KAPILA - GITA

The eighteenth and last purana composed by Bhagavan Veda Vyasa is the Bhagavata Maha-
purana. It has 12 cantos (Skandha-s) each with many chapters (adhyaya-s) and contains a total of
18,000 verses (sloka-s). Kapila Gita is found in the third canto.
In the Bhagavata, as in all other purana-s, one story springs from another and the teaching is
narrated as taught by masters. As the story goes, Suta-ji (the son of Romaharsan who was a
disciple of Veda Vyasa) was relating to Rsi Saunaka and other sages what Sukadeva (the son of
Veda Vyasa) had taught to king Pariksit (the grandson of Arjuna) Sukadeva, in his turn, was
narrating what Maitreya Rsi had spoken to Vidura-ji about the incarnation of the Lord as Kapila Muni.
The Lord, as Kapila Muni, had imparted the knowledge of the Self to His mother, Devahuti, which is
known as Kapila Gita.

Svayambhuva Manu and Satarupa had two sons (Uttanapada and Priyavrata) and three daughters
(Akuti, Devahuti and Prasuti). Devahuti was a pure and chaste girl (Deva+ahuti = one who can
invoke the Lord). When she grew up, she heard of the glory of Kardama Rsi and fell in love with him
without even seeing him. Her parents took her to him and requested him to marry her.

Kardama Rsi was the mind-born son of Brahma-ji, the Creator. Brahma-ji wished him to produce
worthy children and so Kardama Rsi took to severe penance. The Lord, Pleased by his penance,
appeared before him and advised him to accept the marriage proposal brought by King Manu for his
daughter Devahuti.

Devahuti and Kardama Rsi were married and the young, beautiful princess lived under a tree serving
her husband day and night. The Rsi remained absorbed in mediation for years. When he saw her
serving him uncomplainingly, he asked her what she desired. She expressed her wish to live a
household life with children and worldly pleasures. He produced, with his power, a wish-fulfilling
plane which had all imaginable comforts. They had nine daughters when Kardama Rsi decided to
become a renunciate. Devahuti requested him to get the daughters married, give her a son and then
take sannyasa. She was asked to undertake penance, as the Lord Himself was to appear as her
son. In due course of time, a son, Kapila Muni, was born. The Lord Himself incarnated as Kapila
Muni with the purpose of imparting the Sankhya Sastra (the knowledge of he self).

Kardama Rsi left for the forest thereafter and absorbed himself in the Lord. After a few years, one
day, Devahuti approached Kapila Muni with a desire for knowledge. The dialogue that ensued is
called the Kapila-Gita or Kapila-upadesa.

Chapter Twenty-five The Glories of Devotional Service

1. Sri Saunaka said: Although He is unborn, the Supreme Personality of Godhead took birth as
Kapila Muni by His internal potency. He descended to disseminate transcendental knowledge for the
benefit of the whole human race.
2. Saunaka continued: There is no one who knows more than the Lord Himself. No one is more
worshipable or more mature a yogi than He. He is therefore the master of the Vedas, and to hear
about Him always is the actual pleasure of the senses.
3. Therefore please precisely describe all the activities and pastimes of the Personality of Godhead,
who is full of self-desire and who assumes all these activities by His internal potency.
4. Sri Suta Gosvami said: The most powerful sage Maitreya was a friend of Vyasadeva. Being
encouraged and pleased by Viduraís inquiry about transcendental knowledge, Maitreya spoke as
follows.
5. Maitreya said: When Kardama left for the forest, Lord Kapila stayed on the strand of the Bindu-
sarovara to please His mother, Devahuti.
6. When Kapila, who could show her the ultimate goal of the Absolute Truth, was sitting leisurely
before her, Devahuti remembered the words Brahma had spoken to her, and she therefore began to
question Kapila as follows.
7. Devahuti said: I am very sick of the disturbance caused by my material senses, for because of this
sense disturbance, my Lord, I have fallen into the abyss of ignorance.
8. Your Lordship is my only means of getting out of this darkest region of ignorance because You
are my transcendental eye, which, by Your mercy only, I have attained after many, many births.
9. You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the origin and Supreme Lord of all living entities.
You have arisen to disseminate the rays of the sun in order to dissipate the darkness of the
ignorance of the universe.
10. Now be pleased, my Lord, to dispel my great delusion. Due to my feeling of false ego, I have
been engaged by Your maya and have identified myself with the body and consequent bodily
relations.
11. Devahuti continued: I have taken shelter of Your lotus feet because You are the only person of
whom to take shelter. You are the ax which can cut the tree of material existence. I therefore offer
my obeisances unto You, who are the greatest of all transcendentalists, and I inquire from You as to
the relationship between man and woman and between spirit and matter.
12. Maitreya said: After hearing of His motherís uncontaminated desire for transcendental
realization, the Lord thanked her within Himself for her questions, and thus, His face smiling, He
explained the path of the transcendentalists, who are interested in self-realization.
13. The Personality of Godhead answered: The yoga system which relates to the Lord and the
individual soul, which is meant for the ultimate benefit of the living entity, and which causes
detachment from all happiness and distress in the material world, is the highest yoga system.
14. O most pious mother, I shall now explain unto you the ancient yoga system, which I explained
formerly to the great sages. It is serviceable and practical in every way.
15. The stage in which the consciousness of the living entity is attracted by the three modes of
material nature is called conditional life. But when that same consciousness is attached to the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, one is situated in the consciousness of liberation.
16. When one is completely cleansed of the impurities of lust and greed produced from the false
identification of the body as ìIî and bodily possessions as ìmine,î oneís mind becomes purified. In
that pure state he transcends the stage of so-called material happiness and distress.
17. At that time the soul can see himself to be transcendental to material existence and always self-
effulgent, never fragmented, although very minute in size.
18. In that position of self-realization, by practice of knowledge and renunciation in devotional
service, one sees everything in the right perspective; he becomes indifferent to material existence,
and the material influence acts less powerfully upon him.
19. Perfection in self-realization cannot be attained by any kind of yogi unless he engages in
devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for that is the only auspicious path.
20. Every learned man knows very well that attachment for the material is the greatest entanglement
of the spirit soul. But that same attachment, when applied to the self-realized devotees, opens the
door of liberation.
21. The symptoms of a sadhu are that he is tolerant, merciful and friendly to all living entities. He has
no enemies, he is peaceful, he abides by the scriptures, and all his characteristics are sublime.
22. Such a sadhu engages in staunch devotional service to the Lord without deviation. For the sake
of the Lord he renounces all other connections, such as family relationships and friendly
acquaintances within the world.
23. Engaged constantly in chanting and hearing about Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the
sadhus do not suffer from material miseries because they are always filled with thoughts of My
pastimes and activities.
24. O My mother, O virtuous lady, these are the qualities of great devotees who are free from all
attachment. You must seek attachment to such holy men, for this counteracts the pernicious effects
of material attachment.
25. In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such
knowledge one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation, and thereafter he is freed,
and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real devotion and devotional service begin.
26. Thus consciously engaged in devotional service in the association of devotees, a person gains
distaste for sense gratification, both in this world and in the next, by constantly thinking about the
activities of the Lord. This process of Krishna consciousness is the easiest process of mystic power;
when one is actually situated on that path of devotional service, he is able to control the mind.
27. Thus by not engaging in the service of the modes of material nature but by developing Krishna
consciousness, knowledge in renunciation, and by practicing yoga, in which the mind is always fixed
in devotional service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one achieves My association in this
very life, for I am the Supreme Personality, the Absolute Truth.
28. On hearing this statement of the Lord, Devahuti inquired: What kind of devotional service is
worth developing and practicing to help me easily and immediately attain the service of Your lotus
feet?
29. The mystic yoga system, as You have explained, aims at the Supreme Personality of Godhead
and is meant for completely ending material existence. Please let me know the nature of that yoga
system. How many ways are there by which one can understand in truth that sublime yoga?
30. My dear son, Kapila, after all, I am a woman. It is very difficult for me to understand the Absolute
Truth because my intelligence is not very great. But if You will kindly explain it to me, even though I
am not very intelligent, I can understand it and thereby feel transcendental happiness.
31. Sri Maitreya said: After hearing the statement of His mother, Kapila could understand her
purpose, and He became compassionate towards her because of being born of her body. He
described the Sankhya system of philosophy, which is a combination of devotional service and
mystic realization, as received by disciplic succession.
32. Lord Kapila said: The senses are symbolic representations of the demigods, and their natural
inclination is to work under the direction of the Vedic injunctions. As the senses are representatives
of the demigods, so the mind is the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The
mindís natural duty is to serve. When that service spirit is engaged in devotional service to the
Personality of Godhead, without any motive, that is far better even than salvation.
33. Bhakti, devotional service, dissolves the subtle body of the living entity without separate effort,
just as fire in the stomach digests all that we eat.
34. A pure devotee, who is attached to the activities of devotional service and who always engages
in the service of My lotus feet, never desires to become one with Me. Such a devotee, who is
unflinchingly engaged, always glorifies My pastimes and activities.
35. O My mother, My devotees always see the smiling face of My form, with eyes like the rising
morning sun. They like to see My various transcendental forms, which are all benevolent, and they
also talk favorably with Me.
36. Upon seeing the charming forms of the Lord, smiling and attractive, and hearing His very
pleasing words, the pure devotee almost loses all other consciousness. His senses are freed from all
other engagements, and he becomes absorbed in devotional service. Thus in spite of his
unwillingness, he attains liberation without separate endeavor.
37. Thus because he is completely absorbed in thought of Me, the devotee does not desire even the
highest benediction obtainable in the upper planetary systems, including Satyaloka. He does not
desire the eight material perfections obtained from mystic yoga, nor does he desire to be elevated to
the kingdom of God. Yet even without desiring them, the devotee enjoys, even in this life, all the
offered benedictions.
38. The Lord continued: My dear mother, devotees who receive such transcendental opulences are
never bereft of them; neither weapons nor the change of time can destroy such opulences. Because
the devotees accept Me as their friend, their relative, their son, preceptor, benefactor and Supreme
Deity, they cannot be deprived of their possessions at any time.
39-40. Thus the devotee who worships Me, the all-pervading Lord of the universe, in unflinching
devotional service, gives up all aspirations to be promoted to heavenly planets or to become happy
in this world with wealth, children, cattle, home or anything in relationship with the body. I take him to
the other side of birth and death.
41. The terrible fear of birth and death can never be forsaken by anyone who resorts to any shelter
other than Myself, for I am the almighty Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original
source of all creation, and also the Supreme Soul of all souls.
42. It is because of My supremacy that the wind blows, out of fear of Me; the sun shines out of fear
of Me, and the lord of the clouds, Indra, sends forth showers out of fear of Me. Fire burns out of fear
of Me, and death goes about taking its toll out of fear of Me.
43. The yogis, equipped with transcendental knowledge and renunciation and engaged in devotional
service for their eternal benefit, take shelter of My lotus feet, and since I am the Lord, they are thus
eligible to enter into the kingdom of Godhead without fear.
44. Therefore persons whose minds are fixed on the Lord engage in the intensive practice of
devotional service. That is the only means for attainment of the final perfection of life.

