35 verses
Maitreya said: Devahūti, the wife of Kardama, hearing the words of Kapila, became free of ignorance concerning bhakti, jñāna and yoga She offered respects to and satisfied Kapila, the compiler of knowledge concerning bhakti, jñāna and yoga, and the giver or perfection to men on this earth.
Devahūti said: Even Brahmā born from the lotus in your navel could only meditate upon your form lying in the ocean, which is composed of spiritual elements, spiritual sense objects and spiritual senses, which is endowed with all good qualities and which is the source of unlimited real universes.
It is not astonishing that you teach me and deliver me from saṁsāra. However what is most astonishing is that you, the Supreme Lord of unlimited universe, took birth from me, a low human being. She begins to speak, introducing the subject with the word atha. Brahmā could only mediate upon your form as Garbhodakaśāyī lying in the water within the universe. He did not see you at first. Your elements, senses and sense objects are all made of your own māyā. That means your body is knowledge and bliss, not material. You distinctly manifest qualities such as affection for your devotees (guṇa-pravāham). You are the cause of all universes (sat-aśeṣa-bījam).
You distribute your powers of creation, maintenance and destruction by dividing them up according to the guṇas. You are creation, maintenance and destruction. You are without material activities. Your desires are never unfulfilled. You are the lord of all the jīvas. You are the possessor of unlimited, inconceivable energies. In this way you carry out your activities.
You give out your powers of creation, maintenance and destruction by division of guṇas (guṇa-pravāheṇa vibhakta-vīryaḥ). Avitathābhisandhiḥ means your desires are not obstructed.
O Lord! How were you, in whose belly the universe rests, held in my womb? As a merciful baby you lie alone on a banyan leaf, sucking your toe, at the end of the yuga.
How could you be held in the womb of person like me, a human? You alone should explain the astonishing cause. How can you say this to me? I am your child. True, you are a child. As a baby you sleep on a banyan leaf at the time of destruction of the universe. For what purpose? In this way, the people of the world, who are accustomed to caring for children, can meditate on me. Thus, that form of a baby is merciful (māyā-śiśuḥ). The sweet pastime suitable for the baby is described. He sucks his big toe. All intelligent men will give up other happiness and become submerged in the sweetness of my feet. Thinking that he would like to experience that taste, the baby sucks his toe.
O Lord! You become dependent on my body as a baby. Just as you appear in this world in forms like the boar to destroy sin and to make those who follow your instructions prosperous, you have appeared to teach the path of jñāna and bhakti directed to yourself.
Moreover, your nature is that, by mercy alone, you descend as avatāra. Just as other babies are in the womb of the mother and are dependent on the body of the mother, you also entered my womb and were dependent on my body (deha-tantraḥ), as your pastime. Deha-tantraḥ can also mean he who is decorated with cloth and ornaments on his body. For what purpose do avatāras descend? They appear for destroying sins and for making prosperous with bhakt, jñāna and yoga those who follow your instruction (nideśa-bhājām). Kapila (ayam) appeared to teach the path of jñāna and bhakti directed to himself.
By hearing or chanting your name, by offering respects to you, by occasional remembrance of you, even the dog-eater immediately becomes qualified for performing the soma sacrifice. O Lord! What then to speak of the person who sees you?
By seeing you, the world becomes most fortunate. This is expressed through the method of kaimutya-nyāya (what to speak of). Prahvaṇat means obeisances. Smaraṇāt kvacid means occasional remembrance. Even the outcaste (śvādaḥ) becomes immediately qualified to perform the soma sacrifice (savanāya). This means he becomes worshipable like a brāhmaṇa, performer of the soma sacrifice. This implies that this takes place because of destruction of prārabdha sinful reactions experienced in this life as low birth. Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī says:
durjātireva savanāyayogyatve kāraṇaṁ matam
durjātyārambhakaṁ pāpaṁ yat syāt prārabdhameva tat
It was understood that the low qualities of the dog-eater is the cause of his disqualification for performing sacrifices. The sin by which he attains such low qualities in this life is called the prārabdha sin. BRS 1.1.22
How astonishing! The outcaste on the tip of whose tongue your name appears becomes the guru! All those who chant your name, becoming most respectable, have completed all austerities, all sacrifices, all bathing and all study of the Vedas.
It has just been said that the outcaste becomes immediately qualified for the soma sacrifice. But that is nothing, since much more is achieved than becoming qualified for sacrifice. This is most astonishing (aho bata)! The name has to appear just on the tip of the tongue of the outcaste. It does not have to be fully on the tongue, it does not have to be pronounced fully. It is present (vartate) on the tongue, but not completely. Only one name is chanted once, not many times. If one were to chant many of your (tubhyam) names many times with the full tongue, how much more effect it would have! Tubhyam can also mean he chants to please you, or bring you under his control. The outcaste who chants incompletely just one name is the best guru (gariyān). He becomes qualified to teach the mantra with the name within it to others (ie. dikṣa-guru). Then let the outcaste perform sacrifice, study of the Vedas and austerities. They have already done this. What to speak of one such person, others also who chant your name, have performed all austerities and sacrifices. This specifically mentioned. Because of no statement to indicate they did not perform all elements (aḍgas) of all sacrifices and austerities, they have completed all austerities with all elements. They have performed oblations in all sacrifices with all elements. They have bathed in all holy places. They, and not others, are worthy of respect (āryāh). They have completed study of the Vedas (brahma). Amara-koṣa says anūcānaḥ means a teacher, a person proficient in recitation of the Vedas with its aḍgas. The words are in the past tense, whereas gṛhnanti is in the present tense. They chant in the present, but have completed all the other actions such as austerities. These other actions are no longer performed, and will not be performed in the future. Why would they do those actions now? This indicates that the devotees have no qualification for such actions. The perfect tense indicates completion. They have no regard for them. They are a waste of energy. One should not explain that the present tense of gṛhnanti indicates that they continuously chant, and that they only achieve the effect by chanting continuously and not by chanting just once. That is contradicted by other statements using the word sakṛt (only once):
naivaṁ-vidhaḥ puruṣa-kāra urukramasya
puṁsāṁ tad-aḍghri-rajasā jita-ṣaò-guṇānām
citraṁ vidūra-vigataḥ sakṛd ādadīta
yan-nāmadheyam adhunā sa jahāti bandham
Such power is not surprising from persons who have conquered the six senses by the dust from the lotus feet of the Lord, since even an outcaste becomes immediately free of bondage of karma by chanting the Lords name once. SB 5.1.35
I offer respects to you Kapila, who are Viṣṇu, Brahman, the supreme person, the destroyer of material existence by your appearance in this world, the shelter of the Vedas, who should be the object of meditation for the mind which has withdrawn from material objects.
I, being ignorant cannot really praise you. I simply offer respects. Prayak-srotasi means for the mind which has withdrawn from material objects.
Maitreya said: The Lord called Kapila, the supreme person, praised thus, spoke to his mother out of affection for her, with choked voice.
With choked voice because of affection for his mother, Kapila replied.
Kapila said: By this path of bhakti explained by me, which is easy to perform, you will quickly attain the supreme goal of prema.
Susevyena (easily performed) means bhakti-yoga. Āshitena means performed. You will attain the supreme goal of prema. Though his mother is a nitya-siddha, he speaks to her in this way to teach the world.
Have faith in my instructions which are practiced by those who know the truth, and which will give yon fearlessness. Those who do not know this attain death.
Mahyam means me. Yāyāḥ means you will attain.
Maitreya said: Having shown his mother the path of the soul, Kapila, taking permission from his mother who knew the truth about her son, departed.
The reason for his mother giving permission is stated. She was a brahma-vādi, one who speaks about or knows that her son was Brahman. Thus she considered that she would be protected by his will.
By following the instructions on bhakti spoken by her son, absorbed in bhakti, she became engaged in samādhi in that hermitage, which was like a flower crown on the Sarasvatī River,
Āpiòe means like a flower crown.
Her locks of hair became matted and grey from repeated bathing. Her body, clothed in rags, became thin because of severe austerities.
She took bath three times a day. Her hair became matted. And her body (ātmānam) was clothed in rags (cīriṇam).
The house Kardama produced through the austerities of yoga was unequalled and desired by the devatās.
The ivory beds resembling the foam of milk had gold coverings. The chairs were made of gold with soft cushions.
Jewel lamps shone on clear crystal walls decorated with large emeralds. The women were decorated with jewels.
The garden was made beautiful with many flowering celestial trees with pairs of singing birds and intoxicated, humming bees.
When Devahūti, under the care of Kardama, would enter the pond, fragrant with lotuses, the devatās assistants glorified her.
Giving up that house, most desirable even to the wives of Indra, Devahūti became silent, overcome with grief, pained by the absence of her son.
She became silent (vadanaṁ kiñcid cakāra) in the presence of all these things. This means she was filled with grief at seeing these things.
Since her husband had also left home, she became aggrieved with separation from her son, even though she knew the truth. She was like a cow aggrieved when losing a calf.
This verse described the great depression caused by parental love (vātsalya) for the Lord. Though her husband had gone to the forest, she maintained her life, seeing his son. But she grieved when even he left. Oh! If there is anyone around, let them see. They should make my son quickly return. If not, I cannot live. She lamented like a cow. Or like a cow she suddenly forgot all the spiritual knowledge given to her.
