SB 1.10.21 (1964)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 21
Sa bai kila ayam purushah puratano Ya eka asit avisesaha atmani. Agre gunebhyo jagdatamni isware, Nimilita ataman nisisupta saktisu.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Sa—He (Krishna), Bai—as I remember, Kila—definitely, Ayam—this, Purushah—personality of Godhead, Ya—why, Eka—only one, Asit—existed, Aviseshah—materially non-manifestive, Atmani-ownself, Agre—before creation, Gunebhyo—of the modes of nature, Jagadatmani—unto the super soul, Isware—unto the supreme Lord, Nimilita—merged into, Atman—the living being, Nisisupta—inactive at night, Saktisu—of the energies.
TRANSLATION
Here is He (Krishna) the original Personality of Godhead definitely as I do remember, who alone existed before manifestive creation of the modes of nature and in Him only on account of His becoming the Supreme Lord, all living beings merge into as if sleeping at night in suspended energy.
PURPORT
There are two types of dissolutions of the manifestive cosmos. At the end of every 4,32,00.00,000 crores of solar years when Brahma the lord of one particular universe goes to sleep, there is one annihilation. And at the end of Brahma's life wllich takes place at the end of Brahma's one hundred years of age i.e. to say in our calculation at the end of 8,64,00,00,000 x 30 x 12 x 100 solar years there is complete annihilation of the whole universe and in both the periods both the material energy called the Mahat Tattwa and the Marginal energy called Jivatattwa merge in the person of the Supreme Lord. The living beings remain asleep within the body of the Lord till there is another creation of the material world and that is the way of creation, maintenance and annihilation of the material manifestation.
The material creation is effected by the interaction of the three modes of material nature set in action by the Lord and, therefore, it is said here that the Lord existed before the modes of material nature were set in motion. In the Sruti Mantra it is said that only Vishnu the Supreme Lord existed before the creation and there were no Brahma or Shiva and other demigods. Vishnu means the Maha Vishnu who is lying on the causal ocean and by His breathing only all the universes are generating in seeds gradually developing into gigantic forms with innumerable planets within each and every universe. The seeds of universes develop in to gigantic forms in the way as the seeds of banian tree develop into numberless banian trees.
This Mahavishnu is the plenary portion of the Lord Sri Krishna who is mentioned in the Brahmasamhita as follows:-
"Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the Original Personality of Godhead Govinda whose plenary portion is the Mahavishnu. All the Brahmas or the heads of the universes live only for the period of his exhaling after the universes are generated from the hair holes of His transcendental body" (Brahma samhita 5.58).
As such Govinda or Lord Krishna is the cause of Mahavishnu also. The Ladies talking about this Vedic truths must have heard it from authoritative sources. This authoritative source is the only means of knowing about transcendental subject matter definitely and there is no other alternative.
Merging of the living being into the body of Mahavishnu takes place automatically at the end of Brahma's 100 years. But that does not mean that the individual living being loses his identity. The identity is there and as soon as there is another creation by the Supreme Will of the Lord all the sleeping or inactive living beings are again let loose to begin their activities in continuation of past different spheres of life. It is called suptotthita Naya or the logic of awakening from sleep and again be engaged in one's respective continuous duty. When a man is asleep at night, he forgets himself what he is, what is his duty and everything of his awaken state. But as soon as he awakens from the slumber he remembers all that he has to do and thus egages himself again in the prescribed activities. The living beings also remain merged into the body of Mahavishnu during the period of annihilation but as soon as there is another creation they arise to take up the unfinished work. This is also confirmed in the Bhagwat Geeta (B.G. 8/18-20).
The Lord existed before the creative energy was set in action, means the Lord is not a product of the material energy. His body is complete spiritual and there is no difference between His body and Himself as we the conditioned souls have. Before creation the Lord remained in His abode which is absolute and one.