Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 3 Chapter 33:1-13

Book 3: Chapter 33

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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 3: Chapter 33: Verses 1-13
Devahuti receives the light of wisdom and attains final beatitude

Maitreya resumed : When Devahuti, the beloved spouse of the sage Kardama and mother of Lord Kapila, heard the foregoing discourse of the Lord, the veil of her ignorance was torn asunder. She bowed to Him, the disseminator of the knowledge of Sankhya-which throws light on the fundamental principles-and extolled him thus: Devahuti said : Brahma (the birthless creator) saw only with his mental eyes Your (Cosmic) Body-pervaded by the (five) gross elements, the (ten) Indriyas, the (five) objects of senses and the mind-from which proceeds the stream of the three Gunas (modes of Prakrti), nay, which is the seed of all and lay manifest on the waters that had submerged the universe at the time of Final Dissolution, and from the lotus of whose navel Brahma himself had sprung. Though actionless, You are of unfailing resolve and possessed of countless inconceivable powers, and the Ruler of all the Jivas. That is why, having partitioned Your energy according to the predominance of the three Gunas, it is You who carry on the creation, preservation and dissolution of the universe. How, then, could it be that You were borne in my womb-You into whose belly the whole of this universe disappears at the time of universal dissolution and who at the end of a Kalpa rest all alone on a leaf of a banyan tree in the form of an infant possessing inconceivable powers and sucking its great toe? You assume a personality for the extermination of the sinful and the exaltation, O Lord, of those who abide by Your commands. Just as You appear in the semblance of a boar and so on (for various other purposes), even so this descent of Yours is intended for showing (to the world) the path leading to Self-Realization. By occasionally hearing and chanting Your names, bowing to You or even remembering You, a pariah (one who feeds on the flesh of dogs) becomes worthy of adoration in this very life as a Brahmana who has performed a Soma-sacrifice (a sacrifice which brings great sanctity and extraordinary religious merit to the sacrificer)! There could be no doubt, then, about.one's attaining the object of life by Your sight. Oh, how wonderful that even a pariah (who cooks the flesh of dogs) becomes highly venerable only because he has Your name on the tip of his tongue! Nay, they who utter Your name have (thereby or in their previous life) practised austere penance, poured oblations into the sacred fire, bathed (in sacred waters), conducted themselves well, and even recited the Vedas. In the form of Kapila (my son) You are no other than that Supreme Reality, the Highest Person, who could be rightly conceived only in a mind that has been turned inward, and who brings to an end the stream of the three Gunas (in the shape of transmigration) by His own effulgence. You are Lord Visnu Himself, the source of the Vedas. I bow to You. Maitreya went on : Thus praised (by Devahuti), the Supreme Person bearing the name of Lord Kapila, who was full of filial affection, spoke to His mother in unfaltering accents. Lord Kapila said : By following the easy path pointed out by Me, O mother,you will attain before long to the supreme goal (in the shape of final beatitude). Have faith in this doctrine of Mine, which has been followed even by the exponents of Veda, so that you may attain to My birthless state. Those who are ignorant of this go through the process of (birth and) death (again and again). Maitreya continued : Having thus shown to His mother the noble way to Self-Realization, and permitted by her,who now declared that all was Brahma, Lord Kapila went His way. She too applied herself to the practice of Yoga, according to the process of meditation taught by her son, in that hermitage, which stood like a diadem of flowers on (the head of) the Saraswati, and attained peace of mind.

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