Srimad Bhagavatam — Tritiya Skandha, Shloka 9
Kapila’s Conclusion: Limits of Karma and Yoga; Supremacy of Bhakti and Qualification to Receive the Teaching
क्ष्माम्भोऽनलानिलवियन्मनइन्द्रियार्थ- भूतादिभि: परिवृतं प्रतिसञ्जिहीर्षु: । अव्याकृतं विशति यर्हि गुणत्रयात्मा कालं पराख्यमनुभूय पर: स्वयम्भू: ॥ ९ ॥
kṣmāmbho-’nalānila-viyan-mana-indriyārtha- bhūtādibhiḥ parivṛtaṁ pratisañjihīrṣuḥ avyākṛtaṁ viśati yarhi guṇa-trayātmā kālaṁ parākhyam anubhūya paraḥ svayambhūḥ
Après avoir traversé le temps infranchissable de la nature aux trois guṇa, appelé deux parārdha, le suprême Svayambhū, Brahmā, voulant résorber la création, pénètre dans l’Inmanifesté et referme l’univers matériel, enveloppé de couches de terre, d’eau, de feu, d’air, d’éther, de mental, d’objets des sens, etc., puis retourne à la Demeure suprême.
The word avyākṛtam is very significant in this verse. The same meaning is stated in Bhagavad-gītā, in the word sanātana. This material world is vyākṛta, or subject to changes, and it finally dissolves. But after the dissolution of this material world, the manifestation of the spiritual world, the sanātana-dhāma, remains. That spiritual sky is called avyākṛta, that which does not change, and there the Supreme Personality of Godhead resides. When, after ruling over the material universe under the influence of the time element, Lord Brahmā desires to dissolve it and enter into the kingdom of God, others then enter with him.
FAQs
This verse explains that when the Lord wishes to withdraw creation, He absorbs the cosmos—elements, mind, senses, and their objects—back into the unmanifest pradhāna, where time exists in a subtle, supreme form.
Kapila teaches Devahūti the Sāṅkhya map of reality: the universe is a structured expansion of elements and faculties, and at dissolution these components return to their unmanifest source under the Lord’s control.
Seeing that even mind, senses, and the material world are temporary transformations of the guṇas encourages detachment, steadiness, and deeper reliance on bhakti to the Supreme beyond time and nature.