Beyond this manifested and non-manifest material nature, there is another, spiritual nature, which is sanātana. Sanātana means eternal. And it is also stated, yasmin sarveṣu api naśyatsu na vinaśyate: "When everything is annihilated, that sanātana nature is not annihilated. That sanātana nature remains as it is." That is the spiritual nature and material nature.
So these three qualitites . . . as from Viṣṇu, Brahmā is generated, and from Brahmā, Lord Śiva is generated, so original cause is Viṣṇu. And Viṣṇu's cause is Kṛṣṇa. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kāla. In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is said:
- yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya
- jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ
- viṣṇur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣo
- govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
- (Bs. 5.48)
The Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Viṣṇu lying in the Causal Ocean of material creation, so He is in the nature of sleeping, ananta. And He is breathing. So yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya. This breathing, exhaling and inhaling, that is going on. So that exhaling and inhaling is the duration of this material existence. When Viṣṇu exhales, whole creation takes place. And when He inhales, the whole creation again is . . . Prakṛtiṁ yānti māmikām (BG 9.7). In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said: "Then it again enters into the nature of the Supreme."
So with the exhaling of breathing, innumerable universes are being generated. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam atha. Niśvasita-kāla, that period. Now, imagine what is that period. Jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṇḍa-nāthāḥ.