Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 3.6.2

kala-sanjnam tada devim

bibhrac-chaktim urukramah

trayovimsati tattvanam

ganam yugapad avisat

SYNONYMS

kala-sanjnam -- known as Kali; tada -- at that time; devim -- the goddess; bibhrat -- destructive; saktim -- potency; urukramah -- the supreme powerful; trayah-vimsati -- twenty-three; tattvanam -- of the elements; ganam -- all of them; yugapat -- simultaneously; avisat -- entered.

TRANSLATION

The Supreme Powerful Lord then simultaneously entered into the twenty-three elements with the goddess Kali, His external energy, who alone amalgamates all the different elements.

PURPORT

The ingredients of matter are counted as twenty-three: the total material energy, false ego, sound, touch, form, taste, smell, earth, water, fire, air, sky, eye, ear, nose, tongue, skin, hand, leg, evacuating organ, genitals, speech and mind. All are combined together by the influence of time and are again dissolved in the course of time. Time, therefore, is the energy of the Lord and acts in her own way by the direction of the Lord. This energy is called Kali and is represented by the dark destructive goddess generally worshiped by persons influenced by the mode of darkness or ignorance in material existence. In the Vedic hymn this process is described as mula-prakrtir avikrtir mahadadyah prakrti-vikrtayah sapta sodasakas tu vikaro na prakrtir na vikrtih purusah. The energy which acts as material nature in a combination of twenty-three ingredients is not the final source of creation. The Lord enters into the elements and applies His energy, called Kali. In all other Vedic scriptures the same principle is accepted. In Brahma-samhita (5.35) it is stated:

eko 'py asau racayitum jagad-anda-kotim

yac-chaktir asti jagad-anda-caya yad-antah

andantara-stha-paramanu-cayantara-stham

govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

"I worship the primeval Lord, Govinda, who is the original Personality of Godhead. By His partial plenary expansion [Maha-Visnu], He enters into material nature, and then into each and every universe [as Garbhodakasayi Visnu], and then [as Ksirodakasayi Visnu] into all the elements, including every atom of matter. Such manifestations of cosmic creation are innumerable, both in the universes and in the individual atoms."

Similarly, this is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (10.42):

athava bahunaitena

kim jnatena tavarjuna

vistabhyaham idam krtsnam

ekamsena sthito jagat

"O Arjuna, there is no necessity of your knowing about My innumerable energies, which act in various ways. I enter into the material creation by My partial plenary expansion [Paramatma, or the Supersoul] in all the universes and in all the elements thereof, and thus the work of creation goes on." The wonderful activities of material nature are due to Lord Krsna, and thus He is the final cause, or the ultimate cause of all causes.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness