Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.1.11

kālaḿ carantaḿ sṛjatīśa āśrayaḿ

pradhāna-pumbhyāḿ nara-deva satya-kṛt

SYNONYMS

kālam — time; carantam — moving; sṛjati — creates; īśaḥ — the Supreme Personality of Godhead; āśrayam — shelter; pradhāna — for the material energy; pumbhyām — and the living entity; nara-deva — O ruler of men; satya — true; kṛt — creator.

TRANSLATION

O great King, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the controller of the material and spiritual energies, who is certainly the creator of the entire cosmos, creates the time factor to allow the material energy and the living entity to act within the limits of time. Thus the Supreme Personality is never under the time factor nor under the material energy.

PURPORT

One should not think that the Lord is dependent on the time factor. He actually creates the situation by which material nature acts and by which the conditioned soul is placed under material nature. Both the conditioned soul and the material nature act within the time factor, but the Lord is not subject to the actions and reactions of time, for time has been created by Him. To be more clear, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says that creation, maintenance and annihilation are all under the supreme will of the Lord.

In Bhagavad-gītā (4.7) the Lord says:

yadā yadā hi dharmasya

glānir bhavati bhārata

abhyutthānam adharmasya

tadātmānaḿ sṛjāmy aham

"Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bhārata, and a predominant rise of irreligion — at that time I descend Myself." Since Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the controller of everything, when He appears He is not within the limitations of material time (janma karma ca me divyam [Bg. 4.9]). In this verse the words kālaḿ carantaḿ sṛjatīśa āśrayam indicate that although the Lord acts within time, whether sattva-guṇa, rajo-guṇa or tamo-guṇa is prominent, one should not think that the Lord is under time's control. Time is within His control, for He creates time to act in a certain way; He is not working under the control of time. The creation of the material world is one of the Lord's pastimes. Everything is fully under His control. Since creation takes place when rajo-guṇa is prominent, the Lord creates the necessary time to give facilities for rajo-guṇa. Similarly, He also creates the necessary times for maintenance and annihilation. Thus this verse establishes that the Lord is not under the limitations of time.

As stated in the Brahma-saḿhitā, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ: Kṛṣṇa is the supreme controller. Sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ: [Bs. 5.1] He possesses a blissful, spiritual body. Anādiḥ: He is not subordinate to anything. As the Lord confirms in Bhagavad-gītā (7.7), mattaḥ parataraḿ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya: "O conqueror of wealth [Arjuna], there is no truth superior to Me." Nothing can be above Kṛṣṇa, for He is the controller and creator of everything.

The Māyāvādī philosophers say that this material world is mithyā, false, and that one should therefore not bother about this mithyā creation (brahma satyaḿ jagan mithyā). But this is not correct. Here it is said, satya-kṛt: whatever is created by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, satyaḿ param, cannot be called mithyā. The cause of the creation is satya, true, so how can the effect of the cause be mithyā? The very word satya-kṛt is used to establish that everything created by the Lord is factual, never false. The creation may be temporary, but it is not false.

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