Devanagari
प्रकृतिर्गुणसाम्यं वै प्रकृतेर्नात्मनो गुणा: ।
सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति स्थित्युत्पत्त्यन्तहेतव: ॥ १२ ॥
Verse text
prakṛtir guṇa-sāmyaṁ vai
prakṛter nātmano guṇāḥ
sattvaṁ rajas tama iti
sthity-utpatty-anta-hetavaḥ
Synonyms
prakṛtiḥ
—
material nature
;
guṇa
—
of the three modes
;
sāmyam
—
the original equilibrium
;
vai
—
indeed
;
prakṛteḥ
—
of nature
;
na ātmanaḥ
—
not of the spirit soul
;
guṇāḥ
—
these modes
;
sattvam
—
goodness
;
rajaḥ
—
passion
;
tamaḥ
—
ignorance
;
iti
—
thus called
;
sthiti
—
of the maintenance of universal creation
;
utpatti
—
its production
;
anta
—
and its annihilation
;
hetavaḥ
—
the causes .
Translation
Nature exists originally as the equilibrium of the three material modes, which pertain only to nature, not to the transcendental spirit soul. These modes — goodness, passion and ignorance — are the effective causes of the creation, maintenance and destruction of this universe.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Prakṛti is the equilibrium of the guṇas. The guṇas belong to prakṛti, not the jīva. These modes—goodness, passion and ignorance—are the causes of the creation, maintenance and destruction of this universe, and thus cannot inhere in the eternal jīva.
“But it is well known that jṣāna is the nature of the jīva. Why do you say that it arises from the guṇas of prakṛti? The jīva performs action and has ignorance. The knowledge, action and ignorance belong to the jīva, not to prakṛti or to the Lord. These items should be included in the jīva. Otherwise the number of elements will increase.”
Prakṛti is the equilibrium of the guṇas. The guṇas belong to prakṛti, not to the jīva. These guṇas are the cause of creation, maintenance and destruction. It would be contradictory to say that the jīva is the shelter of creation and destruction.
Purport
In
Bhagavad-gītā
(3.27)
it is stated:
prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni
guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā
kartāham iti manyate
“The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.”
The three modes of nature, in their original state of equilibrium, as well as the subsequent creation generated from the modes, are vastly more powerful than the tiny living entity who is controlled by them. The living entity thus cannot be accepted as the actual doer or creator within the material world. The mode of goodness is symptomized by the experience of knowledge, the mode of passion by the experience of work, and the mode of ignorance by the experience of darkness. These modes of material knowledge, work and darkness have no real relation with the transcendental spirit soul, who exhibits his own qualities of eternality, bliss and knowledge (the
sandhinī, saṁvit
and
hlādinī
potencies of the Supreme Lord). The material modes have no access within the kingdom of God, in the unbounded atmosphere of which the eternal living entity is meant to live.