Prayers of Kardama Muni - On Marriage, Creation, and Kapila

This article presents a thematic survey of Kardama Muni's prayers for a wife, his reception of Emperor Manu, his instructions to Devahūti, and his surrender to his divine son, Lord Kapila. It organizes the profound verses found in the Vaniquotes category Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Verses Spoken by Kardama Muni.

Kardama Muni represents the ideal householder. He entered family life only after receiving the sanction of the Supreme Lord, and he left it immediately upon fulfilling his obligations. His life demonstrates that one can live in the material world without being of it, provided one follows the instructions of the Lord. His prayers are significant because they show that even a request for sense gratification (marriage), when directed to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, becomes a cause for liberation.

The Prayer for Marriage (Approach to the Lord)

After ten thousand years of penance on the bank of the Sarasvatī, Kardama Muni attains the audience of Lord Viṣṇu. He honestly expresses his desire for a wife to assist him in his duty as a progenitor. He argues that the Lord is the only true shelter, even for those with material desires.

The Proper Shelter

Kardama Muni asserts that intelligent persons worship the Supreme Lord even for material necessities. Worshipping demigods for trivial pleasures is for those who have lost their intelligence. The Lord is like a wish-fulfilling tree; He can grant both material opulence and liberation.

  • "Desiring to marry a girl of like disposition who may prove to be a veritable cow of plenty in my married life, to satisfy my lustful desire I (Kardama Muni) too have sought the shelter of Your (the Lord's) lotus feet."
  • "Only persons deprived of their intelligence by the spell of the deluding energy will worship those feet with a view to attain the trivial and momentary pleasures of the senses, which even persons rotting in hell can attain."
  • "Persons who have taken shelter of the umbrella of Your lotus feet by drinking the intoxicating nectar of Your qualities and activities in discussions with one another, can be freed from the primary necessities of the material body."
  • "However, persons who have given up stereotyped worldly affairs and the beastly followers of these affairs, can be freed from the primary necessities of the material body."
  • "Your lotus feet are the true vessel to take one across the ocean of mundane nescience."

The Fear of Time (The Wheel)

He describes the material world as a fearful place governed by the wheel of Time, which has "thirteen spokes" (the months) and "360 joints" (the days). Only the devotees are safe from this grinding wheel.

  • "Kardama Muni said: 'Your (the Supreme Personality of Godhead's) wheel, which has three naves, rotates around the axis of the imperishable Brahman. It has thirteen spokes, 360 joints, six rims and numberless leaves carved upon it'."
  • "Though its revolution cuts short the life-span of the entire creation, this wheel of tremendous velocity cannot touch the life-span of the devotees of the Lord."
  • "O my Lord, You are the master and leader of all living entities. Under Your direction, all conditioned souls, as if bound by rope, are constantly engaged in satisfying their desires."

The Vision of the Lord

Kardama describes the transcendental form of the Lord, acknowledging that seeing Him is the goal of all yogīs.

  • "I continuously offer my respectful obeisances unto Your lotus feet, of which it is worthy to take shelter, because You shower all benedictions on the insignificant."
  • "After many births, mature yogis, by complete trance in yoga, endeavor in secluded places to see the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead."
  • "O Lord, my power of sight is now fulfilled, having attained the greatest perfection of the sight of You, who are the reservoir of all existences. Through many successive births of deep meditation, advanced yogis aspire to see Your transcendental form."
  • "Let Your causeless mercy be upon us, for You have appeared before us in Your eternal form, adorned with a splendid wreath of tulasī leaves."
  • "My dear Lord, although You have no material form, You have Your own innumerable forms. They truly are Your transcendental forms, which are pleasing to Your devotees."

Reception of Manu (Duty of the King)

As predicted by the Lord, Emperor Svāyambhuva Manu arrives with his daughter Devahūti. Kardama receives the King with great respect, explaining the divinity of the monarch.

The King as Representative of God

Kardama explains that the King embodies the power of all the demigods (Indra, Vāyu, Yama, etc.) and is essential for maintaining order (dharma) in society. Without a strong executive head, the laws of varṇāśrama would collapse, and thieves would dominate.

  • "You assume, when necessary, the part of the sun-god; the moon-god; Agni, the god of fire; Indra, the lord of paradise; Vāyu, the wind-god; Yama, the god of punishment; Dharma, the god of piety; and Varuṇa, the god presiding over the waters."
  • "If you did not roam about the world like the brilliant sun, leading a huge army whose trampling feet cause the globe of the earth to tremble, then all the moral laws governing the varṇas and āśramas created by the Lord Himself would be broken."
  • "If you gave up all thought of the world's situation, unrighteousness would flourish, for men who hanker only after money would be unopposed. Such miscreants would attack, and the world would perish."
  • "The tour you have undertaken, O lord, is surely intended to protect the virtuous and kill the demons, since you embody the protecting energy of Śrī Hari."

Accepting Devahūti

Kardama accepts the hand of the princess Devahūti, praising her beauty and character. He notes that her beauty was so enchanting that it even bewildered the Gandharva Viśvāvasu.

