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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.49.27

తథాపి సూనృతా సౌమ్య హృది న స్థీయతే చలే । పుత్రానురాగవిషమే విద్యుత్ సౌదామనీ యథా ॥ ౨౭ ॥
tathāpi sūnṛtā saumya
[tathaapi soonritaa saumya]
hṛdi na sthīyate cale
[hridi na stheeyate chale]
putrānurāga-viṣame
[putraanuraaga-vishame]
vidyut saudāmanī yathā
[vidyut saudaamanee yathaa]
tathā api — nevertheless sūnṛtā — pleasing words saumya — O gentle one hṛdi — in my heart na sthīyate — do not remain steady cale — which is unsteady putra — for my sons anurāga — by affection viṣame — prejudiced vidyut — lightning saudāmanī — in a cloud yathā — as .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
tathāpi sūnṛtā saumya
tathā api
nevertheless
sūnṛtā
pleasing words
saumya
O gentle one
hṛdi na sthīyate cale
hṛdi
in my heart
na sthīyate
do not remain steady
cale
which is unsteady
putrānurāga-viṣame
putra
for my sons
anurāga
by affection
viṣame
prejudiced
vidyut saudāmanī yathā
vidyut
lightning
saudāmanī
in a cloud
yathā
as .
  • sūnṛtā — pleasing and true words
    Vedic compound — words that are both sweet and truthful (a Ṛgveda virtue). Akrūra's speech is sūnṛtā in the technical sense, hence the more painful that Dhṛtarāṣṭra cannot retain it.
  • hṛdi na sthīyate — do not remain steady in my heart
    Locative + passive — 'in the heart there is no standing.' The Bhāgavata's most poignant Sanskrit for the bhakta-failure mode: hearing without keeping. Pre-figures the diagnostic conversations Vidura will have with him.
  • putra-anurāga-viṣame — prejudiced by affection for sons
    Triple compound: putra + anurāga (deep attachment) + viṣama (uneven). The exact opposite of sama (18, 19, 25). His own diagnosis exactly matches Akrūra's.
  • vidyut saudāmanī — lightning in a cloud
    Vidyut (lightning) + saudāmanī (born of clouds). A doubled image — the same flash, named twice. The verse insists the brilliance is real and the impermanence is also real; both must be held together.
Even so, gentle Akrūra, because my unsteady heart is prejudiced by affection for my sons, these pleasing words of yours cannot remain fixed there, just as lightning cannot remain fixed in a cloud.
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Even so, gentle Akrūra, because my unsteady heart is prejudiced by affection for my sons, these pleasing words of yours cannot remain fixed there, just as lightning cannot remain fixed in a cloud.
Commentary

"These pleasing words (su nrta) do not remain fixed in my fickle heart. They are unsteady like fickle lightning in a fickle cloud." Sudama means cloud and saudamani means that which is born from the cloud, lightning.

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

Your true words do not remain fixed in my mind since my mind is fickle (cale) because of unequal affection for my sons. Sudāma means a cloud. My heard is fickle like lighting in a cloud. O Akrūra with peaceful nature (saumya)! You should not be angry with me since you have good nature. However, this is said with deceptive intent.

Related values
Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Kshama (Forgiveness / Patience)Atma Nigraha (Self-control)
Related verses

Auspicious words land on his heart the way lightning lands on a passing cloud — bright for a moment, gone the next, the cloud already moving with its own wind. Dhṛtarāṣṭra confesses the simile against himself. He sees and still cannot hold.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra's late awakening

Mahābhārata Strī-parva and Āśrama-vāsika-parva narrate the king's final years: after Kurukṣetra he renounces the throne, retires to the forest, and dies in a wildfire while doing austerities. The repentance comes — but only after the fire he failed to prevent has consumed his hundred sons.

Gauḍīyas read this verse as the seed-moment of that late awakening: he already knows the diagnosis here in chapter 49, decades before he acts on it. The Bhāgavata is precise — sin is rarely ignorance; more often it is unsteadiness.

📝 My note

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