Hare Krsna,
The friendship between Krsna, Balarama and the cowherd boys are transcendental and unique. Devotees who are correctly situated in a transcendental relationship with Kṛṣṇa are attracted by loving features, not by a godless display of opulences. Krsna’s friends and parents never want Kṛṣṇa to show His opulences. They are so immersed in pure love that they do not even know that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In their loving exchange they forget that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated that the boys who play with Kṛṣṇa are all highly pious souls, and after many, many births they are able to play with Kṛṣṇa. Such boys do not know that Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They take Him as a personal friend.
In SB 10.12.11, Sukadeva Goswami says, “Here is the Supreme Person, who is considered the impersonal Brahman by great sages, the Supreme Personality of Godhead by devotees, and a product of material nature by ordinary men. Now these boys, who have performed many, many pious activities in their past lives, are playing with that Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
Krsna also loves this kind of relationship. In CC Adi Chapter 4, it is mentioned that Krsna thinks, “All the universe is filled with the conception of My majesty, but love weakened by that sense of majesty does not satisfy Me. If one regards Me as the Supreme Lord and himself as a subordinate, I do not become subservient to his love, nor can it control Me. In whatever transcendental mellow My devotee worships Me, I reciprocate with him. That is My natural behavior.”
Krsna further says, “If one cherishes pure loving devotion to Me, thinking of Me as his son, his friend or his beloved, regarding himself as great and considering Me his equal or inferior, I become subordinate to him…My friends climb on My shoulders in pure friendship, saying, ‘What kind of big man are You? You and I are equal.”
Therefore, the cowherd boys playing with Krsna and Balarama, making fun with each other, imitating the sounds vibrations of the different kinds of birds, running away with the animals as if from fear, wrestling among themselves, dancing and singing bring tremendous joy to Krsna, Balarama and friends themselves. Even the friends’ request Krsna and Balarama to kill the demon Dhenukasura to taste the tala fruits is not for their own sense gratification. Rather they want the Lords to taste the fruits. They spoke out of prema, not with greed for the tala fruits and not for killing the demon. They spoke to please their dear friends Krsna and Balarama. The nature of prema is to sometimes request dear things.
What does this pastime and the dealing of the cowherd boys with Krsna and Balarama teach us? That just like the cowherd boys, Krsna is our eternal friend. It’s just that we haven’t fully realized it yet. Without considering Krsna as our eternal friend, we have no hope. Our solace, our consolation in life, is that ultimately we are under the care of such a loving friend as Krsna. With Krsna behind us, what do we have to worry about? One of the six limbs of surrender is the conviction that Krsna will give us protection.
This sentiment is expressed by Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his Saranagati:
raksa koribo tuhun niscaya jani pana korobun hama yamuna pani
Fearless and confident of your protection, I shall drink the waters of the Yamuna, whether they are poisoned or not. I am your property. You must take care of me; You can’t leave me.
kaliya-dokha korobi binasa sodhobi nadi-jala badobi asa bhakativinoda tuwa gokula-dhana rakhobi kesava! korato jatana
Although the Kaliya serpent’s venom has poisoned the Yamuna’s waters, I know that poison will not act. Your presence will cleanse the waters and so increase our confidence in your protection. Bhaktivinoda is now the property of Gokula, your holy abode, O Kesava. Kindly protect him with care.
If we are still not convinced that Ktsna is our eternal friend and the best well-wisher, we should continue chanting the Holy Name with sincerity. Gradually the ignorance in our hearts will be destroyed and we will gradually come to realize our eternal relationship with Krsna.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krsna Katha 