Srimad Bhagavatam — Tritiya Skandha, Shloka 23
Kapila on Liberation: Detachment, Devotional Discipline, and the Soul’s Aloofness from the Guṇas
प्रकृति: पुरुषस्येह दह्यमाना त्वहर्निशम् । तिरोभवित्री शनकैरग्नेर्योनिरिवारणि: ॥ २३ ॥
prakṛtiḥ puruṣasyeha dahyamānā tv ahar-niśam tiro-bhavitrī śanakair agner yonir ivāraṇiḥ
ইয়াত প্ৰকৃতিয়ে জীৱক দিন-ৰাতি দহাই আৱৰি ৰাখে, যেন সি অগ্নিত আছে; কিন্তু গম্ভীৰ ভক্তিসেৱাৰে এই প্ৰভাৱ আঁতৰে, যেন অগ্নি জ্বলাই তোলা অৰণি কাঠ নিজেই অগ্নিত দহি যায়।
Fire is conserved in wooden sticks, and when circumstances are favorable, the fire is ignited. But the wooden sticks which are the cause of the fire are also consumed by the fire if it is properly dealt with. Similarly, the living entity’s conditional life of material existence is due to his desire to lord it over material nature and due to his envy of the Supreme Lord. Thus his main diseases are that he wants to be one with the Supreme Lord or he wants to become the lord of material nature. The karmīs try to utilize the resources of material nature and thus become its lord and enjoy sense gratification, and the jñānīs, the salvationists, who have become frustrated in enjoying the material resources, want to become one with the Supreme Personality of Godhead or merge into the impersonal effulgence. These two diseases are due to material contamination. Material contamination can be consumed by devotional service because in devotional service these two diseases, namely the desire to lord it over material nature and the desire to become one with the Supreme Lord, are absent. Therefore the cause of material existence is at once consumed by the careful discharge of devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
FAQs
This verse says prakṛti burns the conditioned soul day and night, but through sustained spiritual practice she gradually withdraws, like kindling wood disappearing as fire manifests.
Kapila uses a clear analogy to teach Devahuti that the same process that reveals spiritual realization also consumes the material conditioning—liberation unfolds progressively through sādhanā.
Be steady in daily sādhana (hearing, chanting, remembrance, disciplined living); over time, the pressures of material conditioning lessen naturally, as devotion and clarity increase.