Devanagari
सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति दृश्यन्ते पुरुषे गुणा: ।
कालसञ्चोदितास्ते वै परिवर्तन्त आत्मनि ॥ २६ ॥
Verse text
sattvaṁ rajas tama iti
dṛśyante puruṣe guṇāḥ
kāla-saṣcoditās te vai
parivartanta ātmani
Synonyms
sattvam
—
goodness
;
rajaḥ
—
passion
;
tamaḥ
—
ignorance
;
iti
—
thus
;
dṛśyante
—
are seen
;
puruṣe
—
in a person
;
guṇāḥ
—
the modes of material nature
;
kāla
—
saṣcoditāḥ — impelled by time
;
te
—
they
;
vai
—
indeed
;
parivartante
—
undergo permutation
;
ātmani
—
within the mind .
Translation
The material modes — goodness, passion and ignorance — whose permutations are observed within a person’s mind, are set into motion by the power of time.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
All the material modes—goodness, passion and ignorance—are observed within a single person, though he may be prominently of one mode. They are set into motion in the antaḥkaraṇa by the power of time.
Just as planets like the sun have major periods (dāśa) and within that period there are minor periods (antar-dāśa) of the other planets, so in any particular yuga, the qualities of all four yugas periodically manifest. Thus, even in Kali-yuga, from time to time there is not a decrease in dharma. This is seen in a single person as well. In the antaḥkaraṇa (ātmani) of a single person all the modes come and go periodically.
Purport
The four ages described in these verses are manifestations of various modes of material nature. The age of truth, Satya-yuga, manifests the predominance of material goodness, and Kali-yuga manifests the predominance of ignorance. According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, within each age the other three ages occasionally manifest as sub-ages. Thus even within Satya-yuga a demon in the mode of ignorance may appear, and within the Age of Kali the highest religious principles may flourish for some time. As described in
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
the three modes of nature are present everywhere and in everything, but the predominant mode, or combination of modes, determines the general character of any material phenomenon. In each age, therefore, the three modes are present in varying proportions. The particular age represented by goodness (Satya), passion (Tretā), passion and ignorance (Dvāpara) or ignorance (Kali) exists within each of the other ages as a subfactor.