Keeping in mind the glory of mercy that Krsna showed to the young gopis, Sukadeva now wanted to tell about the mercy krsna gave to the wives of the brahamanas to Pariksit. Atha here indicates at some other time, in the summer.

Having described the mercy given to the young girls, now Śukadeva begins to speak of mercy given to the wives of the brāhmaṇas performing sacrifice since there is similarity in the subject matter. The word atha indicates the beginning of another pastime. It was summer (whereas the Kātyāyanī vow was in the winter) since the hot summer sun is later described. He was with Balarāma, whereas on the day of stealing the gopīs’ garments, Balarāma was not present. He was surrounded by his friends. This is mentioned here because the boys play an important role in the following pastime. He is called the son of Devakī for the previous reason. He went far from Vraja. First he went to Kāmyavana with many hills. There he decorated himself with minerals. This will be described later. Then he went to the south of Vraja and came to the Yamunā in order to get drinking water for the cows who were thirsty because of the heat, in order to fetch lunch from Vraja, and in order to give mercy to the brāhmaṇas’ wives by asking them for food.

Having described the mercy given to the young girls, now Śukadeva begins to speak of mercy given to the wives of the brāhmaṇas performing sacrifice since there is similarity in the subject matter. The word atha indicates the beginning of another pastime. It was summer (whereas the Kātyāyanī vow was in the winter) since the hot summer sun is later described. He was with Balarāma, whereas on the day of stealing the gopīs’ garments, Balarāma was not present. He was surrounded by his friends. This is mentioned here because the boys play an important role in the following pastime. He is called the son of Devakī because the wives of the brāhmaṇas lived near Mathurā and were aware of his parentage. Attracted by their love, Kṛṣṇa went far from Vṛndāvana to go near their houses (vṛndāvanād gato dūram) because he was most merciful (bhagavān). Or Devakī can also mean Yaśodā. He went far away to give them mercy. According to Śrīdhara Svāmī, at that time Baladeva came and met the boys, since his presence was not proper in the previous pastime. In Pauṣa sometimes the sun is hot like summer with a desire for rain (if the pastime occurred directly after stealing the clothing in the winter.)