Chapter Twenty-six Fundamental Principles of Material Nature

1. The Personality of Godhead, Kapila, continued: My dear mother, now I shall describe unto you the
different categories of the Absolute Truth, knowing which any person can be released from the
influence of the modes of material nature.
2. Knowledge is the ultimate perfection of self-realization. I shall explain that knowledge unto you by
which the knots of attachment to the material world are cut.
3. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the Supreme Soul, and He has no beginning. He is
transcendental to the material modes of nature and beyond the existence of this material world. He
is perceivable everywhere because He is self-effulgent, and by His self-effulgent luster the entire
creation is maintained.
4. As His pastime, that Supreme Personality of Godhead, the greatest of the great, accepted the
subtle material energy, which is invested with three material modes of nature and which is related
with Visnu.
5. Divided into varieties by her threefold modes, material nature creates the forms of the living
entities, and the living entities, seeing this, are illusioned by the knowledge-covering feature of the
illusory energy.
6. Because of his forgetfulness, the transcendental living entity accepts the influence of material
energy as his field of activities, and thus actuated, he wrongly applies the activities to himself.
7. Material consciousness is the cause of oneís conditional life, in which conditions are enforced
upon the living entity by the material energy. Although the spirit soul does not do anything and is
transcendental to such activities, he is thus affected by conditional life.
8. The cause of the conditioned soulís material body and senses, and the sensesí presiding deities,
the demigods, is the material nature. This is understood by learned men. The feelings of happiness
and distress of the soul, who is transcendental by nature, are caused by the spirit soul himself.
9. Devahuti said: O Supreme Personality of Godhead, kindly explain the characteristics of the
Supreme Person and His energies, for both of these are the causes of this manifest and unmanifest
creation.
10. The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: The unmanifested eternal combination of the three
modes is the cause of the manifest state and is called pradhana. It is called prakrti when in the
manifested stage of existence.
11. The aggregate elements, namely the five gross elements, the five subtle elements, the four
internal senses, the five senses for gathering knowledge and the five outward organs of action, are
known as the pradhana.
12. There are five gross elements, namely earth, water, fire, air and ether. There are also five subtle
elements: smell, taste, color, touch and sound.
13. The senses for acquiring knowledge and the organs for action number ten, namely the auditory
sense, the sense of taste, the tactile sense, the sense of sight, the sense of smell, the active organ
for speaking, the active organs for working, and those for traveling, generating and evacuating.
14. The internal, subtle senses are experienced as having four aspects, in the shape of mind,
intelligence, ego and contaminated consciousness. Distinctions between them can be made only by
different functions, since they represent different characteristics.
15. All these are considered the qualified Brahman. The mixing element, which is known as time, is
counted as the twenty-fifth element.
16. The influence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is felt in the time factor, which causes fear
of death due to the false ego of the deluded soul who has contacted material nature.
17. My dear mother, O daughter of Svayambhuva Manu, the time factor, as I have explained, is the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, from whom the creation begins as a result of the agitation of the
neutral, unmanifested nature.
18. By exhibiting His potencies, the Supreme Personality of Godhead adjusts all these different
elements, keeping Himself within as the Supersoul and without as time.
19. After the Supreme Personality of Godhead impregnates material nature with His internal
potency, material nature delivers the sum total of the cosmic intelligence, which is known as
Hiranmaya. This takes place in material nature when she is agitated by the destinations of the
conditioned souls.
20. Thus, after manifesting variegatedness, the effulgent mahat-tattva, which contains all the
universes within itself, which is the root of all cosmic manifestations and which is not destroyed at
the time of annihilation, swallows the darkness that covered the effulgence at the time of dissolution.
21. The mode of goodness, which is the clear, sober status of understanding the Personality of
Godhead and which is generally called vasudeva, or consciousness, becomes manifest in the
mahat-tattva.
22. After the manifestation of the mahat-tattva, these features appear simultaneously. As water in its
natural state, before coming in contact with earth, is clear, sweet and unruffled, so the characteristic
traits of pure consciousness are complete serenity, clarity, and freedom from distraction.
23-24. The material ego springs up from the mahat-tattva, which evolved from the Lordís own
energy. The material ego is endowed predominantly with active power of three kindsógood,
passionate and ignorant. It is from these three types of material ego that the mind, the senses of
perception, the organs of action, and the gross elements evolve.
25. The threefold ahankara, the source of the gross elements, the senses and the mind, is identical
with them because it is their cause. It is known by the name of Sankarsana, who is directly Lord
Ananta with a thousand heads.
26. This false ego is characterized as the doer, as an instrument and as an effect. It is further
characterized as serene, active or dull according to how it is influenced by the modes of goodness,
passion and ignorance.
27. From the false ego of goodness, another transformation takes place. From this evolves the mind,
whose thoughts and reflections give rise to desire.
28. The mind of the living entity is known by the name of Lord Aniruddha, the supreme ruler of the
senses. He possesses a bluish-black form resembling a lotus flower growing in the autumn. He is
found slowly by the yogis.
29. By transformation of the false ego in passion, intelligence takes birth, O virtuous lady. The
functions of intelligence are to help in ascertaining the nature of objects when they come into view,
and to help the senses.
30. Doubt, misapprehension, correct apprehension, memory and sleep, as determined by their
different functions, are said to be the distinct characteristics of intelligence.
31. Egoism in the mode of passion produces two kinds of sensesóthe senses for acquiring
knowledge and the senses of action. The senses of action depend on the vital energy, and the
senses for acquiring knowledge depend on intelligence.
32. When egoism in ignorance is agitated by the sex energy of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, the subtle element sound is manifested, and from sound come the ethereal sky and the
sense of hearing.
33. Persons who are learned and who have true knowledge define sound as that which conveys the
idea of an object, indicates the presence of a speaker screened from our view and constitutes the
subtle form of ether.
34. The activities and characteristics of the ethereal element can be observed as accommodation for
the room for the external and internal existences of all living entities, namely the field of activities of
the vital air, the senses and the mind.
35. From ethereal existence, which evolves from sound, the next transformation takes place under
the impulse of time, and thus the subtle element touch and thence the air and sense of touch
become prominent.
36. Softness and hardness and cold and heat are the distinguishing attributes of touch, which is
characterized as the subtle form of air.
37. The action of the air is exhibited in movements, mixing, allowing approach to the objects of
sound and other sense perceptions, and providing for the proper functioning of all other senses.
38. By interactions of the air and the sensations of touch, one receives different forms according to
destiny. By evolution of such forms, there is fire, and the eye sees different forms in color.
39. My dear mother, the characteristics of form are understood by dimension, quality and
individuality. The form of fire is appreciated by its effulgence.
40. Fire is appreciated by its light and by its ability to cook, to digest, to destroy cold, to evaporate,
and to give rise to hunger, thirst, eating and drinking.
41. By the interaction of fire and the visual sensation, the subtle element taste evolves under a
superior arrangement. From taste, water is produced, and the tongue, which perceives taste, is also
manifested.
42. Although originally one, taste becomes manifold as astringent, sweet, bitter, pungent, sour and
salty due to contact with other substances.
43. The characteristics of water are exhibited by its moistening other substances, coagulating
various mixtures, causing satisfaction, maintaining life, softening things, driving away heat,
incessantly supplying itself to reservoirs of water, and refreshing by slaking thirst.
44. Due to the interaction of water with the taste perception, the subtle element odor evolves under
superior arrangement. Thence the earth and the olfactory sense, by which we can variously
experience the aroma of the earth, become manifest.
45. Odor, although one, becomes manyóas mixed, offensive, fragrant, mild, strong, acidic and so
onóaccording to the proportions of associated substances.
46. The characteristics of the functions of earth can be perceived by modeling forms of the Supreme
Brahman, by constructing places of residence, by preparing pots to contain water, etc. In other
words, the earth is the place of sustenance for all elements.
47. The sense whose object of perception is sound is called the auditory sense, and that whose
object of perception is touch is called the tactile sense.
48. The sense whose object of perception is form, the distinctive characteristic of fire, is the sense of
sight. The sense whose object of perception is taste, the distinctive characteristic of water, is known
as the sense of taste. Finally, the sense whose object of perception is odor, the distinctive
characteristic of earth, is called the sense of smell.
49. Since the cause exists in its effect as well, the characteristics of the former are observed in the
latter. That is why the peculiarities of all the elements exist in the earth alone.
50. When all these elements were unmixed, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the origin of
creation, along with time, work, and the qualities of the modes of material nature, entered into the
universe with the total material energy in seven divisions.
51. From these seven principles, roused into activity and united by the presence of the Lord, an
unintelligent egg arose, from which appeared the celebrated Cosmic Being.
52. This universal egg, or the universe in the shape of an egg, is called the manifestation of material
energy. Its layers of water, air, fire, sky, ego and mahat-tattva increase in thickness one after
another. Each layer is ten times bigger than the previous one, and the final outside layer is covered
by pradhana. Within this egg is the universal form of Lord Hari, of whose body the fourteen planetary
systems are parts.
53. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, the virat-purusa, situated Himself in that golden egg,
which was lying on the water, and He divided it into many departments.
54. First of all a mouth appeared in Him, and then came forth the organ of speech, and with it the
god of fire, the deity who presides over that organ. Then a pair of nostrils appeared, and in them
appeared the olfactory sense, as well as prana, the vital air.
55. In the wake of the olfactory sense came the wind-god, who presides over that sense. Thereafter
a pair of eyes appeared in the universal form, and in them the sense of sight. In the wake of this
sense came the sun-god, who presides over it. Next there appeared in Him a pair of ears, and in
them the auditory sense and in its wake the Dig-devatas, or the deities who preside over the
directions.
56. Then the universal form of the Lord, the virat-purusa, manifested His skin, and thereupon the
hair, mustache and beard appeared. After this all the herbs and drugs became manifested, and then
His genitals also appeared.
57. After this, semen (the faculty of procreation) and the god who presides over the waters
appeared. Next appeared an anus and then the organs of defecation and thereupon the god of
death, who is feared throughout the universe.
58. Thereafter the two hands of the universal form of the Lord became manifested, and with them
the power of grasping and dropping things, and after that Lord Indra appeared. Next the legs
became manifested, and with them the process of movement, and after that Lord Visnu appeared.
59. The veins of the universal body became manifested and thereafter the red corpuscles, or blood.
In their wake came the rivers (the deities presiding over the veins), and then appeared an abdomen.
60. Next grew feelings of hunger and thirst, and in their wake came the manifestation of the oceans.
Then a heart became manifest, and in the wake of the heart the mind appeared.
61. After the mind, the moon appeared. Intelligence appeared next, and after intelligence, Lord
