Devanagari
ब्रह्मण्यवस्थितमतिर्भगवत्यात्मसंश्रये ।
निवृत्तजीवापत्तित्वात्क्षीणक्लेशाप्तनिर्वृति: ॥ २६ ॥
Verse text
brahmaṇy avasthita-matir
bhagavaty ātma-saṁśraye
nivṛtta-jīvāpattitvāt
kṣīṇa-kleśāpta-nirvṛtiḥ
Synonyms
brahmaṇi
—
in Brahman
;
avasthita
—
situated
;
matiḥ
—
her mind
;
bhagavati
—
in the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
ātma
—
saṁśraye — residing in all living entities
;
nivṛtta
—
freed
;
jīva
—
of the jīva soul
;
āpattitvāt
—
from the unfortunate condition
;
kṣīṇa
—
disappeared
;
kleśa
—
material pangs
;
āpta
—
attained
;
nirvṛtiḥ
—
transcendental bliss .
Translation
Her mind became completely engaged in the Supreme Lord, and she automatically realized the knowledge of the impersonal Brahman. As a Brahman-realized soul, she was freed from the designations of the materialistic concept of life. Thus all material pangs disappeared, and she attained transcendental bliss.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
By bhakti-yoga which flows like a current, by strong renunciation produced from proper practice of bhakti, by knowledge causing realization of the Lord, by purity of mind, she saw the Supreme Lord, who pervades all direction and is devoid of material qualities through personal realization. Her mind became fixed in Brahman, Bhagavān and Paramātmā, and she attained bliss and destruction of suffering because of destroying saṁsāra.
Bhakti-pravāha-yogena means “by the method of bhakti, which is like a current.” She meditated on the Lord by bhakti and by strong detachment produced from bhakti’s proper performance. Or regulated performance can mean the following:
yuktāhāravihārasya yuktaceṣṭasya karmasu
yuktasvapnāvabodhasya yogo bhavati duḥkhahā
If one has regulated eating, regulated walking, regulated use of organs in material and spiritual activities, regulated sleep and regulated waking, his yoga destroys all suffering. BG 6.17
She meditated with strong detachment produced from regulated habits of yoga. She meditated with jṣāna which causes realization of Brahman (brahma-hetunā). This actually means knowledge which causes pure bhakti, not knowledge which produces realization of the one impersonal Brahman. She meditated with a pure mind, since it was beyond the guṇas. She saw (this word should be supplied) the svarūpa (tad ātmānam) of the Supreme Lord, whose face is in ten directions (viśvato mukham), and which was devoid of the material guṇas, by her realization (svānubhūtyā).
Her mind then became fixed in the Brahman, in Bhagavān (brahmaṇi bhagavati ), and in Paramātmā, the shelter of the jīvas (ātma-saṁśraye). The goals of the jṣānī, the devotee and the yogī are listed in order. She fixed her mind on the full svarūpa, the aṅgī, which contains Brahman, Bhagavān, and Paramātmā.
In the phrase bhakti-pravāha-yogena, the word pravāha (current) indicates the type of bhakti mentioned in the following verse:
mad-guṇa-śruti-mātreṇa mayi sarva-guhāśaye
mano-gatir avicchinnā yathā gaṅgāmbhaso 'mbudhau
lakṣaṇaṁ bhakti-yogasya nirguṇasya hy udāhṛtam
ahaituky avyavahitā yā bhaktiḥ puruṣottame
Because the mind flows continuously to me, the Supreme Lord residing in the hearts of all people, just by hearing about my qualities, just as the Gaṅgā flows to the ocean, it is said that quality of bhakti beyond the guṇas is that bhakti which is devoid of other results other than bhakti and is unobstructed by other processes. SB 3.29.11-12
She thus attained characteristics which indicate bhāva-bhaktai. Excluding the third level in jṣāna of merging tvam and tat, the jṣānīs’ knowledge of tvam and tat (you and that) becomes suitable for the devotees as knowledge of the worshipper and the worshipped--knowledge of the devotee and the Lord. Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu says jṣāna-vairāgyayor bhakti-praveśāyopayogitā: jṣāna and vairāgya a somewhat suitable at the beginning of bhakti. The seventh level of the aṣṭāṅga-yogīs, dhyāna or meditation of the yogīs, becomes most suitable for the devotees as the third item of the nine types of bhakti (smaraṇam). For Devahūti, taking the jṣāna of the jṣānīs and the meditation of the yogīs, according to the idea that “the swan eats the essence in all things” she followed those practices, since they were included in bhakti. Thus it is said that she used jṣaṇa (jṣānena brahmahetunā), and in verse 23, it was said that she used meditation (dhyāna-gocaraṁ sutaḥ).
Then, the secondary symptoms produced by bhakti are described as was already mentioned:
jarayaty āśu yā kośaṁ nigīrṇam analo yathā
That bhakti quickly destroys the subtle body, just as the digestive fire consumes food. SB 3.25.33
Because she attained the condition of destroying the calamity of the jīvātmā (nivṛtta-jīvāpattitvāt), which means ignorance (held in the subtle body), all suffering was destroyed, and consequently she felt bliss. Or because of being the Lord’s mother, she was by nature free from ignorance. Thus the statement merely indicates a condition in the spiritual world as in statements such as ayam ātmā apahata-pāpma: the soul is without sin. (Subāla Upaniṣad)
Purport
The previous verse states that Devahūti was already conversant with the Absolute Truth. It may be questioned why she was meditating. The explanation is that when one theoretically discusses the Absolute Truth, he becomes situated in the impersonal concept of the Absolute Truth. Similarly, when one seriously discusses the subject matter of the form, qualities, pastimes and entourage of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he becomes situated in meditation on Him. If one has complete knowledge of the Supreme Lord, then knowledge of the impersonal Brahman is automatically realized. The Absolute Truth is realized by the knower according to three different angles of vision, namely impersonal Brahman, localized Supersoul and ultimately the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore if one is situated in knowledge of the Supreme Person, this implies that one is already situated in the concept of the Supersoul and impersonal Brahman.
