The Supreme Lord alone is eternally conscious, independent, and source of all creation and temporary material manifestation.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Prabhupāda: bhāgavatārambhe vyāsa maìgalācaraṇe 'parameśvara' nirūpila ei dui lakṣaṇe [Cc Madhya 20.358] [In the auspicious invocation at the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrīla Vyāsadeva has described the Supreme Personality of Godhead by these symptoms.] We have been discussing about the symptoms, characteristics, of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One characteristic is that is eternally constant, or present with Him, and another characteristic is that it is sometimes manifested, sometimes not manifested. These two characteristics are called the superior energy and the inferior energy. Manifestation of the superior energy is always constant, present in the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
And manifestation of the inferior energy, that is not always present. It is sometimes manifested, sometimes not manifested. Just like we have got also... It is very easy to understand.
We have got several energies, personally. And we have got some mean energy also that is within us. That is not always manifested. Sometimes I commit theft.
That is my energy. That is my energy, but it is not always manifested. This is a crude example. Similarly, everything is there in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Janmādy asya yataḥ [Cc Madhya 20.359]. [O my Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is He only who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmājī, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth.] The Bhāgavata explains, in the beginning of Bhāgavata, that everything has its origin from the Supreme Lord. Everything.
Whatever you have got, it has its origin from the Supreme Lord. And that is also confirmed in other Vedic literature. Yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante [Taittirīya Upaniṣad 3.1]. [The Supreme Absolute Truth is that from which everything is born.] Imāni bhūtāni, all these things which are created, there is a source. That is Brahman.
That is Brahman. The Vedānta-sūtra also confirms this, janmādy asya yataḥ. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. What is Brahman? This is explained in one code word, janmādy asya yataḥ: Brahman is that from whom everything is emanating.
That's all. Brahman is that from whom, or from which—whatever you like—everything is emanated. So that supreme source, summum bonum of everything, is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ svarāṭ. That supreme source of everything, what is the nature of that supreme source of everything? Now the Bhāgavata says, janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca arthesu abhijñaḥ.