Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.88.4

tato vikārā abhavan

ṣoḍaśāmīṣu kañcana

upadhāvan vibhūtīnāḿ

sarvāsām aśnute gatim

SYNONYMS

tataḥ — from that (false ego); vikārāḥ — transformations; abhavan — have manifested; ṣoḍaśa — sixteen; amīṣu — among these; kañcana — any; upadhāvan — pursuing; vibhūtīnām — of material assets; sarvāsām — all; aśnute — enjoys; gatim — the acquisition.

TRANSLATION

The sixteen elements have evolved as transformations of that false ego. When a devotee of Lord Śiva worships his manifestation in any one of these elements, the devotee obtains all sorts of corresponding enjoyable opulences.

PURPORT

False ego transforms into the mind, ten senses (the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, hands, feet, voice, genitals and anus), and five physical elements (earth, water, fire, air and ether). Lord Śiva appears in a special lińga form in each of these sixteen substances, which are worshiped individually as deities in various sacred locations of the universe. A devotee of Śiva may worship one of his particular lińgas to obtain the mystic opulences pertaining to it. Thus Lord Śiva's ākāśa-lińga bestows the opulences of ether, his jyotir-lińga bestows the opulences of fire, and so on.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari