गोविन्द भाष्य (श्रील बलदेव विद्याभूषण - अचिन्त्यभेदाभेद वेदान्त ब्रह्मसूत्र भाष्य सटीक)

that pradhāna is both created and uncreated. In this way its is like honey and some other things that are both created and uncreated. Purport by Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa This doubt is dispelled by the word ca (certainly). It is possible for pradhāna to be both created and uncreated. How is that? That is explained by the word kalpana. Kalpana here means “creation”. It should be understood in that way because it was used with that sense in the Ṛṅ Veda's statement, yathā-pūrvam akalpayat (In the beginning the Supreme Personality of Godhead created thew world). The meaning of this is that the pradhāna is manifested from the Supreme Brahman, who is the master of the potencies of darkness. That is the truth in this matter. The Lord has an eternal and very subtle potency named tamas (darkness), which is described in the following statement (Rg Veda 10.1.29.3): tama āsīt tamasā gūḍham agre praketaṁ yadā tamas tan na divā na rātriḥ "In the beginning was darkness. Darkness covered everything. When the darkness was manifested there was neither day nor night." Tamas is also described in the Culika Upaniṣad: gaur anādavatī "Matter has no power to speak." At the time of cosmic annihilation pradhāna attains oneness with Brahman, but does not merge into Brahman. In the passage from śruti-śāstra beginning with the words pṛthivy apsu pralīyate it is said that the material elements, beginning from earth and culminating in ether, all merge into tamas (darkness), but there is no mention of tamas merging into another substance because tamas is already one with the Supreme. Because tamas is very subtle there is no possibility of it being separate from the Supreme, and therefore it is one with Him. It is not otherwise. This does not mean that tamas is identical with the Supreme. If it meant identity with the Supreme the use of the pratyaya cvi in ekī-bhavati, would not be appropriate. When the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of the tamas potency, desires to create, from Him arises the unmanifested (avyakta) three modes of material nature. The śruti-śāstra explains: mahān avyakte līyate avyaktaṁ akṣare akṣaraṁ tamasi "The mahat merges into the avyakta, the avyakta merges into the akṣara, and the akṣara merges into tamas." The Mahābhārata explains,