Brahma appeared. Then the false ego appeared and then Lord Siva, and after the appearance of
Lord Siva came consciousness and the deity presiding over consciousness.
62. When the demigods and presiding deities of the various senses were thus manifested, they
wanted to wake their origin of appearance. But upon failing to do so, they reentered the body of the
virat-purusa one after another in order to wake Him.
63. The god of fire entered His mouth with the organ of speech, but the virat-purusa could not be
aroused. Then the god of wind entered His nostrils with the sense of smell, but still the virat-purusa
refused to be awakened.
64. The sun-god entered the eyes of the virat-purusa with the sense of sight, but still the virat-purusa
did not get up. Similarly, the predominating deities of the directions entered through His ears with the
sense of hearing, but still He did not get up.
65. The predominating deities of the skin, herbs and seasoning plants entered the skin of the virat-
purusa with the hair of the body, but the Cosmic Being refused to get up even then. The god
predominating over water entered His organ of generation with the faculty of procreation, but the
virat-purusa still would not rise.
66. The god of death entered His anus with the organ of defecation, but the virat-purusa could not be
spurred to activity. The god Indra entered the hands with their power of grasping and dropping
things, but the virat-purusa would not get up even then.
67. Lord Visnu entered His feet with the faculty of locomotion, but the virat-purusa refused to stand
up even then. The rivers entered His blood vessels with the blood and the power of circulation, but
still the Cosmic Being could not be made to stir.
68. The ocean entered His abdomen with hunger and thirst, but the Cosmic Being refused to rise
even then. The moon-god entered His heart with the mind, but the Cosmic Being would not be
roused.
69. Brahma also entered His heart with intelligence, but even then the Cosmic Being could not be
prevailed upon to get up. Lord Rudra also entered His heart with the ego, but even then the Cosmic
Being did not stir.
70. However, when the inner controller, the deity presiding over consciousness, entered the heart
with reason, at that very moment the Cosmic Being arose from the causal waters.
71. When a man is sleeping, all his material assetsónamely the vital energy, the senses for
recording knowledge, the senses for working, the mind and the intelligenceócannot arouse him. He
can be aroused only when the Supersoul helps him.
72. Therefore, through devotion, detachment and advancement in spiritual knowledge acquired
through concentrated devotional service, one should contemplate that Supersoul as present in this
very body although simultaneously apart from it.
Chapter Twenty-seven Understanding Material Nature
1. The Personality of Godhead Kapila continued: When the living entity is thus unaffected by the
modes of material nature, because he is unchanging and does not claim proprietorship, he remains
apart from the reactions of the modes, although abiding in a material body, just as the sun remains
aloof from its reflection on water.
2. When the soul is under the spell of material nature and false ego, identifying his body as the self,
he becomes absorbed in material activities, and by the influence of false ego he thinks that he is the
proprietor of everything.
3. The conditioned soul therefore transmigrates into different species of life, higher and lower,
because of his association with the modes of material nature. Unless he is relieved of material
activities, he has to accept this position because of his faulty work.
4. Actually a living entity is transcendental to material existence, but because of his mentality of
lording it over material nature, his material existential condition does not cease, and just as in a
dream, he is affected by all sorts of disadvantages.
5. It is the duty of every conditioned soul to engage his polluted consciousness, which is now
attached to material enjoyment, in very serious devotional service with detachment. Thus his mind
and consciousness will be under full control.
6. One has to become faithful by practicing the controlling process of the yoga system and must
elevate himself to the platform of unalloyed devotional service by chanting and hearing about Me.
7. In executing devotional service, one has to see every living entity equally, without enmity towards
anyone yet without intimate connections with anyone. One has to observe celibacy, be grave and
execute his eternal activities, offering the results to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
8. For his income a devotee should be satisfied with what he earns without great difficulty. He should
not eat more than what is necessary. He should live in a secluded place and always be thoughtful,
peaceful, friendly, compassionate and self-realized.
9. Oneís seeing power should be increased through knowledge of spirit and matter, and one should
not unnecessarily identify himself with the body and thus become attracted by bodily relationships.
10. One should be situated in the transcendental position, beyond the stages of material
consciousness, and should be aloof from all other conceptions of life. Thus realizing freedom from
false ego, one should see his own self just as he sees the sun in the sky.
11. A liberated soul realizes the Absolute Personality of Godhead, who is transcendental and who is
manifest as a reflection even in the false ego. He is the support of the material cause and He enters
into everything. He is absolute, one without a second, and He is the eyes of the illusory energy.
12. The presence of the Supreme Lord can be realized just as the sun is realized first as a reflection
on water, and again as a second reflection on the wall of a room, although the sun itself is situated in
the sky.
13. The self-realized soul is thus reflected first in the threefold ego and then in the body, senses and
mind.
14. Although a devotee appears to be merged in the five material elements, the objects of material
enjoyment, the material senses and material mind and intelligence, he is understood to be awake
and to be freed from the false ego.
15. The living entity can vividly feel his existence as the seer, but because of the disappearance of
the ego during the state of deep sleep, he falsely takes himself to be lost, like a man who has lost his
fortune and feels distressed, thinking himself to be lost.
16. When, by mature understanding, one can realize his individuality, then the situation he accepts
under false ego becomes manifest to him.
17. Sri Devahuti inquired: My dear brahmana, does material nature ever give release to the spirit
soul? Since one is attracted to the other eternally, how is their separation possible?
18. As there is no separate existence of the earth and its aroma or of water and its taste, there
cannot be any separate existence of intelligence and consciousness.
19. Hence even though he is the passive performer of all activities, how can there be freedom for the
soul as long as material nature acts on him and binds him?
20. Even if the great fear of bondage is avoided by mental speculation and inquiry into the
fundamental principles, it may still appear again, since its cause has not ceased.
21. The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: One can get liberation by seriously discharging
devotional service unto Me and thereby hearing for a long time about Me or from Me. By thus
executing oneís prescribed duties, there will be no reaction, and one will be freed from the
contamination of matter.
22. This devotional service has to be performed strongly in perfect knowledge and with
transcendental vision. One must be strongly renounced and must engage in austerity and perform
mystic yoga in order to be firmly fixed in self-absorption.
23. The influence of material nature has covered the living entity, and thus it is as if the living entity
were always in a blazing fire. But by the process of seriously discharging devotional service, this
influence can be removed, just as wooden sticks which cause a fire are themselves consumed by it.
24. By discovering the faultiness of his desiring to lord it over material nature and by therefore giving
it up, the living entity becomes independent and stands in his own glory.
25. In the dreaming state oneís consciousness is almost covered, and one sees many inauspicious
things, but when he is awakened, and fully conscious, such inauspicious things cannot bewilder him.
26. The influence of material nature cannot harm an enlightened soul, even though he engages in
material activities, because he knows the truth of the Absolute, and his mind is fixed on the Supreme
Personality of Godhead.
27. When a person thus engages in devotional service and self-realization for many, many years
and births, he becomes completely reluctant to enjoy any one of the material planets, even up to the
highest planet, which is known as Brahmaloka; he becomes fully developed in consciousness.
28-29. My devotee actually becomes self-realized by My unlimited causeless mercy, and thus, when
freed from all doubts, he steadily progresses towards his destined abode, which is directly under the
protection of My spiritual energy of unadulterated bliss. That is the ultimate perfectional goal of the
living entity. After giving up the present material body, the mystic devotee goes to that
transcendental abode and never comes back.
30. When a perfect yogiís attention is no longer attracted to the by-products of mystic powers, which
are manifestations of the external energy, his progress towards Me becomes unlimited, and thus the
power of death cannot overcome him.
Chapter Twenty-eight Kapilaís Instructions on the Execution of Devotional Service
1. The Personality of Godhead said: My dear mother, O daughter of the King, now I shall explain to
you the system of yoga, the object of which is to concentrate the mind. By practicing this system one
can become joyful and progressively advance towards the path of the Absolute Truth.
2. One should execute his prescribed duties to the best of his ability and avoid performing duties not
allotted to him. One should be satisfied with as much gain as he achieves by the grace of the Lord,
and one should worship the lotus feet of a spiritual master.
3. One should cease performing conventional religious practices and should be attracted to those
which lead to salvation. One should eat very frugally and should always remain secluded so that he
can achieve the highest perfection of life.
4. One should practice nonviolence and truthfulness, should avoid thieving and be satisfied with
possessing as much as he needs for his maintenance. He should abstain from sex life, perform
austerity, be clean, study the Vedas and worship the supreme form of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead.
5. One must observe silence, acquire steadiness by practicing different yogic postures, control the
breathing of the vital air, withdraw the senses from sense objects and thus concentrate the mind on
the heart.
6. Fixing the vital air and the mind in one of the six circles of vital air circulation within the body, thus
concentrating oneís mind on the transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is
called samadhi, or samadhana, of the mind.
7. By these processes, or any other true process, one must control the contaminated, unbridled
mind, which is always attracted by material enjoyment, and thus fix himself in thought of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead.
8. After controlling oneís mind and sitting postures, one should spread a seat in a secluded and
sanctified place, sit there in an easy posture, keeping the body erect, and practice breath control.
9. The yogi should clear the passage of vital air by breathing in the following manner: first he should
inhale very deeply, then hold the breath in, and finally exhale. Or, reversing the process, the yogi
can first exhale, then hold the breath outside, and finally inhale. This is done so that the mind may
become steady and free from external disturbances.
10. The yogis who practice such breathing exercises are very soon freed from all mental
disturbances, just as gold, when put into fire and fanned with air, becomes free from all impurities.
11. By practicing the process of pranayama, one can eradicate the contamination of his
physiological condition, and by concentrating the mind one can become free from all sinful activities.
By restraining the senses one can free himself from material association, and by meditating on the
Supreme Personality of Godhead one can become free from the three modes of material
attachment.
12. When the mind is perfectly purified by this practice of yoga, one should concentrate on the tip of
the nose with half-closed eyes and see the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
13. The Supreme Personality of Godhead has a cheerful, lotuslike countenance with ruddy eyes like
the interior of a lotus and a swarthy body like the petals of a blue lotus. He bears a conch, discus
and mace in three of His hands.
14. His loins are covered by a shining cloth, yellowish like the filaments of a lotus. On His breast He
bears the mark of Srivatsa, a curl of white hair. The brilliant Kaustubha gem is suspended from His
neck.
15. He also wears around His neck a garland of attractive sylvan flowers, and a swarm of bees,
intoxicated by its delicious fragrance, hums about the garland. He is further superbly adorned with a
pearl necklace, a crown and pairs of armlets, bracelets and anklets.
