1108
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 4, Ch. 24]
of everything. The distinction between matter and spirit is created by the sleeping energy of the Lord when the Lord wants to give some facility to those living entities who want to imitate the Lord in His enjoyment. It is only for them that this material world is created by the dormant energy of the Lord. For instance, sometimes children want to imitate their mother and cook in the kitchen, and at such a time the mother supplies them with some toys so that the children can imitate her cooking. Similarly, when some of the living entities want to imitate the activities of the Lord, this material cosmic manifestation is created for them by the Lord. The material creation is therefore caused by the Lord through His material energy. It is by the glance of the Lord that the material energy is activated. At that time the three material qualities are set into motion, and the material energy is manifested first in the form of the  mahat-tattva , then egotism, then ether, then air, fire, water, and earth. After the creation, the living entities are impregnated in the cosmic manifestation, and they emerge as Lord Brahmā and the seven great  ṛṣis , then as different demigods. From the demigods come human beings, animals, trees, birds, beasts and everything else. The original cause, however, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as verified herein— tvam eka ādyaḥ puruṣaḥ . This is also confirmed in  Brahma-saṁhitā :
īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
Those who are covered by the material energy cannot understand that the origin of everything is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. This is summarized in the  Vedānta  aphorism,  janmādy asya yataḥ  ( Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.2 ). Kṛṣṇa also confirms this in  Bhagavad-gītā :
ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate iti matvā bhajante māṁ budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ
“I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.” (Bg. 10.8)
When Kṛṣṇa says that He is the origin of everything ( ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavo ), He means that He is even the source of Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, the  puruṣa-avatāras , the material manifestation and all the living entities within the material world. Actually the word  prabhava  (creation) only refers to this material world, for since the spiritual world is eternally