Queen Devahūti’s Inquiries - The Dawn of Sāṅkhya-yoga

This article presents a thematic survey of Queen Devahūti's transformation from a royal princess and devoted wife into a perfected devotee. It organizes the profound verses found in the Vaniquotes category Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Verses Spoken by Queen Devahuti.

Queen Devahūti serves as the perfect example of a disciple. After serving her husband Kardama Muni with great intimacy and producing nine daughters, she realizes the futility of material life. Turning to her son, Lord Kapila (an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead), she poses questions that dismantle the illusion of the material world. Her inquiries lead to the exposition of Sāṅkhya philosophy, and her final realizations establish the absolute power of chanting the Holy Name.

Dialogue with Kardama Muni (The Householder's Lament)

Before Kardama Muni takes the vow of sannyāsa, Queen Devahūti approaches him. She reminds him of his promises but also expresses a deep spiritual crisis. She feels that despite having a great yogī as a husband, she has remained trapped in bodily consciousness.

The Fulfillment of Promises

Queen Devahūti reminds Kardama Muni of the need for children and the restoration of her health.

  • "You (Kardama Muni) once made a promise that our bodily union should now fulfill, since children are a great quality for a chaste woman who has a glorious husband."
  • "Devahuti continued: My dear lord, I am struck by excited emotion for you. Therefore kindly make what arrangements must be made according to the scriptures so that my skinny body, emaciated through unsatisfied passion, may be rendered fit for you."
  • "Sri Devahuti said: My dear husband, O best of brahmanas, I know that you have achieved perfection and are the master of all the infallible mystic powers because you are under the protection of yogamaya, the transcendental nature."

Regret over Wasted Time

Queen Devahūti realizes that she has been cheated by the illusory energy because she used her husband's association for sense gratification rather than liberation.

  • "My lord, surely I have been solidly cheated by the insurmountable illusory energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for in spite of having obtained your association, which gives liberation from material bondage, I did not seek such liberation."
  • "Until now we have simply wasted so much of our time in sense gratification, neglecting to cultivate knowledge of the Supreme Lord."
  • "Not knowing your transcendental situation, I have loved you while remaining attached to the objects of the senses. Nonetheless, let the affinity I have developed for you rid me of all fear."
  • "Association for sense gratification is certainly the path of bondage. But the same type of association, performed with a saintly person, leads to the path of liberation, even if performed without knowledge."
  • "Anyone whose work is not meant to elevate him to religious life, anyone whose religious ritualistic performances do not raise him to renunciation, must be considered dead, although he is breathing."
  • "Anyone situated in renunciation that does not lead him to devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, must be considered dead, although he is breathing."

Anxiety about Separation

As Kardama prepares to leave, Queen Devahūti worries about her future spiritual protection.

  • "My dear brahmana, as far as your daughters are concerned, they will find their own suitable husbands and go away to their respective homes. But who will give me solace after your departure as a sannyasi?"
  • "Sri Devahuti said: My lord, you have fulfilled all the promises you gave me, yet because I am your surrendered soul, you should give me fearlessness too."

Prayers to Baby Kapila (Recognition of Divinity)

When Lord Kapila appears, Queen Devahūti offers prayers recognizing Him as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. She marvels at the contradiction of the Universal Form appearing as a small baby.

The Inconceivable Birth

Queen Devahūti glorifies the Lord's appearance.

  • "As the Supreme Personality of Godhead, You have taken birth from my abdomen. O my Lord, how is that possible for the supreme one, who has in His belly all the cosmic manifestation?"
  • "Brahma is said to be unborn because he takes birth from the lotus flower which grows from Your abdomen while You lie in the ocean at the bottom of the universe. But even Brahma simply meditated upon You, whose body is the source of unlimited universes."
  • "The answer is that it is possible, for at the end of the millennium You lie down on a leaf of a banyan tree, and just like a small baby, You lick the toe of Your lotus foot."
  • "My dear Lord, You are just like the sun, for You illuminate the darkness of the conditional life of the living entities."

The Purpose of Incarnation

Queen Devahūti understands that He has appeared to disseminate knowledge.

  • "My dear Lord, You have assumed this body in order to diminish the sinful activities of the fallen and to enrich their knowledge in devotion and liberation."
  • "You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the origin and Supreme Lord of all living entities. You have arisen to disseminate the rays of the sun in order to dissipate the darkness of the ignorance of the universe."
  • "My dear Lord, You are self-determined and are the Supreme Personality of Godhead for all living entities. For them You created this material manifestation, & although You are one, Your diverse energies can act multifariously. This is inconceivable to us."
  • "My dear Lord, although personally You have nothing to do, You have distributed Your energies in the interactions of the material modes of nature, and for that reason the creation, maintenance and dissolution of the cosmic manifestation take place."
  • "Since these sinful people are dependent on Your direction, by Your own will You assume incarnations as a boar and as other forms. Similarly, You have appeared in order to distribute transcendental knowledge to Your dependents."

