Text 11
so ’ntaḥ śarīre ’rpita-bhūta-sūkṣmaḥ
kālātmikāṁ śaktim udīrayāṇaḥ
uvāsa tasmin salile pade sve
yathānalo dāruṇi ruddha-vīryaḥ
saḥ — the Supreme Lord; antaḥ — within; śarīre — in the transcendental body; arpita — kept; bhūta — material elements; sūkṣmaḥ — subtle; kāla-ātmikām — the form of time; śaktim — energy; udīrayāṇaḥ — invigorating; uvāsa — resided; tasmin — therein; salile — in the water; pade — in the place; sve — His own; yathā — as much as; analaḥ — fire; dāruṇi — in the fuel wood; ruddha-vīryaḥ — submerged strength.
Just like the strength of fire within fuel wood, the Lord remained within the water of dissolution, submerging all the living entities in their subtle bodies. He lay in the self-invigorated energy called kāla.
After the three worlds — the upper, lower and middle planetary systems — merged into the water of dissolution, the living entities of all the three worlds remained in their subtle bodies by dint of the energy called kāla. In this dissolution, the gross bodies became unmanifest, but the subtle bodies existed, just like the water of the material creation. Thus the material energy was not completely wound up, as is the case in the full dissolution of the material world.