The material nature is called Maya, or
prakṛiti
.  Being an energy of God, it has existed ever since He has existed; in other words, it is eternal.  The soul is also eternal, and here it is called
puruṣh
(the living entity), while God Himself is called
param puruṣh
(the Supreme Living Entity).
The soul is also an expansion of the energy of God.
śhaktitvenaivāṁśhatvaṁ vyañjayanti
(Paramātma Sandarbh 39.1) “The soul is a fragment of the
jīva śhakti
(soul energy) of God.”  While material nature is an insentient energy, the
jīva śhakti
is a sentient energy.  It is divine and intransmutable.  It remains unchanged through different lifetimes, and the different stages of each lifetime.  The six stages through which the body passes in one lifetime are
asti
(existence in the womb),
jāyate
(birth),
vardhate
(growth),
vipariṇamate
(procreation),
apakṣhīyate
(diminution),
vinaśhyati
(death).  These changes in the body are brought about by the material energy, called
prakṛiti
, or Maya.  It creates the three modes of nature—
sattva, rajas,
and
tamas
—and their countless varieties of combinations.