1070
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 3, Ch. 26]
exhibit themselves in different stages of life? The answer is given here: they are under the spell of the three modes of material nature. Because they were created by the material energy, their bodies are made of the material elements. Covered by the material body, the spiritual identity is lost, and therefore the word  mumuhe  is used here, indicating that they have forgotten their own spiritual identity. This forgetfulness of spiritual identity is present in the  jīvas , the conditioned souls who are subject to be covered by the energy of material nature.  Jñāna-gūhayā  is another word used.  Gūha  means covering. Because the knowledge of the minute conditioned souls is covered, they are exhibited in so many species of life. It is said in the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam , Seventh Chapter, First Canto, “The living entities are illusioned by the material energy.” In the  Vedas  also it is stated that the eternal living entities are covered by different modes and that they are called tri-colored—red, white and blue—living entities. Red is the representation of the mode of passion, white is the representation of the mode of goodness, and blue is the representation of the mode of ignorance. These modes of material nature belong to the material energy, and therefore the living entities under these different modes of material nature have different kinds of material bodies. Because they are forgetful of their spiritual identities, they think the material bodies to be themselves. To the conditioned soul, “me” means the material body. This is called  moha , or bewilderment.
It is repeatedly said in the  Kaṭha Upaniṣad  that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is never affected by the influence of material nature. It is, rather, the conditioned souls or the minute infinitesimal parts and parcels of the Supreme who are affected by the influence of material nature and who appear in different bodies under the material modes.
TEXT 6
एवं पराभिष्यानेन कर्तृत्वं प्रकृतेः पुमान् । कर्मसु क्रियमाणेषु गुणैरात्मनि मन्यते ॥ ६ ॥
evam parābhidhyānena kartṛtvam prakṛteḥ pumān karmasu kriyamāṇeṣu guṇair ātmani manyate
evam—in this way; para—other; abhidhyānena—by identification; kartṛtvam—the doing of activities; prakṛteḥ—of the material nature; pumān