16. His loins and hips encircled by a girdle, He stands on the lotus of His devoteeís heart. He is most
charming to look at, and His serene aspect gladdens the eyes and souls of the devotees who behold
Him.
17. The Lord is eternally very beautiful, and He is worshipable by all the inhabitants of every planet.
He is ever youthful and always eager to bestow His blessing upon His devotees.
18. The glory of the Lord is always worth singing, for His glories enhance the glories of His devotees.
One should therefore meditate upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead and upon His devotees.
One should meditate on the eternal form of the Lord until the mind becomes fixed.
19. Thus always merged in devotional service, the yogi visualizes the Lord standing, moving, lying
down or sitting within him, for the pastimes of the Supreme Lord are always beautiful and attractive.
20. In fixing his mind on the eternal form of the Lord, the yogi should not take a collective view of all
His limbs, but should fix the mind on each individual limb of the Lord.
21. The devotee should first concentrate his mind on the Lordís lotus feet, which are adorned with
the marks of a thunderbolt, a goad, a banner and a lotus. The splendor of their beautiful ruby nails
resembles the orbit of the moon and dispels the thick gloom of oneís heart.
22. The blessed Lord Siva becomes all the more blessed by bearing on his head the holy waters of
the Ganges, which has its source in the water that washed the Lordís lotus feet. The Lordís feet act
like thunderbolts hurled to shatter the mountain of sin stored in the mind of the meditating devotee.
One should therefore meditate on the lotus feet of the Lord for a long time.
23. The yogi should fix in his heart the activities of Laksmi, the goddess of fortune, who is worshiped
by all demigods and is the mother of the supreme person, Brahma. She can always be found
massaging the legs and thighs of the transcendental Lord, very carefully serving Him in this way.
24. Next, the yogi should fix his mind in meditation on the Personality of Godheadís thighs, the
storehouse of all energy. The Lordís thighs are whitish blue, like the luster of the linseed flower, and
appear most graceful when the Lord is carried on the shoulders of Garuda. Also the yogi should
contemplate His rounded hips, which are encircled by a girdle that rests on the exquisite yellow silk
cloth that extends down to His ankles.
25. The yogi should then meditate on His moonlike navel in the center of His abdomen. From His
navel, which is the foundation of the entire universe, sprang the lotus stem containing all the different
planetary systems. The lotus is the residence of Brahma, the first created being. In the same way,
the yogi should concentrate his mind on the Lordís nipples, which resemble a pair of most exquisite
emeralds and which appear whitish because of the rays of the milk-white pearl necklaces adorning
His chest.
26. The yogi should then meditate on the chest of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the abode
of goddess Maha-Laksmi. The Lordís chest is the source of all transcendental pleasure for the mind
and full satisfaction for the eyes. The yogi should then imprint on his mind the neck of the
Personality of Godhead, who is adored by the entire universe. The neck of the Lord serves to
enhance the beauty of the Kaustubha gem, which hangs on His chest.
27. The yogi should further meditate upon the Lordís four arms, which are the source of all the
powers of the demigods who control the various functions of material nature. Then the yogi should
concentrate on the polished ornaments, which were burnished by Mount Mandara as it revolved. He
should also duly contemplate the Lordís discus, the Sudarsana cakra, which contains one thousand
spokes and a dazzling luster, as well as the conch, which looks like a swan in His lotuslike palm.
28. The yogi should meditate upon His club, which is named Kaumodaki and is very dear to Him.
This club smashes the demons, who are always inimical soldiers, and is smeared with their blood.
One should also concentrate on the nice garland on the neck of the Lord, which is always
surrounded by bumblebees, with their nice buzzing sound, and one should meditate upon the pearl
necklace on the Lordís neck, which is considered to represent the pure living entities who are always
engaged in His service.
29. The yogi should then meditate on the lotuslike countenance of the Lord, who presents His
different forms in this world out of compassion for the anxious devotees. His nose is prominent, and
His crystal-clear cheeks are illuminated by the oscillation of His glittering alligator-shaped earrings.
30. The yogi then meditates upon the beautiful face of the Lord, which is adorned with curly hair and
decorated by lotuslike eyes and dancing eyebrows. A lotus surrounded by swarming bees and a pair
of swimming fish would be put to shame by its elegance.
31. The yogis should contemplate with full devotion the compassionate glances frequently cast by
the Lordís eyes, for they soothe the most fearful threefold agonies of His devotees. His glances,
accompanied by loving smiles, are full of abundant grace.
32. A yogi should similarly meditate on the most benevolent smile of Lord Sri Hari, a smile which, for
all those who bow to Him, dries away the ocean of tears caused by intense grief. The yogi should
also meditate on the Lordís arched eyebrows, which are manifested by His internal potency in order
to charm the sex-god for the good of the sages.
33. With devotion steeped in love and affection, the yogi should meditate within the core of his heart
upon the laughter of Lord Visnu. The laughter of Visnu is so captivating that it can be easily
meditated upon. When the Supreme Lord is laughing, one can see His small teeth, which resemble
jasmine buds rendered rosy by the splendor of His lips. Once devoting his mind to this, the yogi
should no longer desire to see anything else.
34. By following this course, the yogi gradually develops pure love for the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, Hari. In the course of his progress in devotional service, the hairs on his body stand erect
through excessive joy, and he is constantly bathed in a stream of tears occasioned by intense love.
Gradually, even the mind, which he used as a means to attract the Lord, as one attracts a fish to a
hook, withdraws from material activity.
35. When the mind is thus completely freed from all material contamination and detached from
material objectives, it is just like the flame of a lamp. At that time the mind is actually dovetailed with
that of the Supreme Lord and is experienced as one with Him because it is freed from the interactive
flow of the material qualities.
36. Thus situated in the highest transcendental stage, the mind ceases from all material reaction and
becomes situated in its own glory, transcendental to all material conceptions of happiness and
distress. At that time the yogi realizes the truth of his relationship with the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. He discovers that pleasure and pain as well as their interactions, which he attributed to his
own self, are actually due to the false ego, which is a product of ignorance.
37. Because he has achieved his real identity, the perfectly realized soul has no conception of how
the material body is moving or acting, just as an intoxicated person cannot understand whether or
not he has clothing on his body.
38. The body of such a liberated yogi, along with the senses, is taken charge of by the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, and it functions until its destined activities are finished. The liberated
devotee, being awake to his constitutional position and thus situated in samadhi, the highest
perfectional stage of yoga, does not accept the by-products of the material body as his own. Thus he
considers his bodily activities to be like the activities of a body in a dream.
39. Because of great affection for family and wealth, one accepts a son and some money as his
own, and due to affection for the material body, one thinks that it is his. But actually, as one can
understand that his family and wealth are different from him, the liberated soul can understand that
he and his body are not the same.
40. The blazing fire is different from the flames, from the sparks and from the smoke, although all are
intimately connected because they are born from the same blazing wood.
41. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is known as Parambrahma, is the seer. He is
different from the jiva soul, or individual living entity, who is combined with the senses, the five
elements and consciousness.
42. A yogi should see the same soul in all manifestations, for all that exists is a manifestation of
different energies of the Supreme. In this way the devotee should see all living entities without
distinction. That is realization of the Supreme Soul.
43. As fire is exhibited in different forms of wood, so, under different conditions of the modes of
material nature, the pure spirit soul manifests itself in different bodies.
44. Thus the yogi can be in the self-realized position after conquering the insurmountable spell of
maya, who presents herself as both the cause and effect of this material manifestation and is
therefore very difficult to understand.
Chapter Twenty-nine Explanation of Devotional Service by Lord Kapila
1-2. Devahuti inquired: My dear Lord, You have already very scientifically described the symptoms
of the total material nature and the characteristics of the spirit according to the Sankhya system of
philosophy. Now I shall request You to explain the path of devotional service, which is the ultimate
end of all philosophical systems.
3. Devahuti continued: My dear Lord, please also describe in detail, both for me and for people in
general, the continual process of birth and death, for by hearing of such calamities we may become
detached from the activities of this material world.
4. Please also describe eternal time, which is a representation of Your form and by whose influence
people in general engage in the performance of pious activities.
5. My dear Lord, You are just like the sun, for You illuminate the darkness of the conditional life of
the living entities. Because their eyes of knowledge are not open, they are sleeping eternally in that
darkness without Your shelter, and therefore they are falsely engaged by the actions and reactions
of their material activities, and they appear to be very fatigued.
6. Sri Maitreya said: O best amongst the Kurus, the great sage Kapila, moved by great compassion
and pleased by the words of His glorious mother, spoke as follows.
7. Lord Kapila, the Personality of Godhead, replied: O noble lady, there are multifarious paths of
devotional service in terms of the different qualities of the executor.
8. Devotional service executed by a person who is envious, proud, violent and angry, and who is a
separatist, is considered to be in the mode of darkness.
9. The worship of Deities in the temple by a separatist, with a motive for material enjoyment, fame
and opulence, is devotion in the mode of passion.
10. When a devotee worships the Supreme Personality of Godhead and offers the results of his
activities in order to free himself from the inebrieties of fruitive activities, his devotion is in the mode
of goodness.
11-12. The manifestation of unadulterated devotional service is exhibited when oneís mind is at once
attracted to hearing the transcendental name and qualities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
who is residing in everyoneís heart. Just as the water of the Ganges flows naturally down towards
the ocean, such devotional ecstasy, uninterrupted by any material condition, flows towards the
Supreme Lord.
13. A pure devotee does not accept any kind of liberationósalokya, sarsti, samipya, sarupya or
ekatvaóeven though they are offered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
14. By attaining the highest platform of devotional service, as I have explained, one can overcome
the influence of the three modes of material nature and be situated in the transcendental stage, as is
the Lord.
15. A devotee must execute his prescribed duties, which are glorious, without material profit. Without
excessive violence, one should regularly perform oneís devotional activities.
16. The devotee should regularly see My statues in the temple, touch My lotus feet and offer
worshipable paraphernalia and prayer. He should see in the spirit of renunciation, from the mode of
goodness, and see every living entity as spiritual.
17. The pure devotee should execute devotional service by giving the greatest respect to the
spiritual master and the acaryas. He should be compassionate to the poor and make friendship with
persons who are his equals, but all his activities should be executed under regulation and with
control of the senses.
18. A devotee should always try to hear about spiritual matters and should always utilize his time in
chanting the holy name of the Lord. His behavior should always be straightforward and simple, and
although he is not envious but friendly to everyone, he should avoid the company of persons who
are not spiritually advanced.
19. When one is fully qualified with all these transcendental attributes and his consciousness is thus
completely purified, he is immediately attracted simply by hearing My name or hearing of My
transcendental quality.
20. As the chariot of air carries an aroma from its source and immediately catches the sense of
