Devanagari
कालसंज्ञां तदा देवीं बिभ्रच्छक्तिमुरुक्रम: ।
त्रयोविंशतितत्त्वानां गणं युगपदाविशत् ॥ २ ॥
Verse text
kāla-saṣjṣāṁ tadā devīṁ
bibhrac-chaktim urukramaḥ
trayoviṁśati tattvānāṁ
gaṇaṁ yugapad āviśat
Synonyms
kāla
—
saṣjṣām — known as Kālī
;
tadā
—
at that time
;
devīm
—
the goddess
;
bibhrat
—
destructive
;
śaktim
—
potency
;
urukramaḥ
—
the supreme powerful
;
trayaḥ
—
viṁśati — twenty-three
;
tattvānām
—
of the elements
;
gaṇam
—
all of them
;
yugapat
—
simultaneously
;
āviśat
—
entered .
Translation
The Supreme Powerful Lord then simultaneously entered into the twenty-three elements with the goddess Kālī, His external energy, who alone amalgamates all the different elements.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Maitreya said: Seeing the sleeping state in creating the universe because the elements were unmixed, the Lord, first by his energy of cohesion, appearing through time, and then as antaryāmī, entered the twenty-three elements simultaneously.
The Sixth Chapter describes how, when the Paramātmā enters, the universal form appears along with the elements. The adhibhūta, adhyātma and adhidaiva aspects in his body are described.
The elements such as mahat-tattva are called the Lord’s śakti (sva-śaktīnām) because they are the effect of his māyā-śakti. Seeing (niśāmya) the condition of activities for creation in a sleeping state, with a state of unmixed elements, the Lord, supporting this energy, prakṛti, whose identity becomes know by time (kāla-saṁjṣām)—along with this prakṛti-- entered into it. “Entering while holding prakṛti” means that first he entered the elements by his energy causing cohesion, and then, after a thousand years, he entered the elements as Paramātmā. The twenty-three elements are mahat-tattva, ahaṅkāra, five tan-mātras, five gross elements, and eleven senses.
mūla-prakṛtir avikṛtir mahadādyāḥ prakṛti-vikṛtayaḥ sapta
ṣoḍaśakas tu vikāro na prakṛtir na vikṛtiḥ pūruṣaḥ
Mūla-prakṛti is unchanged. Transformations of prakrṭi are seven (mahat-tattva, ahaṅkāra and five tan-mātras), which further transform into sixteen (five gross elements and eleven senses). Prakrṭi remains separate and puruṣa do not transform. Sāṅkhya-kārikā by Īśvara-kṛṣṇa
Tat sṛṣṭvā tad evānuprāviśat
Having created the universe, the Lord entered it. Taittiīrya Upaniṣad 2.6
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 Kālī 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
mūla-prakṛtir avikṛtir mahadādyāḥ prakṛti-vikṛtayaḥ sapta ṣoḍaśakas tu vikāro na prakṛtir na vikṛtiḥ puruṣaḥ.
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 Kālī. In all other Vedic scriptures the same principle is accepted. In
Brahma-saṁhitā
(5.35)
it is stated:
eko ’py asau racayituṁ jagad-aṇḍa-koṭiṁ
yac-chaktir asti jagad-aṇḍa-cayā yad-antaḥ
aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-sthaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
“I worship the primeval Lord, Govinda, who is the original Personality of Godhead. By His partial plenary expansion [Mahā-Viṣṇu], He enters into material nature, and then into each and every universe [as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu], and then [as Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu] 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-gītā
(10.42)
:
athavā bahunaitena
kiṁ jṣātena tavārjuna
viṣṭabhyāham idaṁ kṛtsnam
ekāṁśena 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 [Paramātmā, 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 Kṛṣṇa, and thus He is the final cause, or the ultimate cause of all causes.