Devanagari
तं त्वा गताहं शरणं शरण्यं
स्वभृत्यसंसारतरो: कुठारम् ।
जिज्ञासयाहं प्रकृते: पूरुषस्य
नमामि सद्धर्मविदां वरिष्ठम् ॥ ११ ॥
Verse text
taṁ tvā gatāhaṁ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyaṁ
sva-bhṛtya-saṁsāra-taroḥ kuṭhāram
jijṣāsayāhaṁ prakṛteḥ pūruṣasya
namāmi sad-dharma-vidāṁ variṣṭham
Synonyms
tam
—
that person
;
tvā
—
unto You
;
gatā
—
have gone
;
aham
—
I
;
śaraṇam
—
shelter
;
śaraṇyam
—
worth taking shelter of
;
sva
—
bhṛtya — for Your dependents
;
saṁsāra
—
of material existence
;
taroḥ
—
of the tree
;
kuṭhāram
—
the ax
;
jijṣāsayā
—
with the desire to know
;
aham
—
I
;
prakṛteḥ
—
of matter (woman)
;
pūruṣasya
—
of spirit (man)
;
namāmi
—
I offer obeisances
;
sat
—
dharma — of the eternal occupation
;
vidām
—
of the knowers
;
variṣṭham
—
unto the greatest .
Translation
Devahūti 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. 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.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Surrendering unto you, the axe to cut the tree of material existence for your devotees, I offer respects to you, the best among the knowers of bhakti, with a desire to know about the jīva in the material world and prakṛti.
I should ask you and no one else, with a desire to know about the puruṣa, the jīva in the material world, and about prakṛti, from which material existence arises. You are the best among the knowers of the process to destroy saṁṣāra, the process of bhakti-yoga (sad-dharma).
Purport
Sāṅkhya philosophy, as is well known, deals with
prakṛti
and
puruṣa.
Puruṣa
is the Supreme Personality of Godhead or anyone who imitates the Supreme Personality of Godhead as an enjoyer, and
prakṛti
means “nature.” In this material world, material nature is being exploited by the
puruṣas,
or the living entities. The intricacies in the material world of the relationship of the
prakṛti
and
puruṣa,
or the enjoyed and the enjoyer, is called
saṁsāra,
or material entanglement. Devahūti wanted to cut the tree of material entanglement, and she found the suitable weapon in Kapila Muni. The tree of material existence is explained in the Fifteenth Chapter of
Bhagavad-gītā
as an
aśvattha
tree whose root is upwards and whose branches are downwards. It is recommended there that one has to cut the root of this material existential tree with the ax of detachment. What is the attachment? The attachment involves
prakṛti
and
puruṣa.
The living entities are trying to lord it over material nature. Since the conditioned soul takes material nature to be the object of his enjoyment and he takes the position of the enjoyer, he is therefore called
puruṣa.
Devahūti questioned Kapila Muni, for she knew that only He could cut her attachment to this material world. The living entities, in the guises of men and women, are trying to enjoy the material energy; therefore in one sense everyone is
puruṣa
because
puruṣa
means “enjoyer” and
prakṛti
means “enjoyed.” In this material world both the so-called man and so-called woman are imitating the real
puruṣa;
the Supreme Personality of Godhead is actually the enjoyer in the transcendental sense, whereas all others are
prakṛti.
The living entities are considered
prakṛti.
In
Bhagavad-gītā,
matter is analyzed as
aparā,
or inferior nature, whereas beyond this inferior nature there is another, superior nature — the living entities. Living entities are also
prakṛti,
or enjoyed, but under the spell of
māyā,
the living entities are falsely trying to take the position of enjoyers. That is the cause of
saṁsāra-bandha,
or conditional life. Devahūti wanted to get out of conditional life and place herself in full surrender. The Lord is
śaraṇya,
which means “the only worthy personality to whom one can fully surrender,” because He is full of all opulences. If anyone actually wants relief, the best course is to surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord is also described here as
sad-dharma-vidāṁ variṣṭham.
This indicates that of all transcendental occupations the best occupation is eternal loving service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Dharma
is sometimes translated as “religion,” but that is not exactly the meaning.
Dharma
actually means “that which one cannot give up, that which is inseparable from oneself.” The warmth of fire is inseparable from fire; therefore warmth is called the
dharma,
or nature, of fire. Similarly,
sad-dharma
means “eternal occupation.” That eternal occupation is engagement in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. The purpose of Kapiladeva’s Sāṅkhya philosophy is to propagate pure, uncontaminated devotional service, and therefore He is addressed here as the most important personality amongst those who know the transcendental occupation of the living entity.