1068
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 3, Ch. 26]
appearance of the material energy at a certain interval is accepted by the Lord. Although His material energy is utilized to create the material world, this does not mean that He is covered by that energy. Those who are covered by the material energy are called conditioned souls. The Lord accepts the material energy for His material pastimes in creation, maintenance and dissolution. But the conditioned soul is covered; he cannot understand that beyond this material energy there is the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is the cause of all causes, just as a less intelligent person cannot understand that beyond the covering of the clouds there is bright sunshine.
TEXT 5
गुणैर्विचित्राः सृजतीं सरूपाः प्रकृतिं प्रजाः । विलोक्य मुमुहे सद्यः स इह ज्ञानगूहया ॥ ५ ॥
guṇair vicitrāḥ srjatīm sarūpāḥ prakṛtim prajāḥ vilokya mumuhe sadyaḥ sa iha jñāna-gūhayā
guṇaiḥ —by the threefold modes;  vicitrāḥ —variegated;  srjatīm —creating;  sa-rūpāḥ —with forms;  prakṛtim —material nature;  prajāḥ —living entities;  vilokya —having seen;  mumuhe —was illusioned;  sadyaḥ —at once;  saḥ —the living entity;  iha —in this world;  jñāna-gūhayā —by the knowledge-covering feature.
TRANSLATION
Divided into varieties by her threefold modes, material nature creates the forms of the living entities, and the living entities, seeing this, are illusioned by the knowledge-covering feature of the illusory energy.
PURPORT
Material energy has the power to cover knowledge, but this covering cannot be applied to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. It is applicable only to the  prajāḥ , or those who are born with material bodies, the conditioned souls. The different kinds of living entities vary according to the modes of material nature, as explained in  Bhagavad-gītā  and other Vedic literature. In  Bhagavad-gītā  (7.12) it is very nicely explained that although the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance are born of the