O Vidura! Meditating on her son Kapila, the Supreme Lord, she quickly became detached from that opulent house.
This describes the result of meditating on the Lord separation.
She meditated on the form of the Supreme Lord, the worthy object of meditation, with smiling face, whom her son had described, thinking of his whole form and its parts.
Grieving in separation, my mind cannot give up seeing the Lord as my son. Going to a solitary place for a moment, concentrating my mind, giving up the idea of my son, I will practice meditation as Kapila taught me. The verse describes that practice. She meditated on the form of the Supreme Lord. The sentence continues till verse 26.
viśuddhena tadātmānam ātmanā viśvato-mukham svānubhūtyā tirobhūta- māyā-guṇa-viśeṣaṇam
brahmaṇy avasthita-matir
bhagavaty ātma-saṁśraye
nivṛtta-jīvāpattitvāt
kṣīṇa-kleśāpta-nirvṛtiḥ
By bhakti-yoga which flows like a current, by strong renunciation produced from proper practice of bhakti, by knowledge causing realization of the Lord, by purity of mind, she saw the Supreme Lord, who pervades all direction and is devoid of material qualities through personal realization. Her mind became fixed in Brahman, Bhagavān and Paramātmā, and she attained bliss and destruction of suffering because of destroying saṁsāra.
Bhakti-pravāha-yogena means by the method of bhakti, which is like a current. She meditated on the Lord by bhakti and by strong detachment produced from bhaktis proper performance. Or regulated performance can mean the following:
yuktāhāravihārasya yuktaceṣṭasya karmasu
yuktasvapnāvabodhasya yogo bhavati duḥkhahā
If one has regulated eating, regulated walking, regulated use of organs in material and spiritual activities, regulated sleep and regulated waking, his yoga destroys all suffering. BG 6.17
She meditated with strong detachment produced from regulated habits of yoga. She meditated with jñāna which causes realization of Brahman (brahma-hetunā). This actually means knowledge which causes pure bhakti, not knowledge which produces realization of the one impersonal Brahman. She meditated with a pure mind, since it was beyond the guṇas. She saw (this word should be supplied) the svarūpa (tad ātmānam) of the Supreme Lord, whose face is in ten directions (viśvato mukham), and which was devoid of the material guṇas, by her realization (svānubhūtyā).
Her mind then became fixed in the Brahman, in Bhagavān (brahmaṇi bhagavati ), and in Paramātmā, the shelter of the jīvas (ātma-saṁśraye). The goals of the jñānī, the devotee and the yogī are listed in order. She fixed her mind on the full svarūpa, the aḍgī, which contains Brahman, Bhagavān, and Paramātmā.
In the phrase bhakti-pravāha-yogena, the word pravāha (current) indicates the type of bhakti mentioned in the following verse:
mad-guṇa-śruti-mātreṇa mayi sarva-guhāśaye
mano-gatir avicchinnā yathā gaḍgāmbhaso 'mbudhau
lakṣaṇaṁ bhakti-yogasya nirguṇasya hy udāhṛtam
ahaituky avyavahitā yā bhaktiḥ puruṣottame
Because the mind flows continuously to me, the Supreme Lord residing in the hearts of all people, just by hearing about my qualities, just as the Gaḍgā flows to the ocean, it is said that quality of bhakti beyond the guṇas is that bhakti which is devoid of other results other than bhakti and is unobstructed by other processes. SB 3.29.11-12
She thus attained characteristics which indicate bhāva-bhaktai. Excluding the third level in jñāna of merging tvam and tat, the jñānīs knowledge of tvam and tat (you and that) becomes suitable for the devotees as knowledge of the worshipper and the worshipped--knowledge of the devotee and the Lord. Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu says jñāna-vairāgyayor bhakti-praveśāyopayogitā: jñāna and vairāgya a somewhat suitable at the beginning of bhakti. The seventh level of the aṣṭāḍga-yogīs, dhyāna or meditation of the yogīs, becomes most suitable for the devotees as the third item of the nine types of bhakti (smaraṇam). For Devahūti, taking the jñāna of the jñānīs and the meditation of the yogīs, according to the idea that the swan eats the essence in all things she followed those practices, since they were included in bhakti. Thus it is said that she used jñaṇa (jñānena brahmahetunā), and in verse 23, it was said that she used meditation (dhyāna-gocaraṁ sutaḥ).
Then, the secondary symptoms produced by bhakti are described as was already mentioned:
jarayaty āśu yā kośaṁ nigīrṇam analo yathā
That bhakti quickly destroys the subtle body, just as the digestive fire consumes food. SB 3.25.33
Because she attained the condition of destroying the calamity of the jīvātmā (nivṛtta-jīvāpattitvāt), which means ignorance (held in the subtle body), all suffering was destroyed, and consequently she felt bliss. Or because of being the Lords mother, she was by nature free from ignorance. Thus the statement merely indicates a condition in the spiritual world as in statements such as ayam ātmā apahata-pāpma: the soul is without sin. (Subāla Upaniṣad)
Because of attaining continuous samādhi, and being free of wandering towards sense objects, she did not remember her body, just as a person on waking does not remember what happened in a dream.
