Text 4] Fundamental Principles of Material Nature 1067

yadrcechaya—of His own will;iva—quite; upagatam—obtained ;abh yapadyata
—He accepted; lilaya—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 Visnu.

PURPORT

In this verse the word gunamayim is very significant. Daivim means
“the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead,” and gunamayim
means “invested with the three modes of material nature.” When the
material energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears, this
gunamayim 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-gita 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 maya cannot
cover the Supreme Lord, who is beyond maya, the material energy covers
the ordinary living entities. Those conditioned souls who are covered are
individual living entities, and He from whose energy mayéd is created is the
Supreme Personality of Godhead.

In another place in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, in the First Canto, Seventh
Chapter, it is stated that by his spiritual vision Vyasadeva 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 com-
parison 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
