Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 11.3.37
Who is speaking and story frame
सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति त्रिवृदेकमादौ
सूत्रं महानहमिति प्रवदन्ति जीवम् ।
ज्ञानक्रियार्थफलरूपतयोरुशक्ति
ब्रह्मैव भाति सदसच्च तयो: परं यत् ॥ ३७ ॥
sattvaṁ rajas tama iti tri-vṛd ekam ādau
sūtraṁ mahān aham iti pravadanti jīvam
jñāna-kriyārtha-phala-rūpatayoru-śakti
brahmaiva bhāti sad asac ca tayoḥ paraṁ yat
Originally one, the Absolute, Brahman, comes to be known as threefold, manifesting itself as the three modes of material nature — goodness, passion and ignorance. Brahman further expands its potency, and thus the power to act and the power of consciousness become manifest, along with the false ego, which covers the identity of the conditioned living being. Thus, by the expansion of the multipotencies of the Absolute, the demigods, as the embodiment of knowledge, become manifest, along with the material senses, their objects, and the results of material activity, namely happiness and distress. In this way the manifestation of the material world takes place as the subtle cause and as the material effect visible in the appearance of gross material objects. Brahman, which is the source of all subtle and gross manifestations, is simultaneously transcendental to them, being absolute.
Read the purport on Vedabase.ioFrom Canto 10, chapter 14 onward, the translation and purports were completed by Śrīla Prabhupāda's disciples after his departure, and published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.