Text 41
etat kecid avidvāṁso
māyā-saṁsṛtir ātmanaḥ
anādy-āvartitaṁ nṝṇāṁ
kādācitkaṁ pracakṣate
etat — this; kecit — some persons; avidvāṁsaḥ — who are not learned; māyā-saṁsṛtiḥ — the illusory creation; ātmanaḥ — of the Supreme Soul; anādi — from time immemorial; āvartitam — repeating; nṝṇām — of conditioned living beings; kādācitkam — unprecedented; pracakṣate — they say.
Although this event was unique and unprecedented, some unintelligent persons compare it to the cycle of illusory material existence the Supreme Lord has created for the conditioned souls — an endless cycle that has been continuing since time immemorial.
Mārkaṇḍeya’s being drawn into the Lord’s body by His inhalation and expelled again by His exhalation should not be considered a symbolic description of the perennial cycles of material creation and annihilation. This portion of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes a real, historical event experienced by a great devotee of the Lord, and those trying to relegate this story to mere symbolic allegory are here declared to be unintelligent fools.