sÄndra-nÄ«lÄmbudair vyoma
sa-vidyut-stanayitnubhiḥ
aspaá¹£á¹a-jyotir Äcchannaá¹
brahmeva sa-guṇaṠbabhau
sÄndra - dense; nÄ«la - blue; ambudaiḥ - by the clouds; vyoma - the sky; sa-vidyut - along with lightning; stanayitnubhiḥ - and thunder; aspaá¹£á¹a - diffuse; jyotiḥ - its illumination; Äcchannam - covered; brahma - the spirit soul; iva - as if; sa-guṇam - with the material qualities of nature; babhau - was manifest.
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.
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.
