Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 9 - Chapter 1 - Verse 14

Sanskrit:

न त्वां वयं जडधियो नु विदाम भूमन्कूटस्थमादिपुरुषं जगतामधीशम् ।यत्सत्त्वत: सुरगणा रजस: प्रजेशामन्योश्च भूतपतय: स भवान् गुणेश: ॥ १४ ॥

ITRANS:

na tvāṁ vayaṁ jaḍa-dhiyo nu vidāma bhūmankūṭa-stham ādi-puruṣaṁ jagatām adhīśamyat-sattvataḥ sura-gaṇā rajasaḥ prajeśāmanyoś ca bhūta-patayaḥ sa bhavān guṇeśaḥ

Translation:

O all-pervading Supreme Person, we are dull-minded and did not understand who You are, but now we understand that You are the Supreme Person, the master of the entire universe, the unchanging and original Personality of Godhead. The demigods are infatuated with the mode of goodness, the Prajāpatis with the mode of passion, and the lord of ghosts with the mode of ignorance, but You are the master of all these qualities.

Purport:

The word jaḍa-dhiyaḥ refers to intelligence like that of an animal. A person with such intelligence cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Without being beaten, an animal cannot understand the purpose of a man. Similarly, those who are dull-minded cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but when punished severely by the modes of material nature, they begin to understand Him. A Hindi poet has said: When one is distressed he goes to the church or temple to worship the Lord, but when opulent he forgets the Lord. Therefore, punishment by the Lord through material nature is necessary in human society, for without it men forget the supremacy of the Lord due to their dull, blunt intelligence.