Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.20.35
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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tyakta-eṣaṇāḥ
—
those who have given up cravings
Compound: tyakta (given up) + eṣaṇā (craving, wish). The classical three eṣaṇās are putra (son), vitta (wealth), and loka (fame). Sannyāsa is technically the giving up of all three. Gauḍīyas locate the Six Gosvāmīs as exemplars.
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śāntāḥ
—
peaceful
From √śam — to be quiet. Śānta is also the name of the first rasa. Gauḍīyas note: even śānta-rasa-bhaktas are devotees, not impersonalists — they regard Kṛṣṇa as Brahman but with reverence, not merger.
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munayaḥ
—
sages
Plural of muni — one given to manana (reflection). In Gauḍīya reading the topmost munis become bhaktas (cf. Śuka, the four Kumāras, the Naimiṣa sages).
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mukta-kilbiṣāḥ
—
free of sinful propensities
Compound: mukta (freed) + kilbiṣa (sin, fault). Tyāga produces mukti from kilbiṣa. Gauḍīyas note that this is one path; bhakti destroys kilbiṣa even faster, by the substitution of nāma.
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śubhra-varcasaḥ
—
of pure effulgence
Compound: śubhra (white, pure) + varcas (effulgence, splendour). The varcas of a sage who has emptied himself. Gauḍīyas read this varcas as a faint shadow of brahmajyoti, which itself is a faint shadow of Kṛṣṇa's bodily lustre.
When the clouds are filled with water, they are dark and cover the sun’s rays, just as the material mind of an impure man covers the soul shining within. But when the clouds pour down their rain, they become white and then brilliantly reflect the shining sun, just as a man who gives up all material desires and sinful propensities becomes purified and then brilliantly reflects his own soul and the Supreme Soul within.
The munis who give up desires for sons, wealth and followers (tyaktaisanah) develop a pure heart. Similarly the clouds, expelling all their rain, assume a pure white color. This is a positive analogy.
They are free of sin because they have given up karmas which cause saṁsāra. Because of this, they are free of desires. And because they are free of desires they are peaceful, with undisturbed minds.
Because they give up all desires, they are free of attachment (śāntāḥ). They are free of dry jñāna which is like a sin since it creates an obstacle to bhakti. Another version has kalmaṣāḥ with the same meaning. The clouds shine more than before (vi-rejuḥ) as if they were pure light.
- What am I hoarding right now that is dimming my own light?
- Where could a full release this week reveal a sheen I've forgotten I had?
Clouds, having given everything away, shine purely — like sages who have abandoned all material wanting and are therefore free of sin. Renunciation in this verse is not loss; it is luminosity. Gauḍīyas note: the cloud that has emptied itself is full of light. Tyāga is the precondition of varcas.
Sanaka, Sanātana, Sanandana and Sanat-kumāra, asked by Brahmā to populate the universe, refused — and as five-year-old eternal brahmacārīs they wandered the worlds in pure varcas (SB 3.12, 4.22). They had given away even the impulse to procreate. The clouds of v. 35 are their Vaiṣṇava cousins.
Gauḍīyas treasure the Kumāras as proof that radical tyāga can co-exist with full bhakti — they end up enchanted by Pṛthu's court because of their Vaiṣṇava conversion through Sanat-kumāra's teaching.
My note
Source: vedabase.io