viśuddha-sattvaṁ tava dhāma śāntaṁ tapomayaṁ dhvasta-rajas-tamaskam māyāmayo 'yaṁ guṇa-sampravāho na vidyate te 'grahaṇānubandhaḥ

When not manifested, the modes of material nature are said to be in goodness. When they are externally manifested and active in producing the varieties of material existence, they are said to be in passion. And when there is a lack of activity and variegatedness, they are said to be in ignorance. In other words, the pensive mood is goodness, activity is passion, and inactivity is ignorance. Above all these mundane qualitative manifestations is visuddha-sattva. When it is predominated by sandhini, it is perceivable as the existence of all that be. When predominated by samvit, it is perceived as knowledge in transcendence. And when predominated by hladini, it is perceived as the most confidential love of Godhead. Visuddha-sattva, the simultaneous manifestation of these three in one, is the main feature of the kingdom of God.

The Absolute Truth is therefore the substance of reality, eternally manifest in three energies. The manifestation of the internal energy of the Lord is the inconceivable variegatedness, the manifestation of the marginal energy is the living entity, and the manifestation of the external energy is the material cosmos. Therefore the Absolute Truth includes these four principles-the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, His internal energy, His marginal energy and His external energy. The form of the Lord and the expansions of His form as svayam-rupa and vaibhava-prakasa are directly the enjoyers of the internal energy, which is the eternal exhibitor of the spiritual world, the most confidential of the manifestations of energy. The external manifestation, the material energy, provides the covering bodies of the conditioned living entities, from Brahma down to the insignificant ant. This covering energy is manifested under the three modes of material nature and appreciated in various ways by living entities in both the higher and lower forms of life.

Each of the three divisions of the internal potency-the sandhini, samvit and hladini energies-influences one of the external potencies by which the conditioned souls are conducted. Such influence manifests the three qualitative modes of material nature, proving definitely that the living entities, the marginal potency, are eternally servitors of the Lord and are therefore controlled by either the internal or the external potency.