Prayers of Devahuti to her divine son (Sankhya #27)
Having been instructed by her divine son, Devahuti became completely free from all ignorance and perfectly situated in devotional service and transcendental knowledge.
« SANKHYA, The Philosophy of Lord Kapila
Prayers of Devahuti to her divine son
Having been instructed by her divine son, Devahuti became completely free from all ignorance and perfectly situated in devotional service and transcendental knowledge. She offered obeisances and submitted prayers, glorifying His activities. The system of philosophy enunciated by Lord Kapila provides us with a clear path for elevating ourselves to the spiritual platform, and Devahuti became very strongly situated on this path.
Lord Kapila is not different from Krsna Himself. The Lord expands Himself in unlimited forms to execute unlimited pastimes, and different devotees aspire to serve different forms of the Lord, according to their devotion. Devahuti is eternally the mother of Lord Kapila, and thus it is natural that her devotion is centered around Him. When she hears about different pastimes of the Lord in His different incarnations, she thinks about her son executing all these activities. A pure devotee becomes completely absorbed in the form of the Lord he worships, to the point that is difficult for him to think in other forms of the Lord, just as it was impossible for Murari Gupta to abandon the worship of Lord Rama, even to worship Radha and Krsna at the request of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In this way, Murari Gupta passed the test of the Lord. When a devotee uncovers his original devotional mood he becomes fully satisfied in worshiping the form of the Lord he is attracted to.
"Devahūti said: Brahmā 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 Brahmā simply meditated upon You, whose body is the source of unlimited universes.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Āryans. 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.
I believe, my Lord, that You are Lord Viṣṇu 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." (SB 3.33.2-8)
Apart from glorifying the Lord and helping us to reinforce our meditation on him, the prayers of Devahuti reinforce the conclusions enunciated by Lord Kapila in the previous chapters. They can thus be counted as a conclusion for the whole text. These are a few points discussed in the verses and in Prabhupada's purports:
a) The Lord is the source of all creation, yet His body is completely transcendental. His position is so exalted that even Lord Brahma, who is born out of His navel has to meditate for a very long period just to acquire the potency necessary to see Him. This same transcendental Lord, who is the source of everything, entered the womb of Devahuti and took birth from her.
b) The Lord has no duty to perform, yet He creates the whole material manifestation from His energies. The fact the Lord possesses energies and creates through them is the definitive proof He is not impersonal. Yet, although the Lord is the creator and controller of the whole material creation, He is aloof from it. He creates just to give conditions for the conditioned souls to fulfill their desires and eventually return back home, back to Godhead
c) How is it possible for this transcendental, unborn Lord, to take birth from Devahuti? This is just His pastime, as when He lies down on the leaf of a banyan tree and licks His own toe at the time of the dissolution of the universe. All kinds of apparent contradictory qualities are reconciled in the form of the Lord. He is the greatest but also the smallest, has a personal form, although present everywhere, performs pastimes although has nothing to do, and so on.
The mysterious pastime of the Lord laying on the banyan tree (described in the 12th canto) is explained by Srila Prabhupada: "Since all the great sages and devotees apply all energy and all activities in the service of the lotus feet of the Lord, there must be some transcendental pleasure in the toes of His lotus feet. The Lord licks His toe to taste the nectar for which the devotees always aspire. Sometimes the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself wonders how much transcendental pleasure is within Himself, and in order to taste His own potency, He sometimes takes the position of tasting Himself. Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa Himself, but He appears as a devotee to taste the sweetness of the transcendental mellow in Himself which is tasted by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the greatest of all devotees."
d) Apart from performing pastimes, the Lord appears to transmit transcendental knowledge, just as He did as Lord Kapila. As part of the material creation, He manifests the Vedas, which give knowledge and devotion to all living entities, so they can find their way back. When this real purpose of existence is disturbed, the Lord comes as an incarnation to reestablish this transcendental knowledge.
e) What is the supreme conclusion of the Vedas? That's the process of devotional service, culminating with the chanting of the holy names. This process is so powerful that anyone who accepts this process, no matter how degraded, becomes immediately purified. Even a candala becomes eligible to perform Vedic sacrifices just by chanting the holy names without offense, without the need for any other reformatory process.