In
Bhagavad-gītā
it is said,
brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā.
This means that unless one is freed from the material entanglement and situated in Brahman, there is no question of entering into the understanding of devotional service or engaging in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. One who is engaged in devotional service to Kṛṣṇa is understood to be already realized in the Brahman concept of life because transcendental knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead includes knowledge of Brahman. This is confirmed in
Bhagavad-gītā.
Brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham:
the concept of the Personality of Godhead does not depend on Brahman. The
Viṣṇu Purāṇa
also confirms that one who has taken shelter of the all-auspicious Supreme Lord is already situated in the understanding of Brahman. In other words, one who is a Vaiṣṇava is already a
brāhmaṇa.
Another significant point of this verse is that one has to observe the prescribed rules and regulations. As confirmed in
Bhagavad-gītā,
yuktāhāra-vihārasya.
When one engages in devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he still has to eat, sleep, defend and mate because these are necessities of the body. But he performs such activities in a regulated way. He has to eat
kṛṣṇa-prasāda.
He has to sleep according to regulative principles. The principle is to reduce the duration of sleep and to reduce eating, taking only what is needed to keep the body fit. In short, the goal is spiritual advancement, not sense gratification. Similarly, sex life must be reduced. Sex life is meant only for begetting Kṛṣṇa conscious children. Otherwise, there is no necessity for sex life. Nothing is prohibited, but everything is made
yukta,
regulated, with the higher purpose always in mind. By following all these rules and regulations of living, one becomes purified, and all misconceptions due to ignorance become nil. It is specifically mentioned here that the causes of material entanglement are completely vanquished.
The Sanskrit statement
anartha-nivṛtti
indicates that this body is unwanted. We are spirit soul, and there was never any need of this material body. But because we wanted to enjoy the material body, we have this body, through the material energy, under the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As soon as we are reestablished in our original position of servitorship to the Supreme Lord, we begin to forget the necessities of the body, and at last we forget the body.
Sometimes in a dream we get a particular type of body with which to work in the dream. I may dream that I am flying in the sky or that I have gone into the forest or some unknown place. But as soon as I am awake I forget all these bodies. Similarly, when one is Kṛṣṇa conscious, fully devoted, he forgets all his changes of body. We are always changing bodies, beginning at birth from the womb of our mother. But when we are awakened to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we forget all these bodies. The bodily necessities become secondary, for the primary necessity is the engagement of the soul in real, spiritual life. The activities of devotional service in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness are the cause of our being situated in transcendence. The words
bhagavaty ātma-saṁśraye
denote the Personality of Godhead as the Supreme Soul, or the soul of everyone. In
Bhagavad-gītā
Kṛṣṇa says,
bījaṁ māṁ sarva-bhūtānām:
“I am the seed of all entities.” By taking shelter of the Supreme Being by the process of devotional service, one becomes fully situated in the concept of the Personality of Godhead. As described by Kapila,
mad-guṇa-śruti-mātreṇa:
one who is fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, situated in the Personality of Godhead, is immediately saturated with love of God as soon as he hears about the transcendental qualities of the Lord.
Devahūti was fully instructed by her son, Kapiladeva, on how to concentrate her mind on the Viṣṇu form in full detail. Following the instructions of her son in the matter of devotional service, she contemplated the form of the Lord within herself with great devotional love. That is the perfection of Brahman realization or the mystic
yoga
system or devotional service. At the ultimate issue, when one is fully absorbed in thought of the Supreme Lord and meditates on Him constantly, that is the highest perfection.
Bhagavad-gītā
confirms that one who is always absorbed in such a way is to be considered the topmost
yogī.
The real purpose of all processes of transcendental realization —
jṣāna-yoga, dhyāna-yoga
or
bhakti-yoga
— is to arrive at the point of devotional service. If one endeavors simply to achieve knowledge of the Absolute Truth or the Supersoul but has no devotional service, he labors without gaining the real result. This is compared to beating the husks of wheat after the grains have already been removed. Unless one understands the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be the ultimate goal, it is valueless simply to speculate or perform mystic
yoga
practice. In the
aṣṭāṅga-yoga
system, the seventh stage of perfection is
dhyāna.
This
dhyāna
is the third stage in devotional service. There are nine stages of devotional service. The first is hearing, and then comes chanting and then contemplating. By executing devotional service, therefore, one automatically becomes an expert
jṣānī
and an expert
yogī.
In other words,
jṣāna
and
yoga
are different preliminary stages of devotional service.
Devahūti was expert in accepting the real substance; she contemplated the form of Viṣṇu in detail as advised by her smiling son, Kapiladeva. At the same time, she was thinking of Kapiladeva, who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and therefore she completely perfected her austerities, penances and transcendental realization.