Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.28.7
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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ajānatā
—
by one who was ignorant
Present participle, instrumental. The offense is unknowing, not willful. Gauḍīyas distinguish aparādha by intention; ignorance is healed by darśana of Bhagavān itself, which is what Varuṇa offers Nanda and the chapter offers Vraja.
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mūḍhena
—
by a foolish one
From √muh — bewildered. The servant is mūḍha because he reads dharma-śāstra without reading the Person on its riverbank. Bhakti's diagnosis: the deepest foolishness is to keep rules while missing Bhagavān.
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akārya-vedinā
—
by one not knowing his proper duty
Compound: akārya (what should not be done) + vedin (knower). The servant knew the duty-table but did not know that the man he was seizing was Kṛṣṇa's father — duty without dhāma-jñāna miscarries.
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pitā
—
father
Nanda is named as Kṛṣṇa's father with no hedge. Gauḍīyas: this is not an honorary title but a tattva — Nanda is eternally Kṛṣṇa's vātsalya-mūrti-pitā. The whole chapter rests on the seriousness of this single noun.
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tava
—
Your
Possessive. Varuṇa addresses Kṛṣṇa not as a passing visitor but as the son of the man wronged — placing kinship above cosmic protocol. The devatā honors Vraja's own grammar.
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kṣantum arhati
—
should please forgive
Kṣantum (to forgive, from √kṣam) + arhati (is worthy / ought). The polite imperative. Gauḍīyas note that even a lokapāla speaks to Kṛṣṇa in supplicant-mode — the proper rasa with Bhagavān, even from on high.
The word ayam, “this one here,” clearly indicates that Kṛṣṇa’s father, Nanda Mahārāja, was present as Varuṇa was speaking. In fact, Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura states that Varuṇa had seated Śrī Nanda on a jeweled throne and had personally worshiped him out of respect. Technically, Nanda Mahārāja was correct in entering the water just before sunrise. The following explanation is given by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī in his commentary on the first verse of this chapter: After an especially short Ekādaśī, measuring only eighteen hours, about six hours of the lunar day in which the fast had to be broken, namely the Dvādaśī, had already expired before the dawn. Since at sunrise the proper time for breaking the fast would have passed, Nanda Mahārāja decided to enter the water at an otherwise inauspicious time. Of course, Varuṇa’s servant should have been aware of these technical details, which are meant for strict followers of the Vedic rituals. Above and beyond that, Nanda Mahārāja was acting as the Supreme Lord’s father and was therefore a most sacred person, beyond the touch of insignificant cosmic bureaucrats like the foolish servant of Varuṇa.
"Why are you embarrassing me by praising me like this?" In answer Varuna says, "I have really offended you." With this mood he speaks this verse. "That one can enter into the water before the sunrise if a little of the dvadasi alone remains is permitted by those knowledgeable of bhakti scriptures. One of my servants, not knowing this, took your father away and committed a great offense. The offense of my servant is also my offense. This fool does not know what is to be done (a karyavedin). Your father, brought by my servant, is here." Pointing with his hands, he showed Nanda seated on a jeweled throne, worshiped by Varuna himself. His father was engaged in remembering his own worshipable deity Krsna. "You are the ocean of forgiveness, but because I am the ocean of offense, you can punish me suitably if you wish."
You should forgive my great offense since my servant was foolish. “If he were so ignorant, how did he know that bathing at night was a fault?” He had knowledge to do what was improper. Or he did not know (ajānatā) it was your father and moreover was devoid of knowledge of the Lord (mūḍhena). Not only was he foolish but most unintelligent. He knew how to do the wickedest acts. This is your father. Varuṇa points to his father nearby kept safely in his house. He protected him in his house because he was Kṛṣṇa’s father. It was said nandaṁ ca mokṣyati bhayād varuṇasya pāśād: he will deliver Nanda from the ropes of fear of Varuṇa. (SB 2.7.31) This means that Varuṇa did not bind him with ropes, but that Kṛṣṇa freed Nanda from ropes of fear. You should forgive us for the offense of bringing him here (tat). “But such a great offense cannot be forgiven.” You are most capable (prabho)! You cannot forgive him. Or, you are our master (prabho)! Therefore it is proper that you forgive the offense of your servant. Sometimes bhavān is seen instead of prabho.
A general apologizes when a junior officer arrests the king's own father by mistake — the army is real, the orders are real, but the misdirected hand asks for the king's clemency, not his decree. Varuṇa, lord of an entire planet, asks Kṛṣṇa, the son of the captured man, for forgiveness. The hierarchy of the cosmos quietly rearranges itself around vātsalya.
After Brahmā stole the calves and cowherd boys to test Kṛṣṇa, and saw himself outdone when Kṛṣṇa expanded as each of them for a year, the creator-of-the-universe fell at the feet of the boy and begged forgiveness (SB 10.13–14).
Varuṇa's posture here is the same in miniature: a great deity, his servant in error, comes before the son of Nanda asking pardon. Vraja inverts the cosmic ranking; the devatās come to Vraja, not the reverse.
My note
Source: vedabase.io