Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 3 - Chapter 1 - Verse 16

Sanskrit:

तस्य नाभेरभूत्पद्मं सहस्रार्कोरुदीधिति ।सर्वजीवनिकायौको यत्र स्वयमभूत्स्वराट् ॥ १६ ॥

ITRANS:

tasya nābher abhūt padmaṁsahasrārkoru-dīdhitisarva-jīvanikāyaukoyatra svayam abhūt svarāṭ

Translation:

From the navel of the Personality of Godhead Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu sprouted a lotus flower effulgent like a thousand blazing suns. This lotus flower is the reservoir of all conditioned souls, and the first living entity who came out of the lotus flower was the omnipotent Brahmā

Purport:

It appears from this verse that the conditioned souls who rested within the body of the Personality of Godhead after the dissolution of the last creation came out in the sum total form of the lotus. This is called hiraṇyagarbha. The first living entity to come out was Lord Brahmā, who is independently able to create the rest of the manifested universe. The lotus is described here as effulgent as the glare of a thousand suns. This indicates that the living entities, as parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, are also of the same quality, since the Lord also diffuses His bodily glare, known as brahmajyoti. The description of Vaikuṇṭhaloka, as stated in Bhagavad-gītā and other Vedic literatures, is confirmed herewith. In Vaikuṇṭha, the spiritual sky, there is no need of sunshine, moonshine, electricity or fire. Every planet there is self-effulgent like the sun.