Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.2.30

sa evedaḿ sasarjāgre

bhagavān ātma-māyayā

sad-asad-rūpayā cāsau

guṇamayāguṇo 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; guṇa-maya — in the modes of material nature; aguṇaḥ — transcendental; vibhuḥ — the Absolute.

TRANSLATION

In the beginning of the material creation, that Absolute Personality of Godhead [Vāsudeva], 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 unaffected, therefore, 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.