Text 4]
Fundamental Principles of Material Nature
1067
yadṛcchayā —of His own will;  iva —quite;  upagatām —obtained;  abhyapadyata —He accepted;  līlayā —as His pastime.
TRANSLATION
As His pastime, that Supreme Personality of Godhead, the greatest of the great, accepted the subtle material energy, which is invested with three material modes of nature and which is related with Viṣṇu.
PURPORT
In this verse the word  guṇamayīm  is very significant.  Daivīm  means “the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead,” and  guṇamayīm  means “invested with the three modes of material nature.” When the material energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears, this  guṇamayīm  energy acts as a manifestation of the energies of the three modes; it acts as a covering. The energy emanated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead manifests in two ways—as an emanation from the Supreme Lord and as a covering of the Lord’s face. In  Bhagavad-gītā  it is said that the whole world is illusioned by the three modes of material nature, and thus the common conditioned soul, being covered by such energy, cannot see the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The example of a cloud is very nicely given. All of a sudden there may appear a big cloud in the sky. This cloud is perceived in two ways. To the sun the cloud is a creation of its energy, but to the ordinary common man in the conditioned state, it is a covering to the eyes; because of the cloud, the sun cannot be seen. It is not that the sun is actually covered by the cloud; only the vision of the ordinary being is covered. Similarly, although  māyā  cannot cover the Supreme Lord, who is beyond  māyā , the material energy covers the ordinary living entities. Those conditioned souls who are covered are individual living entities, and He from whose energy  māyā  is created is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
In another place in the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , in the First Canto, Seventh Chapter, it is stated that by his spiritual vision Vyāsadeva saw the Supreme Lord and the material energy standing behind Him. This indicates that material energy cannot cover the Lord, just as darkness cannot cover the sun. Darkness can cover a jurisdiction which is very insignificant in comparison to that of the sun. Darkness can cover a small cave, but not the open sky. Similarly, the covering capacity of the material energy is limited and cannot act on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is therefore called  vibhu . As the appearance of a cloud is accepted by the sun, so the