smell, similarly, one who constantly engages in devotional service, in Krishna consciousness, can
catch the Supreme Soul, who is equally present everywhere.
21. I am present in every living entity as the Supersoul. If someone neglects or disregards that
Supersoul everywhere and engages himself in the worship of the Deity in the temple, that is simply
imitation.
22. One who worships the Deity of Godhead in the temples but does not know that the Supreme
Lord, as Paramatma, is situated in every living entityís heart, must be in ignorance and is compared
to one who offers oblations into ashes.
23. One who offers Me respect but is envious of the bodies of others and is therefore a separatist
never attains peace of mind, because of his inimical behavior towards other living entities.
24. My dear Mother, even if he worships with proper rituals and paraphernalia, a person who is
ignorant of My presence in all living entities never pleases Me by the worship of My Deities in the
temple.
25. Performing his prescribed duties, one should worship the Deity of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead until one realizes My presence in his own heart and in the hearts of other living entities as
well.
26. As the blazing fire of death, I cause great fear to whoever makes the least discrimination
between himself and other living entities because of a differential outlook.
27. Therefore, through charitable gifts and attention, as well as through friendly behavior and by
viewing all to be alike, one should propitiate Me, who abide in all creatures as their very Self.
28. Living entities are superior to inanimate objects, O blessed mother, and among them, living
entities who display life symptoms are better. Animals with developed consciousness are better than
them, and better still are those who have developed sense perception.
29. Among the living entities who have developed sense perception, those who have developed the
sense of taste are better than those who have developed only the sense of touch. Better than them
are those who have developed the sense of smell, and better still are those who have developed the
sense of hearing.
30. Better than those living entities who can perceive sound are those who can distinguish between
one form and another. Better than them are those who have developed upper and lower sets of
teeth, and better still are those who have many legs. Better than them are the quadrupeds, and
better still are the human beings.
31. Among human beings, the society which is divided according to quality and work is best, and in
that society, the intelligent men, who are designated as brahmanas, are best. Among the
brahmanas, one who has studied the Vedas is the best, and among the brahmanas who have
studied the Vedas, one who knows the actual purport of Veda is the best.
32. Better than the brahmana who knows the purpose of the Vedas is he who can dissipate all
doubts, and better than him is one who strictly follows the brahminical principles. Better than him is
one who is liberated from all material contamination, and better than him is a pure devotee, who
executes devotional service without expectation of reward.
33. Therefore I do not find a greater person than he who has no interest outside of Mine and who
therefore engages and dedicates all his activities and all his lifeóeverythingóunto Me without
cessation.
34. Such a perfect devotee offers respects to every living entity because he is under the firm
conviction that the Supreme Personality of Godhead has entered the body of every living entity as
the Supersoul, or controller.
35. My dear mother, O daughter of Manu, a devotee who applies the science of devotional service
and mystic yoga in this way can achieve the abode of the Supreme Person simply by that devotional
service.
36. This purusa whom the individual soul must approach is the eternal form of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, who is known as Brahman and Paramatma. He is the transcendental chief
personality, and His activities are all spiritual.
37. The time factor, who causes the transformation of the various material manifestations, is another
feature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Anyone who does not know that time is the same
Supreme Personality is afraid of the time factor.
38. Lord Visnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the enjoyer of all sacrifices, is the time
factor and the master of all masters. He enters everyoneís heart, He is the support of everyone, and
He causes every being to be annihilated by another.
39. No one is dear to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, nor is anyone His enemy or friend. But
He gives inspiration to those who have not forgotten Him and destroys those who have.
40. Out of fear of the Supreme Personality of Godhead the wind blows, out of fear of Him the sun
shines, out of fear of Him the rain pours forth showers, and out of fear of Him the host of heavenly
bodies shed their luster.
41. Out of fear of the Supreme Personality of Godhead the trees, creepers, herbs and seasonal
plants and flowers blossom and fructify, each in its own season.
42. Out of fear of the Supreme Personality of Godhead the rivers flow, and the ocean never
overflows. Out of fear of Him only does fire burn and does the earth, with its mountains, not sink in
the water of the universe.
43. Subject to the control of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the sky allows outer space to
accommodate all the various planets, which hold innumerable living entities. The total universal body
expands with its seven coverings under His supreme control.
44. Out of fear of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the directing demigods in charge of the
modes of material nature carry out the functions of creation, maintenance and destruction;
everything animate and inanimate within this material world is under their control.
45. The eternal time factor has no beginning and no end. It is the representative of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, the maker of the criminal world. It brings about the end of the phenomenal
world, it carries on the work of creation by bringing one individual into existence from another, and
likewise it dissolves the universe by destroying even the lord of death, Yamaraja.
Chapter Thirty Description by Lord Kapila of Adverse Fruitive Activities
1. The Personality of Godhead said: As a mass of clouds does not know the powerful influence of
the wind, a person engaged in material consciousness does not know the powerful strength of the
time factor, by which he is being carried.
2. Whatever is produced by the materialist with great pain and labor for so-called happiness, the
Supreme Personality, as the time factor, destroys, and for this reason the conditioned soul laments.
3. The misguided materialist does not know that his very body is impermanent and that the
attractions of home, land and wealth, which are in relationship to that body, are also temporary. Out
of ignorance only, he thinks that everything is permanent.
4. The living entity, in whatever species of life he appears, finds a particular type of satisfaction in
that species, and he is never averse to being situated in such a condition.
5. The conditioned living entity is satisfied in his own particular species of life; while deluded by the
covering influence of the illusory energy, he feels little inclined to cast off his body, even when in hell,
for he takes delight in hellish enjoyment.
6. Such satisfaction with oneís standard of living is due to deep-rooted attraction for body, wife,
home, children, animals, wealth and friends. In such association, the conditioned soul thinks himself
quite perfect.
7. Although he is always burning with anxiety, such a fool always performs all kinds of mischievous
activities, with a hope which is never to be fulfilled, in order to maintain his so-called family and
society.
8. He gives heart and senses to a woman, who falsely charms him with maya. He enjoys solitary
embraces and talking with her, and he is enchanted by the sweet words of the small children.
9. The attached householder remains in his family life, which is full of diplomacy and politics. Always
spreading miseries and controlled by acts of sense gratification, he acts just to counteract the
reactions of all his miseries, and if he can successfully counteract such miseries, he thinks that he is
happy.
10. He secures money by committing violence here and there, and although he employs it in the
service of his family, he himself eats only a little portion of the food thus purchased, and he goes to
hell for those for whom he earned the money in such an irregular way.
11. When he suffers reverses in his occupation, he tries again and again to improve himself, but
when he is baffled in all attempts and is ruined, he accepts money from others because of excessive
greed.
12. Thus the unfortunate man, unsuccessful in maintaining his family members, is bereft of all
beauty. He always thinks of his failure, grieving very deeply.
13. Seeing him unable to support them, his wife and others do not treat him with the same respect
as before, even as miserly farmers do not accord the same treatment to their old and worn-out oxen.
14. The foolish family man does not become averse to family life although he is maintained by those
whom he once maintained. Deformed by the influence of old age, he prepares himself to meet
ultimate death.
15. Thus he remains at home just like a pet dog and eats whatever is so negligently given to him.
Afflicted with many illnesses, such as dyspepsia and loss of appetite, he eats only very small
morsels of food, and he becomes an invalid, who cannot work any more.
16. In that diseased condition, oneís eyes bulge due to the pressure of air from within, and his
glands become congested with mucus. He has difficulty breathing, and upon exhaling and inhaling
he produces a sound like ghura-ghura, a rattling within the throat.
17. In this way he comes under the clutches of death and lies down, surrounded by lamenting
friends and relatives, and although he wants to speak with them, he no longer can because he is
under the control of time.
18. Thus the man, who engaged with uncontrolled senses in maintaining a family, dies in great grief,
seeing his relatives crying. He dies most pathetically, in great pain and without consciousness.
19. At death, he sees the messengers of the lord of death come before him, their eyes full of wrath,
and in great fear he passes stool and urine.
20. As a criminal is arrested for punishment by the constables of the state, a person engaged in
criminal sense gratification is similarly arrested by the Yamadutas, who bind him by the neck with
strong rope and cover his subtle body so that he may undergo severe punishment.
21. While carried by the constables of Yamaraja, he is overwhelmed and trembles in their hands.
While passing on the road he is bitten by dogs, and he can remember the sinful activities of his life.
He is thus terribly distressed.
22. Under the scorching sun, the criminal has to pass through roads of hot sand with forest fires on
both sides. He is whipped on the back by the constables because of his inability to walk, and he is
afflicted by hunger and thirst, but unfortunately there is no drinking water, no shelter and no place for
rest on the road.
23. While passing on that road to the abode of Yamaraja, he falls down in fatigue, and sometimes he
becomes unconscious, but he is forced to rise again. In this way he is very quickly brought to the
presence of Yamaraja.
24. Thus he has to pass ninety-nine thousand yojanas within two or three moments, and then he is
at once engaged in the torturous punishment which he is destined to suffer.
25. He is placed in the midst of burning pieces of wood, and his limbs are set on fire. In some cases
he is made to eat his own flesh or have it eaten by others.
26. His entrails are pulled out by the hounds and vultures of hell, even though he is still alive to see
it, and he is subjected to torment by serpents, scorpions, gnats and other creatures that bite him.
27. Next his limbs are lopped off and torn asunder by elephants. He is hurled down from hilltops, and
he is also held captive either in water or in a cave.
28. Men and women whose lives were built upon indulgence in illicit sex life are put into many kinds
of miserable conditions in the hells known as Tamisra, Andha-tamisra and Raurava.
29. Lord Kapila continued: My dear mother, it is sometimes said that we experience hell or heaven
on this planet, for hellish punishments are sometimes visible on this planet also.
30. After leaving this body, the man who maintained himself and his family members by sinful
activities suffers a hellish life, and his relatives suffer also.
31. He goes alone to the darkest regions of hell after quitting the present body, and the money he
acquired by envying other living entities is the passage money with which he leaves this world.
32. Thus, by the arrangement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the maintainer of kinsmen is
put into a hellish condition to suffer for his sinful activities, like a man who has lost his wealth.
33. Therefore a person who is very eager to maintain his family and kinsmen simply by black
methods certainly goes to the darkest region of hell, which is known as Andha-tamisra.
34. Having gone through all the miserable, hellish conditions and having passed in a regular order
through the lowest forms of animal life prior to human birth, and having thus been purged of his sins,
one is reborn again as a human being on this earth.

