18 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 7, Ch. 1

kdlam—time; carantam—moving;  srjati—creates; isah—the
Supreme Personality of Godhead; asrayam—shelter; pradhdna—for the
material energy; pumbhyam—and the living entity; nara-deva—O
ruler of men; satya—true; krt—creator.

TRANSLATION

O great King, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the con-
troller of the material and spiritual energies, who is certainly the
creator of the entire cosmos, creates the time factor to allow the
material energy and the living entity to act within the limits of
time. Thus the Supreme Personality is never under the time factor
nor under the material energy.

PURPORT

One should not think that the Lord is dependent on the time factor. He
actually creates the situation by which material nature acts and by which
the conditioned soul is placed under material nature. Both the condi-
tioned soul and the material nature act within the time factor, but the
Lord is not subject to the actions and reactions of time, for time has been
created by Him. To be more clear, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura
says that creation, maintenance and annihilation are all under the
supreme will of the Lord.

In Bhagavad-gita (4.7) the Lord says:

yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham

“Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O de-
scendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time |
descend Myself.” Since Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is
the controller of everything, when He appears He is not within the
limitations of material time (janma karma ca me divyam). In this verse
the words kalam carantam srjatisa @srayam indicate that although the
Lord acts within time, whether sattva-guna, rajo-guna or tamo-guna is
prominent, one should not think that the Lord is under time’s control.
