A summary of Kapila's teachings (Srimad Bhagavatam #46)

Lord Kapila concludes His teachings by offering a summary of all the topics discussed, detailing the goal of life and the path for achieving ultimate happiness.

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

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A summary of Kapila's teachings (SB 3.32)

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.

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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)

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Here is a list of points:

a) There are different processes of self-realization and different classes of practitioners, 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.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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 individuals, biased persons, materialistic individuals seeking fame and gain, people too attached to family life, as well as people 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.

Devahuti attains perfection

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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.

Prayers of Devahuti to her divine son

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"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.

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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)

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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."

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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 very simple path

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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)

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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, he will just take it cheaply, thinking he is becoming 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

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"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.

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. 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 married life, Devahuti received the help of her husband and son during her youth, 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."

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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 meditating on her son. As Srila Prabhupada explains, one can give up material attachment only when one has 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)

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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.

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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.

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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 third canto ends 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.