स एवेदं ससर्जाग्रे भगवानात्ममायया सदसद्रूपया चासौ गुणमय्यागुणो विभुः
sa evedaṁ sasarjāgre bhagavān ātma-māyayā sad-asad-rūpayā cāsau guṇamayyāguṇo vibhuḥ
Synonyms
saḥ—that; eva—certainly; idam—this; sasarja—created; agre—before; bhagavān—the Personality of Godhead; ātma-māyayā—by His personal potency; sat—the cause; asat—the effect; rūpayā—by forms; ca—and; asau—the same Lord; guṇamayyā—in the modes of material nature; aguṇaḥ—transcendental; vibhuḥ—the Absolute..
Translation
In the beginning of the material creation, the Absolute Lord in His transcendental position created the energies of cause and effect by His own internal energy.
Purport
The position of the Lord is always transcendental because the causal and effectual energies required for the creation of the material world were also created by Him. He is, therefore, unaffected by the qualities of the material modes. His existence, form, activities and paraphernalia all existed before the material creation.* He is all spiritual and has nothing to do with the qualities of the material world, which are qualitatively distinct from the spiritual qualities of the Lord.