9-7

सर्व भूतानि कौन्तेय प्रकृतिम् यान्ति मामिकाम् ।
कल्प क्षये पुनः तानि कल्पादौ विसृजाम्यहम् ॥ ७ ॥

sarva bhUtAni kaunteya prakRtim yAnti mAmikAm |
kalpa kSaye punaH tAni kalpAdau visRjAmyaham || 7 ||

कौन्तेय [kaunteya] Arjuna, सर्व भूतानि [sarva bhUtAni] all beings यान्ति [yAnti] end up प्रकृतिम् [prakRtim] in a dormant state मामिकाम् [mAmikAm] inside My body कल्प क्षये [kalpa kSaye] at the end of a kalpa . पुनः कल्पादौ [punaH kalpAdau] Again, at the beginning of the next kalpa , अहम् [aham] I तानि विसृजआमि [tAni visRjaAmi] create them in various forms.

All moving and stationary beings are like My body . At the end of a kalpa , the life of Brahma, the principal engineer of the universe comes to an end. All these beings attain a state of inactivity, a state in which they cannot be distinguished by names. They end up in this state by My will. I bring them back to form again at the beginning of the next kalpa .

As मनु [manu] , 1-5 says: ‘All this was in a state of inactivity. He brought forth all of it from His body’

Also read in सुबाल [subAla] , 7: ‘For whom subtle is the body’ and in सुबाल [subAla] , 2: ‘The subtle merges into the indestructible. That in turn merges into darkness’. In अष्ट [aSTa] , 2-8-9: ‘At the beginning, darkness was present without any other characteristic’.