In the absence of the father it is the duty of the grown son to take charge of his mother and serve her to the best of his ability so that she will not feel separation from her husband. It is also the duty of the husband to leave home as soon as there is a grown son to take charge of his wife and family affairs. That is the Vedic system of household life. One should not remain continually implicated in household affairs up to the time of death. He must leave. Family affairs and the wife may be taken charge of by a grown son.

Being a great yogi, Kardama Muni was not very interested in family life. Nonetheless, he decided to marry, and Svayambhuva Manu brought his daughter Devahuti to him to serve as a wife. Kardama Muni was a yogi living in a cottage, and Devahuti was a princess, a kings daughter. Not being used to work, she became very skinny, and Kardama Muni took compassion upon her, thinking, This girl has come to me, but now she is not in a very comfortable position. Therefore by his yogic powers, Kardama Muni created a large palace with many servants, gardens and other opulences. Not only that, but he also created a great spaceship as large as a small city. Modern airlines have prepared a 747, and although these are very big, Kardama Muni, by his yogic powers, was able to create a spaceship wherein there were lakes, palaces and gardens. This spaceship could also travel all over the universe. Modern scientists labor very hard to make a small spaceship to go to the moon, but Kardama Muni could create a great spaceship that could travel to all planets. This is possible by yogic powers.

There are different siddhis, or yogic perfectionsanima, laghima, prapti, and so onand whatever yogis choose to do, they can do. That is the real yoga system. It is not that one becomes a yogi simply by pressing his nose and performing some gymnastics. One must actually attain the yogic siddhis. By these siddhis, the yogi can become very small or very large, very heavy or very light. Whatever he wants, he can immediately produce in his hand, and he can travel wherever he desires. Kardama Muni was such a perfected siddhi-yogi. By his wife, Devahuti, he had nine daughters, who were distributed to the prajapatis like Daksa Maharaja and many others. The only son of Kardama Muni was Kapiladeva, an incarnation of Krsna. This Kapiladeva was one of the mahajanas. The word mahajana means authority, and according to the Vedic sastras there are twelve authorities. These are Svayambhu, Narada, Sambhu, Kumara, Kapila, Manu, prahlada, Janaka, Bhisma, Bali, Sukadeva Gosvami and Yamaraja. Svayambhu is Brahma, and Sambhu is Lord Siva. These authorities should be followed if we want to approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead and understand the purpose of religious life. Mahajano yena gatah sa panthah. These mahajanas follow the principles set forth by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, in Bhagavad-gita.

We cannot very easily understand the actual truth of religious systems, but if we follow these mahajanas, we can understand. Kapila Muni explained the glories of devotional service to His mother, Devahuti. If we follow Him, we may learn the truth of devotional service. According to the system of varnasrama-dharma, one who is over fifty years of age must leave home, go to the forest and completely devote his life to spiritual realization. This is the actual varnasrama-dharma system. It is not a Hindu system, for the word Hindu is a name given by the Muslims and does not occur in any Vedic literature. However, the varnasrama-dharma is mentioned. Civilized human beings should strictly follow the varnasrama institution. If one is born a brahmana, he is trained nicely as a brahmacari, and then he becomes a grhastha, a householder. When he gives up his home, he is called a vanaprastha, and after that he may take sannyasa. Being a yogi, Kardama Muni strictly followed these principles; therefore as soon as Kapiladeva was grown, Devahuti was placed in His charge. Kardama Muni then left home. As stated in this verse: pitari prasthite ranyam matuh priya-cikirsaya.

According to the Manu-samhita, a woman should never be given freedom. When she is not under the protection of her husband, she must be under the protection of her sons. Women cannot properly utilize freedom, and it is better for them to remain dependent. A woman cannot be happy if she is independent. That is a fact. In Western countries we have seen many women very unhappy simply for the sake of independence. That independence is not recommended by the Vedic civilization or by the varnasrama-dharma. Consequently Devahuti was given to her grown son, Kapiladeva, and Kapiladeva was fully aware that He had to take care of His mother. It is the duty of the father to protect his daughter until she attains puberty and is married to a suitable young man. The husband then takes care of the wife. Generally a man should marry at around twenty-five years of age, and a girl should marry no later than sixteen. If this is the case, when the man is fifty years old, his eldest son should be around twenty-five, old enough to take charge of the mother. According to this calculation, Kapiladeva was about twenty-five years old and was quite able to take charge of His mother, Devahuti. He knew that because His father left His mother in His charge, He should take care of her and always please her. Matuh priya-cikirsaya. Kapiladeva was not irresponsible, but was always ready to please His mother. Kapiladeva was a brahmacari, and His mother took lessons from Him. That is the prerogative of the male. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (9.32):

Tasmin bindusare vatsid bhagavan kapilah kila. It is noteworthy that in this verse Kapiladeva is referred to as Bhagavan, which indicates that He possesses all wealth, fame, knowledge, beauty, strength and renunciation. These six opulences are fully represented in Krsna; therefore Krsna is accepted as the Supreme Personality of Godhead (krsnas tu bhagavan svayam), and others are accepted as His expansions, or incarnations (visnu-tattva). In Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Rupa Gosvami has analyzed the characteristics of Bhagavan. The first Bhagavan is Sri Krsna Himself, but some of His opulences are also bestowed upon Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma is a jiva-tattva, a living being like us. If we become spiritually powerful, we can also have the post of Lord Brahma. Superior to Lord Brahma is Lord Siva, and superior to Lord Siva is Visnu, or Lord Narayana, and superior to all is Krsna. That is the analysis of the Vedic sastras and Brahma-samhita. Even Sankaracarya, the Mayavadi impersonalist philosopher, accepts Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead (sa bhagavan svayam krsnah). All the acaryas Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Visnusvami, Nimbarka and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhualso accept Krsna as the Supreme Lord.

Kapiladeva is an incarnation of Krsna, and He gave instructions to His mother, Devahuti. We must distinguish between the two Kapilas. One Kapila is this Bhagavan Kapila, and the other Kapila is the atheist Kapila. Bhagavan Kapila is also known as Devahuti-putra Kapila. Both Kapilas expounded Sankhya philosophy, but the atheist Kapila expounded it without understanding, perception or realization of God. On the bank of the Bindu-sarovara Lake, Kapiladeva personally expounded Sankhya philosophy to His mother, Devahuti, just as Krsna personally expounded the knowledge of Bhagavad-gita to His friend Arjuna. Like Arjuna, Devahuti was aware that she was before her spiritual master, as indicated in the following verse. Indeed, Lord Brahma had informed her that her son was a powerful incarnation.