Study a Verse

• 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.”
• 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 purport's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.

Attraction and threat → Joy and trust. The pastoral world becomes the setting for protection and love.

Chapters 20–28 of Canto 10: Forest seasons, flute and Govardhana. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 23: The Brāhmaṇas’ Wives Blessed

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

When the cowherd boys became very hungry, they asked Śrī Kṛṣṇa about obtaining food, and He sent them to beg some from a group of brāhmaṇas who were performing a sacrifice nearby. But these brāhmaṇas ignored the boys, thinking Śrī Kṛṣṇa an ordinary human being.