1068 Srimad-Bhagavatam [ 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 Ee 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, mainte-
nance and dissolution. But the conditioned soul is covered; he cannot
understand that beyond this material energy there is the Supreme Person-
ality 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

gosta: aardt wen: THs Tat: |
fasieq gye aa: @ Re MATA WI

gunair vicitrah srjatim
saripah prakrtim prajah

vilokya mumuhe sadyah
sa tha jiidna-githaya

gunaih—by the threefold modes; vicitrah—variegated; srjatim—creating;
sa-ripah—with forms; prakrtim—material nature; prajah—living entities;
vilokya—having seen;mumuhe—was illusioned;sadyah—at once; sah—the
living entity; iha—in this world; jiana-githaya—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 prajah, 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-gita and other
Vedic literature. In Bhagavad-gita (7.12) it is very nicely explained that
although the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance are born of the