f) The purpose of the varnasrama system is to gradually elevate general people to the brahminical platform, and the purpose of brahminical life is to elevate one to transcendental realization. By chanting the holy names without offense, such transcendental realization is immediately achieved, and one surpasses the Brahminical platform, immediately attaining the supreme purpose of the Vedas. At this point, one obtains the results of all other paths of self-realization, such as executing fire sacrifices, bathing in holy rivers, studying the Vedas, etc. Some of these processes require one to have previous qualifications to be performed, but the chanting of the holy names is such a powerful process that no previous qualification is needed. This again proves that the chanting of the holy names is the highest process.
g) One can understand the Lord by being fully engaged in the process of Krsna consciousness. This is the process that allows us to withdraw our senses from material activities. All activities performed for the satisfaction of the Lord are spiritual, even though they may appear material to the outsider. When one becomes situated in full Krsna consciousness, one can finally understand the Lord as He is.
A simple path of self-realization
Lord Kapila was surely extremely satisfied with the words of his mother. The prayers of Devahuti have deep significance, proving she understood the essence of His teachings. Full of affection to His mother, He replied with gravity:
"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.
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.
Śrī 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." (SB 3.33.10-12)
Technically, the path of Sankhya described by Lord Kapila in His teachings is a combination of bhakti, jñāna and astanga-yoga. However, this is a superficial, technical definition. To elevate ourselves to the platform of pure devotional service, some kind of process is necessary; just like Krsna in the Bhagavad-gita elevates us by describing the process of karma-yoga, as well as jñāna-yoga, buddhi-yoga, etc. Lord Kapila tries to elevate us by describing transcendental knowledge and suggesting the practice of astanga-yoga. These are instructions that, as we studied, can be easily connected with practical aspects of the devotional process. In the teachings of Lord Kapila, since pure devotional service is defined as the clear goal, and everything else is offered as a process to reach this ultimate goal.
As Prabhupada explains: "Anyone who understands the basic principle of Sānkhya philosophy is elevated in devotional service and becomes fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, or liberated, even within this material world."
The essence of the process is to situate ourselves in our eternal identity as eternal servants of the Lord and understand that any other identity separated from that exists only under the influence of the false ego. Absorbed in this original identity of service to the Lord, we can focus our attention on the name, form, pastimes, etc. of the Lord and thus attain ultimate perfection.
As Prabhupada mentions: "The svarūpa, or actual identity of the living entity, is described by Lord Caitanya. Jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya-kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa’: the real identity of the living entity is that he is eternally a servitor of the Supreme Lord. If someone is one-hundred-percent engaged in the service of the Lord, he is to be understood as liberated."
To attain this platform, Prabhupada emphasizes the importance of following the process of devotional service under the guidance of the spiritual master. He mentions that "simply by following the rules and regulations and executing them under the direction of the spiritual master, one is liberated, as it is said herein, from the clutches of māyā, even in this body."
Some groups claim that rules and regulations are for neophytes. In one sense, that's true, since pure devotees who attain the platform of spontaneous devotional service don't have the desire to perform anything against the interests of the Lord, and thus have no need to remember lists of rules. However, as long as one is not on this platform, rules, and regulations are essential to curb our tendency to act as separatists, performing sinful activities going against the desires of the Lord. If we don't follow such rules and just act sinfully according to the desires of the mind, we will remain indefinitely in a sinful, material platform, without being able to at all understand what devotional service is. One may thus study all kinds of books describing devotional sentiments, but being firmly anchored in the material platform just take it cheaply, thinking of himself as a great devotee while at the same time immersed in sinful habits.
The path described by Lord Kapila can help us to understand these layers of material contamination that cover our real identity and to find our way out of this pit of darkness where we voluntarily entered.
Devahuti attains perfection
"As instructed by her son, Devahūti also began to practice bhakti-yoga in that very āśrama. She practiced samādhi in the house of Kardama Muni, which was so beautifully decorated with flowers that it was considered the flower crown of the river Sarasvatī.
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. (SB 3.21.13-14)
Kardama Muni was a pure devotee and his son was the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. Still, he left home and took sannyasa to give the example of the proper conduct according to the injunctions of the scriptures. Similarly, after fulfilling His mission in explaining the devotional philosophy of Sankhya to His mother, Lord Kapila left home like someone looking for self-realization, although being the Supreme Lord Himself and having nothing to realize.
