SB 11.13.1 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

श्रीभगवानुवाच सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणा बुद्धेर्न चात्मन: । सत्त्वेनान्यतमौ हन्यात् सत्त्वं सत्त्वेन चैव हि ॥ १ ॥

Verse text

śrī-bhagavān uvāca sattvaṁ rajas tama iti guṇā buddher na cātmanaḥ sattvenānyatamau hanyāt sattvaṁ sattvena caiva hi

Synonyms

śrī — bhagavān uvāca — the Supreme Personality of Godhead said ; sattvam — goodness ; rajaḥ — passion ; tamaḥ — ignorance ; iti — thus known ; guṇāḥ — the modes of material nature ; buddheḥ — pertain to material intelligence ; na — not ; ca — also ; ātmanaḥ — to the soul ; sattvena — by the material mode of goodness ; anyatamau — the other two (passion and ignorance) ; hanyāt — may be destroyed ; sattvam — the material mode of goodness ; sattvena — by purified goodness ; ca — also (may be destroyed) ; eva — certainly ; hi — indeed .

Translation

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: The three modes of material nature, namely goodness, passion and ignorance, pertain to material intelligence and not to the spirit soul. By development of material goodness one can conquer the modes of passion and ignorance, and by cultivation of transcendental goodness one may free oneself even from material goodness.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The Supreme Lord said: The three modes of material nature, namely goodness, passion and ignorance, pertain to material intelligence and not to the spirit soul. By development of material goodness one can conquer the modes of passion and ignorance, and by the condition of cessation one may free oneself even from material goodness. In the Thirteenth Chapter the Lord speaks of the method of removing material contamination from the heart by meditation on the Lord, in order to become free from the material world, through the story related to Haṁsa and the Kumāras. The Lord mentioned destroying saṁsāra by the axe of knowledge. The method of producing knowledge is now described in seven verses. The guṇas do not belong to the jīva. They belong to the intelligence. The binding guṇas of ignorance must be destroyed. The rajas and tamas portions are destroyed by sattva. Sattva, with truth and compassion, is destroyed by the condition of cessation (sattvena).

Purport

Goodness in the material world never exists in a pure form. Therefore, it is common knowledge that on the material platform no one is working without personal motivation. In the material world goodness is always mixed with some amount of passion and ignorance, whereas spiritual, or purified, goodness ( viśuddha-sattva ) represents the liberated platform of perfection. Materially, one is proud to be an honest, compassionate man, but unless one is fully Kṛṣṇa conscious one will speak truths that are not ultimately significant, and one will give mercy that is ultimately useless. Because the onward march of material time removes all situations and persons from the material stage, our so-called mercy and truth apply to situations that shortly will not exist. Real truth is eternal, and real mercy means to situate people in eternal truth. Still, for an ordinary person, cultivation of material goodness may be a preliminary stage on the road to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. For example, it is stated in the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that one who is addicted to meat-eating cannot understand the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa. By cultivation of the material mode of goodness, however, one may become a vegetarian and perhaps come to appreciate the sublime process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Since it is clearly stated in Bhagavad-gītā that the material modes of nature constantly rotate, one must take advantage of an elevated position in material goodness to step onto the transcendental platform. Otherwise, as the wheel of time turns one will again go into the darkness of material ignorance.