Text 8
parāvareṣāṁ bhūtānām
ātmā yaḥ puruṣaḥ paraḥ
sa evāsīd idaṁ viśvaṁ
kalpānte ’nyan na kiñcana
para-avareṣām — of all living entities, in higher or lower statuses of life; bhūtānām — of those who have taken material bodies (the conditioned souls); ātmā — the Supersoul; yaḥ — one who is; puruṣaḥ — the Supreme Person; paraḥ — transcendental; saḥ — He; eva — indeed; āsīt — was existing; idam — this; viśvam — universe; kalpa-ante — at the end of the millennium; anyat — anything else; na — not; kiñcana — anything whatsoever.
The transcendental Supreme Person, the Supersoul of all living entities, who are in different statuses of life, high and low, existed at the end of the millennium, when neither this manifested cosmos nor anything else but Him existed.
Taking the proper position from which to describe the dynasty of Manu, Śukadeva Gosvāmī begins by saying that when the entire world is inundated, only the Supreme Personality of Godhead exists, and nothing else. Śukadeva Gosvāmī will now describe how the Lord creates other things, one after another.