Verse 2.1.159

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 2.1.159:

दारु-ब्रह्म जगन्नाथो भगवान् पुरुषोत्तमे ।
क्षेत्रे नीलाचले क्षरर्-नव-तीरे विराजते ॥ १५९ ॥

dāru-brahma jagannātho bhagavān puruṣottame |
kṣetre nīlācale kṣarar-nava-tīre virājate || 159 ||

dāru-brahma–the Absolute Truth in the form of wood; jagat-nāthaḥ–Lord of all the worlds; bhagavān–full in six opulences; puruṣottame kṣetre–in the land of the Supreme Person; nīla-acale–upon the blue mountain; kṣāra-arṇava–of the salt ocean; tīre–on the shore; virājate–is radiantly present.

“In Śrī Puruṣottama-kṣetra, on the blue mountain known as Nīlācala, on the shore of the salt ocean, the Supreme Lord of the universe Śrī Jagannātha is radiantly present as dāru-brahma, the Absolute Truth in the form of wood.

Commentary: Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā with Bhāvānuvāda

(By Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī himself including a deep purport of that commentary)

Śrī Gopa-kumāra says, “Although the Supreme Lord is brahma-svarūpa, the embodiment of transcendence, He nevertheless appears as a Deity of wood in order to dispel the endless suffering of material existence. That selfsame Supreme Personality, who is famous by the name of Śrī Jagannātha, resides on the shore of the salt ocean at Nīlācala in Puruṣottama-kṣetra.”

It is stated in Padma Purāṇa:

समुद्रस्योत्तरे तीरे आस्ते श्री-पुरुषोत्तमे
पूर्णानन्द-मयं ब्रह्म दारु-व्याज-शरीर-भृत्

samudrasyottare tīre āste śrī-puruṣottame
pūrṇānanda-mayaṃ brahma dāru-vyāja-śarīra-bhṛt

On the northern shore of the ocean at Śrī Puruṣottama-kṣetra resides the fully blissful Supreme Personality of Godhead, who has deceptively assumed a wooden form (dāru-brahma).

The Bṛhad-viṣṇu Purāṇa also states:

नीलाद्रौ चोत्कले देशे क्षेत्रे श्री-पुरुषोत्तमे
दारुण्य् आस्ते चिद्-आनन्दो जगन्नाथाख्य-मूर्तिना

nīlādrau cotkale deśe kṣetre śrī-puruṣottame
dāruṇy āste cid-ānando jagannāthākhya-mūrtinā

In the country of Utkala, at Nīlācala, which is in Śrī Puruṣottama-kṣetra, the divine Deity of Jagannātha, who is the embodiment of knowledge and bliss, is present in wooden form.