Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 33

Sanskrit:

योऽसौ गुणक्षोभकृतो विकार:प्रधानमूलान्महत: प्रसूत: ।अहं त्रिवृन्मोहविकल्पहेतु-र्वैकारिकस्तामस ऐन्द्रियश्च ॥ ३३ ॥

ITRANS:

yo ’sau guṇa-kṣobha-kṛto vikāraḥpradhāna-mūlān mahataḥ prasūtaḥahaṁ tri-vṛn moha-vikalpa-heturvaikārikas tāmasa aindriyaś ca

Translation:

When the three modes of nature are agitated, the resultant transformation appears as the element false ego in three phases — goodness, passion and ignorance. Generated from the mahat-tattva, which is itself produced from the unmanifest pradhāna, this false ego becomes the cause of all material illusion and duality.

Purport:

By giving up one’s false ego of identification with the three modes of nature, one can achieve Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the pure, original state of existence. The word moha-vikalpa-hetuḥ indicates that because of false ego one considers himself to be the enjoyer of nature and thus develops a false sense of material duality in terms of material happiness and distress. False ego is removed by identifying oneself as the Lord’s eternal servitor in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness.