Shloka 33
परं प्रधानं पुरुषं महान्तं कालं कविं त्रिवृतं लोकपालम् । आत्मानुभूत्यानुगतप्रपञ्चं स्वच्छन्दशक्तिं कपिलं प्रपद्ये ॥ ३३ ॥
paraṁ pradhānaṁ puruṣaṁ mahāntaṁ kālaṁ kaviṁ tri-vṛtaṁ loka-pālam ātmānubhūtyānugata-prapañcaṁ svacchanda-śaktiṁ kapilaṁ prapadye
I take shelter of Bhagavān Kapila, the Supreme Personality of Godhead—independently powerful and transcendental; the Supreme Puruṣa, Lord of pradhāna (the total material nature) and of time; the all-knowing maintainer of the worlds under the three guṇas, who after dissolution draws all manifestations back into Himself.
The six opulences — wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation — are indicated here by Kardama Muni, who addresses Kapila Muni, his son, as param. The word param is used in the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, in the phrase paraṁ satyam, to refer to the summum bonum, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Param is explained further by the next word, pradhānam, which means the chief, the origin, the source of everything — sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam — the cause of all causes. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is not formless; He is puruṣam, or the enjoyer, the original person. He is the time element and is all-cognizant. He knows everything — past, present and future — as confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā. The Lord says, “I know everything — present, past and future — in every corner of the universe.” The material world, which is moving under the spell of the three modes of nature, is also a manifestation of His energy. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate: everything that we see is an interaction of His energies ( Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.8). Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis tathedam akhilaṁ jagat. This is the version of the Viṣṇu Purāṇa. We can understand that whatever we see is an interaction of the three modes of material nature, but actually it is all an interaction of the Lord’s energy. Loka-pālam: He is actually the maintainer of all living entities. Nityo nityānām: He is the chief of all living entities; He is one, but He maintains many, many living entities. God maintains all other living entities, but no one can maintain God. That is His svacchanda-śakti; He is not dependent on others. Someone may call himself independent, but he is still dependent on someone higher. The Personality of Godhead, however, is absolute; there is no one higher than or equal to Him.
FAQs
It presents Kapila as the Supreme Lord—source and knower of prakṛti and puruṣa, time, the Mahat principle, and the three guṇas—whose independent potency governs the cosmos, and to whom Devahūti surrenders.
Because Kapila is her divine son and the teacher of Sāṅkhya-bhakti; recognizing Him as the Supreme controller behind creation and realization, she takes refuge in Him to attain liberation through true knowledge and devotion.
Cultivate surrender and humility: see time, nature, and life’s changes as governed by a higher intelligence, and seek steady spiritual practice aimed at direct self-realization rather than mere external control.