How could Arjuna be defeated by the cowherds when he was escorting the wives of Krsna?

In the Srimad Bhagavatam, a mysterious pastime is described: Arjuna was defeated on the way back from Dvaraka to Hastinapura by a group of cowherd men armed with sticks. How is this possible?

In the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, a mysterious pastime is described: Arjuna was defeated on the way back from Dvaraka to Hastinapura by a group of cowherd men armed with sticks, while he was guarding the wives of Krsna, after His disappearance.

We can understand that Arjuna could lose his powers after the disappearance of Krsna since the Lord was the source of his powers, and had empowered him to perform a certain mission, fighting in the battle of Kuruksetra and so on. At that point, the mission was already complete, so there was no need for Arjuna to have such power. However, how could this group of infidel cowherds take the wives of Krsna, who were devotees surrendered to Him? Naturally, this was all part of a pastime.

Most of Krsna's associates in Dvaraka are eternally liberated souls who came with Krsna from the spiritual world. These Yadhus never left the city and just went back to the spiritual world when the city disappeared. They never take birth in the material world, and just become manifest here when the city itself appears. When Dvaraka submerges in the ocean following the disappearance of Krsna, it just means the city and all the associates who live there stopped being visible in this particular universe and manifested somewhere else.

A second group however is composed of the associates who joined Krsna's pastimes from this particular universe. This group includes demigods who incarnated to take part in Krsna's pastimes, the celestial ladies and sages who desired to associate with Him, and so on. These were the Yadus who left the city and participated in the pastime of the disappearance of the dynasty.

In connection with this particular passage of the cowherds kidnapping the wives of Krsna, some of the wives of Krsna were previously celestial girls who were cursed to be kidnapped after attaining Krsna as their husband by the sage Aṣṭāvakra while others were gopis who wanted to become wives, and after finishing this pastime had to go back to their eternal position as gopis in Vrindavana. To accomplish both, Krsna orchestrated this pastime.

This is narrated by Prabhupada in his purport to SB 1.15.20:

"Once the fair denizens of heaven pleased Aṣṭāvakra Muni by their service and were blessed by the muni to have the Supreme Lord as their husband. Aṣṭāvakra Muni was curved in eight joints of his body, and thus he used to move in a peculiar curved manner. The daughters of the demigods could not check their laughter upon seeing the movements of the muni, and the muni, being angry at them, cursed them that they would be kidnapped by rogues, even if they would get the Lord as their husband. Later on, the girls again satisfied the muni by their prayers, and the muni blessed them that they would regain their husband even after being robbed by the rogues. So, in order to keep the words of the great muni, the Lord Himself kidnapped His wives from the protection of Arjuna, otherwise they would have at once vanished from the scene as soon as they were touched by the rogues. Besides that, some of the gopīs who prayed to become wives of the Lord returned to their respective positions after their desire was fulfilled."

Extra details are given in another passage. After Krsna was hit by the arrow of the hunter Jara, and was sitting under the Banyan tree, Daruka (his driver) appeared there. Krsna told him:

"O driver, go to Dvārakā and tell Our family members how their loved ones destroyed one another. Also, tell them of the disappearance of Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa and of My present condition. You and your relatives should not remain in Dvārakā, the capital of the Yadus, because once I have abandoned that city it will be inundated by the ocean. You should all take your own families, together with My parents, and under Arjuna’s protection go to Indraprastha."

This group was being escorted by Arjuna to Indraprastha (Hastinapura) when they were attacked by a group of cowherds on the way. These cowherds were armed with just sticks, but still, Arjuna couldn't defeat them, despite his best efforts. The power that Arjuna displayed before had left him.

It's described that Arjuna tried to shoot arrows at the cowherds, but suddenly his bow became too heavy. When using all his strength he was able to draw the bow and shoot a few arrows at the cowherds, they couldn't even pierce their skin. In desperation, Arjuna tried to hit them using the sides of his bow, but the cowherds just laughed at his attempts. Thus, Arjuna was utterly defeated.

These were not ordinary cowherds, but direct expansions of Krsna. To fulfill the curse of Aṣṭāvakra Muni, Krsna appeared in different forms to kidnap His own wives. After defeating Arjuna, these cowherds took the group and brought them all back to Godhead. Krsna's wives joined Him in His eternal pastimes, the gopis were brought back to Vrindavana, and His parents and other relatives went to the next universe where He was about to start His pastimes. In this way, the Queens and Gopis rejoined Krsna and at the same time, the curse of the sage was fulfilled.

Arjuna, however, couldn't understand these cowherds were expansions of Krsna. Sometimes, Krsna performs pastimes that even Lord Balarama can't understand, what to say about Arjuna.

In this way, after being defeated by the cowherds, Arjuna went back to Indraprastha alone, where he met with King Yudhisthira and narrated to him what had happened. Although Arjuna looked dejected and had tears in his eyes, these were not ordinary symptoms of sorrow, but actually ecstatic symptoms due to the separation of Krsna. Despite the external symptoms, he is fully Krsna Conscious.

After describing his defeat, Arjuna describes the fate of the other inhabitants of Dvaraka:

"O King, since you have asked me about our friends and relatives in the city of Dvārakā, I will inform you that all of them were cursed by the brāhmaṇas, and as a result they all became intoxicated with wine made of putrefied rice and fought among themselves with sticks, not even recognizing one another. Now all but four or five of them are dead and gone.

Factually this is all due to the supreme will of the Lord, the Personality of Godhead. Sometimes people kill one another, and at other times they protect one another.

O King, as in the ocean the bigger and stronger aquatics swallow up the smaller and weaker ones, so also the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to lighten the burden of the earth, has engaged the stronger Yadu to kill the weaker, and the bigger Yadu to kill the smaller." (SB 1.15.22-26)

This describes the disappearance of the Yadus who were incarnations of demigods. These Yadus left the city after receiving the curse of the sages, under the pretext of performing a sacrifice. After the sacrifice was over they started drinking a liquor made out of rice. Inebriated, they started fighting, first verbally, and then using their fists. Since they were all Ksatriyas, the fight quickly escalated, and soon they were killing each other using bamboo rods. Krsna and Balarama also entered the fight, and thus the whole dynasty was finished. In this way, all demigods could go back to their posts and continue managing the universe.

After seeing the destruction of the dynasty, Krsna sat under a banyan tree, where he instructed Uddhava and Maitreya. This is the conversation narrated in the 11th canto and happened before the conversation of Vidhura and Maitreya narrated in the 3rd canto, which in turn happened before Vidhura returned to the palace and instructed Dhrtarastra, narrated in the 1st canto of Srimad Bhagavatam.

After Krsna finished giving His instructions, the hunter Jara hit Him on the foot with His arrow, giving Krsna the excuse to leave this universe and continue His pastimes in another one. After Krsna left, Dvaraka also disappeared, together with all the eternal associates who stayed in the city. For the people of this planet who observed the events, the city appeared to have submerged in the ocean, but in reality, it just became immanifest after the disappearance of Krsna.

Just like Krsna disappears in one universe and becomes visible in another, Dvaraka also manifests or disappears from the same universes following Krsna.