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

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 mayavada (impersonal) philosophy. The mayavadis or monists think that they themselves are Krsna, and if one thinks that he himself has become Nanda Maharaj, then his parental love will become 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-vyuha-stava prayers that persons who are always engaged in thinking of the Lord as their husband, friend, father or well-wisher are always worshipable by everyone. This spontaneous love for Krsna can only be developed by the special mercy of Krsna or His pure devotee. This process of devotional service is sometimes called pusti-marga. Pusti means nourishing, and marga means path. Such development of sentiment nourishes devotional service to the highest standard. Thus it is called the path of nourishment, or pusti-marga. The Vallabha-sampradaya, which belongs to the Visnu-svami sect of Vaisnava religion, worships Krsna in this pusti-marga. Generally devotees in Gujarat worship Bala-Krsna, under this heading of pusti-marga.