Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.24.8
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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parjanyaḥ
—
the rain-god, rain itself
An ancient Vedic name for the rain-cloud deity. Nanda's first word names a real Vedic function — Kṛṣṇa will not deny that parjanya exists, only that he is the final cause.
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bhagavān
—
the great lord
Nanda applies bhagavān to Indra. Gauḍīya reading: in the laukika sense bhagavān can be used loosely (six aiśvaryas in measure), but svayaṁ-bhagavān is one — Kṛṣṇa standing right in front of him. The verse stages a doctrinal misnaming that the chapter will quietly correct.
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ātma - mūrtayaḥ
—
his personal forms
Compound: ātma (self, own) + mūrtayaḥ (forms). Nanda calls the rain-clouds Indra's own mūrtis. A revealing word: it concedes that the visible agent (cloud) is only the form of an unseen agent (Indra) — Kṛṣṇa will simply push the same logic one floor higher.
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prīṇanam
—
pleasure, satisfaction
From √prī — to please. Rain gives prīṇana to beings; in the Gauḍīya vocabulary the same root yields prīti, the affection at the root of bhakti. Even Nanda's words about rain are reaching, unawares, toward a deeper register.
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payaḥ
—
water (rain)
Vedic for water, milk, juice — the giving fluid. The verse uses the most maternal word for water; the chapter will close with the same payaḥ flowing from Govardhana into the cowherds' pots.
Without clean rainwater, the earth could not possibly provide food or drink for anyone, nor could there be cleanliness. Thus it would be difficult to overestimate the value of rain.
This is a local custom. In this verse Nanda maharaja gives the logic for the worship. Indra showers down rain which is pleasing and giving life to entities such as grass.
Indra is the controller (bhagavān) by showering rain. The clouds shower water which gives life to grass which is almost dead and which gives satisfaction (prīṇanam).
- Where am I gratefully honoring an immediate benefactor while ignoring the Lord behind them?
- Whose 'rain' should I trace back further to its true source?
A village steward, seeing the young master arrive, points at the rooftop water-tank and explains: 'This is filled from that great cistern on the hill — we honor the keeper of the cistern, for our pots depend on him.' Nanda points at the rain-clouds and at Indra behind them, and his answer is honest village theology — accurate as far as it goes, but stopping one floor short of the actual source.
My note
Source: vedabase.io