Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.20.4

sāndra-nīlāmbudair vyoma

sa-vidyut-stanayitnubhiḥ

aspaṣṭa-jyotir ācchannaḿ

brahmeva sa-guṇaḿ babhau

SYNONYMS

sāndra — dense; nīla — blue; ambudaiḥ — by the clouds; vyoma — the sky; sa-vidyut — along with lightning; stanayitnubhiḥ — and thunder; aspaṣṭa — diffuse; jyotiḥ — its illumination; ācchannam — covered; brahma — the spirit soul; iva — as if; sa-guṇam — with the material qualities of nature; babhau — was manifest.

TRANSLATION

The sky was then covered by dense blue clouds accompanied by lightning and thunder. Thus the sky and its natural illumination were covered in the same way that the spirit soul is covered by the three modes of material nature.

PURPORT

Lightning is compared to the mode of goodness, thunder to the mode of passion, and clouds to the mode of ignorance. Thus the cloudy sky at the onset of the rainy season is analogous to the pure spirit soul when he becomes disturbed by the modes of nature, for at that time he is covered and his original brilliant nature is only dimly reflected through the haze of the material qualities.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari