prāṇādīnāḿ viśva-sṛjāḿ
śaktayo yāḥ parasya tāḥ
pāratantryād vaisādṛṣyād
dvayoś ceṣṭaiva ceṣṭatām
prana -- of the life air; adinam -- and so on; visva -- of the universe; srijam -- the creative factors; saktayah -- potencies; yah -- which; parasya -- belonging to the Supreme; tah -- they; paratantryat -- because of being dependent; vaisadrisyat -- because of being different; dvayoh -- of both (living and nonliving manifestations in the material world); ceshta -- the activity; eva -- merely; ceshtatam -- of those entities (namely, prana and so on) that are active.
Whatever potencies the life air and other elements of universal creation exhibit are actually all personal energies of the Supreme Lord, for both life and matter are subordinate to Him and dependent on Him, and also different from one another. Thus everything active in the material world is set into motion by the Supreme Lord.
Prana is the vital air of life, a more subtle element than the ordinary air we can touch. And because prana is so subtle -- finer than the tangible manifestations of creation -- it is sometimes considered the ultimate source of everything. But even subtle energies such as prana depend for their functional capacity on the supremely subtle Paramatma. That is the idea Vasudeva expresses here by the word paratantryat, "because of dependence." Just as the velocity of an arrow is derived from the strength of the bowman who shoots it, so all subordinate energies depend on the power of the Supreme Lord.
Furthermore, even when various subtle causes have been empowered with their capacity to act, they cannot act in concert without the Supersoul's coordinating direction. As Lord Brahma states in his description of creation in the Second Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam,
yadaite 'sangata bhava
bhutendriya-mano-gunah
yadayatana-nirmane
na sekur brahma-vittama
tada samhatya canyonyam
bhagavac-chakti-coditah
sad-asattvam upadaya
cobhayam sasrijur hy adah
"O Narada, best of the transcendentalists, the forms of the body cannot manifest as long as these created parts, namely the elements, senses, mind and modes of nature, are not assembled. Thus when all these became assembled by the force of the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, this universe certainly came into being by accepting both the primary and secondary causes of creation." (Bhag. 2.5.32-33)
