Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 2 - Chapter 1 - Verse 27


Sanskrit:

यथात्ममायायोगेन नानाशक्त्युपबृंहितम् ।विलुम्पन् विसृजन् गृह्णन् बिभ्रदात्मानमात्मना ॥ २७ ॥

ITRANS:

yathātma-māyā-yogenanānā-śakty-upabṛṁhitamvilumpan visṛjan gṛhṇanbibhrad ātmānam ātmanā

Translation:

And [please inform me] how You, by Your own Self, manifest different energies for annihilation, generation, acceptance and maintenance by combination and permutation.

Purport:

The whole manifestation is the Lord Himself by diffusion of His different energies only, namely the internal, external and marginal, just as the sunlight is the manifestation of the energy of the sun planet. Such energy is simultaneously one with and different from the Lord, just as the sunshine is simultaneously one with and different from the sun planet. The energies are acting by combination and permutation by the indication of the Lord, and the acting agents, like Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, are also different incarnations of the Lord. In other words, there is nothing but the Lord, and still the Lord is different from all such manifestive activities. How it is so will be explained later on.