Srimad Bhagavatam — Tritiya Skandha, Shloka 2
Devahūti’s Prayers, Kapila’s Departure, and Devahūti’s Liberation
Siddhapada
देवहूतिरुवाच अथाप्यजोऽन्त:सलिले शयानं भूतेन्द्रियार्थात्ममयं वपुस्ते । गुणप्रवाहं सदशेषबीजं दध्यौ स्वयं यज्जठराब्जजात: ॥ २ ॥
devahūtir uvāca athāpy ajo ’ntaḥ-salile śayānaṁ bhūtendriyārthātma-mayaṁ vapus te guṇa-pravāhaṁ sad-aśeṣa-bījaṁ dadhyau svayaṁ yaj-jaṭharābja-jātaḥ
Devahūti said: Brahmā is called “unborn,” for he is born from the lotus that springs from Your navel as You lie in the ocean at the universe’s depth. Yet even Brahmā only meditates upon You—whose divine body is the basis of the elements, the senses and their objects, the flow of the guṇas, and the inexhaustible seed of countless universes.
Brahmā is also named Aja, “he who is unborn.” Whenever we think of someone’s birth, there must be a material father and mother, for thus one is born. But Brahmā, being the first living creature within this universe, was born directly from the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is known as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the Viṣṇu form lying down in the ocean at the bottom of the universe. Devahūti wanted to impress upon the Lord that when Brahmā wants to see Him, he has to meditate upon Him. “You are the seed of all creation,” she said. “Although Brahmā was directly born from You, he still has to perform many years of meditation, and even then he cannot see You directly, face to face. Your body is lying within the vast water at the bottom of the universe, and thus You are known as Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu.”
FAQs
This verse says that even Brahmā, though the secondary creator, meditated on the Lord’s all-inclusive form—source of the elements, senses, and their objects—and Brahmā himself was born from the Lord’s navel-lotus.
Devahūti is glorifying Kapila as the Supreme Lord by recalling the cosmic origin: the Lord is the seed of all creation, and even Brahmā depends on Him—thereby affirming Kapila’s divine authority to teach liberation.
The verse points to anchoring the mind in the Supreme source behind nature’s changing modes; practically, one can cultivate steady devotion through daily remembrance, prayer, and scripture-based meditation rather than being carried by shifting moods and circumstances.