Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.20.18
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
-
nirguṇam
—
without (material) qualities
Nir + guṇa. Gauḍīyas distinguish carefully: nirguṇa means free of material guṇas, not devoid of all attributes. Kṛṣṇa is nirguṇa (no material modes) yet sa-viśeṣa (full of transcendental qualities) — against Māyāvāda's attributeless absolute.
-
guṇa-vyatikare
—
in the interaction of the modes
Compound: guṇa + vyatikara (mixing, interaction). The world as the churn of the three guṇas. Kṛṣṇa enters this churn as Avatāra without being shaped by it — the doctrine of svarūpa-rakṣā, preservation of His own form.
-
aguṇa-vān
—
one who is free of (material) qualities
A + guṇa + possessive suffix vān — strictly, 'possessed of no-qualities,' meaning free of material modes. The verse pairs aguṇa-vān (the Lord) with guṇa-vyatikara (the world). Acintya-bhedābheda condensed.
-
māhā-indram
—
Indra's great bow
Indra's bow = the rainbow. In Vaiṣṇava reading the rainbow is also a memento of Indra's eventual humbling by Kṛṣṇa under Govardhana — a few chapters away. The bow without a string belongs structurally to one greater than Indra.
-
puruṣaḥ
—
the Supreme Person
Puruṣa — the Person. The verse's punch-line: He is Person, He enters the world, He stays Himself. Gauḍīyas refuse to dilute puruṣa to 'principle' or 'consciousness'; He is Kṛṣṇa.
Śrīla Prabhupāda comments as follows: “Sometimes, in addition to the roaring thunder of the clouds, there is an appearance of a rainbow, which stands as a bow without a string. Actually, a bow is in the curved position because it is tied at its two ends by the bowstring; but in the rainbow there is no such string, and yet it rests in the sky so beautifully. Similarly, when the Supreme Personality of Godhead descends to this material world, He appears just like an ordinary human being, but He is not resting on any material condition. In the Bhagavad-gītā, the Lord says that He appears by His internal potency, which is free from the bondage of the external potency. What is bondage for the ordinary creature is freedom for the Personality of Godhead.”
Just as the Lord, though without material gunas (agunavan) appears in the material world to perform pastimes, so the rainbow without a string (nirguna) appears in the akasa, which has the quality of sound (gunini). (This is a play on words.)
The Lord is beyond the guṇas of māyā (aguṇavān). Thus he is called the puruṣaḥ, he who controls māyā. The world is manifested by the guṇas of māyā. Paramātmā appears in the world (vyakte) made of material guṇas as the giver of consciousness, without guṇas (aguṇavān), just as the rainbow appears in the sky without its string (nirguṇam). Or the Lord appears in the world with his qualities like mercy (guṇa-vyatikare). Or the Lord who is without the qualities of the jīva (aguṇavaṇ) since he is Brahman manifests through acts like hearing about the Lord (guṇa-vyaktikare). Or Kṛṣṇa manifests in Vṛndāvana, his famous place (vyakte) in which there is a mixture of spiritual qualities (guṇa-vyatikare).
The rainbow appears in the cloud-thundering sky without a string — a bow with no string is Kṛṣṇa's signature. He enters guṇa-vyatikara as the rainbow enters the cloud: present, visible, untouched by the materials He uses. Mādhurya-yet-aiśvarya is the rainbow.
When Rāma broke Śiva's bow in the svayaṁvara hall (Bālakāṇḍa) and later strung the Kodaṇḍa for Khara's army, His weapons obeyed Him without being part of Him. The Bhāgavatam's rainbow image is the cosmic version — a bow that does not need a string because the Lord whose emblem it is needs no support.
Gauḍīyas read SB 10.20.18 as a quiet teaching about avatāra: Kṛṣṇa uses guṇa as Rāma uses bow, without becoming what He uses.
My note
Source: vedabase.io