16
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 7, Ch. 1]
to various coverings in different proportions. Thus one can understand how far he has advanced in terms of  sattva-guṇa  and how much he is covered by  rajo-guṇa  and  tamo-guṇa .
TEXT 10
यदा सिमृभुः पुर आत्मनः परो 
    रजः सृजत्येष पृथक् स्वमायया । 
    सच्चं विचित्रासु रिरंसुरीश्वरः 
    शयिष्यमाणस्तम ईरयत्यसौ ॥१०॥
yadā siṣṭkṣuḥ pura ātmanaḥ paro 
    rajaḥ srjaty eṣa pṛthak sva-māyayā 
    sattvam vicitrāsu riramsur īśvaraḥ 
    śayiṣyamāṇas tama īrayaty asau
yadā —when;  siṣṭkṣuḥ —desiring to create;  puraḥ —material bodies;  ātmanaḥ —for the living entities;  paraḥ —the Supreme Personality of Godhead;  rajaḥ —the mode of passion;  srjati —manifests;  eṣaḥ —He;  pṛthak —separately, predominantly;  sva-māyayā —by His own creative energy;  sattvam —the mode of goodness;  vicitrāsu —in various types of bodies;  riramsuḥ —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.