'apÄdÄna,' 'karaṇa,' 'adhikaraṇa'-kÄraka tina
bhagavÄnera saviÅ›eá¹£e ei tina cihna
apÄdÄna - ablative; karaṇa - instrumental; adhikaraṇa - locative; kÄraka - cases; tina - three; bhagavÄnera - of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; sa-viÅ›eá¹£a - in the personality; ei - these; tina - three; cihna - symptoms.
ÅšrÄ«la Bhaktivinoda ṬhÄkura states in his Amá¹›ta-pravÄha-bhÄá¹£ya that according to the injunction of the Upaniá¹£ads (“the Supreme Absolute Truth is He from whom everything emanatesâ€), 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, ÅšrÄ«la BhaktisiddhÄnta SarasvatÄ« quotes the Aitareya Upaniá¹£ad (1.1.1): ÄtmÄ vÄ idam eka evÄgra ÄsÄ«n nÄnyat kiñcana miá¹£at sa Ä«ká¹£ata lokÄn nu sá¹›jÄ iti. Similarly, in the ÅšvetÄÅ›vatara Upaniá¹£ad (4.9) it is stated:
chandÄá¹si yajñÄḥ kratavo vratÄni
bhÅ«taá¹ bhavyaá¹ yac ca vedÄ vadanti
yasmÄn mÄyÄ« sá¹›jate viÅ›vam etat
tasmiá¹Å› cÄnyo mÄyayÄ sanniruddhaḥ
And in the TaittirÄ«ya Upaniá¹£ad (3.1): yato vÄ imÄni bhÅ«tÄni jÄyante, yena jÄtÄni jÄ«vanti, yat prayanty abhisaá¹viÅ›anti, tad vijijñÄsasva tad brahma. This was the answer given by father Varuṇa when questioned by his son VÄruṇi Bhá¹›gu about the Absolute Truth. In this mantra, the word yataḥ, 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 ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (1.5.20):
idaá¹ hi viÅ›vaá¹ bhagavÄn ivetaro
yato jagat-sthÄna-nirodha-sambhavÄḥ
“The entire universal creation is contained in the gigantic form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Everything emanates from Him, everything rests in His energy, and after annihilation everything merges into His person.â€