Devanagari
तदभिज्ञोऽपि भगवान् सर्वात्मा सर्वदर्शन:
प्रश्रयावनतोऽपृच्छद् वृद्धान् नन्दपुरोगमान् ॥ २ ॥
Verse text
tad-abhijṣo ’pi bhagavān
sarvātmā sarva-darśanaḥ
praśrayāvanato ’pṛcchad
vṛddhān nanda-purogamān
Synonyms
tat
—
abhijṣaḥ — being in full knowledge about it
;
api
—
although
;
bhagavān
—
the Supreme Lord
;
sarva
—
ātmā — the Supersoul within everyone’s heart
;
sarva
—
darśanaḥ — the omniscient Personality of Godhead
;
praśraya
—
avanataḥ — bowing down humbly
;
apṛcchat
—
He inquired
;
vṛddhān
—
from the elders
;
nanda
—
puraḥ — gamān — headed by Mahārāja Nanda .
Translation
Being the omniscient Supersoul, the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa already understood the situation, yet He still humbly inquired from the elders, headed by His father, Nanda Mahārāja.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Being the omniscient Supersoul, the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa already understood the situation, yet He still humbly inquired from the elders, headed by His father, Nanda Mahārāja.
KB 10.24.2
Because He is the omniscient Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa knew that the cowherd men were preparing for the Indra sacrifice, but as a matter of etiquette He began to inquire with great honor and submission from elder personalities like Mahārāja Nanda.
Purport
Lord Kṛṣṇa was eager to enact His pastime of lifting Govardhana Hill and defeating the false pride of Indra, and thus He cleverly inquired from His father about the imminent sacrifice.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Because he had seen the sacrifices many times in the past he knew all about them. Though as paramatma (arvatma) he inspired others to perform the sacrifice, he began asking about it for the interest of pastimes. He is called sarva darsana because he could see in the future the breaking of Indra’s pride and pastimes with his devotees for seven nights in the future.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
He asked Nanda, even though he had more knowledge of the sacrifice than Nanda, who would explain the sacrifice to him, and who had seen it in previous years. He asked humbly since he was endowed with all good qualities (bhagavān). He knew because he was Paramātmā and he asked the question because he wanted to use the opportunity for his purpose showing all people (sarva-darśanaḥ). It is fine that they worshipped the devatās who are my external manifestations when I was not present. But in my presence intimate, direct worship is more pleasing. Since my father and others are the greatest devotees (SB 10.14.34) it gives me sorrow that they worship lowly Indra, full of pride. He thus asked mainly the elders, with a desire to begin worship of the most intimate Govardhana. He asked the question to his father to show his dependence on his family members.
Purport (Sanatana Goswami)
Though knowing about this effort, he asked. By their answer he would prescribe an appropriate
measure. He knew because he was pervading everywhere (sarvātmā). Or he was the giver of consciousness to all ātmās. Thus he sees everything (sarva-darśaṇaḥ). This was because he was bhagavān, full of all powers.
Or because he was sarvātmā and sarvadarśaṇaḥ he engaged them in these acts. He asked because he was full of amazing pastimes (bhagavān).
Or he asked because inspires all ātmās (sarvātmā) in order to stop Indra worship and begin Govardhana worship. Why? He saw service to Govardhana, the best servant (sarva-darśaṇaḥ). Why? Because he was bhagavān, endowed with all qualities like affection for his devotees.
Or he asked in order to show his intelligence, with skill in questioning about the worship in order to achieve his goal. He asked the elders because they knew. In enlightening them, all would gain the knowledge. Nanda was the chief person. If he understood, all others would.
The deep meaning is this. “Nanda is straightforward, most affectionate to me, overcome with love and will never go against my wish. All others are dependent on him. Thus I will ask him primarily.”