Chapter Thirty-one Lord Kapilaís Instructions on the Movements of the Living Entities
1. The Personality of Godhead said: Under the supervision of the Supreme Lord and according to
the result of his work, the living entity, the soul, is made to enter into the womb of a woman through
the particle of male semen to assume a particular type of body.
2. On the first night, the sperm and ovum mix, and on the fifth night the mixture ferments into a
bubble. On the tenth night it develops into a form like a plum, and after that, it gradually turns into a
lump of flesh or an egg, as the case may be.

3. In the course of a month, a head is formed, and at the end of two months the hands, feet and
other limbs take shape. By the end of three months, the nails, fingers, toes, body hair, bones and
skin appear, as do the organ of generation and the other apertures in the body, namely the eyes,
nostrils, ears, mouth and anus.
4. Within four months from the date of conception, the seven essential ingredients of the body,
namely chyle, blood, flesh, fat, bone, marrow and semen, come into existence. At the end of five
months, hunger and thirst make themselves felt, and at the end of six months, the fetus, enclosed by
the amnion, begins to move on the right side of the abdomen.
5. Deriving its nutrition from the food and drink taken by the mother, the fetus grows and remains in
that abominable residence of stools and urine, which is the breeding place of all kinds of worms.
6. Bitten again and again all over the body by the hungry worms in the abdomen itself, the child
suffers terrible agony because of his tenderness. He thus becomes unconscious moment after
moment because of the terrible condition.
7. Owing to the motherís eating bitter, pungent foodstuffs, or food which is too salty or too sour, the
body of the child incessantly suffers pains which are almost intolerable.
8. Placed within the amnion and covered outside by the intestines, the child remains lying on one
side of the abdomen, his head turned towards his belly and his back and neck arched like a bow.
9. The child thus remains just like a bird in a cage, without freedom of movement. At that time, if the
child is fortunate, he can remember all the troubles of his past one hundred births, and he grieves
wretchedly. What is the possibility of peace of mind in that condition?
10. Thus endowed with the development of consciousness from the seventh month after his
conception, the child is tossed downward by the airs that press the embryo during the weeks
preceding delivery. Like the worms born of the same filthy abdominal cavity, he cannot remain in one
place.

11. The living entity in this frightful condition of life, bound by seven layers of material ingredients,
prays with folded hands, appealing to the Lord, who has put him in that condition.
12. The human soul says: I take shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
who appears in His various eternal forms and walks on the surface of the world. I take shelter of Him
only, because He can give me relief from all fear and from Him I have received this condition of life,
which is just befitting my impious activities.
13. I, the pure soul, appearing now bound by my activities, am lying in the womb of my mother by
the arrangement of maya. I offer my respectful obeisances unto Him who is also here with me but
who is unaffected and changeless. He is unlimited, but He is perceived in the repentant heart. To
Him I offer my respectful obeisances.
14. I am separated from the Supreme Lord because of my being in this material body, which is made
of five elements, and therefore my qualities and senses are being misused, although I am essentially
spiritual. Because the Supreme Personality of Godhead is transcendental to material nature and the
living entities, because He is devoid of such a material body, and because He is always glorious in
His spiritual qualities, I offer my obeisances unto Him.
15. The human soul further prays: The living entity is put under the influence of material nature and
continues a hard struggle for existence on the path of repeated birth and death. This conditional life
is due to his forgetfulness of his relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore,
without the Lordís mercy, how can he again engage in the transcendental loving service of the Lord?
16. No one other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as the localized Paramatma, the partial
representation of the Lord, is directing all inanimate and animate objects. He is present in the three
phases of timeópast, present and future. Therefore, the conditioned soul is engaged in different
activities by His direction, and in order to get free from the threefold miseries of this conditional life,
we have to surrender unto Him only.
17. Fallen into a pool of blood, stool and urine within the abdomen of his mother, his own body
scorched by the motherís gastric fire, the embodied soul, anxious to get out, counts his months and
prays, ìO my Lord, when shall I, a wretched soul, be released from this confinement?î
18. My dear Lord, by Your causeless mercy I am awakened to consciousness, although I am only
ten months old. For this causeless mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the friend of all
fallen souls, there is no way to express my gratitude but to pray with folded hands.
19. The living entity in another type of body sees only by instinct; he knows only the agreeable and
disagreeable sense perceptions of that particular body. But I have a body in which I can control my
senses and can understand my destination; therefore, I offer my respectful obeisances to the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, by whom I have been blessed with this body and by whose grace
I can see Him within and without.
20. Therefore, my Lord, although I am living in a terrible condition, I do not wish to depart from my
motherís abdomen to fall again into the blind well of materialistic life. Your external energy, called
deva-maya, at once captures the newly born child, and immediately false identification, which is the
beginning of the cycle of continual birth and death, begins.
21. Therefore, without being agitated any more, I shall deliver myself from the darkness of nescience
with the help of my friend, clear consciousness. Simply by keeping the lotus feet of Lord Visnu in my
mind, I shall be saved from entering into the wombs of many mothers for repeated birth and death.
22. Lord Kapila continued: The ten-month-old living entity has these desires even while in the womb.
But while he thus extols the Lord, the wind that helps parturition propels him forth with his face
turned downward so that he may be born.
23. Pushed downward all of a sudden by the wind, the child comes out with great trouble, head
downward, breathless and deprived of memory due to severe agony.

