God is Absolute existence, Absolute consciousness and Absolute bliss. His power is known as Prakriti or Primordial energy. During creation God uses this creative energy. This energy is the Mother aspect of God. This creative aspect is the active Brahman (saguna, and God as absolute peace is the passive aspect of Brahman (nirguna).
Now this primordial energy of God has Her potential and kinetic aspects. As potential energy She is the Holy Spirit; the all-pervading, all-protecting Universal Mother. In Her kinetic aspect She is mother nature. In Her womb God places the seed of creation. Her work is to continuously create and manifest that which is latent in Her. The whole universe remains latent in Her. She manifests this at the will of God. Thus the evolution begins.
Evolution presupposes an involution. Nothing evolves unless something is involved. Seed is the tree involved; and tree is the seed evolved. Child is the man involved and man is the child evolved. Thus, the whole creation is involved in this primordial energy that evolves during creation.
The kinetic aspect of the energy operates through Her three modes, namely rajas (creation), sattva (preservation), and tamas (destruction). Sattva is tranquility or equanimity; rajas is the ego and passionate activity, and tamas is stupor and inactivity. (See also gunas.)
When there is equilibrium or balance of these three gunas or modes of nature, there is rest and no manifested creation. This rest is known as Kalpantya or cyclic rest. During this period everything remains latent in the primordial energy in an unmanifested state, like the tortoise with its limbs withdrawn into its shell. During the cyclic rest there is nothing but void and darkness. It is the night of the Creator. Now the reader will be able to understand what is written in Genesis:
"And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
Due to the equilibrium of the electron (rajas), proton (tamas), and neutron (sattva), there was cyclic rest. Everything was in a latent, seed form in the primordial energy. Therefore there was no name or form, only void and darkness.
Now the spirit of God or the will of God
moved.
"And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light."
(Essence of Bhagavad Gita and Bible, p. 209.)