It is very difficult to know Kṛṣṇa that even the devatās and the great ṛṣis do not know about His extraordinary powers, since He is the source of the devas and the ṛṣis. Kṛṣṇa can be known only by His mercy. We cannot know Kṛṣṇa by our own limited abilities, but only when He reveals Himself to us. One should not think that the demigods cannot understand Kṛṣṇa because of their absorption in material pleasure, since even the sages, who are detached from sense gratification, cannot also know Him.
It is very difficult to know Kṛṣṇa that even the devatās and the great ṛṣis do not know about His extraordinary powers, since He is the source of the devas and the ṛṣis. Kṛṣṇa can be known only by His mercy. We cannot know Kṛṣṇa by our own limited abilities, but only when He reveals Himself to us. One should not think that the demigods cannot understand Kṛṣṇa because of their absorption in material pleasure, since even the sages, who are detached from sense gratification, cannot also know Him. The dangerous Māyāvādīs, in the garb of rasika devotees, who impose their limitations on Kṛṣṇa, cannot know the independent nature of the Lord.
Viśvanātha Cakravarti explains prabhavam (na me viduḥ sura-gaṇāḥ prabhavaṁ na maharṣayaḥ) to mean Kṛṣṇa’s birth from Devakī, which the devas and ṛṣis cannot understand. The word prabhavam also means opulences – the extent of Kṛṣṇa’s unlimited dazzling forms, qualities and powers – which the devas such as Brahmā or the ṛṣis such as Sanaka cannot understand. This is because Kṛṣṇa is their origin, the first cause in all ways, the cause of their appearance and the bestower of their intelligence and other qualities. Kṛṣṇa existed eternally before everything else. The conception of God as some ruling power or as the impersonal Brahman can be reached by persons who are in the inferior energy of the Lord, but the Personality of Godhead cannot be conceived unless one is in the transcendental position. Because most men cannot understand Kṛṣṇa in His actual situation, out of His causeless mercy He descends to show favor to such speculators.