Shloka 40
Kapila’s Advent: Brahmā’s Confirmation, the Marriage of the Nine Daughters, and Kardama’s Renunciation
मात्र आध्यात्मिकीं विद्यां शमनीं सर्वकर्मणाम् । वितरिष्ये यया चासौ भयं चातितरिष्यति ॥ ४० ॥
mātra ādhyātmikīṁ vidyāṁ śamanīṁ sarva-karmaṇām vitariṣye yayā cāsau bhayaṁ cātitariṣyati
I shall also teach My mother this sublime spiritual knowledge, which pacifies all reactions of karma. By it she will attain perfection and self-realization, and thus cross beyond all material fear.
Kardama Muni was anxious about his good wife, Devahūti, while leaving home, and so the worthy son promised that not only would Kardama Muni be freed from the material entanglement, but Devahūti would also be freed by receiving instruction from her son. A very good example is set here: the husband goes away, taking the sannyāsa order for self-realization, but his representative, the son, who is equally educated, remains at home to deliver the mother. A sannyāsī is not supposed to take his wife with him. At the vānaprastha stage of retired life, or the stage midway between householder life and renounced life, one may keep his wife as an assistant without sex relations, but in the sannyāsa order of life one cannot keep his wife with him. Otherwise, a person like Kardama Muni could have kept his wife with him, and there would have been no hindrance to his prosecution of self-realization.
FAQs
In this verse, Lord Kapila says that ādhyātmikī vidyā (spiritual knowledge) pacifies all karmic activity and enables one to transcend fear.
Kapila begins his instruction to his mother Devahūti, promising to give the self-realizing knowledge that frees her from the bondage of karma and the fear that arises from material identification.
Shift identity from external roles to the soul’s relationship with the Supreme, and practice steady spiritual hearing/meditation; this reduces anxiety by weakening karma-driven desires and fears.