sa tvaá¹ tri-loka-sthitaye sva-mÄyayÄ
bibhará¹£i Å›uklaá¹ khalu varṇam Ätmanaḥ
sargÄya raktaá¹ rajasopabá¹›á¹hitaá¹
kṛṣṇaá¹ ca varṇaá¹ tamasÄ janÄtyaye
saḥ tvam - Your Lordship, who are the same person, the Transcendence; tri-loka-sthitaye - to maintain the three worlds, the upper, middle and lower planetary systems; sva-mÄyayÄ - by Your personal energy (Ätma-mÄyayÄ); bibhará¹£i - assume; Å›uklam - the white form of Viṣṇu in goodness; khalu - as well as; varṇam - color; Ätmanaḥ - of the same category as You (viṣṇu-tattva); sargÄya - for the creation of the entire world; raktam - the reddish color of rajo-guṇa; rajasÄ - with the quality of passion; upabá¹›á¹hitam - being charged; kṛṣṇam ca - and the quality of darkness; varṇam - the color; tamasÄ - which is surrounded by ignorance; jana-atyaye - for the ultimate destruction of the entire creation.
My Lord, Your form is transcendental to the three material modes, yet for the maintenance of the three worlds, You assume the white color of Viṣṇu in goodness; for creation, which is surrounded by the quality of passion, You appear reddish; and at the end, when there is a need for annihilation, which is surrounded by ignorance, You appear blackish.
Vasudeva prayed to the Lord, “You are called Å›uklam. Åšuklam, or ‘whiteness,’ is the symbolic representation of the Absolute Truth because it is unaffected by the material qualities. Lord BrahmÄ is called rakta, or red, because BrahmÄ represents the qualities of passion for creation. Darkness is entrusted to Lord Åšiva because he annihilates the cosmos. The creation, annihilation and maintenance of this cosmic manifestation are conducted by Your potencies, yet You are always unaffected by those qualities.†As confirmed in the Vedas, harir hi nirguṇaḥ sÄká¹£Ät: the Supreme Personality of Godhead is always free from all material qualities. It is also said that the qualities of passion and ignorance are nonexistent in the person of the Supreme Lord.
In this verse, the three colors mentioned — Å›ukla, rakta and kṛṣṇa — are not to be understood literally, in terms of what we experience with our senses, but rather as representatives of sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa. After all, sometimes we see that a duck is white, although it is in tamo-guṇa, the mode of ignorance. Illustrating the logic called bakÄndha-nyÄya, the duck is such a fool that it runs after the testicles of a bull, thinking them to be a hanging fish that can be taken when it drops. Thus the duck is always in darkness. VyÄsadeva, however, the compiler of the Vedic literature, is blackish, but this does not mean that he is in tamo-guṇa; rather, he is in the highest position of sattva-guṇa, beyond the material modes of nature. Sometimes these colors (Å›ukla-raktas tathÄ pÄ«taḥ) are used to designate the brÄhmaṇas, ká¹£atriyas, vaiÅ›yas and śūdras. Lord KṣīrodakaÅ›ÄyÄ« Viṣṇu is celebrated as possessing a blackish color, Lord Åšiva is whitish, and Lord BrahmÄ is reddish, but according to ÅšrÄ«la SanÄtana GosvÄmÄ« in the Vaiṣṇava-toá¹£aṇī-á¹Ä«kÄ, this exhibition of colors is not what is referred to here.
The real understanding of Å›ukla, rakta and kṛṣṇa is as follows. The Lord is always transcendental, but for the sake of creation He assumes the color rakta as Lord BrahmÄ. Again, sometimes the Lord becomes angry. As He says in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (16.19):
tÄn ahaá¹ dviá¹£ataḥ krÅ«rÄn
saá¹sÄreá¹£u narÄdhamÄn
ká¹£ipÄmy ajasram aÅ›ubhÄn
ÄsurÄ«á¹£v eva yoniá¹£u
“Those who are envious and mischievous, who are the lowest among men, are cast by Me into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac species of life.†To destroy the demons, the Lord becomes angry, and therefore He assumes the form of Lord Åšiva. In summary, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is always beyond the material qualities, and we should not be misled into thinking otherwise simply because of sense perception. One must understand the position of the Lord through the authorities, or mahÄjanas. As stated in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (1.3.28), ete cÄá¹Å›a-kalÄḥ puá¹saḥ kṛṣṇas tu bhagavÄn svayam.
