Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains this verse as follows: “During Lord Kṛṣṇa’s pastime of lifting Śrī Govardhana Hill, the cowherd men simply enjoyed the spiritual bliss of the Lord’s activities without analyzing them. But afterwards, when they had returned to their homes, perplexity arose within their hearts. Thus they thought, ‘Now we have directly seen child Kṛṣṇa lift Govardhana Hill, and we remember how He killed Pūtanā and other demons, extinguished the forest fire, and so on. At the time, we thought that these extraordinary acts occurred because of a benediction from the brāhmaṇas or because of Nanda Mahārāja’s great fortune, or that perhaps this boy had achieved the mercy of Lord Nārāyaṇa and was thus empowered by Him.

“‘But all these presumptions are false, because an ordinary seven-year old boy could never hold up the king of mountains for seven whole days. Kṛṣṇa is not a human being. He must be the Supreme Lord Himself.

“‘But on the other hand, child Kṛṣṇa loves it when we coddle Him, and He becomes morose when we — His uncles and well-wishers, simply worldly cowherd men — do not give Him attention. He appears to become hungry and thirsty, steals yogurt and milk, sometimes plays tricks, tells lies, chatters childishly and tends the calves. If He is actually the Supreme Lord, why would He do these things? Don’t they indicate that He is an ordinary human child?

“‘We are totally unable to establish the truth of His identity. Therefore let us go and inquire from the highly intelligent King of Vraja, Nanda Mahārāja, and he shall free us from our doubts.’”

According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, the cowherd men thus made up their minds, and then they entered Nanda Mahārāja’s great assembly hall and questioned him as described in the following verse.

An ordinary living being cannot avoid unpleasant circumstances, but the supreme controller can always make perfect arrangements for His pleasure.

The word vayaḥ in this verse indicates youth or life span in general. With irresistible power, time takes away our life, and that time is actually Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself. Thus in the case of the powerful witch Pūtanā, Lord Kṛṣṇa accelerated the time process and within an instant withdrew the duration of her life. Here the cowherd men mean to say, “How could a mere infant who could barely open His eyes so easily kill a very powerful demoness?”

The cowherd men, who loved Kṛṣṇa as an ordinary child, were astonished by all these activities. A newborn infant cannot ordinarily kill a powerful witch, and one would hardly think that a one-year-old baby could kill a demon who has kidnapped him and carried him up into the sky. But Kṛṣṇa did all of these wonderful things, and the cowherd men were enhancing their love for Him by remembering and discussing His activities.

The two arjuna trees were old and thick, and they towered above little Kṛṣṇa’s courtyard. Nevertheless, they were pulled down quite easily by the naughty child.

Long, long ago, the powerful demons Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyākṣa were born of the goddess Diti. Therefore demons are commonly called daiteyas or daityas, meaning “descendants of Diti.” Dhenukāsura, the ass demon, terrorized the Tāla forest with his friends, but Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Śrī Balarāma killed them just as modern governments kill terrorists who harass innocent people.

The very word kṛṣṇa means “the all-attractive one.” The residents of Vṛndāvana could not give up their constant love (anurāga) for Lord Kṛṣṇa. Their attitude toward Him was not particularly theistic, because they were unsure whether He was God or not. But He attracted all their love precisely because as God He is the all-attractive person, the supreme object of our love.

The cowherd men also asked, “How is it that young Kṛṣṇa feels such constant love for us?” In fact the Supreme Lord loves all living beings, who are eternally His children. At the end of the Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Kṛṣṇa dramatically declares His affection for Arjuna and urges Arjuna to reciprocate that love by surrendering to Him. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in His prayers to Lord Kṛṣṇa, states, etādṛśī tava kṛpā bhagavan mamāpi durdaivam īdṛśam ihājani nānurāgaḥ: “My Lord, You are so merciful toward Me, but I am so unfortunate that love for You has not awakened within Me.” (Śikṣāṣṭaka 2) In this statement Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu also uses the word anurāga. Our misfortune is that we cannot reciprocate the anurāga, or loving affection, that the Lord feels for us. Although we are infinitesimal and insignificant and the Lord is infinitely attractive, somehow we do not give Him our love. We must accept responsibility for this foolish decision, since to surrender to God or not is the essential expression of our free will.

The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement provides an efficient, systematic program to help conditioned souls revive their original, blissful consciousness, which is love of God, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The intricacies of Kṛṣṇa consciousness are so wonderful that even Kṛṣṇa’s eternal associates, the residents of Vṛndāvana, are astonished by them, as shown by these verses.

Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī comments, “The words previously heard from Gargācārya awakened Nanda Mahārāja to the truth about Kṛṣṇa, and thus, by Nanda’s constantly remembering His activities, all thoughts about their being impossible ceased in him. Now he is instructing the cowherd men with these same words.”

This and the next six verses (17 through 22) are taken from the eighth chapter of this canto, in which Garga Muni instructs Nanda Mahārāja about Nanda’s son Kṛṣṇa. The translations found herein for these verses are based on those of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda. In Chapter Eight, where the verses originally appear, the reader will find extensive purports by Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Śrīla Prabhupāda has especially indicated in this connection that just as Lord Kṛṣṇa’s associates could not be defeated by Kaṁsa, so His modern-day devotees will not be defeated by their demoniac opponents, nor will the Lord’s devotees be defeated by the internal enemies — the lusty, materialistic senses.

Nanda here reports to the cowherd men the concluding remarks of Garga Muni, who spoke at the secret birth ceremony of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī explains that in this verse the word ānarcuḥ indicates that the residents of Vṛndāvana honored Nanda and Kṛṣṇa with such offerings as fragrances, garlands and garments brought from their homes. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura adds that the residents of Vṛndāvana honored Nanda and Kṛṣṇa with loving offerings of jewels and gold coins. Apparently, Lord Kṛṣṇa was playing in the forest when this conversation took place, so when He returned home the residents of Vṛndāvana encouraged Him by decorating Him with beautiful yellow garments, necklaces, armlets, earrings and crowns, and by shouting, “All glories, all glories to the jewel of Vṛndāvana!”

The word indra means “lord” or “king.” Thus in this verse Kṛṣṇa is pointedly called indro gavām, “the Lord of the cows.” In fact, He is the real Indra, the real ruler, of everyone, and the demigods are merely His servants, representing His supreme will.

It is apparent from this and the previous verses in this chapter that Lord Kṛṣṇa’s lifting of Govardhana Hill made quite an impression on the simple cowherd men of Vṛndāvana, and they repeatedly remembered this feat. Certainly anyone who soberly and objectively considers the activities of young Kṛṣṇa will surrender to Him and become His eternal devotee in loving devotional service. That is the rational conclusion one should come to after reading this chapter.