The relationship of these two tattvas has always eluded me and now I'd like to bring the topic up for discussion in order to get a better understanding of it.
In Jaiva-Dharma Ch. 31 (pages 675-676 in NM's edition) Goswami asks Vijaya to explain the difference of these two concept.
What I gather from it is that suddha-sattva is pure and eternal existence (sattva) and that when rajas mixes with this sattva, it brings a beginning for an object and when tamas mixes with it, it brings and end, in other words, the influence of raja and tama somehow adulterate the experience of a true object or vastu. I've always heard it said that sattva is also a material mode, but is it a material mode just when it mixes with raja and tama? Just like if a jiva mixes with matter, it becomes baddha-jiva and thus seems to have a beginning and an end, but without that material covering it is eternal and spiritual?
This idea would seem to be supported in SB Canto 1, Ch. 2 vs. 19-20 where it's said, "as soon as irrevocable loving service is established in the heart, the effects of nature's modes of passion and ignorance, such as lust, desire and hankering, disappear from the heart. Then the devotee is established in goodness, and he becomes completely happy. Thus established in the mode of unalloyed goodness the man whose mind has been enlivened by contact with devotional service to the Lord gains positive scientific knowledge of the Personality of Godhead in the stage of liberation from all material association."
Then again, some jnanis do sattviki-bhakti and according to my understanding, they are trying to cultivate the mode of goodness that's devoid of raja and tama and this way attain mukti. But that's obviously not on the platform of suddha-sattva.
Help?
It seems just like semantics, Prabhupada used suddha sattva to indicate sattva with no tinge of rajas or tamas, sometimes he said sattva guna in the material world is always tinged with lower modes or can become tinged, sometimes he said jnana was in sattva guna, and bhakti was suddha sattva. Sometimes he used just the term sattva as in the Bhagavatam purport you quoted which equates with suddha sattva.
Here are some related quotes (sorry about the fonts);
Jaiva Dharma
“There is no tinge of material influence in Lord Krsna's energy; it is transcendental and exists in pure goodness (suddha-sattva). Sattva is of two kinds: suddha-sattva (pure goodness) and misra-sattva (mixed goodness). Everything in the category of cit-vaibhava is suddha-sattva, or pure goodness. All sattva in the material nature is mixed, or misra-sattva. Suddha-sattva is devoid of passion and ignorance. Birth indicates the mode of passion in action. The eternally existent spiritual essence, suddha-sattva, has never been touched by birth, which is a manifestation of passion, nor by annihilation, which is an act carried out in the mode of ignorance. Although the Supreme Lord's separated parts and parcels, the jivas, belong to the category of suddha-sattva, due to their contact with nescience or material nature they have come under the sway of the material modes of passion and ignorance, and hence are now in the mixed or misra-suddha category. Even demigods like Lord Siva, though far superior in many ways to the ordinary jivas, are nevertheless captivated by the material glare due to false identification, and so fall in the category of misra-sattva. The Supreme Lord is always in pure goodness. He descends to this material world by His inconceivable spiritual potency and is always the controller of the material nature, maya, who is ever ready to act as His maidservant.
“Life, being, presupposes sattä, existence. When existence, form, ability and activity are present in an entity, that entity is designated as sattva. That state of existence—that is eternal, endless, ever-fresh, perennial, unaffected by time, either past or future, and is infused with extraordinary wonder—is called çuddha-sattva. Anything begotten by the çuddha-cit-çakti, pure spiritual energy, is çuddha-sattva.
“The mäyä-çakti that is the shadow representative of the cit-çakti is controlled by the time factor, which manifests the concepts of past, present, and future. All the activities of the mäyä-sakti take place within the domain of the time factor; they are created—having a beginning—and are thus stamped with mäyä’s creative quality of raja, passion. Those same activities are also marked for destruction; hence, they are also stamped with Mäyä’s destructive quality of tama, ignorance. Entities endowed with such qualities of existence are called miçra-sattva.
“In contrast, the çuddha-jéva is çuddha-sattva. His form, qualities and actions are by nature in pure goodness. However, when the çuddha-jéva is imprisoned by mäyä, his pure energy is contaminated by mäyä’s illusory potencies in the form of the material modes of raja and tama. Thus, the materially conditioned jéva is said to be in the status of miçra-sattva.”
Gosvämé, “Your explanations are very subtle indeed. Now tell me, how is the heart of the jéva enlightened by çuddha-sattva?”