As Prabhupada explains: "Therefore this is an example set by the Supreme Personality of Godhead while acting like an ordinary human being so that others might learn from Him. He could, of course, have stayed with His mother, but He indicated that there was no need to stay with the family. It is best to remain alone as a brahmacārī, sannyāsī or vānaprastha and cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness throughout one’s whole life. Those who are unable to remain alone are given license to live in household life with wife and children, not for sense gratification but for cultivation of Kṛṣṇa consciousness."
Devahuti stayed in the mansion created by Kardama Muni, taken care of by the thousand celestial girls created by him. Devahuti was also a great yogi, almost on the level of her husband, and with the departure of her son she started practicing devotional service through the process of astanga-yoga taught by him. Devahuti was living in Satya-yuga, therefore this was the appropriate process. In different ages, devotees may achieve pure devotional service through different processes, but the aim is the same. As Srila Prabhupada explains, "The real purpose of all processes of transcendental realization — jñāna-yoga, dhyana-yoga or bhakti-yoga — is to arrive at the point of devotional service. If one endeavors simply to achieve knowledge of the Absolute Truth or the Supersoul but has no devotional service, he labors without gaining the real result."
It is described that she began to bathe three times daily, and in due time her hair gradually became gray. Due to austerity, her body gradually became thin, and she wore old garments. At a young age one's body may look very attractive and one may become attached to it, both as an object of meditation and as a tool to achieve desirable things. However, as time passes, the body starts to witter due to the inevitable influence of time. One then has the choice of clinging to the body, trying to patch and fix it by artificial means, desperately trying to keep its attractiveness for a few years more, or just accepting that time for material enjoyment already passed, and now it's time to forget about the appearance of the body and focus on self-realization. In the Bhagavad-gita (9.25), Krsna explains that one who worships the demigods will take birth among the demigods, those who worship the ancestors go to the ancestors, etc. In this way, the object of our meditation defines our next destination. Just one who is absorbed in meditation in Krsna goes to Him at the time of death, one who is absorbed in meditating in his or her own body will go to another material body.
In the last part of her life, Devahuti practiced self-realization without waiting for the help of her husband or son. Prabhupada explains that during our lives we can be helped by others in many ways, but at the time of death we need to fly our own plane, counting only with whatever knowledge and spiritual realization we were able to collect during our lives. During her youth, Devahuti received the help of her husband and, later, of her son, but now, at the end of his life, she had to take care of her own self-realization using the knowledge she received from them.
As Srila Prabhupada comments, "One should be careful not to eat too much, sleep too much or remain in a comfortable position. Voluntarily accepting some penances and difficulties, one should take less food and less sleep. These are the procedures for practicing any kind of yoga, whether bhakti-yoga, jñāna-yoga or haṭha-yoga."
The palace created by Kardama Muni was extremely opulent, to the point of being envied by inhabitants of the celestial planets. Still, although living there, Devahuti gave up all comforts and became unattracted to it. Instead, she was immersed in devotional sentiments, and especially in meditating on her son. As Srila Prabhupada explains, we can give up material attachment only when we have attachment for the Supreme Person. By meditating on her son, who was the Supreme Lord Himself, Devahuti became completely indifferent to all kinds of material allurements.
"O Vidura, thus always meditating upon her son, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kapiladeva, she very soon became unattached to her nicely decorated home.
Thereafter, having heard with great eagerness and in all detail from her son, Kapiladeva, the eternally smiling Personality of Godhead, Devahūti began to meditate constantly upon the Viṣṇu form of the Supreme Lord.
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.
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.
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." (SB 3.33.22-27)
In verse 26, it is mentioned that "Her mind became completely engaged in the Supreme Lord, and she automatically realized the knowledge of the impersonal Brahman." This means that being situated in firm meditation on the Lord, she automatically surpassed the stage of impersonal realization that is sought by transcendentalists. The absolute truth is understood in three aspects. When one realizes the Bhagavan aspect, it means the stages of Brahman and Paramatma are automatically realized, just like having a billion includes automatically having a million and a thousand.
