6.144
’apadana,’ ’karana,’ ’adhikarana’-karaka tina
bhagavanera savisese ei tina cihna
SYNONYMS
apadana—ablative; karana—instrumental; adhikarana—locative; karaka—cases; tina—three; bhagavanera—of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; sa-visesa—in the personality; ei—these; tina—three; cihna—symptoms “The personal features of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are categorized in three cases-namely ablative, instrumental and locative.”
PURPORT
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura states in his Amrta-pravaha-bhasya that according to the injunction of the Upanisads (“the Supreme Absolute Truth is He from whom everything emanates”), it is understood that the whole cosmic manifestation emanated from Brahman, the Supreme Absolute Truth.
The creation subsists by the energy of the Supreme Brahman and, after annihilation, merges into the Supreme Brahman.
From this we can understand that the Absolute Truth can be categorized in three cases-ablative, instrumental and locative.
According to these three cases, the Absolute Truth is positively personified.
In this connection, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati quotes the Aitareya Upanisad (1.1.1):
atma va idam eka evagra asin nanyat kincana misat sa iksata lokan nu srja iti.
Similarly, in the Svetasvatara Upanisad (4.9) it is stated:
chandamsi yajnah kratavo vratani
bhutam bhavyam yac ca veda vadanti
yasman mayi srjate visvam etat
tasmims canyo mayaya sanniruddhah And in the Taittiriya Upanisad (3.1):
yato va imani bhutani jayante, yena jatani jivanti, yat prayanty abhisamvisanti, tad vijijnasasva, tad brahma.
This was the answer given by father Varuna when questioned by his son Varuni Bhrgu about the Absolute Truth.
In this mantra, the word yatah, the Absolute Truth from which the cosmic manifestation has emanated, is in the ablative case; that Brahman by which this universal creation is maintained is in the instrumental case (yena); and that Brahman into which the whole cosmic manifestation merges is in the locative case (yat or yasmin).
It is stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.5.20):
idam hi visvam bhagavan ivetaro
yato jagat-sthana-nirodha-sambhavah “The entire universal creation is contained in the gigantic form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.