Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 3 Chapter 27:17-30

Book 3: Chapter 27

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 3: Chapter 27: Verses 17-30 How to attain Liberation through the differentiation of Matter and Spirit ? Devahuti said : Matter, O divine sage, can never leave the Spirit, the two being interdependent and co-eternal, O Lord. Just as odour and earth and (similarly)taste and water can never exist apart, so can Buddhi ( understanding, which is an evolute of Matter) and the Spirit never remain dissociated from each other. Hence how can there be any freedom for the soul so long as the Gunas (modes) of Prakrti continue to exist-Gunas that bind the soul, who is a non-doer, to actions? Even if the great fear of such bondage is averted through an enquiry into (the nature of) the fundamental principles in any particular case; the same may appear again, since the cause of it (in the shape of the aforesaid Gunas) has not ceased. The Lord replied : Assailed day and night by intense devotion to Me-developed by hearing My stories for a long time with a heart purified by doing one's duties in a disinterested spirit-by spiritual enlightenment which enables one to perceive the truth, by strong dispassion, by practice of meditation accompanied by sacred vows and religious observances, and by thorough concentration of mind, Prakrti, which binds the soul, gradually withdraws, even as the wooden stick used for kindling the sacred fire by attrition is consumed by the very fire it produces. Ever recognized to be a source of evil and abandoned after enjoyment, she no longer does any harm to the soul, who stands supreme in his glory (blissful nature) and is now absolutely independent. Just as the dream of a sleeping man is fraught with many evils, but the same does not conduce to his infatuation once he is awake, so Prakrti can never do any harm to him who, having realized the truth, ever keeps his mind fixed on Me and who (consequently) delights in his own Self. When a man who is given to contemplation remains absorbed (as aforesaid) in (meditation on) the Self for a period extending over many births, he develops a distaste for everything as far as (the enjoyments of) Brahmaloka (the highest heaven, the abode of Brahma). Having realized the Self by My abundant grace, that strong-minded devotee of Mine has all his doubts resolved by Self-vision and, when freed from his astral body, easily attains in that very life the supremely blissful state known by the name of final beatitude, which is his essential character and rests on Me, and having attained which a Yogi never returns to (the cycle of) birth and death. If the mind of the accomplished Yogi, O beloved mother, does not get attached to the (eight kinds of) superhuman powers (such as the faculty of reducing one's body to the size of an atom and soon, which are products of Maya), developed through Yoga, which is the only means of acquiring them, he is sure to attain My immortal state, where death has no power. Thus ends the twenty-seventh discourse, forming part of the 'Story of Lord Kapila" in Book Three of the great and glorious Bhagavata-Purana, otherwise known as the Paramahamsa-Samhita.