Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura explains this verse as follows: "During Lord Krishna's pastime of lifting Sri 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 Krishna lift Govardhana Hill, and we remember how He killed Putana 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 brahmanas or because of Nanda Maharaja's great fortune, or that perhaps this boy had achieved the mercy of Lord Narayana 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. Krishna is not a human being. He must be the Supreme Lord Himself.

" 'But on the other hand, child Krishna 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 Maharaja, and he shall free us from our doubts.' "

According to Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, the cowherd men thus made up their minds, and then they entered Nanda Maharaja's great assembly hall and questioned him as described in the following verse.