July 2, 2025
sarvabhūtāni kaunteya prakṛtiṁ yānti māmikāṁ
kalpakṣaye punas tāni kalpādau visṛjāṁy ahaṁ (IX-7)
prakṛtiṁ svām avaṣṭabhya visṛjāmi punaḥ-punaḥ
bhūtagrāmam imam kṛtsnam avaśaṁ prakṛter vaśāt (IX-8)
IX/7. All beings, O Arjuna ‘go into’ my nature at the end of
a kalpa; I send them forth again at the beginning of
(the next) kalpa.
IX/8. Animating my nature, I again and again send forth
all this multitude of beings, helpless by the force of
nature.
Swamiji's Commentary
The ‘big bang’ theory of creation states that all matter was condensed into a single super atom billions of years ago and when it burst the universe was born. The force was such that the universe is still scattering! On the other hand, the ‘steady state’ theory asserts that the universe is beginning-less and endless and that out of the rudimentary hydrogen, new galaxies are constantly being formed to fill the space vacated by others moving away.
Krishna reconciles the two. The ‘big bang’ is manifestation of his nature at the beginning of a kalpa (age). Since it is still in process of manifestation, we are not able to realize that one day all these will be withdrawn into his nature, i.e., when the galaxies have dispersed far enough from one another to exhaust the original impulse, they will begin to return to the centre. God, his nature and the potentiality of manifestation and un-manifestation, projection and withdrawal are all eternal; hence the continuous creation theory is also true.
Kalpa is a super-astronomical period of time; but in reality it is only kalpanā (imagination) – a thought in the divine mind. Thought involves both imagining and guessing in response to sensory stimuli. Careful observation shows that at one point, just before we drop off to sleep, it seems as though the senses and the imagining faculties are returning to our nature; and once the imagining and guessing has ceased, they have returned. When we wake (in dream or otherwise), those faculties start streaming out. This happens to us every day, and to God every one of his days, which means that there is nothing but God.