Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.20.6
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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karuṇāḥ
—
merciful ones
Plural, applied to the clouds. Karuṇā in Gauḍīya theology is the dominant flavor of Mahāprabhu Himself — Vaiṣṇavas are characterized as para-duḥkha-duḥkhī (pained by others' pain). The verse extends this characterization to weather.
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jīvanam
—
life, that which sustains life
Water as jīvana — the substance that lets jīvas live. The same word used for Kṛṣṇa Himself in many places (cf. SB 10.14.58 — samāśritā ye padapallava-plavaṁ). What sustains creatures is, in the end, His mercy in some form.
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prīṇanam
—
for the pleasure of
From √prī — to please. Clouds release water for the satisfaction of beings. Gauḍīyas read this as the structural logic of all sevā: action performed for another's prīti, not one's own.
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mahā-meghāḥ
—
great clouds
Compound: mahā + megha. Megha is one of Kṛṣṇa's standing epithets through the cloud's colour, and 'great cloud' is also a synonym for greatly merciful soul (mahā-bhāgavata).
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mumucuḥ
—
they released
Aorist of √muc — to release, to free. The same root as mokṣa. The clouds 'liberate' their water; Bhagavān liberates His mercy. In Gauḍīya usage the metaphor is precise: kṛpā is always a release downward.
Just as great, compassionate personalities sometimes give their lives or wealth for the happiness of society, the rain clouds poured down their rain upon the parched earth. Although the clouds were thus dissipated, they freely provided rainfall for the happiness of the earth. In Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Prabhupāda comments as follows on this verse: “During the rainy season, there are strong winds blustering all over the country and carrying clouds from one place to another to distribute water. When water is urgently needed after the summer season, the clouds are just like a rich man who, in times of need, distributes his money even by exhausting his whole treasury. So the clouds exhaust themselves by distributing water all over the surface of the globe. “When Mahārāja Daśaratha, the father of Lord Rāmacandra, used to fight with his enemies, it was said that he approached them just like a farmer uprooting unnecessary plants and trees. And when there was need of giving charity, he used to distribute money exactly as the cloud distributes rain. The distribution of rain by clouds is so sumptuous that it is compared to the distribution of wealth by a great, munificent person. The clouds' downpour is so sufficient that the rains even fall on rocks and hills and on the oceans and seas where there is no need for water. It is like a charitable person who opens his treasury for distribution and who does not discriminate whether the charity is needed or not. He gives in charity openhandedly.” Metaphorically speaking, the lightning in rain clouds is the light by which they see the distressed condition of the earth, and the blowing winds are their heavy breathing, such as that found in a distressed person. Distressed to see the condition of the earth, the clouds tremble in the wind like a compassionate person. Thus they pour down their rain.
The clouds agitated by the winds(svasana) released water (jivanam-life) on the earth. The clouds are compared to merciful benefactors (karuna). As clouds are agitated (vepitah) by the wind, the merciful person is moved by the suffering of the people. Seeing the suffering of others, those merciful persons such as Rantideva give up (mumucuh) their life (jivanam), or the water that keeps them alive and give it others. This is how the merciful person is compared with the cloud.
Karuṇā indicates natural compassion. The huge clouds with lightning were shaking because of feelings of compassion that arose at that time. The clouds released water just as merciful persons give up even their lives for the welfare of others. The clouds were shaken by many fierce winds. Hi means certainly. Or, by the lightning revealing the clouds is like the merciful revealing their true nature. Another meaning is suggested. Trembling with heavy breath, like Rantideva, they gave water which was a cause of life.
Śrīdhara Svāmī explains the verse. The shaking and heavy breathing indicates natural symptoms of the living entity. Or the shaking indicate sāttvika-bhāva arising from compassion. Hi indicates certainty or reason. The compassionate people give their lives because they have affection (prīṇanam).
Clouds, beaten by the wind, give up their bodies of water for the sake of every thirsty being — the verse names this karuṇā, mercy. Gauḍīyas extend the image: Kṛṣṇa as the cloud-coloured Lord pours Himself out as nāma, rūpa, līlā, dhāma at every kṛpā-shower. The most natural posture of Bhagavān toward the suffering jīva is to dissolve into rain.
When Haridāsa was dragged through twenty-two market-places and beaten at each, he prayed for the punishers — that they not be touched by sin. Like the cloud shaken by fierce winds, he poured out blessing precisely under the strike.
Mahāprabhu wept when He heard the story and embraced him. Gauḍīyas read Haridāsa's body as a meghaśyāma cloud in human form — wind-tossed, life-given-for-others, karuṇā as substance.
My note
Source: vedabase.io