Devanagari
सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति प्रकृतेर्गुणास्तै-
र्युक्त: पर: पुरुष एक इहास्य धत्ते ।
स्थित्यादये हरिविरिञ्चिहरेति संज्ञा:
श्रेयांसि तत्र खलु सत्त्वतनोर्नृणां स्यु: ॥ २३ ॥
Verse text
sattvaṁ rajas tama iti prakṛter guṇās tair
yuktaḥ paraḥ puruṣa eka ihāsya dhatte
sthity-ādaye hari-viriṣci-hareti saṁjṣāḥ
śreyāṁsi tatra khalu sattva-tanor nṛṇāṁ syuḥ
Synonyms
sattvam
—
goodness
;
rajaḥ
—
passion
;
tamaḥ
—
the darkness of ignorance
;
iti
—
thus
;
prakṛteḥ
—
of the material nature
;
guṇāḥ
—
qualities
;
taiḥ
—
by them
;
yuktaḥ
—
associated with
;
paraḥ
—
transcendental
;
puruṣaḥ
—
the personality
;
ekaḥ
—
one
;
iha asya
—
of this material world
;
dhatte
—
accepts
;
sthiti
—
ādaye — for the matter of creation, maintenance and destruction, etc.
;
hari
—
Viṣṇu, the Personality of Godhead
;
viriṣci
—
Brahmā
;
hara
—
Lord Śiva
;
iti
—
thus
;
saṁjṣāḥ
—
different features
;
śreyāṁsi
—
ultimate benefit
;
tatra
—
therein
;
khalu
—
of course
;
sattva
—
goodness
;
tanoḥ
—
form
;
nṛṇām
—
of the human being
;
syuḥ
—
derived .
Translation
The transcendental Personality of Godhead is indirectly associated with the three modes of material nature, namely passion, goodness and ignorance, and just for the material world’s creation, maintenance and destruction He accepts the three qualitative forms of Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva. Of these three, all human beings can derive ultimate benefit from Viṣṇu, the form of the quality of goodness.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The one supreme puruṣa, accepting the guṇas of prakṛti known as sattva, rajas and tamas, for creation, maintenance and destruction, is called Viṣṇu, Brahmā and Śiva. The best results for the devotees will come from Viṣṇu with śuddha-sattva body.
Purport
That Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, by His plenary parts, should be rendered devotional service, as explained above, is confirmed by this statement. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa and all His plenary parts are
viṣṇu-tattva,
or the Lordship of Godhead. From Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the next manifestation is Baladeva. From Baladeva is Saṅkarṣaṇa, from Saṅkarṣaṇa is Nārāyaṇa, from Nārāyaṇa there is the second Saṅkarṣaṇa, and from this Saṅkarṣaṇa the Viṣṇu
puruṣa-avatāras.
The Viṣṇu or the Deity of the quality of goodness in the material world is the
puruṣa-avatāra
known as Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu or Paramātmā. Brahmā is the deity of
rajas
(passion), and Śiva of ignorance. They are the three departmental heads of the three qualities of this material world. Creation is made possible by Brahmā’s quality of passion and his endeavor, it is maintained by the goodness of Viṣṇu, and when it requires to be destroyed, Lord Śiva does it by the
tāṇḍavanṛtya.
The materialists and the foolish human beings worship Brahmā and Śiva respectively. But the pure transcendentalists worship the form of goodness, Viṣṇu, in His various forms. Viṣṇu is manifested by His millions and billions of integrated forms and separated forms. The integrated forms are called Godhead, and the separated forms are called the living entities or the
jīvas.
Both the
jīvas
and Godhead have their original spiritual forms.
Jīvas
are sometimes subjected to the control of material energy, but the Viṣṇu forms are always controllers of this energy. When Viṣṇu, the Personality of Godhead, appears in the material world, He comes to deliver the conditioned living beings who are under the material energy. Such living beings appear in the material world with intentions of being lords, and thus they become entrapped by the three modes of nature. As such, the living entities have to change their material coverings for undergoing different terms of imprisonment. The prison house of the material world is created by Brahmā under instruction of the Personality of Godhead, and at the conclusion of a
kalpa
the whole thing is destroyed by Śiva. But as far as maintenance of the prison house is concerned, it is done by Viṣṇu, as much as the state prison house is maintained by the state. Anyone, therefore, who wishes to get out of this prison house of material existence, which is full of miseries like repetition of birth, death, disease and old age, must please Lord Viṣṇu for such liberation. Lord Viṣṇu is worshiped by devotional service only, and if anyone has to continue prison life in the material world, he may ask for relative facilities for temporary relief from the different demigods like Śiva, Brahmā, Indra and Varuṇa. No demigod, however, can release the imprisoned living being from the conditioned life of material existence. This can be done only by Viṣṇu. Therefore, the ultimate benefit may be derived from Viṣṇu, the Personality of Godhead.
Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
It has just been explained that one should perform bhakti alone rather than karma or jṣāna. Similarly one should worship Bhagavān alone, giving up worship of the devatās. That Lord, though one, appears in many forms as avatāra for pastimes. Thus the Tenth Canto says bahu-mūrty-eka-mūrtikam: he is one form and many forms. (SB 10.40.7) The avatāras are of two types: those which are related to the cit-śakti and those related to the māyā-śakti. Those which are related to the cit-śakti, such as Matsya and Kūrma are to be worshipped. Those which are related to the māyā-śakti, through sattva, rajas and tamas, are Viṣṇu, Brahmā and Śiva. Among them, Viṣṇu is to be worshipped. That is stated in this verse.
