Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.20.4
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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brahma
—
the Supreme
Here brahma is used in its broadest scriptural sense — the Absolute, which in Gauḍīya theology refers ultimately to Bhagavān (Brahman is His effulgence, SB 1.2.11). The verse compares the sky's covering to the way the spirit soul appears covered by guṇa — but always within an acintya-bhedābheda frame, not Advaitin.
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sa-guṇam
—
together with the modes
Compound: sa (with) + guṇa (mode). The whole verse turns on guṇa/nirguṇa: clouds (= guṇa) cover the sky (= brahma). Gauḍīyas read Kṛṣṇa as both nirguṇa (transcendent to material guṇas) and saguṇa (eternally possessing transcendental qualities) — a distinction Māyāvāda collapses.
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nīla
—
dark blue
The colour of Kṛṣṇa Himself — meghaśyāma. The Bhāgavatam loves this resonance: every blue cloud in Canto 10 is also a hint of Him. Poets like Jayadeva and Rūpa Gosvāmī exploit it endlessly.
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ambudaiḥ
—
by the clouds
Literally 'water-givers' (ambu + da). The clouds are named by their function — they exist to give. The same logic applies to Kṛṣṇa's energies: prakṛti exists to serve, not to imprison.
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ācchannam
—
covered
From ā + √chad — to cover over. The technical term for guṇa's role in conditioned consciousness; here applied to the sky as a structural simile. Gauḍīyas always note: the covering is real for the jīva, but never for Kṛṣṇa.
Lightning is compared to the mode of goodness, thunder to the mode of passion, and clouds to the mode of ignorance. Thus the cloudy sky at the onset of the rainy season is analogous to the pure spirit soul when he becomes disturbed by the modes of nature, for at that time he is covered and his original brilliant nature is only dimly reflected through the haze of the material qualities.
When the sky became covered with dense clouds mixed with thunder and lightning during the rains, it was like Brahman covered by the material gunas. Brahma here indicates the soul of the whole universe (ksirodasayi). The clouds with thunder and lightning are compared to the three gunas-sattva, raja and tama. In its natural state the sky is without contamination, uncovered, in which the clouds become situated. Thus the sky is like the Lord. This Brahman is suitable for the yogis as their worshippable object.
The sun and moon shone weakly in the sky. This indicates that they did not appear self-illuminating—because of the dark, dense clouds, which were accompanied by lightning and thunder. This was like the jīva (an aṁśa of Brahman) whose svarūpa’s effulgence is covered by sattva, rajas and tamas and their effects. Sattva, rajas and tamas represent lightning, thunder and clouds.
Covered by dense blue clouds, the light or the sunshine was not bright (aspaṣṭa-jyotiḥ). Covered by activities of ignorance, like the dark clouds, the jīva shows only a little knowledge etc.
- Which 'mode' (goodness, passion, ignorance) is currently fogging my sight, and how do I know?
- Where am I treating the cloud as my actual self instead of as cover?
Dense blue rain-clouds laced with lightning cover the sky's own light — this is the very colour of Kṛṣṇa, dark and flashing with gold. The verse explicitly compares the covering to Brahman covered by guṇas: Bhagavān, who is nirguṇa, voluntarily appears within the guṇa-fabric, just as the brilliant sky is now veiled by the very clouds that look like Him.
My note
Source: vedabase.io