eta lañā sṛje puruṣa sakala saṁsāra
koṭi aṁśa-millions of parts and parcels; koṭi śakti-millions and millions of energies; koṭi avatāra-millions upon millions of incarnations; eta-all this; lañā-taking; sṛje-creates; puruṣa-the original person, Mahā-Viṣṇu; sakala saṁsāra-all the material world.
Mahā-Viṣṇu creates the entire material world, with millions of His parts, energies and incarnations. māyā -the external energy; yaiche -as; dui aṁśa -two parts; nimitta -the cause; upādāna -the ingredients; māyā -the material energy; nimitta-hetu -original cause; upādāna -ingredients; pradhāna -immediate cause; puruṣa -the person Lord Viṣṇu; īśvara -the Supreme Personality of Godhead; aiche -in that way; dvi-mūrti ha-iyā -taking two forms; viśva-sṛṣṭi kare -creates this material world; nimitta -the original cause; upādāna -the material cause; lañā -with. Just as the external energy consists of two parts-the efficient cause [nimitta] and the material cause [upādāna], māyā being the efficient cause and pradhāna the material cause-so Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, assumes two forms to create the material world with the efficient and material causes.
"Materialists sometimes give the argument that as straw eaten by a cow produces milk automatically, so material nature, under different circumstances, produces varieties of manifestations. Thus originally matter is the cause. In refuting this argument, we may say that an animal of the same species as the cow-namely, the bull-also eats straw like the cow but does not produce milk. Under the circumstances, it cannot be said that straw in connection with a particular species produces milk. The conclusion should be that there is superior management, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.10), where the Lord says, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram: 'This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings.' The Supreme Lord says, mayādhyakṣeṇa ('under My superintendence'). When He desires that the cow produce milk by eating straw, there is milk, and when He does not so desire it, the mixture of such straw cannot produce milk. If the way of material nature had been that straw produced milk, a stack of straw could also produce milk. But that is not possible. And the same straw given to a human female also cannot produce milk. That is the meaning of the Bhagavad-gītā's statement that only under superior orders does anything take place. Matter itself has no power to produce independently. The conclusion, therefore, is that matter, which has no self-knowledge, cannot be the cause of the material creation. The ultimate creator is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.