Not all who came to Shri Nathji could fully understand His real Divine Form. Different people saw different things in Him in accordance with their own spiritual attainments. Lord Krishna was looked upon differently by different people. To the Pandavas, he was a confidante, an adviser, a friend. To Duryodhana, he was an enemy. To Arjuna, he was a friend first and a Guru later–and God, only when He revealed His Divine Form.Shri Nathji would often explain his relationship with different people using the following example:
There is a rose in my hand. It contains a multiplicity of qualities. Those who see it from a distance can see only the colour. For them, the rose is only colour. There are others who are closer and who can see the colour as well as the shape. There are yet others who are even closer to the rose and who can smell the fragrance as well, apart from divining the colour and shape. Then there are those who are so close that they can feel its softness as well. Finally there are those who can tell its taste as well, by coming close enough. All these qualities, attributes, exist in the rose, but they are revealed differently to different people.
“Similarly, the avatar appears differently to different people. Very few can understand the totality of the qualities that define His God-head. People with various degrees of spiritual attainment understand him differently. There are some who understand him completely; there are others who do not understand him at all. There are those in the intermediate stage who define him as a great intellectual, a great Mahatma, a Swami, a Guru etc. Finally there are those to whom He chooses to reveal himself.