kṛṣṇasya yoga-vīryaḿ tad
yoga-māyānubhāvitam
dāvāgner ātmanaḥ kṣemaḿ
vīkṣya te menire 'maram
krishnasya -- of Lord Krishna; yoga-viryam -- the mystic power; tat -- that; yoga-maya -- by His internal power of illusion; anubhavitam -- effected; dava-agneh -- from the forest fire; atmanah -- of themselves; kshemam -- the deliverance; vikshya -- seeing; te -- they; menire -- thought; amaram -- a demigod.
When the cowherd boys saw that they had been saved from the forest fire by the Lord's mystic power, which is manifested by His internal potency, they began to think that Krishna must be a demigod.
The cowherd boys of Vrindavana simply loved Krishna as their only friend and exclusive object of devotion. To increase their ecstasy, Krishna displayed to them His mystic potency and saved them from a terrible forest fire.
The cowherd boys could never give up their ecstatic loving friendship with Krishna. Therefore, rather than considering Krishna to be God, after they saw His extraordinary power they thought that perhaps He was a demigod. But since Lord Krishna was their beloved friend, they were on the same level with Him, and thus they thought that they too must be demigods. In this way Krishna's cowherd friends became overwhelmed with ecstasy.
