373
The Nectar of Devotion
Once Kṛṣṇa challenged all His friends and said, “My dear friends, just see—I am jumping with great chivalrous prowess. Please do not flee away.” Upon hearing these challenging words, another friend named Varūthapa counter-challenged the Lord and struggled against Him.
One of the friends once remarked, “Sudāmā is trying his best to see Dāmodara defeated, and I think that if our powerful Subala joins him, they will be a very beautiful combination, like a valuable jewel bedecked with gold.”
In these chivalrous activities, only Krṣṇa’s friends can be the opponents. Krṣṇa’s enemies can never actually be His opponents. Therefore, this challenging by Krṣṇa’s friends is called devotional service in chivalrous activities.
Dāna-vīra , or chivalry in the giving in charity, can be divided into two parts: munificence and renunciation. A person who can sacrifice everything for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa is called munificent. When a person desires to make a sacrifice because of his seeing Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is called the impetus of the munificent activity. When Kṛṣṇa appeared as the son of Nanda Mahārāj, in clear consciousness Nanda Mahārāj desired all auspiciousness for his son and thus began to give in charity valuable cows to all the  brāhmaṇas . The  brāhmaṇas  were so satisfied by this charitable action that they were obliged to say that the charity of Nanda Mahārāj had excelled the charity of such past kings as Mahārāj Pṛthu and Nṛga.
When a person knows the glories of the Lord completely and is prepared to sacrifice everything for the Lord, he is called  sampra-dānaka , or one who gives everything in charity for the sake of Kṛṣṇa.
When Mahārāj Yudhiṣṭhira went with Kṛṣṇa in the arena of the  rāja-sūya  sacrifice, in his imagination he began to anoint the body of Kṛṣṇa with pulp of sandalwood, he decorated Him with a garland hanging down to His knees, he began to give Him garments all embroidered with gold, he gave Him ornaments all bedecked with valuable jewels, and he gave Him many fully decorated elephants, chariots and horses. He further wished to give Kṛṣṇa in charity his kingdom, his family and his personal self also. After so desiring, when there was nothing to actually give in charity, Mahārāj Yudhiṣṭhira became very perturbed and anxious.