Being situated in the platform of love of Godhead automatically includes all other levels of self-realization. This is the original identity of the soul, that surpasses the ordinary identification with the body, the unconscious stage at the Pradhāna, the partial liberation of the Brahman realization, and even meditation on the Lord in his localized feature. This stage was easily reached by Devahuti by following the instructions of her son. Prabhupada confirms this point in his purport to text 26: "Devahūti was fully instructed by her son, Kapiladeva, on how to concentrate her mind on the Viṣṇu form in full detail. Following the instructions of her son in the matter of devotional service, she contemplated the form of the Lord within herself with great devotional love. That is the perfection of Brahman realization or the mystic yoga system or devotional service. At the ultimate issue, when one is fully absorbed in thought of the Supreme Lord and meditates on Him constantly, that is the highest perfection. Bhagavad-gītā confirms that one who is always absorbed in such a way is to be considered the topmost yogī."
Devahuti attained such an advanced platform of devotional service that she became completely absorbed in the spiritual platform, completely forgetting about her material body, just as someone forgets different bodies he assumed in a dream after awakening. Material existence, including the pains of the body and the anxieties of the mind, may look very real to us, but for a self-realized soul they seem just like the illusory bodies we receive while dreaming. A person who is awakened can very easily distinguish between dream and reality and chooses to live in reality. It's possible to attain such a platform when we become completely absorbed in the service of the Lord. The Sankhya system of Lord Kapila, which is saturated with devotional service ultimately aims at this ultimate goal.
If Devahuti forgot about her body, how was it maintained? In the case of Devahuti, the celestial ladies were taking care of it. In other cases, the Lord Himself as Paramatma may take charge of maintaining the body by making it move as necessary, while the pure devotee is absorbed in transcendental ecstasy, just like in the case of Prahlada Maharaja.
Maitreya Muni concludes the description in verse 30:
"My dear Vidura, by following the principles instructed by Kapila, Devahūti soon became liberated from material bondage and achieved the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as Supersoul, without difficulty." (SB 3.33.30)
In his purport, Prabhupada explains that Devahuti attained the planet Kapila Vaikuṇṭha, the Vaikunta planet eternally presided by Her son. Each Vaikunta planet is presided over by a particular expansion of the Lord and is named after Him, such as Nārāyaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha, and Vāsudeva. Each devotee can attain the Vaikunta planet, or the part of Goloka presided by the form of the Lord he is attracted to, such as Ayodhyā, Dvārakā, Navadvīpa, or Vṛndāvana.
By the power of her devotion, the body of Devahuti became so purified, that when she left the material elements melted into water, and became a sacred river called Siddhapada, which Srimad Bhagavatam describes as srotasām pravarā, the most sacred of all rivers. Just like a bar of iron becomes red hot if put into a fire, the material body of a pure devotee becomes spiritualized due to his connection with Krsna. The material body of an ordinary deceased person is considered untouchable, but the body of a pure devotee, spiritualized due to contact with the Lord, remains pure and spiritually potent even after the departure of the soul.
What happened to Lord Kapila after leaving home? What were His activities? These questions are answered in the last verses of the third canto:
"My dear Vidura, the great sage Kapila, the Personality of Godhead, left His father’s hermitage with the permission of His mother and went towards the northeast.
While He was passing in the northern direction, all the celestial denizens known as Cāraṇas 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.
Even now Kapila Muni is staying there in trance for the deliverance of the conditioned souls in the three worlds, and all the ācāryas, or great teachers, of the system of Sānkhya philosophy, are worshiping Him.
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.
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 Garuḍa, and he thereafter enters into the abode of the Supreme Lord to engage in the transcendental loving service of the Lord." (SB 3.33.33-37)
The description of the teachings of Lord Kapila end with a blessing: anyone who hears or reads this narration becomes a devotee of the Supreme Lord and in due course of time goes back home, back to Godhead to be engaged eternally in His service. In other words, by studying the instructions of Lord Kapila we gradually obtain the ultimate goal of His teachings, which is pure devotional service to the Lord. As Srila Prabhupada mentions (SB 3.31.12), the transcendental Sankhya philosophy of Lord Kapila is full of devotional service. The more we study and understand it, the more we shorten our stay in this material world.