Nikhilananda on Svetasvatara 1.3 (devatma-saktim)

te dhyānayogānugatā apaśyan devātma-śaktiṁ svaguṇair-nigūḍhām, yaḥ kāraṇāni nikhilāni tāni kālātmayuktānyadhitiṣṭhatyekaḥ. (3)

The sages, absorbed in meditation through one-pointedness of mind, discovered the [creative] power, belonging to the Lord Himself and hidden in its own gunas. That non-dual Lord rules over all those causes —time, the self, and the rest. 

Nikhilananda commentary (a la Shankara) on Svetasvatara 1.3:

Maya, also known as prakriti, consists of three gunas: sattva, rajas, and tamas. The word guna is generally—though incorrectly— translated as “quality.” Essentially, the gunas are the very stuff of maya. Maya is like a twisted rope consisting of three strands, which are the three gunas. All that exists in the universe consists of these three gunas. Brahman, or the Great Spirit, after projecting the universe, remains hidden in it, just as a seed, after producing a tree, remains hidden in the tree. The cause produces the effect and remains concealed in the effect. 

First of all, Brahman is conceived as the Lord of maya; next, the same Brahman is known as the Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer of the universe. The creative aspect, associated with sattva, is known as Brahma; the protective aspect, associated with rajas, is known as Vishnu; and the destructive aspect, associated with tamas, is known as Siva. These three aspects are related to the phenomenal world; they have no bearing upon the attributeless Brahman, or Ultimate Reality.

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Pure Brahman is neither the cause nor something other than the cause, nor both, nor some thing other than both. Further, It is neither the efficient cause nor the material cause, nor both. Brahman is one and without a second, and devoid of any causal relationship. From the standpoint of the Absolute there is no creation; therefore Brahman cannot properly be described in terms of cause and effect. From the standpoint of the universe, however, Brahman with maya appears to be associated with creation, preservation, and destruction. 

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From the relative standpoint, Brahman is both the efficient and the material cause of the universe. As the Lord of maya, It is Isvara; and in Its true nature, It is Existence, Consciousness, and Bliss. The same Brahman, again, appears as the universe bound by the causal chain. Cause and effect are essentially non-different. There is no real difference between a clay pot and the clay of which it has been made. It is the Supreme Brahman—birthless, deathless, attributeless, supersensuous, supramental, undifferentiated, and free from hunger, thirst, and the rest—that appears, through maya, as the phenomenal universe. It is Brahman, again, who is worshipped by spiritual aspirants as Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, and other deities. 

From the phenomenal standpoint, the reality of the Creator and the universe —related as cause and effect—is admitted; otherwise there would be no meaning to bondage, Liberation, or seeker after Liberation. God, too, the bestower of Liberation, would be unreal. From the standpoint of maya, all these are admitted to be real. Scripture says that one quarter of Brahman has become (through maya) the universe and all its living beings, and the other three quarters remain immutable and transcendental. That Brahman, alone, has become all things is made clear by the illustration of a wheel. The universe is the Wheel of Brahman, the Brahmachakra.