24. The child thus falls on the ground, smeared with stool and blood, and plays just like a worm
germinated from the stool. He loses his superior knowledge and cries under the spell of maya.
25. After coming out of the abdomen, the child is given to the care of persons who are unable to
understand what he wants, and thus he is nursed by such persons. Unable to refuse whatever is
given to him, he falls into undesirable circumstances.
26. Laid down on a foul bed infested with sweat and germs, the poor child is incapable of scratching
his body to get relief from his itching sensation to say nothing of sitting up, standing or even moving.
27. In his helpless condition, gnats, mosquitoes, bugs and other germs bite the baby, whose skin is
tender, just as smaller worms bite a big worm. The child, deprived of his wisdom, cries bitterly.
28. In this way, the child passes through his childhood, suffering different kinds of distress, and
attains boyhood. In boyhood also he suffers pain over desires to get things he can never achieve.
And thus, due to ignorance, he becomes angry and sorry.
29. With the growth of the body, the living entity, in order to vanquish his soul, increases his false
prestige and anger and thereby creates enmity towards similarly lusty people.
30. By such ignorance the living entity accepts the material body, which is made of five elements, as
himself. With this misunderstanding, he accepts nonpermanent things as his own and increases his
ignorance in the darkest region.
31. For the sake of the body, which is a source of constant trouble to him and which follows him
because he is bound by ties of ignorance and fruitive activities, he performs various actions which
cause him to be subjected to repeated birth and death.
32. If, therefore, the living entity again associates with the path of unrighteousness, influenced by
sensually minded people engaged in the pursuit of sexual enjoyment and the gratification of the
palate, he again goes to hell as before.

33. He becomes devoid of truthfulness, cleanliness, mercy, gravity, spiritual intelligence, shyness,
austerity, fame, forgiveness, control of the mind, control of the senses, fortune and all such
opportunities.
34. One should not associate with a coarse fool who is bereft of the knowledge of self-realization
and who is no more than a dancing dog in the hands of a woman.
35. The infatuation and bondage which accrue to a man from attachment to any other object is not
as complete as that resulting from attachment to a woman or to the fellowship of men who are fond
of women.
36. At the sight of his own daughter, Brahma was bewildered by her charms and shamelessly ran up
to her in the form of a stag when she took the form of a hind.
37. Amongst all kinds of living entities begotten by Brahma, namely men, demigods and animals,
none but the sage Narayana is immune to the attraction of maya in the form of woman.
38. Just try to understand the mighty strength of My maya in the shape of woman, who by the mere
movement of her eyebrows can keep even the greatest conquerors of the world under her grip.
39. One who aspires to reach the culmination of yoga and has realized his self by rendering service
unto Me should never associate with an attractive woman, for such a woman is declared in the
scripture to be the gateway to hell for the advancing devotee.

40. The woman, created by the Lord, is the representation of maya, and one who associates with
such maya by accepting services must certainly know that this is the way of death, just like a blind
well covered with grass.
41. A living entity who, as a result of attachment to a woman in his previous life, has been endowed
with the form of a woman, foolishly looks upon maya in the form of a man, her husband, as the
bestower of wealth, progeny, house and other material assets.

42. A woman, therefore, should consider her husband, her house and her children to be the
arrangement of the external energy of the Lord for her death, just as the sweet singing of the hunter
is death for the deer.
43. Due to his particular type of body, the materialistic living entity wanders from one planet to
another, following fruitive activities. In this way, he involves himself in fruitive activities and enjoys
the result incessantly.
44. In this way the living entity gets a suitable body with a material mind and senses, according to
his fruitive activities. When the reaction of his particular activity comes to an end, that end is called
death, and when a particular type of reaction begins, that beginning is called birth.
45-46. When the eyes lose their power to see color or form due to morbid affliction of the optic
nerve, the sense of sight becomes deadened. The living entity, who is the seer of both the eyes and
the sight, loses his power of vision. In the same way, when the physical body, the place where
perception of objects occurs, is rendered incapable of perceiving, that is known as death. When one
begins to view the physical body as oneís very self, that is called birth.
47. Therefore, one should not view death with horror, nor have recourse to defining the body as soul,
nor give way to exaggeration in enjoying the bodily necessities of life. Realizing the true nature of the
living entity, one should move about in the world free from attachment and steadfast in purpose.
48. Endowed with right vision and strengthened by devotional service and a pessimistic attitude
towards material identity, one should relegate his body to this illusory world through his reason. Thus
one can be unconcerned with this material world.
Chapter Thirty-two Entanglement in Fruitive Activities

1. The Personality of Godhead said: The person who lives in the center of household life derives
material benefits by performing religious rituals, and thereby he fulfills his desire for economic
development and sense gratification. Again and again he acts the same way.
2. Such persons are ever bereft of devotional service due to being too attached to sense
gratification, and therefore, although they perform various kinds of sacrifices and take great vows to
satisfy the demigods and forefathers, they are not interested in Krishna consciousness, devotional
service.
3. Such materialistic persons, attracted by sense gratification and devoted to the forefathers and
demigods, can be elevated to the moon, where they drink an extract of the soma plant. They again
return to this planet.
4. All the planets of the materialistic persons, including all the heavenly planets, such as the moon,
are vanquished when the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, goes to His bed of serpents, which
is known as Ananta Sesa.
5. Those who are intelligent and are of purified consciousness are completely satisfied in Krishna
consciousness. Freed from the modes of material nature, they do not act for sense gratification;
rather, since they are situated in their own occupational duties, they act as one is expected to act.
6. By executing oneís occupational duties, acting with detachment and without a sense of
proprietorship or false egoism, one is posted in oneís constitutional position by dint of complete
purification of consciousness, and by thus executing so-called material duties he can easily enter
into the kingdom of God.

7. Through the path of illumination, such liberated persons approach the complete Personality of
Godhead, who is the proprietor of the material and spiritual worlds and is the supreme cause of their
manifestation and dissolution.
8. Worshipers of the Hiranyagarbha expansion of the Personality of Godhead remain within this
material world until the end of two parardhas, when Lord Brahma also dies.
9. After experiencing the inhabitable time of the three modes of material nature, known as two
parardhas, Lord Brahma closes the material universe, which is covered by layers of earth, water, air,
fire, ether, mind, ego, etc., and goes back to Godhead.
10. The yogis who become detached from the material world by practice of breathing exercises and
control of the mind reach the planet of Brahma, which is far, far away. After giving up their bodies,
they enter into the body of Lord Brahma, and therefore when Brahma is liberated and goes to the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the Supreme Brahman, such yogis can also enter into the
kingdom of God.
11. Therefore, My dear mother, by devotional service take direct shelter of the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, who is seated in everyoneís heart.
12-15. My dear mother, someone may worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead with a special
self-interest, but even demigods such as Lord Brahma, great sages such as Sanat-kumara and great
munis such as Marici have to come back to the material world again at the time of creation. When
the interaction of the three modes of material nature begins, Brahma, who is the creator of this
cosmic manifestation and who is full of Vedic knowledge, and the great sages, who are the authors
of the spiritual path and the yoga system, come back under the influence of the time factor. They are
liberated by their nonfruitive activities and they attain the first incarnation of the purusa, but at the
time of creation they come back in exactly the same forms and positions as they had previously.

16. Persons who are too addicted to this material world execute their prescribed duties very nicely
and with great faith. They daily perform all such prescribed duties with attachment to the fruitive
result.
17. Such persons, impelled by the mode of passion, are full of anxieties and always aspire for sense
gratification due to uncontrolled senses. They worship the forefathers and are busy day and night
improving the economic condition of their family, social or national life.
18. Such persons are called trai-vargika because they are interested in the three elevating
processes. They are averse to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who can give relief to the
conditioned soul. They are not interested in the Supreme Personalityís pastimes, which are worth
hearing because of His transcendental prowess.
19. Such persons are condemned by the supreme order of the Lord. Because they are averse to the
nectar of the activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are compared to stool-eating
hogs. They give up hearing the transcendental activities of the Lord and indulge in hearing of the
abominable activities of materialistic persons.
20. Such materialistic persons are allowed to go to the planet called Pitrloka by the southern course
of the sun, but they again come back to this planet and take birth in their own families, beginning
again the same fruitive activities from birth to the end of life.
21. When the results of their pious activities are exhausted, they fall down by higher arrangement
and again come back to this planet, just as any person raised to a high position sometimes all of a
sudden falls.
22. My dear mother, I therefore advise that you take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
for His lotus feet are worth worshiping. Accept this with all devotion and love, for thus you can be
situated in transcendental devotional service.

23. Engagement in Krishna consciousness and application of devotional service unto Krishna make
it possible to advance in knowledge and detachment, as well as in self-realization.
24. The exalted devoteeís mind becomes equipoised in sensory activities, and he is transcendental
to that which is agreeable and not agreeable.
25. Because of his transcendental intelligence, the pure devotee is equipoised in his vision and sees
himself to be uncontaminated by matter. He does not see anything as superior or inferior, and he
feels himself elevated to the transcendental platform of being equal in qualities with the Supreme
Person.
26. The Supreme Personality of Godhead alone is complete transcendental knowledge, but
according to the different processes of understanding He appears differently, either as impersonal
Brahman, as Paramatma, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead or as the purusa-avatara.
27. The greatest common understanding for all yogis is complete detachment from matter, which
can be achieved by different kinds of yoga.
28. Those who are averse to the Transcendence realize the Supreme Absolute Truth differently
through speculative sense perception, and therefore, because of mistaken speculation, everything
appears to them to be relative.
29. From the total energy, the mahat-tattva, I have manifested the false ego, the three modes of
material nature, the five material elements, the individual consciousness, the eleven senses and the
material body. Similarly, the entire universe has come from the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
30. This perfect knowledge can be achieved by a person who is already engaged in devotional
service with faith, steadiness and full detachment, and who is always absorbed in thought of the
Supreme. He is aloof from material association.

