Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan

Now after describing this mat-sthānīty upadhāraya, this is with respect to the normal maintenance, now there are different phases in material existence there is maintenance, creation and destruction, so after describing this now Sri Krishna describes how He maintains all living beings within material nature also now Sri Krishna will talk about creation and destruction.

Let us look at the creation and destruction aspect now:

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Bg 9.7

sarva-bhūtāni kaunteya
prakṛtiṁ yānti māmikām
kalpa-kṣaye punas tāni
kalpādau visṛjāmy aham

Word for word: 

sarva–bhūtāni — all created entities; kaunteya — O son of Kuntī; prakṛtim — nature; yānti — enter; māmikām — My; kalpa–kṣaye — at the end of the millennium; punaḥ — again; tāni — all those; kalpa–ādau — in the beginning of the millennium; visṛjāmi — create; aham — I.

Translation: 

O son of Kuntī, at the end of the millennium all material manifestations enter into My nature, and at the beginning of another millennium, by My potency, I create them again.

 

sarva-bhūtāni kaunteya, Kaunteya, all living being are

prakṛtiṁ yānti māmikām, prakṛtiṁ yānti, they enter into my nature, 

kalpa-kṣaye, at the end of the Kalpa 

punas tāni
kalpādau visṛjāmy aham, and at the beginning of the Kalpa, I create them again.

Similar points was said in 8th chapter while talking about the cyclic nature of material existence where it is described how at the end of creation everything is destroyed and at the start of creation everything is created but the difference is, in 8th chapter, it was talked about as under the influence of material nature it happens.

BG 8.19

Bg 8.19

bhūta-grāmaḥ sa evāyaṁ
bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate
rātry-āgame ’vaśaḥ pārtha
prabhavaty ahar-āgame

Word for word: 

bhūta–grāmaḥ — the aggregate of all living entities; saḥ — these; eva — certainly; ayam — this; bhūtvā bhūtvā — repeatedly taking birth; pralīyate — is annihilated; rātri — of night; āgame — on the arrival; avaśaḥ — automatically; pārtha — O son of Pṛthā; prabhavati — is manifest; ahaḥ — of daytime; āgame — on the arrival.

Translation: 

Again and again, when Brahmā’s day arrives, all living entities come into being, and with the arrival of Brahmā’s night they are helplessly annihilated.

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So it is describing the whole of material existence so pralīyate rātry-āgame, at the arrival of Brahma Ji night everything is destroyed ’vaśaḥ, helplessly and prabhavaty ahar-āgame, it is all created at the start of the day so like that pralīyate and prabhavaty is talked about.

Now what is the difference in comparison with 9.7 here kalpa-kṣaye is talking about the same point and at the end of the Kalpa there will be destruction that is talked about, at the beginning of the Kalpa creation is talked about the important point is māmikām and aham, So everything is withdrawn into Me and everything is created by Me. So the difference is in development of thought. In 8th chapter the primary thought was not in explaining who is in control of the material nature the point there was how material nature is temporary and one needs to transcend material nature. So the focus is Brahma Ji life is very-very long but still his abode is destructible so we should go to indestructible abode and Krishna says that is my abode which is indestructible and we should aspire to go there.

So 8th chapter focus was not in understanding Sri Krishna’s role in material nature the focus was going beyond material nature to the spiritual world it was not mentioned under whose will this creation destruction happens. But here the focus is His glory is eternal, majesty in spiritual world, but along with that He is also in-charge of material world. So there is development of thought. This huge creation and destruction is by the will of the Lord sarva-bhūtāni kaunteya, for all living beings in material world.

Srila Prabhupada used this verse to defeat theory of evaluation which talk about gradual development of species, so here Krishna is saying sarva-bhūtāni kaunteya, I creates all living beings, so the important point is Sri Krishna is saying that material nature is under His control.

End of transcription.