132 The Nectar of Devotion
Parenthood or Friendship

Devotees who are attracted to Krsna as parents or as friends
should follow in the footsteps of Nanda Maharaj or Subala, respec-
tively. Nanda Maharaj is the foster father of Krsna, and out of all of
the friends of Krsna, Subala is the most intimate in Brajabhimi.

In the development of becoming either the father or friend of the
Lord, there are two varieties. One method is that one may try to
become the father of the Lord directly, and the other is that one
may follow Nanda Maharaj and cherish the ideal of being Krsna’s
father. Out of these two, the attempt to directly become the father
of Krsna is not recommended. Such a development can become
polluted with mdydavada (impersonal) philosophy. The mdydavddis or
monists think that they themselves are Krsna, and if one thinks that
he himself has become Nanda Maharaj, then his parental love will be-
come contaminated with the mayavada philosophy. The mayavada
philosophical way of thinking is offensive, and no offender can enter
into the kingdom of God to associate with Krsna.

In the Skanda Purana there is a story of an old man residing in
Hastinapur, capital of the kingdom of the Pandus, who desired Krsna
as his beloved son. This old man was instructed by: Narada to follow
in the footsteps of Nanda Maharaj, and thus success was achieved by
him.

There is a statement in the Narayana-vyutha-stava prayers that per-
sons who are always engaged in thinking of the Lord as their hus-
band, friend, father or well-wisher are always worshipable by every-
one. This spontaneous love for Krsna can only be developed by the
special mercy of Krsna or His pure devotee. This process of devo-
tional service is sometimes called pusti-marga. Pusti means nourishing
and marga means path. Such development of sentiment nourishes de-
votional service to the highest standard. Thus it is called the path of
nourishment, or pusti-marga. The Vallabha-sampradaya, which be-
longs to the Visnu-svami sect of Vaisnava religion, worships Krsna in
this pusti-marga. Generally devotees in Gujerat worship Bala-Krsna,
under this heading of pusti-marga.
