Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 1 - Chapter 1 - Verse 30

Sanskrit:

स एवेदं ससर्जाग्रे भगवानात्ममायया ।सदसद्रूपया चासौ गुणमयागुणो विभु: ॥ ३० ॥

ITRANS:

sa evedaṁ sasarjāgrebhagavān ātma-māyayāsad-asad-rūpayā cāsauguṇamayāguṇo vibhuḥ

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.