Shloka 4
Sāṅkhya: Categories of the Absolute Truth and the Unfolding of Creation
Tattva-vicāra
स एष प्रकृतिं सूक्ष्मां दैवीं गुणमयीं विभु: । यदृच्छयैवोपगतामभ्यपद्यत लीलया ॥ ४ ॥
sa eṣa prakṛtiṁ sūkṣmāṁ daivīṁ guṇa-mayīṁ vibhuḥ yadṛcchayaivopagatām abhyapadyata līlayā
As His own līlā, the all-powerful Lord accepted the subtle, divine material nature—woven of the three guṇas and related to Viṣṇu—simply by His will.
In this verse the word guṇa-mayīm is very significant. Daivīm means “the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead,” and guṇa-mayīm means “invested with the three modes of material nature.” When the material energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears, this guṇa-mayīm energy acts as a manifestation of the energies of the three modes; it acts as a covering. The energy emanated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead manifests in two ways — as an emanation from the Supreme Lord and as a covering of the Lord’s face. In Bhagavad-gītā it is said that because the whole world is illusioned by the three modes of material nature, the common conditioned soul, being covered by such energy, cannot see the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The example of a cloud is very nicely given. All of a sudden there may appear a big cloud in the sky. This cloud is perceived in two ways. To the sun the cloud is a creation of its energy, but to the ordinary common man in the conditioned state, it is a covering to the eyes; because of the cloud, the sun cannot be seen. It is not that the sun is actually covered by the cloud; only the vision of the ordinary being is covered. Similarly, although māyā cannot cover the Supreme Lord, who is beyond māyā, the material energy covers the ordinary living entities. Those conditioned souls who are covered are individual living entities, and He from whose energy māyā is created is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
FAQs
This verse states that prakṛti is subtle and divine (the Lord’s potency) and is guṇa-mayī—made of the three modes—yet the Supreme Lord remains independent and engages with her only as His līlā.
Kapila emphasizes that the Supreme is never forced by matter; creation begins because the Lord freely relates with His energy, so the process is voluntary and playful (līlā), not a compulsion.
See material nature and its modes as energies under the Supreme, not as ultimate reality; cultivate devotion to rise beyond the guṇas rather than being controlled by them.