Kapila's last instructions (Sankhya #26)

Lord Kapila concludes his instructions to his mother, instructing her to take shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord, and no one else, in pure devotional service.

« SANKHYA, The Philosophy of Lord Kapila

Kapila's last instructions

"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.

Engagement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and application of devotional service unto Kṛṣṇa make it possible to advance in knowledge and detachment, as well as in self-realization.

The exalted devotee’s mind becomes equipoised in sensory activities, and he is transcendental to that which is agreeable and not agreeable.

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.

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 Paramātmā, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead or as the puruṣa-avatāra." (SB 3.32.22-26)

In this section, Lord Kapila concludes his instructions to his mother, instructing her to take shelter at the lotus feet of the Lord, and no one else, in pure devotional service. This pure devotional service may be achieved through the process of astanga-yoga or any other process. The emphasis in the teachings of Lord Kapila is not on the process but on the ultimate goal. Although astanga-yoga is not recommended as a process of self-realization in Kali-yuga, we can reach the same ultimate goal through the practical process of Krsna consciousness taught by Srila Prabhupada. We should thus not think that the teachings of Lord Kapila are a different process. As we studied, the stages and goals described by Him are directly applicable to us, directly relating to the practice of Krsna consciousness.

Sometimes, there is confusion about the usage of words in the scriptures, and it appears that different passages describe other great personalities such as Brahma and Shiva, or even material elements, like ether (ākāśa) or the vital air (prana) as supreme. In verse 22, for example, the word parameṣṭhinam (the supreme person) can be sometimes interpreted as meaning Lord Brahma, because he is the supreme person within this universe. However, in the highest meaning, it means Krsna, the Supreme Lord. Similarly, all other terms that sometimes appear to address someone else, in reality, address the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is indicated by Vyasadeva himself in the Vedanta-sutra (1.4.28): etena sarve vyākhyātā vyākhyātāḥ, "The Supreme Lord is the original cause of everything. All words of the scriptures should be interpreted according to this explanation."

There is also controversy about different aspects of the Lord. Impersonalists study the impersonal aspects, the yogis try to realize the localized aspect and so on, and everyone thinks the aspect he understands is supreme. The truth is, however, that these are just different aspects of the same absolute truth. As one grows in knowledge and realization, his understanding of the absolute truth deepens, culminating with the realization of His personal aspect. When one becomes situated in a platform of devotional service, understanding Krsna in His personal form, the concepts of Brahman and Paramatma are automatically understood, but one who is stuck in the understanding of Brahman or Paramatma can't understand the Supreme Person. Bhakti-yoga is thus the supreme process that awards the results of all other processes.

In his purport, Srila Prabhupada emphasizes the mercy of Krsna in His dealings with His devotees to highlight the idea that there is indeed no need to take shelter in anyone else. Although Putana came to the Lord as an enemy, intending to kill Him, she simultaneously manifested an attitude of service by feeding the Lord with her breast milk. The Lord thus accepted her service and at the same time destroyed her demoniac nature by killing her body. In this way, Putana became free and was able to join the Lord's eternal pastimes in Goloka Vrindavana as one of the lady assistants of Mother Yashoda.

All that demigods can offer is a short vacation on the celestial planets, after which one has to return to the hard struggle of life in this world, and even the short stay on the celestial planets is not free of inconveniences as illustrated in many descriptions of the scriptures. Even while living on the celestial planets, one can be killed, cursed, attacked by demons, or offended at any point. Apart from the original position of the soul in service to Krsna, all other positions are unstable and temporary. One can travel all over creation, but as long as one is not able to find this original position, one will not find any permanent shelter. The only one who can help us to reestablish ourselves in this original position is the Lord Himself, therefore He is the only worthy of taking shelter on.

Even if one wants material prosperity, mystic powers, etc. still one should worship Krsna, since in any way, these blessings ultimately depend on the sanction of the Lord, even if awarded by some demigod. As described previously: "A person who has broader intelligence, whether he be full of all material desire, without any material desire, or desiring liberation, must by all means worship the supreme whole, the Personality of Godhead." (SB 2.3.10)

As Prabhupada mentions: "There are two kinds of religious activities: one for material advancement and the other for spiritual advancement. By taking shelter under the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, one is endowed with both kinds of prosperity, material and spiritual. Why then should one go to any demigod?"

Just as one receives the results of all other processes by practicing devotional service, qualities such as detachment and transcendental knowledge automatically awaken in the devotee. By the grace of Krsna, a devotee acquires all good qualities of the demigods. This is not just an empty boast. The soul has originally 78% of the qualities of Krsna. What prevents us from displaying these qualities even now is our material contamination. As this material contamination is removed, the original qualities of the soul become apparent, just as in the demigods. Eventually, a devotee surpasses even the demigods, becoming fully reestablished in his original, pure identity as a servant of the Lord. In this stage, a devotee becomes equipoised, beyond the duality of the material world. He sees everything in connection with Krsna and becomes agreeable to the desires of the Lord, utilizing everything in the service of the Lord, beyond material attachment and aversion. At this stage, the devotee becomes situated in transcendental bliss, sharing the transcendental pleasure of the Lord.

A summary of Kapila's teachings

Lord Kapila concludes His teachings by offering a summary of all the topics discussed:

"The greatest common understanding for all yogīs is complete detachment from matter, which can be achieved by different kinds of yoga.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, by performing the prescribed duties of one’s social order, by performing the different divisions of yoga practice, by performing devotional service, 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.

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.

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." (SB 3.32.27-38)

Here is a list of points:

a) There are different processes of self-realization and different classes of transcendentalists, but the goal of all these different processes is the same: to become detached from matter and re-attain one's original spiritual consciousness. Of all processes of yoga, or connection with the Lord, the direct process of bhakti-yoga is the most simple and effective. Instead of artificially trying to restrict the senses, a bhakti-yogi directly uses the senses in the service of the Lord.

b) As Krsna explains in the Gita: "As all surrender unto Me, I reward them accordingly. Everyone follows My path in all respects, O son of Pṛthā." Different seekers understand the Absolute Truth on different levels, according to their level of surrender. In particular, the ones who are averse to the Lord try to understand the Absolute Truth through speculative knowledge and sense perception and they thus misinterpret the scriptures. Due to their faulty approach, the Lord remains hidden, covered by the material manifestation and the impersonal aspect. To understand the absolute truth, one has to acquire pure knowledge from authorized sources. Perfect knowledge can't be manufactured by imperfect persons, therefore the only place where perfect knowledge can be found is in the authorized Parampara.

As Prabhupada mentions:

"When uncontaminated pure knowledge is uncovered from the modes of material nature, the actual identity of the living entity is discovered: he is eternally a servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The process of uncovering is like this: the rays of sunshine are luminous, and the sun itself is also luminous. In the presence of the sun, the rays illuminate just like the sun, but when the sunshine is covered by the spell of a cloud, or by māyā, then darkness, the imperfection of perception, begins. Therefore, to get out of the entanglement of the spell of nescience, one has to awaken his spiritual consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in terms of the authorized scriptures."

c) The Lord is the cause of the mahat-tattva, from where the 24 material elements manifest, starting from the false ego. The 24 material elements described by Lord Kapila include the 11 senses (including the mind), the five sense objects, and the five material elements, plus intelligence, false ego, and material consciousness. The material consciousness is a reflection of the original spiritual consciousness of the soul, and this reflection of consciousness is then covered by the false ego, intelligence, mind, and senses, creating the material identity that transmigrates from one body to the other. As explained in SB 2.9.1, the soul is distinct from this material identity, and the relationship between the two exists only on the basis of identification and attachment.

Because everything is the energy of the Lord, in one sense there is no difference between the Lord and the cosmic manifestation, but at the same time, the cosmic manifestation is different from the Lord. As He explains in the Gita: "All beings are in Me, but I am not in them." Everything rests and depends on the Lord, but He is completely independent. Just as the Lord manifests the whole cosmic manifestation, the soul manifests a certain material body and uses it as his field of activities. The Lord is conscious of everything, while the soul is conscious of his particular body. The Lord is independent and the soul is also independent, the difference is that the Lord is fully independent, while the independence of the soul is limited. When the soul misuses this independence, the soul becomes conditioned in this material world, and by using it appropriately we can become free.

d) Processes such as karma and jñana are not sufficient to realize the absolute truth. The Lord can be realized only by devotional service, and other processes become effective only to the degree they are combined with bhakti. As mentioned in the Brahma-samhita (premāñjana cchurita bhakti vilocanena), the Lord can be understood only through pure love. We can understand the Lord and all transcendental topics only to the degree we progress in our practice. Lord Kapila describes the qualities necessary to develop perfect knowledge as being engaged in devotional service with faith, steadiness, and full detachment, being always absorbed in the thought of the Supreme, and being aloof from material association.

e) The ultimate goal of life is to surrender to the Supreme Lord in pure devotional service. One can come to this stage by either philosophical research culminating with the practice of devotional service, or directly by the practice of devotional service. People who in this life come to the platform of pure devotional service should be understood to have graduated in all the other paths in previous lives, coming now to the conclusion. If however one just cultivates dry knowledge or practice of mystic yoga and doesn't come to the point of understanding the Supreme Person, his spiritual evolution is not yet complete.

f) As the same object appears to be different when perceived by different senses, the same Supreme Lord appears to be impersonal by mental speculation. Only through bhakti can one realize the Lord as He is. To all others, he remains covered by His different potencies.

g) The scriptures recommend different practices and duties for persons in different stages of life. The performance of sacrifices and occupational duties and distribution of charity is recommended for householders; austerity, the study of Vedic literature, and philosophical research are meant for the vānaprasthas; study of the Vedas from the spiritual master is especially meant for brahmacārīs; control of the mind and senses is meant for persons in the renounced order, and so on. All these different processes have the ultimate goal of helping one to come to the platform of Krsna consciousness.

