Shloka 28
Kapila’s Conclusion: Limits of Karma and Yoga; Supremacy of Bhakti and Qualification to Receive the Teaching
ज्ञानमेकं पराचीनैरिन्द्रियैर्ब्रह्म निर्गुणम् । अवभात्यर्थरूपेण भ्रान्त्या शब्दादिधर्मिणा ॥ २८ ॥
jñānam ekaṁ parācīnair indriyair brahma nirguṇam avabhāty artha-rūpeṇa bhrāntyā śabdādi-dharmiṇā
যারা পরতত্ত্বের প্রতি বিমুখ, তারা পরাঙ্মুখ ইন্দ্রিয়ের কল্পনাময় অনুভবে নির্গুণ ব্রহ্মকেও ভিন্নভাবে উপলব্ধি করে; তাই ভ্রান্তির ফলে তাদের কাছে সবই আপেক্ষিক বলে প্রতীয়মান হয়।
The Supreme Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, is one, and He is spread everywhere by His impersonal feature. This is clearly expressed in Bhagavad-gītā. Lord Kṛṣṇa says, “Everything that is experienced is but an expansion of My energy.” Everything is sustained by Him, but that does not mean that He is in everything. Sense perceptions, such as aural perception of the sound of a drum, visual perception of a beautiful woman, or perception of the delicious taste of a milk preparation by the tongue, all come through different senses and are therefore differently understood. Therefore sensory knowledge is divided in different categories, although actually everything is one as a manifestation of the energy of the Supreme Lord. Similarly, the energies of fire are heat and illumination, and by these two energies fire can display itself in many varieties, or in diversified sense perception. Māyāvādī philosophers declare this diversity to be false. But Vaiṣṇava philosophers do not accept the different manifestations as false; they accept them as nondifferent from the Supreme Personality of Godhead because they are a display of His diverse energies.
FAQs
This verse explains that the attributeless, one consciousness (Brahman) seems to become the world of objects with qualities like sound only due to भ्रम (misapprehension) when the senses are turned outward.
Kapila is guiding Devahuti on liberation: by diagnosing bondage as outward sense-perception and illusion, he prepares her for inward realization and devotional transcendence beyond material qualities.
Notice how sense-driven attention makes reality feel fragmented and anxiety-producing; practice turning inward through sādhana (hearing, chanting, meditation on the Lord) to see experiences without mistaking them for the Self.