Text 274
daivāt kṣubhita-dharmiṇyāṁ
svasyāṁ yonau paraḥ pumān
ādhatta vīryaṁ sāsūta
mahat-tattvaṁ hiraṇmayam
daivāt — at a time beyond memory; kṣubhita-dharmiṇyām — the material nature, which is subjected to agitation; svasyām — which belongs to the Supreme as one of His energies; yonau — in the womb from which the living entity takes his birth; paraḥ pumān — the Supreme Brahman, the Personality of Godhead; ādhatta — impregnated; vīryam — semen; sā — that material nature; asūta — produced; mahat-tattvam — the total material energy; hiraṇmayam — the original source for the emanation of varieties of material things.
“ ‘At a time beyond memory, after agitating the material nature into three qualities, the Supreme Personality of Godhead placed the semen of innumerable living entities within the womb of that material nature. Thus material nature gave birth to the total material energy, known as the hiraṇmaya-mahat-tattva, the original symbolic representation of the cosmic manifestation.’
This is a quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.26.19). Lord Kapila is explaining to His mother the relationship between the Supreme Personality of Godhead and material nature. He is informing her how the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the original cause of the living entities who are conditioned by material nature. Over and above the twenty-eight elements of the material creation is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes. Life comes not from matter but from life itself. As explained in the Vedas: nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). The Supreme Lord is the original source of life.