Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.20.17
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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cala-sauhṛdāḥ
—
those of fickle friendship
Compound: cala (moving, fickle) + sauhṛda (friendship). The opposite of the gopīs, whose sauhṛda toward Kṛṣṇa is sthira-tama — most steady. The verse implicitly contrasts worldly flicker with Vraja-fidelity.
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loka-bandhuṣu
—
to the friends of the world (clouds)
Compound: loka (world) + bandhu (kin, friend). Clouds are loka-bandhu by their universal mercy. Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate loka-bandhu (cf. Gītā 5.29 — suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānām).
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sthairyam
—
steadiness
From √sthā — to stand. Sthairya is a quality of the mature bhakta (cf. Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu — sthāyī-bhāva is steady, not fleeting). The lightning's lack of sthairya is the diagnosis the verse offers.
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guṇiṣu
—
to virtuous men
Locative plural of guṇin — possessed of guṇa (here, virtue, not material mode). The verse plays on guṇa's double sense, which Gauḍīyas always note: the same word names material mode and spiritual quality, distinguished by context.
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vidyutaḥ
—
the lightning
Nominative plural — the various lightning-flashes. Each one fickle. The Bhāgavatam often uses lightning to indicate something flashing but not lasting; gold ornaments on Kṛṣṇa are vidyut-stable, lightning in clouds is not.
Śrīla Prabhupāda comments: “During the rainy season, lightning appears in one group of clouds and then immediately in another group of clouds. This phenomenon is compared to a lusty woman who does not fix her mind on one man. A cloud is compared to a qualified person because it pours rain and gives sustenance to many people; a man who is qualified similarly gives sustenance to many living creatures, such as family members or many workers in business. Unfortunately, his whole life can be disturbed by a wife who divorces him; when the husband is disturbed, the whole family is ruined, the children are dispersed or the business is closed, and everything is affected. It is therefore recommended that a woman desiring to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness peacefully live with a husband and that the couple not separate under any condition. The husband and wife should control sex indulgence and concentrate their minds on Kṛṣṇa consciousness so their life may be successful. After all, in the material world a man requires a woman and a woman requires a man. When they are combined, they should live peacefully in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and should not be restless like the lightning, flashing from one group of clouds to another.”
Though a man may have good qualities such as intelligence, he cannot hold a prostitute’s attention for long. Similarly the lightening does not remain for long with the cloud. This is a negative analogy.
Lusty women are not steady attached to even the men may be endowed with good qualities like grace.
- Where is my attention behaving like fickle lightning right now?
- What 'virtuous cloud' deserves my steady commitment instead?
Lightning, fickle, flits from cloud to cloud, never settling on one host — like an unfaithful woman among virtuous men. The verse uses an unsparing simile to name an old human disease: the heart that cannot stay. Gauḍīya bhakti is the cure precisely as ekāgratā — one-pointedness — fixed on Kṛṣṇa alone, never flickering.
My note
Source: vedabase.io