52 Sri Caitanya-caritamrta

that aham means “I” and that “I” refers to a personality. Therefore, the Personality
of Godhead, speaking to Brahmi, uses aham while describing His own transcendental
form. Aham has a specific meaning; it is not a vague term that can be whimsically
interpreted. Aham, when spoken by Krsna, refers to the Supreme Personality of
Godhead and nothing else.

Before the creation and after its dissolution, only the Supreme Personality of
Godhead and His associates exist; there is no existence of the material elements.
This is confirmed in the Vedic literature. Vasudevo va idam agra asin na brahmG na
ca Sahkarah. The meaning of this mantra is that before creation there was no exist-
ence of Brahma or Siva, for only Visnu existed. Visnu exists in His abode, the
Vaikunthas. There are innumerable Vaikuntha planets in the spiritual sky, and on
each of them Vigsnu resides with His associates and His paraphernalia. It is also con-
firmed in Bhagavad-gitd that although the creation is periodically dissolved, there
is another abode, which is never dissolved. The word ‘‘creation”’ refers to the material
creation because in the spiritual world everything exists eternally and there is no
creation or dissolution.

The Lord indicates herein that before the material creation He existed in fullness
with all transcendental opulences, including all strength, all wealth, all beauty, all
knowledge, all fame and all renunciation. If one thinks of a king, he automatically
thinks of his secretaries, ministers, military commanders, palaces and so on. Since a
king has such opulences, one can simply try to imagine the opulence of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. When the Lord says aham, therefore, it is to be understood
that He exists with full potency, including all opulences.

The word yat refers to Brahman, the impersonal effulgence of the Lord. In the
Brahma-sarnhita (5.40) it is said, tad-brahma niskalam anantam asesa-bhiitam: the
Brahman effulgence expands unlimitedly. Just as the sun is a localized planet
although the sunshine expands unlimitedly from that source, so the Absolute Truth
is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but His effulgence of energy, Brahman,
expands unlimitedly. From that Brahman energy the creation appears, just as a
cloud appears in sunshine. From the cloud comes rain, from the rain comes vegetation,
and from the vegetation come fruits and flowers, which are the basis of subsistence for
many other forms of fife. Similarly, the effulgent bodily luster of the Supreme Lord
is the cause of the creation of infinite universes. The Brahman effulgence is im-
personal, but the cause of that energy is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
From Him, in His abode, the Vaikunthas, this brahmajyoti emanates. He is never
impersonal. Since they cannot understand the source of the Brahman energy,
impersonalists mistakenly choose to think this impersonal Brahman the ultimate
or absolute goal. But as stated in the Upanisads, one has to penetrate the impersonal
effulgence to see the face of the Supreme Lord. If one desires to reach the source
of the sunshine, he has to travel through the sunshine to reach the sun and then
meet the predominating deity there. The Absolute Truth is the Supreme Person,
Bhagavan, as the Srimad-Bhagavatam explains.

Sat means “effect,” asat means ‘‘cause,’’ and param refers to the ultimate
truth, which is transcendental to cause and effect. The cause of the
creation is called the mahat-tattva, or total material energy, and its effect