31. My dear respectful mother, I have already described the path of understanding the Absolute
Truth, by which one can come to understand the real truth of matter and spirit and their relationship.
32. Philosophical research culminates in understanding the Supreme Personality of Godhead. After
achieving this understanding, when one becomes free from the material modes of nature, he attains
the stage of devotional service. Either by devotional service directly or by philosophical research,
one has to find the same destination, which is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
33. A single object is appreciated differently by different senses due to its having different qualities.
Similarly, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is one, but according to different scriptural
injunctions He appears to be different.
34-36. By performing fruitive activities and sacrifices, by distributing charity, by performing
austerities, by studying various literatures, by conducting philosophical research, by controlling the
mind, by subduing the senses, by accepting the renounced order of life and by performing the
prescribed duties of oneís social order; by performing the different divisions of yoga practice, by
performing devotional service and by exhibiting the process of devotional service containing the
symptoms of both attachment and detachment; by understanding the science of self-realization and
by developing a strong sense of detachment, one who is expert in understanding the different
processes of self-realization realizes the Supreme Personality of Godhead as He is represented in
the material world as well as in transcendence.
37. My dear mother, I have explained to you the process of devotional service and its identity in four
different social divisions. I have explained to you as well how eternal time is chasing the living
entities, although it is imperceptible to them.
38. There are varieties of material existence for the living entity according to the work he performs in
ignorance or forgetfulness of his real identity. My dear mother, if anyone enters into that
forgetfulness, he is unable to understand where his movements will end.
39. Lord Kapila continued: This instruction is not meant for the envious, for the agnostics or for
persons who are unclean in their behavior. Nor is it for hypocrites or for persons who are proud of
material possessions.
40. It is not to be instructed to persons who are too greedy and too attached to family life, nor to
persons who are nondevotees and who are envious of the devotees and of the Personality of
Godhead.
41. Instruction should be given to the faithful devotee who is respectful to the spiritual master,
nonenvious, friendly to all kinds of living entities and eager to render service with faith and sincerity.
42. This instruction should be imparted by the spiritual master to persons who have taken the
Supreme Personality of Godhead to be more dear than anything, who are not envious of anyone,
who are perfectly cleansed and who have developed detachment for that which is outside the
purview of Krishna consciousness.
43. Anyone who once meditates upon Me with faith and affection, who hears and chants about Me,
surely goes back home, back to Godhead.
Chapter Thirty-three Activities of Kapila
1. Sri Maitreya said: Thus Devahuti, the mother of Lord Kapila and wife of Kardama Muni, became
freed from all ignorance concerning devotional service and transcendental knowledge. She offered
her obeisances unto the Lord, the author of the basic principles of the Sankhya system of
philosophy, which is the background of liberation, and she satisfied Him with the following verses of
prayer.
2. Devahuti said: Brahma is said to be unborn because he takes birth from the lotus flower which
grows from Your abdomen while You lie in the ocean at the bottom of the universe. But even
Brahma simply meditated upon You, whose body is the source of unlimited universes.

3. My dear Lord, although personally You have nothing to do, You have distributed Your energies in
the interactions of the material modes of nature, and for that reason the creation, maintenance and
dissolution of the cosmic manifestation take place. My dear Lord, You are self-determined and are
the Supreme Personality of Godhead for all living entities. For them You created this material
manifestation, and although You are one, Your diverse energies can act multifariously. This is
inconceivable to us.
4. As the Supreme Personality of Godhead, You have taken birth from my abdomen. O my Lord,
how is that possible for the supreme one, who has in His belly all the cosmic manifestation? The
answer is that it is possible, for at the end of the millennium You lie down on a leaf of a banyan tree,
and just like a small baby, You lick the toe of Your lotus foot.
5. My dear Lord, You have assumed this body in order to diminish the sinful activities of the fallen
and to enrich their knowledge in devotion and liberation. Since these sinful people are dependent on
Your direction, by Your own will You assume incarnations as a boar and as other forms. Similarly,
You have appeared in order to distribute transcendental knowledge to Your dependents.
6. To say nothing of the spiritual advancement of persons who see the Supreme Person face to
face, even a person born in a family of dog-eaters immediately becomes eligible to perform Vedic
sacrifices if he once utters the holy name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or chants about
Him, hears about His pastimes, offers Him obeisances or even remembers Him.
7. Oh, how glorious are they whose tongues are chanting Your holy name! Even if born in the
families of dog-eaters, such persons are worshipable. Persons who chant the holy name of Your
Lordship must have executed all kinds of austerities and fire sacrifices and achieved all the good
manners of the Aryans. To be chanting the holy name of Your Lordship, they must have bathed at
holy places of pilgrimage, studied the Vedas and fulfilled everything required.

8. I believe, my Lord, that You are Lord Visnu Himself under the name of Kapila, and You are the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Brahman! The saints and sages, being freed from
all the disturbances of the senses and mind, meditate upon You, for by Your mercy only can one
become free from the clutches of the three modes of material nature. At the time of dissolution, all
the Vedas are sustained in You only.
9. Thus the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kapila, satisfied by the words of His mother, towards
whom He was very affectionate, replied with gravity.
10. The Personality of Godhead said: My dear mother, the path of self-realization which I have
already instructed to you is very easy. You can execute this system without difficulty, and by
following it you shall very soon be liberated, even within your present body.
11. My dear mother, those who are actually transcendentalists certainly follow My instructions, as I
have given them to you. You may rest assured that if you traverse this path of self-realization
perfectly, surely you shall be freed from fearful material contamination and shall ultimately reach Me.
Mother, persons who are not conversant with this method of devotional service certainly cannot get
out of the cycle of birth and death 12. Sri Maitreya said: The Supreme Personality of Godhead
Kapila, after instructing His beloved mother, took permission from her and left His home, His mission
having been fulfilled.
13. As instructed by her son, Devahuti also began to practice bhakti-yoga in that very asrama. She
practiced samadhi in the house of Kardama Muni, which was so beautifully decorated with flowers
that it was considered the flower crown of the River Sarasvati.
14. She began to bathe three times daily, and thus her curling black hair gradually became gray.
Due to austerity, her body gradually became thin, and she wore old garments.
15. The home and household paraphernalia of Kardama, who was one of the Prajapatis, was
developed in such a way, by dint of his mystic powers of austerity and yoga, that his opulence was
sometimes envied by those who travel in outer space in airplanes.

16. The opulence of the household of Kardama Muni is described herein. The bedsheets and
mattresses were all as white as the foam of milk, the chairs and benches were made of ivory and
were covered by cloths of lace with golden filigree, and the couches were made of gold and had very
soft pillows.
17. The walls of the house were made of first-class marble, decorated with valuable jewels. There
was no need of light, for the household was illuminated by the rays of these jewels. The female
members of the household were all amply decorated with jewelry.
18. The compound of the main household was surrounded by beautiful gardens, with sweet, fragrant
flowers and many trees which produced fresh fruit and were tall and beautiful. The attraction of such
gardens was that singing birds would sit on the trees, and their chanting voices, as well as the
humming sound of the bees, made the whole atmosphere as pleasing as possible.
19. When Devahuti would enter that lovely garden to take her bath in the pond filled with lotus
flowers, the associates of the denizens of heaven, the Gandharvas, would sing about Kardamaís
glorious household life. Her great husband, Kardama, gave her all protection at all times.
20. Although her position was unique from all points of view, saintly Devahuti, in spite of all her
possessions, which were envied even by the ladies of the heavenly planets, gave up all such
comforts. She was only sorry that her great son was separated from her.
21. Devahutiís husband had already left home and accepted the renounced order of life, and then
her only son, Kapila, left home. Although she knew all the truths of life and death, and although her
heart was cleansed of all dirt, she was very aggrieved at the loss of her son, just as a cow is affected
when her calf dies.

22. O Vidura, thus always meditating upon her son, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
Kapiladeva, she very soon became unattached to her nicely decorated home.
23. Thereafter, having heard with great eagerness and in all detail from her son, Kapiladeva, the
eternally smiling Personality of Godhead, Devahuti began to meditate constantly upon the Visnu
form of the Supreme Lord.
24-25. She did so with serious engagement in devotional service. Because she was strong in
renunciation, she accepted only the necessities of the body. She became situated in knowledge due
to realization of the Absolute Truth, her heart became purified, she became fully absorbed in
meditation upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and all misgivings due to the modes of
material nature disappeared.
26. Her mind became completely engaged in the Supreme Lord, and she automatically realized the
knowledge of the impersonal Brahman. As a Brahman-realized soul, she was freed from the
designations of the materialistic concept of life. Thus all material pangs disappeared, and she
attained transcendental bliss.
27. Situated in eternal trance and freed from illusion impelled by the modes of material nature, she
forgot her material body, just as one forgets his different bodies in a dream.
28. Her body was being taken care of by the spiritual damsels created by her husband, Kardama,
and since she had no mental anxiety at that time, her body did not become thin. She appeared just
like a fire surrounded by smoke.
29. Because she was always absorbed in the thought of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, she
was not aware that her hair was sometimes loosened or her garments were disarrayed.
30. My dear Vidura, by following the principles instructed by Kapila, Devahuti soon became liberated
from material bondage, and she achieved the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as Supersoul,
without difficulty.

31. The palace where Devahuti achieved her perfection, my dear Vidura, is understood to be a most
sacred spot. It is known all over the three worlds as Siddhapada.
32. Dear Vidura, the material elements of her body have melted into water and are now a flowing
river, which is the most sacred of all rivers. Anyone who bathes in that river also attains perfection,
and therefore all persons who desire perfection go bathe there.
33. My dear Vidura, the great sage Kapila, the Personality of Godhead, left His fatherís hermitage
with the permission of His mother and went towards the northeast.
34. While He was passing in the northern direction, all the celestial denizens known as Caranas and
Gandharvas, as well as the munis and the damsels of the heavenly planets, prayed and offered Him
all respects. The ocean offered Him oblations and a place of residence.
35. Even now Kapila Muni is staying there in trance for the deliverance of the conditioned souls in
the three worlds, and all the acaryas, or great teachers, of the system of Sankhya philosophy are
worshiping Him.
36. My dear son, since you have inquired from me, I have answered. O sinless one, the descriptions
of Kapiladeva and His mother and their activities are the purest of all pure discourses.
37. The description of the dealings of Kapiladeva and His mother is very confidential, and anyone
who hears or reads this narration becomes a devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who
is carried by Garuda, and he thereafter enters into the abode of the Supreme Lord to engage in the
transcendental loving service of the Lord.

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