dhÄtÅ«paplava Äsanne
vyaktaá¹ dravya-guṇÄtmakam
anÄdi-nidhanaḥ kÄlo
hy avyaktÄyÄpakará¹£ati
dhÄtu - of the material elements; upaplave - the dissolution; Äsanne - when it has become imminent; vyaktam - the manifest cosmos; dravya - gross objects; guṇa - and the subtle modes; Ätmakam - consisting of; anÄdi - without beginning; nidhanaḥ - or end; kÄlaḥ - time; hi - indeed; avyaktÄya - into the unmanifest; apakará¹£ati - draws.
When the annihilation of the material elements is imminent, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His form of eternal time withdraws the manifest cosmos, consisting of gross and subtle features, and the entire universe vanishes into nonmanifestation.
In the Third Canto of ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam Lord Kapiladeva teaches that the material nature originally exists in an inert state of equilibrium called pradhÄna. When Lord Viṣṇu casts His potent glance in the form of kÄla, or time, material interactions take place, culminating in the variegated creation of the material cosmos. In this verse it is stated that at the end of universal time the same kÄla that originally incited the female nature into manifestation again withdraws the cosmos into its original state of inert nonmanifestation. According to ÅšrÄ«la BhaktisiddhÄnta SarasvatÄ« ṬhÄkura, the time potency itself, kÄla, is then withdrawn, and it merges into the Supreme Soul, who manifests Himself as the original cause of material nature (anÄdir Ädir govindaḥ sarva-kÄraṇa-kÄraṇam).
Such technical arrangements for creation and annihilation, birth and death, do not exist in the eternal spiritual kingdom of God. In the spiritual sky the variegated spiritual enjoyment of the Lord and His devotees is not hampered by the inferior cycles of birth, maintenance and destruction found in the material world.