Even though there is only one puruṣa or ādi-puruṣa in this universe, for creation, maintenance and destruction (sthity-ādaye) of the universe (asya), the Lord, joined with sattva, rajas and tamas, accepts the names Viṣṇu, Brahmā and Śiva. The sandhi in hareti is poetic license. The Lord is described as parama (beyond) because though he is linked with the guṇas, by his inconceivable energy he is situated separately from them, untouched by them. Among those forms, Viṣṇu will bestow the desired results to the devotees (śreyāṁsi). Viṣṇu is addressed as sattva-tanoḥ. By seeing verse 25 in this chapter this can only mean that Viṣṇu possesses a body of viśuddha-sattva, not material sattva. Otherwise there would be a contradiction to other statements in śruti and smṛti :
Sākṣī cetā kevalo nirguṇaś ca
Viṣṇu is the one conscious witness, beyond the guṇas. Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.11
Sattvādayo na santīśe yatra ca prākṛtā gunā
In Viṣṇu there are no material guṇas. Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.9.44
Harir hi nirguṇaḥ sākṣāt puruṣaḥ prakṛteḥ paraḥ
Viṣṇu is devoid of the guṇas; he is the person beyond matter. SB 10.88.5
Though Viṣṇu is involved with the material sattva-guṇa, he is not at all contaminated by it. Viṣṇu would not take up a material body of sattva, since sattva has the qualities of revelation or knowledge and indifference to enjoyment. Sattva should not eclipse the spiritual manifestation of eternity, knowledge and bliss. Rajas is agitating and causes addition (creation); and tamas is obscuring and causes subtraction (destruction). Thus rajas and tamas will disturb and cover bliss. Thus Brahma and Śiva accept bodies of rajas and tamas because those guṇas eclipse bliss. They have bodies composed of guṇas, whereas Viṣṇu does not. This is the logical explanation.
Viṣṇu is without guṇas since by being the manifest form of sattva, he accepts proximity to sattva. Thus he carries the function of protecting the universe but does this with no contamination of the qualities of material sattva. One cannot say that his existence beyond the guṇas is negated by his participation in the world, because he does not possess material sattva by relationship of contact or inherence. He is situated in sattva only by being next to it. It should be understood however that his protection of the devotees does not arise from sattva but from śuddha-sattva of his svarūpa.
Brahmā is a jīva, since he is Hiraṇyagarbha (with a material body made of mahat-tattva). The distinction between the supreme brahman and Brahmā is based on the context of descriptions of Brahmā, just as the identity of brahman is confirmed the context. Netaro ’nupapatter: the supreme brahman is not a jīva by the context of the discussion in Upaniṣads. Only because of the powers conferred by the supreme Lord on Brahmā situated in rajas, he is considered an avatāra.
bhāsvān yathāśma-śakaleṣu nijeṣu tejaḥ
svīyam kiyat prakaṭayaty api tadvad atra |
brahmā ya eṣa jagad-aṇḍa-vidhāna-kartā
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi ||
I worship the supreme lord Govinda who becomes Brahmā, the creator of the universe (by bestowing his powers to that jīva), just as the sun displays a small portion of its powers of heat and light in all the sun stones which represent it. Brahma-saṁhitā 5.49
Because Śiva is not a jīva, he is considered to be the Supreme Lord associated with the guṇas. Thus it is said:
kṣīraṁ yathā dadhi vikāra-viśeṣa-yogāt
saṣjāyate na hi tataḥ pṛthag asti hetoḥ |
yaḥ śambhutām api tathā samupaiti kāryād
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi ||
I worship the supreme lord Govinda who becomes the form of Śiva who is said to be non-different from Govinda, but who is also different because of his contact with the transformations of prakṛti, just as milk becomes yogurt, which can be said to be non-different from its cause, but acts in a different manner. Brahma-saṁhitā 5.45
Some say that, of Brahmā and Śiva, Śiva is īśvara or the supreme lord. Others say that he is connected with the guṇas. They explain as follows. It should be understood that yoga means connection by proximity, by contact and by supervision. The puruṣa, connected with the guṇas only as the supervisor, is devoid of guṇas, being situated in his svarūpa. Brahmā and Śiva however are connected to rajas and tamas by contact, and therefore called sa-guṇa, endowed with the guṇas. [Note: Rūpa Gosvāmī explains in Laghu-bhāgavatamṛta that Śiva appears to be covered by tamas, but actually is not. ] Being related to sattva-guṇa only by proximity, the puruṣa in the form of Kśīrodakaśāyī-viṣṇu is devoid of guṇas, being situated in his svarūpa. Thus it is said:
yogo niyāmakatayā guṇaiḥ sambandha ucyate |
ataḥ sa tair na yujyate tatra svāṁśaḥ parasya yaḥ ||
The relationship of the puruṣa with the guṇas is that of being their controller. Among the three, he who is the svāṁśa of svayaṁ-rūpa Kṛṣṇa, is not bound by the guṇas. Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta 1.2.18