Srimad Bhagavatam Canto 7 Chapter 1 Verse 10

Canto 7: The Science of God | Chapter 1: The Supreme Lord Is Equal to Everyone

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.1.10

yadā sisṛkṣuḥ pura ātmanaḥ paro

rajaḥ sṛjaty eṣa pṛthak sva-māyayā

sattvaḿ vicitrāsu riraḿsur īśvaraḥ

śayiṣyamāṇas tama īrayaty asau

SYNONYMS

yadā — when; sisṛkṣuḥ — desiring to create; puraḥ — material bodies; ātmanaḥ — for the living entities; paraḥ — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; rajaḥ — the mode of passion; sṛjati — manifests; eṣaḥ — He; pṛthak — separately, predominantly; sva-māyayā — by His own creative energy; sattvam — the mode of goodness; vicitrāsu — in various types of bodies; riraḿsuḥ — desiring to act; īśvaraḥ — the Personality of Godhead; śayiṣyamāṇaḥ — being about to conclude; tamaḥ — the mode of ignorance; īrayati — causes to rise; asau — that Supreme.

TRANSLATION

When the Supreme Personality of Godhead creates different types of bodies, offering a particular body to each living entity according to his character and fruitive actions, the Lord revives all the qualities of material nature — sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa. Then, as the Supersoul, He enters each body and influences the qualities of creation, maintenance and annihilation, using sattva-guṇa for maintenance, rajo-guṇa for creation and tamo-guṇa for annihilation.

PURPORT

Although material nature is conducted by the three qualities — sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa — nature is not independent. As the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (9.10):

mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ

sūyate sa-carācaram

hetunānena kaunteya

jagad viparivartate

"This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again." The different changes in the material world take place as actions and reactions of the three guṇas, but above the three guṇas is their director, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the various types of bodies given to the living entities by material nature (yantrārūḍhāni māyayā), either sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa or tamo-guṇa is prominent. The body is produced by material nature according to the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore it is said here, yadā sisṛkṣuḥ pura ātmanaḥ paraḥ, indicating that the body is certainly created by the Lord. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa: according to the karma of the living entity, a body is prepared under the Supreme Lord's supervision. Whether the body is of sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa or tamo-guṇa, everything is done by the direction of the Supreme Lord through the agency of the external energy (pṛthak sva-māyayā). In this way, in different types of bodies, the Lord (īśvara) gives directions as Paramātmā, and again, to destroy the body, He employs the tamo-guṇa. This is the way the living entities receive different types of bodies.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness