Bhagavad Gita 7.12

ye caiva sāttvikā bhāvā rājasās tāmasāś ca ye

matta eveti tān viddhi na tv ahaṁ teṣu te mayi

 

Whatever conditions arise from goodness, passion, or ignorance,

They all emerge from me, the supreme transcendence.

I am not within them—I stand free and apart.

Though they dwell in me, they can’t bind my heart.

 

My dear Lord, grant me the conviction that you are forever free from illusion. If I doubt whether you are free, then I cannot wholeheartedly beg for your mercy—just as a prisoner will not make a petition for release to another prisoner.

Just as a magician is never fooled by their own tricks, you, O mystical Lord, are not fooled by the three modes that work under your supervision. You are transcendental to material nature in two distinct senses. Firstly, you exist in your eternal glory in the spiritual world, which is far beyond the reach of the material energy, just as a king exists in a palace far outside the precincts of a jail. Secondly, and more relevantly for me, even when you descend to the material mortal domain, you remain unaffected by the modes. Your descent into this world is your pastime of compassion, just as a king might visit a prison to inspire reform among the prisoners.

O omnipotent Lord, please free me from two dangerous illusions: first, I am myself free and therefore do not need your help; and second, you are not free and therefore cannot offer me any help.

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07.12 Know that all states of being – be they of goodness, passion or ignorance – are manifested by My energy. I am, in one sense, everything, but I am independent. I am not under the modes of material nature, for they, on the contrary, are within Me.