SB 9.8.13 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

यस्येरिता साङ्ख्यमयी द‍ृढेह नौ- र्यया मुमुक्षुस्तरते दुरत्ययम् । भवार्णवं मृत्युपथं विपश्चित: परात्मभूतस्य कथं पृथङ्‌मति: ॥ १३ ॥

Verse text

yasyeritā sāṅkhyamayī dṛḍheha naur yayā mumukṣus tarate duratyayam bhavārṇavaṁ mṛtyu-pathaṁ vipaścitaḥ parātma-bhūtasya kathaṁ pṛthaṅ-matiḥ

Synonyms

yasya — by whom ; īritā — had been explained ; sāṅkhya — mayī — having the form of the philosophy analyzing the material world (Sāṅkhya philosophy) ; dṛḍhā — very strong (to deliver people from this material world) ; iha — in this material world ; nauḥ — a boat ; yayā — by which ; mumukṣuḥ — a person desiring to be liberated ; tarate — can cross over ; duratyayam — very difficult to cross ; bhava — arṇavam — the ocean of nescience ; mṛtyu — patham — a material life of repeated birth and death ; vipaścitaḥ — of a learned person ; parātma — bhūtasya — who has been elevated to the transcendental platform ; katham — how ; pṛthak — matiḥ — a sense of distinction (between enemy and friend) .

Translation

Kapila Muni enunciated in this material world the Sāṅkhya philosophy, which is a strong boat with which to cross over the ocean of nescience. Indeed, a person eager to cross the ocean of the material world may take shelter of this philosophy. In such a greatly learned person, situated on the elevated platform of transcendence, how can there be any distinction between enemy and friend?

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

In this material world Kapila enunciated the Sāṅkhya philosophy, which is a boat by which persons eager for liberation cross the path of death, the ocean of the material world, which is difficult to cross. In such an omniscient person, who is Paramātmā, how can there be any distinction between enemy and friend? Sāṅkhya philosophy is propagated by him. How can material conceptions exist in Kapila who is omniscient (vipaścitaḥ), who is a form of Paramātmā?

Purport

One who is promoted to the transcendental position ( brahma-bhūta ) is always jubilant ( prasannātmā ). He is unaffected by the false distinctions between good and bad in the material world. Therefore, such an exalted person is samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu; that is to say, he is equal toward everyone, not distinguishing between friend and enemy. Because he is on the absolute platform, free from material contamination, he is called parātma-bhūta or brahma-bhūta. Kapila Muni, therefore, was not at all angry at the sons of Sagara Mahārāja; rather, they were burnt to ashes by the heat of their own bodies.