As explained in chapters 7 and 8, the material creation follows cycles of creation, maintenance, and dissolution. During dissolution, souls who are
vimukh
(have their backs) toward God remain in a state of suspended animation within the body of Maha Vishnu. The material energy,
prakṛiti
, also lies unmanifest in God’s
mahodar
(big stomach). When he desires to activate the process of creation, he glances at
prakṛiti
. It then begins to unwind, and sequentially, the entities
mahān, ahankār, pañch-tanmātrās,
and
pañch-mahābhūta
are created. Also, with the help of the secondary creator Brahma, the material energy creates various life forms, and God casts the souls into appropriate bodies, determined by their past karmas. Thus, Shree Krishna states that
prakṛiti
is like the womb and the souls are like the sperms. He places the souls in the womb of Mother Nature to give birth to multitudes of living beings. Sage Ved Vyas also describes it in the same fashion in Śhrīmad Bhāgavatam
daivāt kṣhubhita-dharmiṇyāṁ svasyāṁ yonau paraḥ pumān
ādhatta vīryaṁ sāsūta mahat-tattvaṁ hiraṇmayam
(3.26.19)[v1]
“In the womb of the material energy the Supreme Lord impregnates the souls. Then, inspired by the karmas of the individual souls, the material nature gets to work to create suitable life forms for them.” He does not cast all souls into the material world, rather only those who are
vimukh
.