Devanagari
यदा सिसृक्षु: पुर आत्मन: परो
रज: सृजत्येष पृथक् स्वमायया ।
सत्त्वं विचित्रासु रिरंसुरीश्वर:
शयिष्यमाणस्तम ईरयत्यसौ ॥ १० ॥
Verse text
yadā sisṛkṣuḥ pura ātmanaḥ paro
rajaḥ sṛjaty eṣa pṛthak sva-māyayā
sattvaṁ vicitrāsu riraṁsur 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
;
riraṁsuḥ
—
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.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
When the Lord desires to create bodies of the jīva he manifests rajas by his energy. When he desires to have pastimes he manifests sattva. When he desires to destroy, he inspires tamas.
One should not worry that the Lord is dependent on the guṇas, even though, according to the guṇas, he is visible to various degrees. His creation of the guṇas takes place without effort. When the Lord desires to create bodies for enjoyment of the jīva (ātmanaḥ), he manifests rajas separately, which was previously situated in equilibrium. When he desires to enjoy in various bodies of the living entities—to protect the righteous, he manifests sattva separately. When he desires to destroy, he inspires tamas separately.
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.