In the Gita, Krsna mentions: "Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform – do that, O son of Kuntī, as an offering to Me." All activities should be performed with the ultimate goal of satisfying Krsna and understanding Him. Unless one adds devotional service to his activities, he cannot achieve the desired result.

The result of performing material activities is that one becomes more attached to matter. Activities performed in devotional service however have the opposite effect, they make us gradually detached from all material activities. This happens because devotional service results in spiritual realization, real spiritual knowledge that gradually destroys our bond to this material world. The process of becoming attached to the Supreme and detached from matter happens simultaneously. As Prabhupada explains: "A hungry man feels strength and satisfaction from eating, and at the same time he gradually becomes detached from eating anymore. Similarly, with the execution of devotional service, real knowledge develops, and one becomes detached from all material activities. In no other activity but devotional service is there such detachment from matter and attachment for the Supreme."

The soul can't become inactive, because the original propensity of the soul is offering service. In conditioned life, we offer service to our senses, as well as family, society, country, etc. through many different types of material activities. Real spiritual understanding means understanding our constitutional position as eternal servants of the Lord. When one comes to this ultimate conclusion, he becomes detached from such illusory activities and comes to the real platform of activity in the service of the Lord. This perfect understanding is called ātma-tattva-avabodhena. Ultimately, it can be obtained only by the mercy of the saintly persons, the spiritual master, or Krsna.

Who are the suitable students?

"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.

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.

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.

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 Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Anyone who once meditates upon Me with faith and affection, who hears and chants about Me, surely goes back home, back to Godhead." (SB 3.32.39-43)

Lord Kapila concludes His instructions by describing who are the suitable and unsuitable students for understanding this knowledge. This knowledge was originally transmitted in Satya-yuga when Vedic knowledge was strictly transmitted only to qualified persons. In Kali-yuga the system is not so stringent, we can see that Srila Prabhupada distributed transcendental knowledge freely in his books. This is one essential difference between the Vaidika system (practiced in previous ages) and the Pāñcarātrika system, practiced in Kali-yuga. The Vaidika system aims at preventing an advanced society from degrading, while the Pāñcarātrika system offers a path for elevating a degraded society, by giving people the opportunity to get access to transcendental knowledge and thus have a chance to progress.

However, Prabhupada warns that there are classes of persons who can't at all understand devotional service: malicious Individuals who are always planning to do harm to other living entities, artificial disciples with ulterior motives, sectarian or biased persons, materialists seeking fame and gain, people too attached to family life, as well as the ones who are genuinely not interested.

Apart from that, the fact we are given the opportunity to get in contact with transcendental knowledge despite not having the necessary qualifications at the start does not mean we don't have to develop them. Without the proper qualifications, we will not be able to properly understand this knowledge. In all kinds of religious institutions, people influenced by the lower modes create so many problems by misunderstanding, distorting, and misapplying the teachings, and many others start due to some sentiment but later leave due to the lack of philosophical understanding. Without developing the proper qualifications, we risk becoming like them over time.

In his purport to verse 42, Srila Prabhupada focuses on explaining the path we should follow to develop these qualifications and pitfalls we need to avoid:

"In the beginning, no one can be elevated to the highest stage of devotional service. Here bhakta means one who does not hesitate to accept the reformatory processes for becoming a bhakta. In order to become a devotee of the Lord, one has to accept a spiritual master and inquire from him about how to progress in devotional service. To serve a devotee, to chant the holy name according to a certain counting method, to worship the Deity, to hear Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or Bhagavad-gītā from a realized person and to live in a sacred place where devotional service is not disturbed are the first out of sixty-four devotional activities for making progress in devotional service. One who has accepted these five chief activities is called a devotee.

One must be prepared to offer the necessary respect and honor to the spiritual master. He should not be unnecessarily envious of his Godbrothers. Rather, if a godbrother is more enlightened and advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, one should accept him as almost equal to the spiritual master, and one should be happy to see such godbrothers advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. A devotee should always be very kind to the general public in instructing Kṛṣṇa consciousness because that is the only solution for getting out of the clutches of māyā."

Lord Kapila concludes His teachings by offering us a benediction: "Anyone who once meditates upon Me with faith and affection, who hears and chants about Me, surely goes back home, back to Godhead."

Lord Kapila is the Lord Himself. By remembering His teachings we can remain connected with Him, and by studying and applying this knowledge we worship Him with our intelligence. By discussing this knowledge with other devotees, and remembering how He liberated His mother by His divine instructions, we can attain the same perfection.

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