According to their species, the living beings have different degrees of
sensitivity, and among the human beings the best are those intelligent
persons who have studied the Vedas and understood their meaning,
especially if they are able to dissipate the doubts of those who ask them
questions, and if they sincerely follow the brahminical principles. These
great souls attain perfection by liberating themselves from material
contamination and by performing devotional service without desiring any
reward. The Lord is known as Brahman and Paramatma and also as Time,
that transforms the various material manifestations. He does not consider
anyone as enemy or friend, but he encourages those who remember him
and destroys those who forget him.
To better understand the extent of the sufferings connected to birth and
death, Devahuti asked Kapila to describe them in detail and to tell also
about eternal time, that impels people to perform virtuous activities. The
avatara Kapila continued to explain: just like the clouds are not aware of the
strength of the wind, a person immersed in material consciousness does not
realize the power of Time, that destroys everything that a materialist builds
with so much effort and pain, and even his body. In his illusion, the
materialist forgets Time and deludes himself into believing that everything
will last forever. Pushed by anxiety, he commits criminal acts for the
purpose of obtaining and preserving the feeling of satisfaction he feels in
family and society, although such relationships are based on hypocrisy and
power games.
He is enthralled by his wife and by the sweet voices of his children, but
when he is unable to fulfill their requests he is neglected, like an old and
tired ox receives a poor treatment from a stingy farmer. In spite of all that,
he is afflicted by attachment and identification, and therefore he remains in
the family even when his life has become miserable because of old age,
invalidity and many diseases. Finally he dies in a pathetic way, surrounded
by crying relatives and friends, and is unable to speak with them in spite of
his ardent desire - something that gives him immense sufferings.
As during his life he has committed questionable actions, he sees the
Yamadutas, the servants of Yamaraja, who are coming to arrest him. He isbound and dragged away for the proper punishment, and while he is
walking along the road under a scorching sun and between forest fires, he is
attacked by dogs and whipped. There is no respite for him, no shelter, no
food or drink that can alleviate hunger and thirst. And this is just the
beginning of his sufferings, because in the dimensions of hellish existence
he suffers much torment in his subtle body. After his punishment is over,
the materialist takes birth again and again in various bodies in the lower
forms of life, until he obtains the precious opportunity of human birth.
To take birth in a human body, the living being must first enter a father's
sperm and be inserted in a mother's womb. During the first night after
conception the sperm fertilizes the egg, and in the fifth night the embryo
starts forming. In the tenth night it has the shape of a plum, and within one
month the head becomes distinct from the rest of the body. At two months
the hands and feet are formed, at three months the fingers and toes, the
bones and the skin, the genitals and the other openings of the body become
distinct. At four months from conception all the elements of the body are
formed, at five months the fetus begins to feel hunger and thirst, and at six
months it starts moving, leaning to the right side of the abdomen.
The unborn child subsists on the food and drink consumed by the mother
and lives in the abdominal cavity together with blood, urine and
excrements, where germs and sometimes even parasites multiply. The fetus'
body is very delicate and suffers when the mother eats food that is too
bitter or spicy, salty or acid. It is also forced into an uncomfortable position,
its back arched, and cannot move freely.
In the seventh month of pregnancy the child becomes conscious; if he is
lucky he is able to remember his previous lifetimes and repents about the
mistakes he has committed. His position in his mother's womb becomes
more and more precarious, because of the descending life air that forces
him to move often, and in his pain, the child who has become conscious
starts to pray the Lord to deliver him from that suffering.
However, the closer he comes to the moment of birth, the more the child
becomes anxious at the idea that after birth he will again fall in the trap of
material existence, constituted by the illusion of being the body. But
naturally the moment has come for him to take birth, therefore the
descending life air in his mother's body inexorably pushes him downthrough the small opening in mother's body, and he comes into the world
with much pain, breathless and devoid of memory. Covered in blood and
excrements, he falls to the ground and wriggles faintly and vainly like a
worm, crying and screaming.
After birth, the child is given to the care of people who are unable to
understand what he wants or needs, and he is fed and handled by them.
Unable to refuse what is given or done to him, he must lie in a
contaminated bed, damp with sweat, urine and stool, full of germs, and is at
the mercy of mosquitoes, flies, fleas and other insects from which he
cannot defend himself. Without memory or intellect, the child can only cry
in bitterness.
Childhood is spent in disease, sufferings and frustration. The child cannot
obtain what he wants, and in his ignorance he is overwhelmed by anger,
despair and sadness. Growing up, he develops greed and lust, and quarrels
with other people who have the same defects, falling under the control of
those who are interested only in the pleasures of tongue and sex. In such a
disastrous situation he loses truthfulness, the sense of cleanliness,
compassion, gravity, spiritual intelligence, modesty, self-control, good
name, fortune and good opportunities in life.
Those who were strongly attracted to women in previous lifetimes take a
new birth as females to become attracted by males, foolishly believing that
the purpose of their life consists in finding a husband who will give them a
home, children, nice clothes and ornaments, and other wealth. Actually all
these things are a deathly trap for her, like the song of the hunter who
attracts the doe only to kill her.
The conditioned soul who lives in the center of a family performs the
prescribed rituals for the purpose of obtaining material benefits and enjoys
the acquisition of wealth and sense gratification, but as long as such
religious activities are performed with a materialistic mentality, they can at
most propitiate the Devas and the ancestors and elevate one to heaven, to
the moon or to Pitriloka, but these are temporary positions. After
exhausting their merits, these people must again take birth on earth, and at
the end of the cycle of creation and manifestation of the universe, they lose
everything.On the other hand, one who becomes detached from the attraction to
material benefits attains enlightenment and can easily enter the personal
realm of God, who is the owner of all worlds, material and spiritual. For
this purpose, a person who has understood the various methods of self
realization serves the Supreme God, fulfills his or her own professional and
family duties, observes the rituals of sacrifice, distributes charity, engages in
austerities, controls mind and senses, accepts the order of renunciation,
practices yoga, offers devotional service and makes efforts to understand
the science of self realization.
These instructions should not be offered to those who are envious,
unfaithful or addicted to degraded practices, to hypocrites or those who are
very proud of their material possessions, greedy or attached to family life.
They are meant for those who are respectful towards spiritual science,
friendly to all beings and sincerely eager to serve.
After listening to Kapila's teachings, his mother Devahuti attained the
perfect understanding of devotional service and transcendental knowledge,
and offered loving prayer to her divine son, the avatara of Vishnu. Kapila's
mission was now complete: he took leave from his mother and left home.
Devahuti, too, engaged in austerities and meditation on God in the house
of Kardama at Siddhapada, only accepting what was strictly required for her
maintenance even among the great wealth and comforts at her disposal.
Finally she established herself in samadhi and the elements of her body
dissolved into water, becoming part of the most sacred of all rivers. Anyone
who takes bath in those blessed waters attains perfection.
After leaving his mother's house, Kapila traveled on towards north-east to
the shore of the ocean, where he established his own ashrama.
