Devanagari
प्रावोचं भक्तियोगस्य स्वरूपं ते चतुर्विधम् ।
कालस्य चाव्यक्तगतेर्योऽन्तर्धावति जन्तुषु ॥ ३७ ॥
Verse text
prāvocaṁ bhakti-yogasya
svarūpaṁ te catur-vidham
kālasya cāvyakta-gater
yo ’ntardhāvati jantuṣu
Synonyms
prāvocam
—
explained
;
bhakti
—
yogasya — of devotional service
;
svarūpam
—
the identity
;
te
—
to you
;
catuḥ
—
vidham — in four divisions
;
kālasya
—
of time
;
ca
—
also
;
avyakta
—
gateḥ — the movement of which is imperceptible
;
yaḥ
—
which
;
antardhāvati
—
chases
;
jantuṣu
—
the living entities .
Translation
My dear mother, I have explained to you the process of devotional service and its identity in four different social divisions. I have explained to you as well how eternal time is chasing the living entities, although it is imperceptible to them.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
I have explained to you the four types of bhakti: tamasic, rajasic, sattvic and nirguṇa bhakti and the form of time whose progress is invisible and which pursues all living beings.
Having summarized jṣāna-yoga, and showing its dependence on bhakti to Bhagavān, who is attained by bhakti, by a suitable example Kapila showed Bhagavān to be the goal of all paths. Now Kapila summarizes bhakti-yoga and other processes in two verses. The four varieties of bhakti are bhakti in tamas, rajas, and sattva and bhakti which is beyond the guṇas.
Purport
The process of
bhakti-yoga,
devotional service, is the main river flowing down towards the sea of the Absolute Truth, and all other processes mentioned are just like tributaries. Lord Kapila is summarizing the importance of the process of devotional service.
Bhakti-yoga,
as described before, is divided into four divisions — three in the material modes of nature and one in transcendence, which is untinged by the modes of material nature. Devotional service mixed with the modes of material nature is a means for material existence, whereas devotional service without desires for fruitive result and without attempts for empirical philosophical research is pure, transcendental devotional service.