God Entered His Home

It is described by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada that there are two kinds of devotees of the Lord. One is called gostyanandi, which means those preachers who have many followers for preaching the glories of the Lord and who live amongst those many followers just to organize missionary activities. The other devotees are atmanandi, or self-satisfied, and do not take the risk of preaching work. In this class was Kardama Muni. He remained alone, free from all anxieties, always moving from door to door to enlighten people about Krsna consciousness. The wonderful thing about Kardama Muni is that the Lord Himself, as Kapiladeva, had taken birth in his home as his own son, and yet he was preparing to leave that home to search out self-realization. God was present in his own home, so why should he leave? The answer is that Kardama was living an exemplary life just in accordance with the Vedic authority, which says that one who is a householder must leave home after his fiftieth year. Kardama had very rigidly practiced yoga before his marriage; then Lord Brahma had ordered him to marry and beget children as a householder. Kardama did that also. He begot nine good daughters and one son, Kapila, so his householder duty was performed, and now his duty was to leave. Even though he had the Supreme Personality of Godhead as his son, he had to respect the authority of the Vedas. He would travel all over the world as a mendicant and always remember the Supreme Personality of Godhead within his heart and thereby be freed from all anxieties of material existence.

Kardama Muni was anxious about his good wife Devahūti, and so his worthy son promised that not only would Kardama be freed but Devahūti would also be freed by receiving instruction from Him. "My incarnation in this form is especially meant for persons who aspire to get free from the entanglement of this material body, and I mean to explain the philosophy of Sahkhya in order to disseminate the knowledge of self-realization to interested people. I shall also instruct this sublime knowledge to My mother so that she also can attain the stage of perfection and self-realization, ending all kinds of reactions of fruitive activities. Thus she also will become free from all fear."

After the departure of Kardama Muni, Kapiladeva extensively explained the principles of Sahkhya philosophy to His mother. The Bhagavatam states, "By following the principles instructed by Kapila, Devahūti soon became liberated from material bondage, and she achieved the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as Supersoul, without difficulty." There is a Vaikuntha planet known as Kapila Vaikuntha where Devahūti was promoted to meet Kapila and reside eternally, enjoying the company of her transcendental son.