Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.24.22
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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sattvam
—
the mode of goodness
From √as — being, sustenance. Associated with maintenance. Gauḍīya frame: sattva is the mode closest to bhakti's threshold but is not itself bhakti; one must rise to śuddha-sattva — pure goodness untouched by rajas and tamas — which is Bhagavān's own nature.
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rajaḥ
—
the mode of passion
From √rañj — to colour, to attach. Rajas is the active mode that creates and varies. Kṛṣṇa names it as the cause of the very rain Nanda credits to Indra — relocating causation one floor down (or up, depending on how one looks).
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tamaḥ
—
the mode of ignorance
From √tam — to be obscured. The destroyer mode. Verse pattern: stiti (sattva), utpatti (rajas), anta (tamas) — yet Kṛṣṇa lists them sattvam-rajaḥ-tamaḥ, the canonical order, before assigning functions.
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hetavaḥ
—
causes
Nominative plural of hetu. The three guṇas are named hetus — the categorical answer to verse 8's parjanyo bhagavān indraḥ. The verse implicitly demotes Indra from cause to functionary moved by rajas.
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vividham
—
manifold, varied
From vi + √vid — variously found. Rajas makes the universe vividha through pairing (anyonyam). Gauḍīya note: variegatedness in the material realm is rajas-driven; in the spiritual realm it is svarūpa-śakti driven — same word, opposite source.
Anticipating the possible objection that a livelihood based on cows certainly depends on Lord Indra, who supplies rain, Lord Kṛṣṇa here introduces a mechanistic theory of existence known as atheistic Sāṅkhya. The tendency to attribute exclusive causality to the apparently mechanistic functions of nature is an old tendency indeed. Five thousand years ago Lord Kṛṣṇa referred to a doctrine already well known in human society.
Someone may object that even raising cows is dependent on Indra. In two verses, this is defeated using atheistic sankhya arguments. By the mode of passion the universe is created, and men and women unite to produce offspring.
The variety in the universe arising through the union of man and women is produced by rajas. Creation, maintenance and destruction are the natures of rajas, sattva and tamas.
He rejects the scenario of worship of Indra, rain etc. in two verses. All variety in the universe, such as devatās, asuras, mammals etc. arise from rajas. Because rain causes maintenance it arises from sattva. But because rain gives birth to grass on which the cows live it is often said to be in rajas.
- Where do I attribute the variety of my life to impersonal mechanism rather than to the Lord's deliberate art?
- What would shift if I read each variety as His choice?
Three pigments — white, red, and dark — mixed in different proportions produce every painting in the gallery; the painter named Rajas is the one most responsible for new canvases appearing. Rain comes from clouds; clouds come from rajas; rajas comes from prakṛti — and prakṛti, Kṛṣṇa will not yet say but already implies, comes from Him.
My note
Source: vedabase.io