Text 11]
Fundamental Principles of Material Nature
1077
that is called  pradhāna .  Pradhāna  is not the time element because in the time element there are actions and reactions, creation and annihilation. Nor is it the  jīva  or marginal potency of living entities, or designated, conditioned living entities, because the designations of the living entities are not eternal. One adjective used in this connection is  nitya , which indicates eternality. Therefore the condition of material nature immediately previous to its manifestation is called  pradhāna .
TEXT 11
पञ्चमिः पञ्चमिर्ब्रह्म चतुर्मिर्दशमिस्तथा ।
एतच्चतुर्विंशतिकं गणं प्राधानिकं विदुः ॥११॥
pañcabhiḥ pañcabhir brahma caturbhir daśabhis tathā etac catur-vimśatikam gaṇam prādhānikam viduḥ
pañcabhiḥ —with the five (gross elements);  pañcabhiḥ —the five (subtle elements);  brahma —Brahman;  caturbhiḥ —the four (internal senses);  daśabhiḥ —the ten (five senses for gathering knowledge and five organs of action);  tathā —in that way;  etat —this;  catuḥ-vimśatikam —consisting of twenty-four elements;  gaṇam —aggregate;  prādhānikam —comprising the  pradhāna ;  viduḥ —they know.
TRANSLATION
The aggregate elements, namely the five gross elements, the five subtle elements, the four internal senses, the five senses for gathering knowledge and the five outward organs of action, are known as the  pradhāna .
PURPORT
According to  Bhagavad-gītā , the sum total of the twenty-four elements described herein is called the  yonir mahad-brahma . The sum total of the living entities is impregnated in this  yonir mahad-brahma , and they are born in different forms, beginning from  Brahmā  down to the insignificant ant. In the  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  and other Vedic literatures, the sum total of the twenty-four elements,  pradhāna , is also described as  yonir mahad-brahma ; it is the source of the birth and subsistence of all living entities.