Srimadbhagavatham skandha3- chapter30 to33-end of skandha3

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Chapter30- Kapilopadesa continued- The ills of samasara

 

In this chapter we find a graphic description of the life of man until death.

 

The embodied entity in which ever species it takes birth finds satisfaction in that body and without knowing that the happiness of the embodied state is not permanent the embodied soul, jiva, does not leave the body even in hell.

 

Engrossed in the attachment of wife, on, house, wealth etc., thinks that he is perfect and pursues the enjoyment of the senses till the end of his life, delighting in he association of women, and finding great joy in the talk of his children, and striving to preserve the house and property , accumulation wealth for the sake of his family. For this purpose he does not hesitate to acquire possessions even by wrong means and incurs sin and goes to hell, all for the people who, when he is no longer able to provide for them. treat him like a dog. In old age he becomes ill and awaits his death surrounded by his relatives , unable to speak even. Even then he is not able to get rid of the clinging to the worldly desires .Thus he enters hell after death and when his sins are expiated by suffering in the hell he takes birth only to go through the whole cycle again.

 

Then Kapila elaborates the different punishments the jiva undergoes in hell and describes the process of birth when the jiva returns to earth after the sins have been exhausted through the experience in hell.

 

Chapter31- Kaplopadesa continued- The process of birth

 

Jiva impelled by the poorvakarma enters the womb of the mother through the semen of the father and attains the state of foetus in one night and in five nights it becomes a bubble and in ten days time it grows into a size of a plum and becomes egg -sized later. The head is formed in one month, limbs in two months, the signs of nails, hair, bones and skin are seen in three months and the sex is determined. In four months the skin, bone, flesh, brain etc. are fully formed. In the fifth month the baby starts feeling hunger and thirst and starts moving in the sixth month. In seventh month he develops intelligence. At this time the memory of the past life comes and he feels the fear of being born and suffering in the world and starts praying to God, who has put him there. In the ninth month all indhriyas are completed and he thinks about his poorvajanma and punya- papa and does not wish to be born and even if he does, he wants to think of the Lord only so that there will not be any more cycle of birth and death and prays with folded hands.. But the saTavaayu, the wind of birth, propels him head downward in to this world when all the memory of poorva janma is wiped off.

 

Then Kapila describes the woes of infancy. The new born infant is exclusively at the mercy of others before he is able to move and unable to communicate his suffering due to insect bites, heat, cold sweat etc. except by crying and unless the people who care for him are skilled enough to understand him, he undergoes great suffering.

 

When he grows older, still he is unable to get what he wants without the help of others and due to ignorance and frustration he gets angry. This desire and anger grows along with the body. And the same process as in the previous life continues.

 

So what is to be done to get rid of this suffering?

 

One must give up attachment in this life itself and contemplate on the lotus-feet of the Lord.

 

Chapter32- Kapila upadesa continued-The journey of the jiva to various worlds.

 

 

1. Karmamarga

 

Those who perform ritualistic deeds like yajna dhana, etc. for the fruit of attaining heaven or a better life in the next birth etc. are the ones who follow karmamarga, whom the Lord mentions in he Gita as `kaamaathmaanah svrgaparaaH.' They propitiate the devas and pitrs and go to the world of the moon when they leave this body and even when they go to heaven, they come back to earth when their merits are exhausted as told in the Gita `ksheeNe puNye marthya lokam viSanthi.' All the worlds up to that of the moon are annihilated when the Lord Hari goes to yoganidra on the bed of Sesha and when He starts the creation these jives come back as they were before.

 

2, Kramamukthi

 

Those who do their duty without attachment and cleanse their minds with self control and give up attachment and ego, go to sathyaloka after they leave the body and stay there for two pararzDhas till the life of Brahma comes to an end and merge with the supreme along with Brahma..

 

3. The materialistic

 

Those who wee described in the previous chapter revert back to the cycle of birth and death.

 

Hence kapila advised Devahuthi to follow the path of complete detachment through devotion with the knowledge that it is only the Lord who has manifested as everything.' vasudevaH sarvam ithi,' as declared in Gita.

 

The devotion is of four kinds, said Kapila, sakaama, nishkaama, saguna and nirguna.

 

Sakaama n bhakthi is praying to the Lord for attainment of result. Nishkaama bhakthi is surrendering the result to the Lord. Saguna bhakthi is what has been described as navavidha bhakthi by Prahlada, `sravanam keerthanam' etc. And nirguna bhakthi is premabhakthi or spontaneous loving devotion.

 

Chapter33- Salvation of Devahuthi

 

Devahuthi on hearing the upadesa of Kapila became free from ajnana and praised Kaplia as the Lord Vishnu who was reclining on a banyan leaf as a child bearing all the worlds within Him. Then Kapila left her and Devahuthi adopted a life of penance and overcame her grief of separation from her husband and son.

 

She lost consciousness and her body was looked after by others. She attained mukthi and the place where she attained sidDhi came to be called SidDhipadha. Kapila is supposed to be in nishtaa even now for the welfare of the three worlds. In Ramayana we come across the story of the sons of king Sagara seeing Him in meditation in patalaloka where they were burned to ashes by Him.