I don't pretend to understand physics or science at this level but it's always fascinated me. I try to keep up with stuff that I read or hear but at some point, it all escapes me. So forgive me if I butcher this concept.

Anyway...Hawking suggested that if all of the matter was condensed into that singularity, it would also keep time from flowing (the same way black holes affect time & space). So you'd have all the matter in the universe condensed into one point with no passage or movement of time. Until that singularity exploded & matter started spreading out and time began to move.