  • "Kardama Muni said: Oh, after a long time the demigods of this universe have become pleased with the suffering souls who are in material entanglement because of their own misdeeds."
  • "Kardama Muni said: Those who have not worshiped the gracious feet of the goddess of fortune cannot even perceive her (Devahūti), yet she has come of her own accord to seek my hand."
  • "I have heard that Viśvāvasu, his mind stupefied with infatuation, fell from his airplane after seeing your daughter playing with a ball on the roof of the palace, for she was indeed beautiful with her tinkling ankle bells and her eyes moving to and fro."
  • "Let your daughter's desire for marriage, which is recognized in the Vedic scriptures, be fulfilled. Who would not accept her hand? She is so beautiful that by her bodily luster alone she excels the beauty of her ornaments."
  • "What wise man would not welcome her (Devahūti), the very ornament of womanhood, the beloved daughter of Svāyambhuva Manu and sister of Uttānapāda?"
  • "In spite of all this, I ask you, O valiant King, the purpose for which you have come here. Whatever it may be, we shall carry it out without reservation."

Instructions to Devahūti (Family Life)

After many years of service, Devahūti becomes emaciated. Kardama, pleased by her selfless devotion, grants her the benediction of transcendental vision and creates a magnificent aerial mansion for their pleasure.

The Reward of Service

Kardama Muni expresses his gratitude to Devahūti, acknowledging that she neglected her own body to serve him. This illustrates the Vedic standard of the chaste wife and the grateful husband.

  • "Today I (Kardama Muni) am very much pleased with you (Devahūti) for your great devotion and most excellent loving service. Since the body is so dear to embodied beings, I am astonished that you have neglected your own body to use it on my behalf."
  • "Kardama Muni continued: I have achieved the blessings of the Lord in discharging my own religious life of austerity, meditation and Kṛṣṇa consciousness."
  • "Although you have not yet experienced these achievements which are free from fear and lamentation, I offer them all to you because you are engaged in my service. Now just look at them. I am giving you the transcendental vision to see how nice they are."
  • "Kardama Muni continued: What is the use of enjoyments other than the Lord's grace? All material achievements are subject to be annihilated simply by a movement of the eyebrows of Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead."

Creation and Prophecy

He creates a wonderful aerial mansion by his yogic power to fulfill her desires and prophesies the birth of the Lord.

  • "My dear Lord, although it is not Your desire, You manifest this creation of gross and subtle elements just for our sensual satisfaction."
  • "To give all living entities detachment from fruitive activity by realizing You, You have expanded these material worlds by Your own energy."
  • "The sage said: Do not be disappointed with yourself, O princess. You are actually praiseworthy. The infallible Supreme Personality of Godhead will shortly enter your womb as your son."
  • "You (Devahūti) have undertaken sacred vows. God will bless you. Hence you should worship the Lord with great faith, through sensory control, religious observances, austerities and gifts of your money in charity."
  • "The Personality of Godhead, being worshiped by you, will spread my name and fame. He will vanquish the knot of your heart by becoming your son and teaching knowledge of Brahman."

Prayers to Lord Kapila (The Son as God)

When the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears as Kapila, Kardama Muni offers obeisances. He is not bewildered by the fact that God is his son; rather, he sees it as the Lord's extreme mercy to appear in the home of a householder.

Surrender to Kapila

Kardama surrenders to Kapila, recognizing Him as the origin of all creation and the master of the three modes of nature.

  • "I surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, descended in the form of Kapila, who is independently powerful and transcendental, who is the Supreme Person and the Lord of the sum total of matter and the element of time."
  • "I surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead, descended in the form of Kapila, who is the fully cognizant maintainer of all the universes under the three modes of material nature, and who absorbs the material manifestations after their dissolution."
  • "You are full in opulence, renunciation, transcendental fame, knowledge, strength and beauty, and therefore I surrender myself unto Your lotus feet."
  • "Kardama Muni said: You, my dear Lord, who are always increasing the honor of Your devotees, have descended in my home just to fulfill Your word and disseminate the process of real knowledge."
  • "Not considering the negligence of ordinary householders like us, that very same Supreme Personality of Godhead appears in our homes just to support His devotees."
  • "My dear Lord, Your lotus feet are the reservoir that always deserves to receive worshipful homage from all great sages eager to understand the Absolute Truth."

The Origin of All

Kardama acknowledges that Kapila is the same Supreme Person who creates the universes.

  • "The highest authority for me is the unlimited Supreme Personality of Godhead, from whom this wonderful creation emanates and in whom its sustenance and dissolution rest. He is the origin of all Prajāpatis, the personalities meant to produce living entities in this world."
  • "You alone create the universes. O Personality of Godhead, desiring to create these universes, You create them, maintain them and again wind them up by Your own energies, which are under the control of Your second energy, called yogamāyā."

Renunciation (Leaving Home)

Having fulfilled his duties to his wife and ancestors, and having seen the Lord as his son, Kardama asks permission to leave home. He demonstrates that the goal of the gṛhastha-āśrama is not permanent settlement, but eventual detachment and full surrender to the Lord.

  • "Today I have something to ask from You, who are the Lord of all living entities. Since I have now been liberated by You from my debts to my father, and since all my desires are fulfilled, I wish to accept the order of an itinerant mendicant."
  • "Renouncing this family life, I wish to wander about, free from lamentation, thinking always of You in my heart."

Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani

This article is a thematic compilation of the teachings presented in the Vaniquotes category Bhagavatam Verses Spoken by Kardama Muni. We invite you to visit the link to read the complete collection of verses presented in alphabetical order.

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