वदान्येशस्तृष्णानिचयचितचित्तैः करुणराट्
विपन्नैः कन्दर्पो युवतिनिकरैर्मृत्युररिभिः ।
अधीशः सद्भक्तैः सहजनिजबन्धुर्व्रजजनैः
प्रतीतः कृष्णोऽसाविति विविधलोकैर्बहुविधः ॥
vadānyeśas tṛṣṇā-nicaya-cita-cittaiḥ karuṇa-rāṭ
vipannaiḥ kandarpo yuvati-nikarair mṛtyur aribhiḥ |
adhīśaḥ sad-bhaktaiḥ sahaja-nija-bandhur vraja-janaiḥ
pratītaḥ kṛṣṇo’sāv iti vividha-lokair bahu-vidhaḥ ||
(Govinda-līlāmṛta: 17.20)
“Kṛṣṇa is perceived in many ways by various persons: by those whose hearts are filled with heaps of [worldly] desires as the most capable of the munificent, by the distressed as the king of the compassionate, by young women as Kandarpa [i.e., the ultimate object of love], by enemies as Death, by virtuous bhaktas as the Supreme Lord, and by the people of Vraja as their own natural friend (bandhu).”