HV 75.1
मल्लानाम् अशनिर् नृणां नरवरः स्त्रीणां स्मरो मूर्तिमान् । गोपानां स्वजनो ऽसतां क्षितिभुजां शास्ता स्वपित्रोः शिशुः । मृत्युर् भोजपतेर् विराड् अविदुषां तत्त्वं परं योगिनां । वृष्णीनां परदेवतेति विदितो रङ्गं प्रविष्टो हरिः ॥
mallānām aśanir nṛṇāṃ naravaraḥ strīṇāṃ smaro mūrtimān | gopānāṃ svajano 'satāṃ kṣitibhujāṃ śāstā svapitroḥ śiśuḥ | mṛtyur bhojapater virāḍ aviduṣāṃ tattvaṃ paraṃ yogināṃ | vṛṣṇīnāṃ paradevateti vidito raṅgaṃ praviṣṭo hariḥ
To wrestlers a thunderbolt, to the citizens the best of men, to women the god of Love embodied, to cowherds their own kin, to evil kings their disciplinarian, to his parents a child, death to the Bhoja-lord, sovereign to the ignorant, the supreme truth to yogins, supreme deity to the Vṛṣṇis — so known, Hari entered the arena.
The Living Words
One of the great compositional verses of Sanskrit scripture. Eleven categories of seer, each paired with the way they see. *Mallānām aśaniḥ* — to wrestlers, the thunderbolt. *Nṛṇāṃ naravaraḥ* — to men, the best of men. *Strīṇāṃ smaro mūrtimān* — to women, the embodiment of the Love-god. *Gopānāṃ svajanaḥ* — to cowherds, their kin. *Asatāṃ kṣitibhujāṃ śāstā* — disciplinarian to the evil among earth-rulers. *Svapitroḥ śiśuḥ* — to his parents, a child. *Mṛtyur bhojapateḥ* — death to the Bhoja-lord. *Virāḍ aviduṣām* — sovereign to the ignorant. *Tattvaṃ paraṃ yoginām* — supreme truth to yogins. *Vṛṣṇīnāṃ paradevatā* — supreme deity to the Vṛṣṇis. *Iti vidito raṅgaṃ praviṣṭo hariḥ*: 'so known, Hari entered the arena.'
The Heart of It
The verse is the Harivaṃśa's most concentrated statement that the Lord is not one thing even at one moment. Kṛṣṇa enters the arena and is seen, in the single instant, as eleven different realities by eleven different kinds of people. The verse refuses to pick among them. All eleven seeings are correct. To the wrestler, he really is a thunderbolt; to the mother, he really is her child; to the yogin, he really is the supreme truth. Bhakti is not the winning of a true-perception contest. It is the sharpening of whatever relationship you already have with him. The Varkari tradition's astonishing range — from Tukaram's terrified repentance to Muktabai's playful demand, from Eknath's scholarly care to Janabai's kitchen intimacy — is all lived within the frame of this single verse. The god is all these things. The devotee chooses which relationship to lean into. Jñāneśvar's Haripāṭh assumes a reader who, at different points, will be all of them.