Verse Text
vaiṣṇavatvād ratiḥ kṛṣṇe kriyate ’nena sarvadā |
kṛtātra dvija-rūpe ca bhaktis tenāsya bhaktatā ||53||
Translation
Since this King was a devotee of the Lord, he always had rati for Kṛṣṇa. Thus, in showing bhakti to Kṛṣṇa in the disguised form of a brāhmaṇa, it was still an expression of his bhakti. [Note: If he had no bhakti for the Lord, then his expression of compassion would not be bhakti, but mere piety of a king. From that, he would get some ajṣāta-sukṛti. Thus the condition for being dayā-vīra is that the person should be a devotee, and Kṛṣṇa should be disguised in some form of a person who appears helpless. If Kṛṣṇa does not disguise Himself but appears helpless to the devotee, then the devotee has vātsalya-rasa or karuṇa-rasa.]
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Vaiṣṇava means “one who has veneration of Viṣṇu.” The sūtra bhaktih (Pāṇini 4.3.94) says that a word such as viṣṇu can be transformed into the word vaiṣṇava by the suffix called aṇ, with the meaning of “a person whose object of love is Viṣṇu.” Thus vaiṣṇavatvād means “because he was endowed with bhakti.”
Purport (Nectar of Devotion)
He had full knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the garb of a brāhmaṇa, and he is known as the perfect dāna-vīra, or renouncer.