768
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 3, Ch. 20]
more than;  vai —in fact;  varṣa-sāhasram —a thousand years;  anvavātsīt —became situated;  tam —in the egg;  īśvaraḥ —the Lord.
TRANSLATION
For over one thousand years the shiny egg lay on the waters of the Causal Ocean in the lifeless state. Then the Lord entered it as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu.
PURPORT
From this verse it appears that all the universes are floating in the Causal Ocean.
TEXT 16
तस्य नाभेरभूत्वम् सहस्राकोरुदीधिति । सर्वजीवनिकायौको यत्र स्वयमभूत्स्वराट् ॥१६॥
tasya nābher abhūt padmam sahasrārkoru-dīdhiti sarva-jīvanikāyauko yatra svayam abhūt svarāṭ
tasya —of the Lord;  nābheḥ —from the navel;  abhūt —sprouted up;  padmam —a lotus;  sahasra-arka —a thousand suns;  uru —more;  dīdhiti —with dazzling splendor;  sarva —all;  jīva-nikāya —resting place of conditioned souls;  okaḥ —place;  yatra —where;  svayam —himself;  abhūt —emanated;  svarāṭ —the omnipotent (Lord Brahmā).
TRANSLATION
From the navel of the Personality of Godhead, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, sprouted a lotus flower effulgent like a thousand blazing suns. This lotus flower is the reservoir of all conditioned souls, and the first living entity who came out of the lotus flower was the omnipotent Brahmā.
PURPORT
It appears from this verse that the conditioned souls who rested within the body of the Personality of Godhead after the dissolution of the last creation came out in the sum total form of the lotus. This is called  hiraṇyagarbha . The first living entity to come out was Lord Brahmā, who