Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.20.43
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
-
śabda-brahma-artha-darśanam
—
direct vision of the meaning of the Vedic śabda
Long compound: śabda (sacred sound) + brahma (the Absolute as word) + artha (meaning) + darśana (vision). Gauḍīyas insist: the artha of śabda-brahma is sākṣād Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa (cf. SB 1.2.11).
-
sattva-yuktam
—
endowed with sattva
Compound: sattva + yukta (joined). In Gauḍīya theology, śuddha-sattva is the substance of bhakti — distinct from material sattva-guṇa. The verse describes either; bhakti reaches the higher kind.
-
vimala-tārakam
—
with clear-visible stars
Compound: vimala (clean) + tāraka (star). Stars become visible only when clouds and dust are gone. Gauḍīyas note: the stars (śāstras, ācāryas, mantras) are always there; only the obscuration changes.
-
kham
—
the sky
Kha — sky, space. Also the inner space of the heart in Upaniṣadic usage (cf. Chāndogya 8.1). The verse plays on the outer-inner resonance.
-
nirmegham
—
cloudless
Nir + megha. Without clouds. The exact reversal of v. 4. The chapter's arc is the sky's arc: covered by clouds (saguṇa) → cleared (nirmegha) → autumn light fully revealed.
The clear and starry autumn sky can also be compared to the pure heart of the devotee. The spiritual nature is always brilliant, clean and blissful, and this spiritual nature, called vaikuṇṭha, immediately satisfies all the desires of the soul. This is the secret of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
As the heart endowed with knowledge (darsanam) from the conclusion of the Vedas (sabda brahmartham), endowed with excellence (sattva yuktam) shines brightly, so the moon in the sky with the stars , free from clouds, shines bright. The sky is compared to the heart, the freedom from clouds is compared to excellence. The autumn season is compared to the Vedas. The stars are compared to niskama karma, jnana and tapayoga. The moon, the chief of the stars, is compared to bhakti. This is a positive comparison.
The sky is compared to the heart. The absence of clouds is compared to sattva-guṇa, without the influence of rajas and tamas, which are compared to clouds. The autumn is compared to śabda-brahma. Mention of stars includes the moon, which is the chief luminary in the night. It is said naksātreśaḥ kṣapākaraḥ: the moon is the chief star. The moon is compared to knowledge of the Lord. The stars are compared to other persons.
Clouds stand for coverings of rajas and tamas. Without the covering, sattva manifests. Tārakam can mean “that which delivers the people from darkness.” Thus the autumn night moon in the sky delivered the gopīs from pain of separation or from saṁsāra by manifesting brightness to initiate the rāsa dance. In the autumn the moon by nature is bright (vimala), since the clouds representing rajas and tamas have disappeared. It is filled with sattva-guṇa by the brightness. The heart endowed with sattva shines with a direct manifestation (darśanam) of Kṛṣṇa, the bright moon, who is the meaning of the Vedas (śabda-brahmārtham) by direct or indirect indications.
The cloudless autumn sky, full of stars, shines brilliantly — like the consciousness of one who has directly seen the artha of śabda-brahman. Gauḍīyas read the verse with care: śabda-brahman is not generic 'sound-Absolute' but specifically the Vedic word that resolves into Kṛṣṇa-darśana. The clear sky is the heart in which Bhagavān has become visible.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī, sixteen years old and unconcerned with clothing, sat on the bank of the Ganges and spoke the Bhāgavatam for seven days. His consciousness was the autumn-sky of this verse — sattva-yukta, cloudless, star-thick with kṛṣṇa-kathā.
Gauḍīyas treat Śuka as the verse's living commentary. He saw the artha of every śabda. The autumn sky he describes here was, in him, internal weather.
My note
Source: vedabase.io