Shloka 2
Bhakti Yoga: The Three Modes of Devotion, Non-Envy, and Time as the Lord
देवहूतिरुवाच लक्षणं महदादीनां प्रकृते: पुरुषस्य च । स्वरूपं लक्ष्यतेऽमीषां येन तत्पारमार्थिकम् ॥ १ ॥ यथा साङ्ख्येषु कथितं यन्मूलं तत्प्रचक्षते । भक्तियोगस्य मे मार्गं ब्रूहि विस्तरश: प्रभो ॥ २ ॥
devahūtir uvāca lakṣaṇaṁ mahad-ādīnāṁ prakṛteḥ puruṣasya ca svarūpaṁ lakṣyate ’mīṣāṁ yena tat-pāramārthikam
Devahūti said: O Bhagavān, just as Sāṅkhya teaches, You have revealed the symptoms and true nature of prakṛti and of the puruṣa, including the mahat-tattva. Therefore, O Lord, please instruct me in detail in the path of bhakti-yoga, the essence of all śāstra.
In this Twenty-ninth Chapter, the glories of devotional service are elaborately explained, and the influence of time on the conditioned soul is also described. The purpose of elaborately describing the influence of time is to detach the conditioned soul from his material activities, which are considered to be simply a waste of time. In the previous chapter, material nature, the spirit and the Supreme Lord, or Supersoul, are analytically studied, and in this chapter the principles of bhakti-yoga, or devotional service — the execution of activities in the eternal relationship between the living entities and the Personality of Godhead — are explained.
FAQs
Devahūti asks for the defining features of prakṛti (material nature) and puruṣa (the conscious self) so their ultimate reality can be understood, as taught in Sāṅkhya.
She wants the root understanding given in Sāṅkhya to culminate in practical spiritual realization, so she requests the detailed method of bhakti-yoga from Kapila.
Seek clear understanding of what is temporary (matter) versus the self, and then adopt a practical devotional discipline (bhakti-yoga) rather than stopping at theory alone.