Srimadbhagavatham skandha3- chapter25-kapilavathara

November 16, 2008

Kapilopadesa

Mind alone is the cause of bondage and liberation. When it is engrossed in the Lord it leads to liberation and when it is turned outward and gets identified with the gunas of the prakrthi, a man is involved in samsara.

The path of loving devotion is the only means of salvation which is straight and practical. Armed with jnana and vairagya, knowledge and detachment one perceives himself separate from prakrthi. Kapila then gave a description of a sadhu and said that to attach oneself with the holy men leads to freedom from bondage.

A sadhu is one who is tolerant, merciful, a good friend to all, who has no enemies. He has firm devotion towards the Lord and casts off all other works to serve the Lord. He is intent on hearing, and speaking about the stories of the Lord.. In short he has no attachments of the world. Through the association with the holy men one develops faith and devotion and gets detachment.

Bhakthi is a state of mind in which the senses are purified through devotional practices and directed to the Lord alone. To a devotee the Lord is everything. Then kapila started to elaborate on the evolutes of prakrthi, the primordial nature.

Kapilopadesa runs till the end of the skandha to 8 chapters and consists of several topics.We shall see them one by one.