"cyclic pralaya so-called are but obscurations, during which periods Nature, i.e., everything visible and invisible on a resting planet -- remains in statu quo. Nature rests and slumbers, no work of destruction going on on the globe even if no active work is done. All forms, as well as their astral types, remain as they were at the last moment of its activity. The 'night' of a planet has hardly any twilight preceding it. It is caught like a huge mammoth by an avalanche, and remains slumbering and frozen till the next dawn of its new day -- a very short one indeed in comparison to the 'Day of Brahma' " (SD 2:660n).
See also SISHTAS

"cyclic pralaya so-called are but obscurations, during which periods Nature, i.e., everything visible and invisible on a resting planet -- remains in statu quo. Nature rests and slumbers, no work of destruction going on on the globe even if no active work is done. All forms, as well as their astral types, remain as they were at the last moment of its activity. The 'night' of a planet has hardly any twilight preceding it. It is caught like a huge mammoth by an avalanche, and remains slumbering and frozen till the next dawn of its new day -- a very short one indeed in comparison to the 'Day of Brahma' " (SD 2:660n).
See also SISHTAS