Sankarṣaṇa alone directs creation; matter has no independent power without the Supreme Lord's potency.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Prabhupāda: kriyā-śakti-pradhāna saìkarṣaṇa balarāma prākṛtāprākṛta-sṛṣṭi karena nirmāṇa [Cc Madhya 20.255] [Lord Saìkarṣaṇa is Lord Balarāma. Being the predominator of the creative energy, He creates both the material and the spiritual world.] So out of three transcendental propensities of the Supreme Lord, icchā-śakti, jñāna-śakti and kriyā-śakti, the kriyā-śakti, that is represented by..., or the controller of the kriyā-śakti is Saìkarṣaṇa, Balarāma. And with that potency, kriyā-śakti potency, the creation, both material creation and spiritual creation, are effected. ahaìkārera adhiṣṭhātā kṛṣṇera icchāya goloka, vaikuṇṭha sṛje cic-chakti-dvārāya [Cc Madhya 20.256] [That original Saìkarṣaṇa [Lord Balarāma] is the cause of both the material and the spiritual creation. He is the predominating Deity of egotism, and by the will of Kṛṣṇa and the power of the spiritual energy, He creates the spiritual world, which consists of the planet Goloka Vṛndāvana and the Vaikuṇṭha planets.] Cic-chakti-dvārāya.
The spiritual potency is manifested in the spiritual world, Goloka Vṛndāvana and spiritual planets. yadyapi asṛjya nitya cic-chakti-vilāsa tathāpi saìkarṣaṇa-icchāya tāhāra prakāśa [Cc Madhya 20.257] [Although there is no question of creation as far as the spiritual world is concerned, the spiritual world is nonetheless manifested by the supreme will of Saìkarṣaṇa. The spiritual world is the abode of the pastimes of the eternal spiritual energy.] Actually, there is no creation in the spiritual world. The creation means it begins at a certain time and ends at a certain time, but in the spiritual world there is no such beginning. But because we find the creation of this material world by the kriyā-śakti potency of Lord, therefore it is understood that the spiritual world is also manifested by the same potency, with the help of His spiritual energy. sahasra-patraṃ kamalaṃ gokulākhyaṃ mahat-padam tat-karṇikāraṃ tad-dhāma tad anantāṃśa-sambhavam [Cc Madhya 20.258] [Gokula, the supreme abode and planet, appears like a lotus flower that has a thousand petals. The whorl of that lotus is the abode of the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa. This lotus-shaped supreme abode is created by the will of Lord Ananta.’] That original planet, Goloka Vṛndāvana, is described here in the Brahma-saṃhitā "just like a lotus flower." māyā-dvāre sṛje teìho brahmāṇòera gaṇa jaòa-rūpā prakṛti nahe brahmāṇòa-kāraṇa [Cc Madhya 20.259] [By the agency of the material energy, this same Lord Saìkarṣaṇa creates all the universes. The dull material energy—known in modern language as nature—is not the cause of the material universe.] Now, so far this material creation is concerned, it is said here that "By His material potency, He manifests this material world and unlimited universes within the material world." Ah, nobody should think that the material world has come out of nothing, out of void. No.
This is confirmed in all Vedic literature and especially in the Brahma-saṃhitā, and in the Bhagavad-gītā also it is stated, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram [Bg 9.10]. [This material nature is working under My direction, O son of Kuntī, and it is producing all moving and unmoving beings. By its rule this manifestation is created and annihilated again and again.] So material nature is not independent. It is a misunderstanding, a wrong conception, that matter is working out of its own accord. Matter has no power to work.
It is a jaòa-rūpā. Jaòa-rūpā means it has no moving capacity or, what is called, initiative. Matter has no initiative. Therefore matter cannot manifest in such a way without the direction of the Supreme Lord.
Māyā-dvāre sṛje teìho brahmāṇòera gaṇa. Actually, it is His direction, but material potency is help only. That's all. jaòa haite sṛṣṭi nahe īśvara-śakti vine tāhātei saìkarṣaṇa kare śaktira ādhāne [Cc Madhya 20.260] [Without the Supreme Personality of Godhead’s energy, dull matter cannot create the cosmic manifestation. Its power does not arise from the material energy itself but is endowed by Saìkarṣaṇa.] Jaòa haite, from matter, there is no possibility of any creation.
The Saìkarṣaṇa, He is manifestation of Saìkarṣaṇa, Balarāma. He is the director of this material creation. īśvarera śaktye sṛṣṭi karaye prakṛti lauha yena agni-śaktye pāya dāha-śakti [Cc Madhya 20.261] [Dull matter alone cannot create anything. The material energy produces the creation by the power of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Iron itself has no power to burn, but when iron is placed in fire, it is empowered to burn.] "Just like it is, in contact with the fire, the iron becomes red hot and it become fire, similarly, in contact with Saìkarṣaṇa, this material energy gets potency, and thereby the material manifestation is there." etau hi viśvasya ca bīja-yonī rāmo mukundaḥ puruṣaḥ pradhānam anvīya bhūteṣu vilakṣaṇasya jñānasya ceśāta imau purāṇau [Cc Madhya 20.262] [Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa are the original efficient and material causes of the material world. As Mahā-Viṣṇu and the material energy, They enter into the material elements and create the diversities by multi-energies. Thus They are the cause of all causes.] In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the Tenth Canto, it is stated that "This Rāma and Kṛṣṇa"—Rāma means Balarāma, and Kṛṣṇa—"They are the root of this material creation. And both of Them enters into each and every universe and maintains that." Aṇòāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham [Bs 5.35]. [He is an undifferentiated entity as there is no distinction between potency and the possessor thereof. In His work of creation of millions of worlds, His potency remains inseparable. All the universes exist in Him and He is present in His fullness in every one of the atoms that are scattered throughout the universe, at one and the same time. Such is the primeval Lord whom I adore.] This is mentioned in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. sṛṣṭi-hetu yei mūrti prapañce avatāre sei īśvara-mūrti 'avatāra' nāma dhare [Cc Madhya 20.263] [The form of the Lord that descends into the material world to create is called an avatāra, or incarnation.] "For material creation, the expansion of the Supreme Lord for the purpose of material creation is called incarnation. That is called avatāra." māyātīta paravyome sabāra avasthāna viśve avatari' dhare 'avatāra' nāma [Cc Madhya 20.264] [All the expansions of Lord Kṛṣṇa are actually residents of the spiritual world. But when they descend into the material world, they are called incarnations [avatāras]] "So all Viṣṇu expansion, they are in the spiritual world, and they all of them reside there.
But when they come into this material world, it is called incarnation." Actually, avatāra... This Sanskrit name is avatāra. Avatāra means who comes down from the spiritual world. Avatāratī.