Srimad Bhagavatam — Dashama Skandha, Shloka 38
The Prayers of the Personified Vedas (Śruti-stuti) and the Indescribable Absolute
स यदजया त्वजामनुशयीत गुणांश्च जुषन् भजति सरूपतां तदनु मृत्युमपेतभग: । त्वमुत जहासि तामहिरिव त्वचमात्तभगो महसि महीयसेऽष्टगुणितेऽपरिमेयभग: ॥ ३८ ॥
sa yad ajayā tv ajām anuśayīta guṇāṁś ca juṣan bhajati sarūpatāṁ tad anu mṛtyum apeta-bhagaḥ tvam uta jahāsi tām ahir iva tvacam ātta-bhago mahasi mahīyase ’ṣṭa-guṇite ’parimeya-bhagaḥ
The illusory material nature attracts the minute living entity to embrace her, and as a result he assumes forms composed of her qualities. Subsequently, he loses all his spiritual qualities and must undergo repeated deaths. You, however, avoid the material energy in the same way that a snake abandons its old skin. Glorious in Your possession of eight mystic perfections, You enjoy unlimited opulences.
Although the jīva is pure spirit, qualitatively equal with the Supreme Lord, he is prone to being degraded by embracing the ignorance of material illusion. When he becomes entranced by the allurements of Māyā, he accepts bodies and senses that are designed to let him indulge in forgetfulness. Produced from the raw material of Māyā’s three modes — goodness, passion and nescience — these bodies envelop the spirit soul in varieties of unhappiness, culminating in death and rebirth.
FAQs
This verse explains that the jīva, following māyā and enjoying the guṇas, takes on corresponding material identities and continues in that conditioned course up to death.
To emphasize the Lord’s absolute transcendence: māyā controls conditioned beings, but the Supreme Lord can cast her off effortlessly and remains fully independent.
Recognize guṇa-driven impulses as māyā’s influence, reduce indulgence in them, and anchor life in bhakti—hearing, chanting, and remembering the Lord—so consciousness rises beyond material identification.