sattvaá¹ rajas tama iti
bhajate nirguṇo guṇÄn
krÄ«á¸ann atÄ«to 'pi guṇaiḥ
sṛjaty avan hanty ajaḥ
sattvam - goodness; rajaḥ - passion; tamaḥ - and ignorance; iti - thus called; bhajate - He accepts; nirguṇaḥ - beyond the material modes; guṇÄn - the modes; krÄ«á¸an - playing; atÄ«taḥ - transcendental; api - although; guṇaiḥ - using the modes; sá¹›jati - He creates; avati - maintains; hanti - and destroys; ajaḥ - the unborn Lord.
Although beyond the three modes of material nature — goodness, passion and ignorance — the transcendental Lord accepts association with them as His play. Thus the unborn Supreme Lord utilizes the material modes to create, maintain and destroy.
As stated in the Brahma-sÅ«tra (2.1.33), loka-vat lÄ«lÄ-kaivalyam: “The Lord performs His spiritual pastimes as if He were a resident of this world.â€
Although the Lord does not favor or abuse anyone, we still observe happiness and suffering in this world. The GÄ«tÄ (13.22) states, kÄraṇaá¹ guṇa-saá¹…go ’sya: We desire to associate with various qualities of material nature, and thus we must accept the consequences. The Lord provides the field of material nature, in which we exercise our free will. Foolish nondevotees not only attempt to cheat the Lord by trying to exploit His nature, but when they suffer the reaction they blame God for their own misdeeds. This is the shameless position of those who are envious of God.