Vijaya, “As long as the jéva is captivated by this material world, the brilliance of his çuddha-sattva nature is curbed by the residual opacity of mundane conditioning. Yet, the jéva may realize his svarüpa in proportion to the arising of his brilliant çuddha-sattva nature. However, the uncovering of his çuddha-sattva nature cannot be achieved through the pursuit of either karma or jïäna. Can dirt be cleansed by another form of dirt? Mundane karma is by its very nature contaminated, how can it remove material impurities? Moreover, jïäna is like fire, for if it is applied to a contaminated object, it not only burns the impurity but also the object itself, attempting to nullify the object’s fundamental existence. Therefore, how can jïäna provide the joy that comes from being purified?
“By the mercy of guru, Kåñëa, and the Vaiñëavas, the jéva can obtain bhakti, which alone can invoke the çuddha-sattva lying dormant within his heart. When çuddha-sattva is awakened, it will illuminate the heart with pure transcendental light.”
Lecture
in the material world goodness is sometimes mixed up with ignorance and passion, but in the spiritual world there is pure goodness—no contamination or tinges of passion and ignorance. Therefore it is called çuddha-sattva. Çuddha-sattva. Çabdam, sattvaà viçuddhaà vasudeva-çabditam: "That pure goodness is called Vasudeva, and in that pure goodness one can realize God." Therefore God's name is Väsudeva, "produced from Vasudeva." Vasudeva is the father of Väsudeva.
So unless we come to the standard of pure goodness, without any tinge of passion and ignorance, it is not possible, God realization. Therefore bhakti means anyäbhiläñitä-çünyaà jïäna-karmädy-anävåtam [Cc. Madhya 19.167], jïäna-karmädy-anävåtam [brs. 1.1.11]. Jïäna is the platform of goodness, and karma is the platform of passion and ignorance. So bhakti means anyäbhiläñitä-çünyaà [Cc. Madhya 19.167], without any material desires, devoid of, freed from all kinds of material desire and uncovered by ignorance, passion and goodness. Goodness also.
Lecture
Therefore bhakti means karma-jïäna-anävåtam. Anyäbhilañitä-çünyaà jïäna-karmädy-anävåtam [brs. 1.1.11]. Don't try to approach God with your so-called speculative knowledge and fruitive activities, as people are trying to do. It is not possible. You may, by such activities, you can come to the platform of this sattva-guëa, sattva-guëa. But that is also guëa. You remain saguëa. You are not nirguëa. But you require to be nirguëa. That is bhakti. If you remain saguëa, you may come to the platform of sattva-guëa, the brahminical platform-satyaà çamaù damaù titikñä ärjavam, jïänaà vijïänam ästikyam [bg. 18.42]. That is better platform to understand. Sthitaà sattve prasédati. You can understand, you can get light of the spiritual world, by sattva-guëa. But you have to surpass the sattva-guëa. That is called çuddha-sattva, untinted, without any tinge of these rajo-guëa and tamo-guëa. In the material world you may be situated on the brahminical qualification, sattva-guëa, but there is chance of being infected by the rajo-guëa and tamo-guëa. Therefore it is not çuddha-sattva, pure sattva. So you have to come to the platform of pure sattva-guëa. Sattvaà viçuddhaà vasudeva-çabditam. That pure sattva, pure sattva-guëa, mode of goodness, is called vasudeva, and Vasudeva he gives birth to Väsudeva, Kåñëa. So when you come to that platform, then you will be able to give birth to Väsudeva. That means you will meet Väsudeva. çuddha-sattva. Sattvaà viçuddhaà vasudeva-çabditam. This is the process.
When the Supreme Lord appears or descends as an incarnation within this material world, He does not accept a body made of the three modes of material nature (sattva-guëa, rajo-guëa and tamo-guëa). Mäyävädé philosophers say that the impersonal God appears in this material world by accepting a body in the sattva-guëa. Çréla Viçvanätha Cakravarté states that the word çukla means "consisting of çuddha-sattva." Lord Viñëu descends in His çuddha-sattva form. Çuddha-sattva refers to the sattva-guëa which is never contaminated. In this material world, even the mode of goodness (sattva-guëa) is contaminated by tinges of rajo-guëa and tamo-guëa. When sattva-guëa is never contaminated by rajo-guëa and tamo-guëa, it is called çuddha-sattva. Sattvaà viçuddhaà vasudeva-çabditam (SB 4.3.23)