According to the devotees, samādhi means bewilderment caused by the bliss of meditation. Because of attaining constant samādhi, wandering (bhramaḥ) towards material sense objects ceased (parāvṛtta). Ātmānam means body.
Her body was cared for the maidens created by Kardama and because of no anxieties, she was not thin. Though covered by dirt, her body shone like a fire covered by smoke.
This verse describes her condition at that time. He body was cared for by the maidens created by Kardama. Because she had no mental anxieties, because of being absorbed in the Lord, she was not thin. The doctors say that happiness makes the body stout.
Completely absorbed in Vāsudeva, she was not aware that her body, engaged in austerity and yoga, with unbound hair and absence of clothing, was protected by the Lord.
Daiva-guptam means protected by the Lord.
By the method taught by Kapila, she quickly attained the Supreme Lord, Bhagavān, the supreme soul. This attainment included liberation.
She attained the Lord of Vaikuṇṭha, Bhagavān, the best of souls (param). Did she not attain liberation? Attainment of Bhagavān was also attainment of liberation (brahma-nirvāṇam).
adhokṣajālambham ihāśubhātmanaḥ
śarīriṇaḥ saṁsṛti-cakra-śātanam
tad brahma-nirvāṇa-sukhaṁ vidur budhās
tato bhajadhvaṁ hṛdaye hṛd-īśvaram
The wise know that direct contact with the Lord, which includes the happiness of Brahman, destroys saṁsāra for the sinful persons possessing material bodies in this world. Therefore worship the Paramātmā in your heart. SB 7.7.37
In this verse brahma-nirvāṇa-sukham refers to the Supreme Lord. Therefore the verse can mean that Devahūti attained Kapila, her son, in Kapila Vaikuṇṭha.
O Vidura! That place, called Siddha-pada, where she attained perfection, is most pure and famous in the three worlds.
Vīra means O Vidura!
Devahūtis body, purified of material dhātus by bhakti-yoga, became a river. That river is the best of rivers, bestowing perfection and worshipped by perfected souls.
O Vidura! Her body (martyam) because the river. How? That body became purified of contamination of dhātus by yoga (yoga-vidhūta-mārtyam).
The great yogī Kapila, the Supreme Lord, taking permission from his mother, departed from his fathers hermitage and went first north and then east.
Previously it was said that Kapila left. Now he is described further in three verses. Taking permission, he went east. According to sadācara, he first went north. Later, he took up permanent residence at Gaḍga-sāgara.
Praised by the Siddhas, Cāraṇas, Gandharvas, sages and Apsarās, he was given a place as an offering by the ocean personified.
Taking shelter of bhakti-yoga and worshiped by the teachers of Sāḍkhya, he still remains there, fixed in samādhi, for the peace of the three worlds.
O sinless Vidura! As requested by you, I have spoken about the pure conversation between Kapila and Devahūti.
He who hears the teaching of Kapila containing the secret of meditation on the Lord, or he who teaches it, concentrating his mind on the Lord whose emblem is Garuòa, attains the Lords lotus feet.
Showing the goal of what was taught by Kapila to Devahūti by the results, he emphasizes the destination of persons similar to Devahūti. Just by explaining, or just by hearing, one attains the Lord. What to speak then of the results from actually undertaking the instructions of Kapila! What supreme result then would a devotee like Devahūti attain! The word upa indicates additionally that she attained a position as the Lords associate, filled with prema, for serving his lotus feet.
Thus ends the Sārārtha-daṛśinī commentary on the Thirty-third Chapter of the Third Canto for the pleasure of the devotees hearts, complied following the ācāryas.
Being ignorant, I do not know the meaning of Śrīmad-bhāgavatam. But I have made a commentary according to my intelligence because of a desire for its association. Offering respects to all living beings up to Brahmā in the universe, I ask for their mercy. Having been made capable of understanding it, I have completed the commentary on the Third Canto on the bank of the Yamunā River at the foot of a desire tree in Śrī Vṛndāvana, on the eighth lunar day of Āśvina month.
In the Thirty-third Chapter, after being praised by Devahūti, Kapila departs for the forest. She attains the Lord by the path taught by him.
Janitrī stands for janayitrī, mother. She became free of all ignorance concerning bhakti and jñāna (visrasta-moha-paṭalā). Kapila gave indications with great skill concerning bhakti, jñāna and yoga, and caused men on earth to reach perfection.