Inquiries to Lord Kapila (The Sāṅkhya Dialogues)

After Kardama Muni departs, Queen Devahūti approaches her son Kapila to learn the science of self-realization. She confesses her exhaustion with the material senses and begs for enlightenment.

Tired of the Senses

Queen Devahūti expresses disgust with the material condition.

  • "Devahuti said: I am very sick of the disturbance caused by my material senses, for because of this sense disturbance, my Lord, I have fallen into the abyss of ignorance."
  • "Your Lordship is my only means of getting out of this darkest region of ignorance because You are my transcendental eye, which, by Your mercy only, I have attained after many, many births."
  • "Devahuti continued: I have taken shelter of Your lotus feet because You are the only person of whom to take shelter. You are the ax which can cut the tree of material existence."
  • "Now be pleased, my Lord, to dispel my great delusion. Due to my feeling of false ego, I have been engaged by Your maya and have identified myself with the body and consequent bodily relations."
  • "I believe, my Lord, that You are Lord Visnu Himself under the name of Kapila, and You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Brahman."

Request for Knowledge

She asks for a detailed explanation of the material and spiritual energies.

  • "Devahuti inquired: My dear Lord, You have already very scientifically described the symptoms of the total material nature and the characteristics of the spirit according to the Sankhya system of philosophy."
  • "Devahuti said: O Supreme Personality of Godhead, kindly explain the characteristics of the Supreme Person and His energies, for both of these are the causes of this manifest and unmanifest creation."
  • "Now I shall request You to explain the path of devotional service, which is the ultimate end of all philosophical systems."
  • "Devahuti continued: My dear Lord, please also describe in detail, both for me and for people in general, the continual process of birth and death, for by hearing of such calamities we may become detached from the activities of this material world."
  • "Please also describe eternal time, which is a representation of Your (Kapila's) form and by whose influence people in general engage in the performance of pious activities."
  • "The mystic yoga system, as You have explained, aims at the Supreme Personality of Godhead and is meant for completely ending material existence."
  • "They are sleeping eternally in that darkness without Your shelter because their eyes of knowledge are not open, and therefore they are falsely engaged by the actions and reactions of their material activities, and they appear to be very fatigued."

The Nature of Puruṣa and Prakṛti

Queen Devahūti asks specifically about the relationship between the soul and material nature, fearing that the soul can never be truly free.

  • "Sri Devahuti inquired: My dear brahmana, does material nature ever give release to the spirit soul? Since one is attracted to the other eternally, how is their separation possible?"
  • "As there is no separate existence of the earth and its aroma or of water and its taste, there cannot be any separate existence of intelligence and consciousness."
  • "Hence even though he is the passive performer of all activities, how can there be freedom for the soul as long as material nature acts on him and binds him?"
  • "Even if the great fear of bondage is avoided by mental speculation and inquiry into the fundamental principles, it may still appear again, since its cause has not ceased."

A Plea for Simplicity

Acknowledging her position as a woman who may not understand complex logic, Queen Devahūti asks for an explanation she can grasp to feel transcendental happiness.

  • "I am a woman. It is very difficult for me to understand the Absolute Truth because my intelligence is not very great. But if You will kindly explain it to me, even though I am not very intelligent, I can understand it and thereby feel transcendental happiness."
  • "I therefore offer my obeisances unto You, who are the greatest of all transcendentalists, and I inquire from You as to the relationship between man and woman and between spirit and matter."
  • "Thus the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kapila, satisfied by the words of His mother, towards whom He was very affectionate, replied with gravity."

The Glory of the Holy Name

In her final realizations, Queen Devahūti expresses the supreme potency of chanting the Holy Name of the Lord. She asserts that the Holy Name supersedes all other qualifications, such as birth or ritualistic study.

The Dog-Eater Verse

Queen Devahūti declares that even the lowest-born person becomes the highest if the Holy Name is on their tongue.

  • "Oh, how glorious are they whose tongues are chanting Your holy name! Even if born in the families of dog-eaters, such persons are worshipable."
  • "Persons who chant the holy name of Your Lordship must have executed all kinds of austerities and fire sacrifices and achieved all the good manners of the Aryans."
  • "To be chanting the holy name of Your Lordship, they must have bathed at holy places of pilgrimage, studied the Vedas and fulfilled everything required."
  • "To say nothing of the spiritual advancement of persons who see the Supreme Person face to face, even a person born in a family of dog-eaters immediately becomes eligible to perform Vedic sacrifices if he once utters the holy name of the Supreme Personality of Godhead."

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 Queen Devahuti. We invite you to visit the link to read the complete collection of verses presented in alphabetical order.

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