SB 7.3.26-27
श्रीहिरण्यकशिपुरुवाच
कल्पान्ते कालसृष्टेन योऽन्धेन तमसावृतम् ।
अभिव्यनग्जगदिदं स्वयञ्ज्योति: स्वरोचिषा ॥ २६ ॥
आत्मना त्रिवृता चेदं सृजत्यवति लुम्पति ।
रज:सत्त्वतमोधाम्ने पराय महते नम: ॥ २७ ॥
śrī-hiraṇyakaśipur uvāca
kalpānte kāla-sṛṣṭena
yo ’ndhena tamasāvṛtam
abhivyanag jagad idaṁ
svayañjyotiḥ sva-rociṣā
ātmanā tri-vṛtā cedaṁ
sṛjaty avati lumpati
rajaḥ-sattva-tamo-dhāmne
parāya mahate namaḥ
śrī-hiraṇyakaśipuḥ uvāca — Hiraṇyakaśipu said; kalpa-ante — at the end of every day of Lord Brahmā; kāla-sṛṣṭena — created by the time factor; yaḥ — he who; andhena — by dense darkness; tamasā — by ignorance; āvṛtam — covered; abhivyanak — manifested; jagat — cosmic manifestation; idam — this; svayam-jyotiḥ — self-effulgent; sva-rociṣā — by his bodily rays; ātmanā — by himself; tri-vṛtā — conducted by the three modes of material nature; ca — also; idam — this material world; sṛjati — creates; avati — maintain s; lumpati — annihilates; rajaḥ — of the mode of passion; sattva — the mode of goodness; tamaḥ — and the mode of ignorance; dhāmne — unto the supreme lord; parāya — unto the supreme; mahate — unto the great; namaḥ — my respectful obeisances.
Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the supreme lord within this universe. At the end of each day of his life, the universe is fully covered with dense darkness by the influence of time, and then again, during his next day, that self-effulgent lord, by his own effulgence, manifests, maintains and destroys the entire cosmic manifestation through the material energy, which is invested with the three modes of material nature. He, Lord Brahmā, is the shelter of those modes of nature—sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa and tamo-guṇa.
Trīn guṇān vṛṇoti: Lord Brahmā takes advantage of the three modes of material nature. prakṛti, material nature, is described here as tri-vṛtā, the source of the three material modes. Śrīla Madhvācārya comments in this connection that tri-vṛtā means prakṛtyā. Thus Lord Kṛṣṇa is the original creator, and Lord Brahmā is the original engineer.