Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 3 Chapter 33:14-37

Book 3: Chapter 33

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 3: Chapter 33: Verses 14-37 Devahuti receives the light of wisdom and attains final beatitude The curly locks she wore on her head turned brown on account of ablutions performed thrice a day, and became matted; while her body, which was clad in rags, grew emaciated as a result of severe penance. She-renounced her incomparable house, which had been enriched by the austere penance and Yogic power of the sage Kardama, a lord of created beings, and was coveted even by the gods, furnished as it was with beds of ivory, soft and white as the foam of milk and adorned with gold, and seats of gold provided with cushions exceedingly soft to the touch. In the walls of that house, which were made of transparent crystal and precious emerald, shone lights of jewels borne by beautiful statues of women. She also deserted the garden attached to her house, charming with its many blossoming celestial trees, cooing pairs of birds and humming bees drunk with honey. When she used to enter the pond in that garden, (the water of) which was scented with the fragrance of lotuses, along with Kardama, who bestowed his loving attention on her, Gandharvas and Kinnaras (the attendants of gods) sang her praises. (Although she felt no compunction) while leaving that garden, which was most eagerly sought after even by the spouses of Indra (the lord of paradise), Devahuti did wear a desolate look on her face, afflicted as she was at the separation from her son. (She had somehow consoled herself by the presence of her son) when her husband (the sage Kardama) retired to the forest; but she felt very disconsolate, in spite of her having realized the truth, at the separation from her son (Lord Kapila), even as a cow, who is extremely fond of her calf, is grieved at the loss of the latter. Fixing her thought exclusively on her son, the divine Kapila, who was no other than Sri Hari, she soon grew indifferent, my son, even to such a house (as has been described above). She (now) meditated on the form of the Lord, adorned with a cheerful countenance and spoken of by her son as worth meditating upon, fixing her thought on the same as a whole as well as in parts. With a mind thoroughly depurated by the uninterrupted practice of Devotion, most intense dispassion and spiritual enlightenment leading to Brahmahood (oneness with Brahma) and resulting from a due performance of one's duties, she then contemplated on her own self as projected everywhere, having set aside by the realization of its true nature the limitations imposed on it by the modes of Prakrti. Her mind being now settled in Brahma, the substratum of all the Jivas, who is no other than the Lord, she no more thought of herself as a diva, and was accordingly rid of all afflictions and attained final beatitude. Firmly established in perpetual Samadhi (deep meditation), her misapprehension about the reality of the sense-objects now disappeared and she was no more conscious of her body than the man arisen from sleep remembers the body seen in a dream. Her body, though nourished by others (the Vidyadhara damsels summoned and lodged in the hermitage by her husband to look after her), did not grow lean because there was no mental agony: Though covered with layers of dirt, it shone through it like a fire enveloped in (a mass of) smoke. Her mind being fully merged in Lord Vasudeva, she did not perceive her own body-which was completely given up to austerity and Yoga, and was being maintained by Providence--even when her hair got loose and her clothes fell off from her bodv. In this way, by following the path pointed out by Lord Kapila, she attained before long to (the abode of) the Lord, who is eternally free and is no other than the Supreme Spirit or Brahma. The most sacred spot where she attained final beatitude, O valiant Vidura, was known all over the three worlds by the name of 'Siddhapada'. Her mortal frame, which had been purged through Yoga of all its dross, was transformed into a river, which ranks foremost among all streams, 0 gentle Vidura, confers the highest blessings (on those who bathe in it) and is (frequently) resorted to by Siddhas. Having taken leave of His mother (Devahuti), Lord Kapila, the great Yogi, proceeded towards the north-east from the hermitage of His father. Duly worshipped and offered an abode by Ocean himself, He continues (there even to this day) in perfect peace of mind, absorbed in deep meditation for the good of all the three worlds, and is (ever) being extolled by Siddhas, Caranas (celestial bards), Gandharvas (celestial musicians) and sages as well as by hosts of Apsaras (celestial nymphs), and praised by the teachers of Sankhya (Asuri and others). I have thus narrated to you, dear and sinless Vidura, what you asked me, viz., the holy dialogue between Lord Kapila and Devahuti (His mother). He who listens to and (similarly) he (too) who expounds this teaching of the (divine) sage Kapila, which is the most secret of all the doctrines teaching the ways and means of God-Realization, is able to fix his mind on Lord Visnu (who bears on His banner an emblem of Garuda, the king of the birds) and attains (proximity) to the Lord's feet. Thus ends the thirty-third 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, composed by the sage Vedavyasa and consisting of eighteen thousand Slokas END OF BOOK THREE