534
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 1, Ch. 10]
one's respective continuous duty. When a man is asleep at night, he forgets himself, what he is, what his duty is and everything of his waking state. But as soon as he awakens from slumber, he remembers all that he has to do and thus engages himself again in his prescribed activities. The living beings also remain merged in the body of Mahā-Viṣṇu during the period of annihilation, but as soon as there is another creation they arise to take up their unfinished work. This is also confirmed in the  Bhagavad-gītā  (8.18-20).
The Lord existed before the creative energy was set in action. The Lord is not a product of the material energy. His body is completely spiritual, and there is no difference between His body, and Himself. Before creation the Lord remained in His abode, which is absolute and one.
TEXT 22
स एव भूयो निजवीर्यचोदितां 
  स्वजीवमायां प्रकृतिं सिद्धतीम् । 
  अनामरूपात्मनि रूपनामनी 
  विधित्समानोऽनुससार शास्त्रकृत् ॥२२॥
sa eva bhūyo nija-vīrya-coditām 
  sva-jīva-māyām prakṛtim siṣṛkṣatīm 
  anāma-rūpātmani rūpa-nāmani 
  vidhitsamāno'nusasāra śāstra-kṛt
saḥ—He; eva—thus; bhūyaḥ—again; nija—own personal; vīrya—potency; coditām—performance of; sva—own; jīva—living being; māyām—external energy; prakṛtim—unto material nature; siṣṛkṣatīm—while recreating; anāma—without mundane designation; rūpa-ātmani—forms of the soul; rūpa-nāmani—forms and names; vidhitsamānaḥ—desiring to award; anusasāra—entrusted; śāstra-kṛt—the compiler of revealed scripture.
TRANSLATION
The Personality of Godhead, again desiring to give names and forms to His parts and parcels, the living entities, placed them under the guidance of material nature. By His own potency, material nature is empowered to recreate.