace them.

The ladies offered to carry these tulasī leaves upon their heads. Thus renouncing the desire to become Kṛṣṇa’s intimate girlfriends or maidservants (a position they knew was difficult to achieve), the young brāhmaṇa ladies begged to remain in Vṛndāvana forest. If the Lord had then asked “Then what will your family members say?” they would have replied “We have already transcended our so-called relatives because we are seeing You, the Supreme Lord, face to face.”

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura comments as follows: “From their very youth the brāhmaṇas’ wives had heard about Lord Kṛṣṇa’s beauty, qualities and sweetness from the womenfolk of Vṛndāvana village, and also from the flower ladies, the betel-nut sellers and others. Consequently they always felt ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa and were indifferent to their household duties. Their husbands, seeing them as deviant, doubted them and avoided dealing with them as far as possible. Now the wives of the brāhmaṇas were ready to formally reject their so-called families and neighbors, and out of great agitation they were crying and placing their heads upon Lord Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet, offering obeisances. In this way, with choking voices, they spoke the above verse. They begged that Lord Kṛṣṇa bestow upon them the benediction that He be their only destination, that He, the chastiser of enemies, subdue all their enemies — those difficulties obstructing them from attaining the Lord.”

The wives of the brāhmaṇas simply wanted to serve Lord Kṛṣṇa, and this is pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness in ecstatic love of Godhead.

The Lord pointed out that people in general would not appreciate a loving affair between Lord Kṛṣṇa, who superficially was appearing as a cowherd boy, and the wives from the brāhmaṇa community. Also, the brāhmaṇa ladies’ own devotion and love would increase most efficiently in separation. In other words, it would be best all around if they continued to fix their minds on Lord Kṛṣṇa and thus went on with the process they had been practicing throughout their lives. The Lord and His bona fide representative, the spiritual master, expertly engage the Lord’s devotees in different types of service so that all of them can quickly return to His lotus feet.

The wives of the brāhmaṇas obeyed Lord Kṛṣṇa’s order and returned to the sacrificial arena of their husbands, whereas the gopīs, although ordered by Kṛṣṇa to go home, remained in the forest to dance with Him through the full-moon night. Both the gopīs and the brāhmaṇas’ wives achieved pure love of Godhead.

The lady described here was especially devoted to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Upon giving up her material body, she immediately attained a spiritual body and left the sacrificial arena to join the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Balarāma did not try to deceive the brāhmaṇas: They straightforwardly requested food from them. Rather, the brāhmaṇas deceived themselves, as indicated by the Sanskrit word nṛ-viḍambayoḥ, which means that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma are bewildering for an ordinary human being who considers Them also to be human. Still, because the wives of the brāhmaṇas were great devotees of the Lord, the foolish brāhmaṇas received spiritual benefit and finally came to their senses.

As explained in the definitions above, the words tri-vṛḍ janma, or “threefold birth,” refer to 1) physical birth, 2) brahminical initiation and 3) initiation into the performance of Vedic sacrifice. Everything is useless if one is ignorant of the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Superficially, the husbands, fathers, fathers-in-law and so on were the ladies’ gurus, or teachers. Yet the women had become perfect in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whereas the men had fallen into the darkness of ignorance.

According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, upon returning home the ladies showed transcendental ecstatic symptoms, such as trembling of the body, shedding of tears, standing of the bodily hairs on end, discoloration of the complexion, crying out “O pleasure of my life, O Kṛṣṇa!” with faltering words, and so forth.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī goes on to state that while one may object that it is not fitting for a woman to love anyone other than her husband, here the husbands themselves point out that they are gurus only in imitation of the Supreme Lord, who is jagad-guru, the universal teacher and spiritual master. The husbands noted that the women, having perfected their transcendental attachment for Kṛṣṇa, did not have even a trace of attachment left for home, husband, children and so forth. Therefore from that day on the husbands accepted those ladies as their worshipable spiritual masters and no longer thought of them as their wives or property.

According to Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī, the husbands were not aware that their wives had occasionally associated with residents of Vṛndāvana, such as the flower ladies, and had heard about the beauty and qualities of Kṛṣṇa. The brāhmaṇas were astonished at their wives’ loving devotion for Lord Kṛṣṇa, not realizing that this devotion had developed as a result of hearing and chanting about the Lord in the association of His pure devotees.

Although Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Absolute Truth, He humbly sent His cowherd boyfriends to beg food from the brāhmaṇas. In so doing, He exposed the brāhmaṇas’ foolish arrogance and established the glories of His own transcendental beauty by attracting their very wives to surrender at His lotus feet.

The supreme master of the goddess of fortune herself obviously does not have to beg for food, as pointed out here by the brāhmaṇas, who are finally manifesting real spiritual intelligence.

Realizing their offense against Lord Kṛṣṇa, and finally appreciating His almighty position, the brāhmaṇas naturally wanted to rush to Vraja and surrender at the lotus feet of the Lord. But they were afraid that Kaṁsa would certainly kill them when his spies reported that they had gone to Kṛṣṇa. The brāhmaṇas’ wives were absorbed in ecstatic Kṛṣṇa consciousness and thus went to Kṛṣṇa anyway, just as the gopīs, simply to dance with the Lord, traveled in the dead of night through a forest inhabited by wild animals. But the brāhmaṇas were not on such an advanced platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness and thus, overcome by fear of Kaṁsa, could not see the Lord face to face.