602 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 2, Ch. 10
na—never; asya—of the creation; karmapi—in the matter of; janma-adau—
creation and destruction; parasya—of the Supreme; anuvidhiyate—it is so
described; kartrtva—engineering: pratisedha-artham—counteract; mayaya—
by the external energy; dropitam—is manifested; hi—for; tat—the creator.
TRANSLATION
There is no direct engineering by the Lord for the creation and de-
struction of the material world. What is described in the Vedas about His
direct interference is simply to counteract the idea that material nature is
the creator.
PURPORT

The Vedic direction for creation, maintenance and destruction of the
material world is this: “yato va imani bhitani jayante yena jatani jivanti
yat prayanty abhisamvisanti,”’ i.e. everything is created by Brahman, and
after creation everything is maintained by Brahman, and after annihilation
everything is conserved in Brahman. Gross tmaterialists without any know-
ledge of Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan conclude material nature to be
the ultimate cause of the material manifestation, and the modern scientist
also shares this view that material nature is the ultimate cause of all
manifestations of the material world. This view is refuted by all Vedic
literature. The Vedanta philosophy mentions that Brahman is the foun-
tainhead of all creation, maintenance and destruction, and Srimad-
Bhagavatam, the natural commentation on the Vedanta philosophy, says,
“janmady asya yato ’nvaydd itaratas carthesv abhijnah svarat,”’ etc.

Inert matter is potential energy undoubtedly by interactions, but it has
no initiative of its own. Srimad-Bhagavatam therefore comments on the
aphorism of janmadyasya as abhijiah and svarat, i.e. the Supreme Brahman
is not inert matter, but He is supreme consciousness and is independent.
Therefore inert matter cannot be the ultimate cause of the creation,
maintenance and destruction of the material world. Superficially it appears
that the material nature is the cause of creation, maintenance and de-
struction, but material nature is set into motion for creation by the su-
preme conscious being, the Personality of Godhead. He is the background
of all creation, maintenance and destruction, and this is confirmed in the
Bhagavad-gita:

mayadhyaksena prakrtih siiyate sacaracaram
hetundnena kaunteya jagad viparivartate. (Bg. 9.10)
