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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.40.11

सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति भवत: प्रकृतेर्गुणा: । तेषु हि प्राकृता: प्रोता आब्रह्मस्थावरादय: ॥ ११ ॥
sattvaṁ rajas tama iti
[sattvam rajas tama iti]
bhavataḥ prakṛter guṇāḥ
[bhavatah prakriter gunaah]
teṣu hi prākṛtāḥ protā
[teshu hi praakritaah protaa]
ā-brahma-sthāvarādayaḥ
[aa-brahma-sthaavaraadayah]
Word-for-word
sattvam — goodness rajaḥ — passion tamaḥ — ignorance iti — thus known bhavataḥ — Your prakṛteḥ — of the material nature guṇāḥ — the qualities teṣu — to them hi — certainly prākṛtāḥ — the conditioned living entities protāḥ — woven ā - brahma — up to Lord Brahmā sthāvara - ādayaḥ — starting with the nonmoving creatures .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
sattvaṁ rajas tama iti
sattvam
goodness
rajaḥ
passion
tamaḥ
ignorance
iti
thus known
bhavataḥ prakṛter guṇāḥ
bhavataḥ
Your
prakṛteḥ
of the material nature
guṇāḥ
the qualities
teṣu hi prākṛtāḥ protā
teṣu
to them
hi
certainly
prākṛtāḥ
the conditioned living entities
protāḥ
woven
ā - brahma
up to Lord Brahmā
ā-brahma-sthāvarādayaḥ
sthāvara - ādayaḥ
starting with the nonmoving creatures .
Important Words
  • sattvam rajaḥ tamaḥ — goodness, passion, ignorance
    The three guṇas. Gītā 14 treats them in detail; Akrūra collapses the whole prakṛti-doctrine into a single line and credits them to Bhagavān's prakṛti, not to an independent matter.
  • prākṛtāḥ — creatures of nature
    From prakṛti. Both ordinary and 'natural' — every being born of prakṛti is prākṛta. Gauḍīyas use the same word in opposition to aprākṛta — the transcendental, never-touched-by-prakṛti realm of Vraja.
  • protāḥ — woven through
    Past participle from pra + √ve (to weave). The guṇas are not external chains but warp and weft of the conditioned being — Gītā 7.7: mayi sarvam idaṁ protam.
  • ā-brahma sthāvara-ādayaḥ — from Brahmā down to the immobile beings
    Compound: ā (up to) + brahmā (Brahmā) + sthāvara (immobile) + ādi (etc.). The full range of bound jīvas. The verse universalizes the predicament so the rescue of verse 28 can be universalized too.
Goodness, passion and ignorance, the qualities of Your material nature, entangle all conditioned living beings, from Brahmā down to the nonmoving creatures.
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
Goodness, passion and ignorance, the qualities of Your material nature, entangle all conditioned living beings, from Brahmā down to the nonmoving creatures.
Commentary

If that is so, then why does not everyone worship me.? "The jivas are all bound by the gunas. If even Brahma is bewildered by maya, then what to speak of all the humans? How can they worship you?"

Jīva Gosvāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

“How can you say that all paths lead to me? Why do they not lead to me from the beginning?” Your śakti called prakṛti is composed of sattva, rajas and tamas. The bodies from Brahmā to trees enter into these guṇas and the guṇas enter prakṛti. Prakṛti enters you. Thus gradually, giving up the devatās, the worshippers attain you since following the path of the Vedas naturally purifies them. Or, since Brahmā and others are bound by the guṇas, they cannot exist without you. In this way you are all the devatās (sarva-deva-māyāḥ). Bewildered by illusion, they do not worship you.

Śrīdhara Svāmī Gauḍīya
Commentary

The order of sattva, rajas and tamas follows the order of the worshippers mentioned. Or the order is according to devatās, humans and animals mentioned later. All beings are strung in the guṇas (teṣu) because they are related to prakṛti (prākṛtāḥ). Though the Lord becomes Brahmā for creation, and becomes visible, being an avatāra of the Lord according to Viṣṇu Purāṇa, this statement is for the unrefined. According to Skanda Purāṇa, in some mahākalpas a jīva becomes Brahmā. Or “Why do they not serve me directly?” They are bewildered by your māyā. From highest to lowest they are all bewildered.

Related values & verses
Related values
Anahankarah (Freedom from False Ego)Kshama (Forgiveness / Patience)Asteya (Non-stealing / Honesty)Aparigraha (Non-possessiveness)
Related verses
BG 15.9 BG 12.13 BG 18.11 BG 17.20 BG 18.64 BG 2.62 BG 3.11 BG 12.3 SB 4.29.2 BG 9.11 BG 8.2 BG 17.4 BG 7.8 BG 10.3
Concepts
TamasAvatara
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
Goodness, passion and ignorance — the three modes of His material nature — entangle all conditioned beings from Brahmā to the immobile. Even the highest demigods are within the same psychological economy we struggle in.
Reflection Questions
  • Which mode dominates your day, and where do you assume you have transcended what you have only relocated?
  • How does seeing modes as universal weather make your inner life less personal?
Analogy

Three coloured ropes — white, red, black — bind the entire universe from Brahmā at the top of the wheel to a blade of grass at the rim. Sattva, rajas, and tamas are Kṛṣṇa's prakṛti, and only His mercy (māṁ eva ye prapadyante, Gītā 7.14) loosens the knot.

Stories
Brahmā among the guṇa-bound

In SB 10.13 and 10.14, Brahmā confesses he too is a creature of the guṇas — though seated highest, still bound. He bows to baby Kṛṣṇa in Vraja and says even his own creatorship is a borrowed function from the unbound Lord.

Akrūra's verse 11 echoes this: ā-brahma-sthāvara-ādayaḥ — from Brahmā to a clump of grass, the same three ropes; only the lengths differ.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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