Sankhya philosophy, as is well known, deals with prakrti and purusa. Purusa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead or anyone who imitates the Supreme Personality of Godhead as an enjoyer, and prakrti is nature. In this material world, material nature is being exploited by the purusas, or the living entities. The intricacies in the material world of the relationship of the prakrti and purusa, or the enjoyed and the enjoyer, give rise to samsara, or material entanglement. Devahuti wanted to cut the tree of material entanglement, and she found the suitable weapon in Kapila Muni. The tree of material existence is explained in the Fifteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita as an asvattha tree whose root is upward and whose branches are downward. It is recommended there that one has to cut the root of this material existential tree with the ax of detachment. What is the attachment? The attachment involves prakrti and purusa. The living entities are trying to lord it over material nature. Since the conditioned soul takes material nature to be the object of his enjoyment, and he takes the position of the enjoyer, he is therefore called purusa.

Devahuti questioned Kapila Muni, for she knew that only He could cut her attachment to this material world. The living entities, in the guises of men and women, are trying to enjoy the material energy; therefore in one sense everyone is purusa because purusa means enjoyer, and prakrti means enjoyed. In this material world both so-called men and women are imitating the real purusa; the Supreme Personality of Godhead is actually the enjoyer in the transcendental sense, whereas all others are prakrti.

In Bhagavad-gita, matter is analyzed as apara, or inferior nature, whereas beyond this inferior nature there is another, superior naturethe living entities. Living entities are also prakrti, or enjoyed, but under the spell of maya, the living entities are falsely trying to take the position of enjoyers. That is the cause of samsara-bandha, or conditional life. Devahuti wanted to get out of conditional life and place herself in full surrender. The Lord is saranya, which means the only worthy personality to whom one can fully surrender, because He is full of all opulences. If anyone actually wants relief, the best course is to surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord is also described here as sad-dharma-vidam varistham. This indicates that of all transcendental occupations, the best is eternal loving service unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Dharma is sometimes translated as religion, but that is not exactly the meaning. Dharma actually means that which one cannot give up, that which is inseparable from oneself. The warmth of fire is inseparable from fire; therefore warmth is called the dharma, or nature, of fire. Similarly, sad-dharma means eternal occupation. That eternal occupation is engagement in the transcendental loving service of the Lord. The purpose of Kapiladevas Sankhya philosophy is to propagate pure, uncontaminated devotional service, and therefore He is addressed here as the most important personality among those who know the transcendental occupation of the living entity.

As pointed out before, Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is everyones real shelter (saranam saranyam). Everyone is seeking shelter because we are all constitutionally servants. Originally we are servants of God; therefore it is our nature to take His shelter. Some seek an occupation or the service of a great man; others seek the service of the government or whatever. In any case, the ultimate shelter is Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Being Krsnas incarnation, Kapiladeva is also a shelter. Krsna has unlimited forms and unlimited incarnations. It is said in Srimad-Bhagavatam that His incarnations are expanding continuously, like waves in the ocean. Indeed, we cannot even count them. In Brahma-samhita it is said: Advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam [Bs 5.33]. In India there are many thousands of temples, and within these temples there are arca-vigrahas, Deities. All these Krsnas are nondifferent; they are one. Krsna resides in Vaikuntha and also in the temple. The Krsnas are not different, although they are ananta, unlimited. Krsna is also the witness within everyones heart, and He is seeing all of our activities. We cannot hide anything from Him, and we receive the results of our karma because the witness is Krsna Himself within the heart. How, then, can we avoid Him? Without Krsnas permission, we cannot do anything. Why does Krsna give us permission to do something wrong? He does so because we persist. Actually He does not tell us to do anything other than surrender unto Him. We want to do something, and Krsna may sanction it, but we go ahead and do it at our own risk. Krsna is not responsible. However, we should know that without the sanction of Krsna, we cannot do anything. That is a fact. Actually we are constitutionally servants of Krsna. Even though we may declare ourselves independent, we are not. Rather, we are servants falsely declaring that we are independent. Self-realization is understanding that we are dependent on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As Caitanya Mahaprabhu says:

Demons are always subject to be punished, and great demons like Ravana and Hiranyakasipu are personally punished by the Lord. Otherwise, ordinary demons are punished by the laws of material nature. Krsna does not need to come to punish the petty demons, but when there are great demons like Ravana, Hiranyakasipu and Kamsa, the Lord comes as Lord Ramacandra, Lord Nrsimhadeva or Sri Krsna to punish them. If we do not want to be punished, we have to follow the rules and regulations (sad-dharma). Dharma means the laws given by God. Dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam [SB 6.3.19]. The laws are given by Bhagavan and are written in books like Manu-samhita and other Vedic literatures. According to the law, we have to obey the government, and according to dharma, we have to obey Krsna, God. We cannot manufacture our laws at home, and we cannot manufacture dharma. If one tries, he is simply cheating the public. Such false dharmas are kicked out of Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.1.2): dharmah projjhita. The real dharma is set forth by Sri Krsna when He says: sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja (Bg. 18.66). All other dharmas are simply forms of cheating. We must accept the principles of Bhagavad-gita, which constitute the ABCS of dharma. Actually, we only have to accept the principle of surrender unto Krsna, but this acceptance comes after many, many births. It is not very easy, for only after many births of struggle does one come to his real perfection and surrender unto Krsna. At this time he understands perfectly that Vasudeva, Krsna, is everything. This is the greatest lesson of Bhagavad-gita, Everything is Krsnas energy, and whatever we see is but an exhibition of two types of energy. Everyone knows that the sun has two types of energyheat and light. Similarly, Krsna has an external energy and an internal energy, and He also has a marginal energy, which is a mixture of the other two. The external energy is this material world, the internal energy is the spiritual world, and the marginal energy is the living entity. The living entity is marginal because he can remain in the material world or the spiritual world. Bhagavad-gita describes two types of living entities, ksara and aksara, those living in the material world and those in the spiritual world. Those who have fallen into the material world are attracted by the tree of samsara, the banyan tree of material existence described in Bhagavad-gita (Fifteenth Chapter).

It is essential that we disassociate ourselves from this tree by detachment. Cutting down this tree is very difficult, but it is possible with the weapon of detachment. There is a Bengali proverb that states: Ill catch the fish, but I will not touch the water. That type of intelligence is required. In America we see many old men on the beach who have retired from their business to waste their time trying to catch fish. They are not very cautious, and they touch the water. However, we have to live in this material world in such a way that we do everything for Krsna but do not touch the water of the material world. In this way, we will have no attachment to things of this material world. We may have many great temples, but we should not be attached to them. It is for Krsnas sake that we construct temples, but we must understand that the temples are Krsnas property. Our mission is to teach people that everything belongs to Krsna. Only a thief will occupy something belonging to another and claim it to be his.

The Krsna consciousness movement preaches that everything belongs to Krsna and that everything should be utilized for Krsnas benefit. He is the beneficiary of everything, and it is to our benefit that we come to this knowledge. Isavasyam idam sarvam. If one realizes that everything belongs to Krsna, one becomes the greatest mahatma. Being a mahatma does not mean that one wears a big beard and a particular type of dress. No, this awareness must be there. Whatever we have should be offered to Krsna. If we have first-class food, we should offer it to Him. If we have nothing, we can offer Him a leaf, a flower, a little water or fruit. This can he collected by anyone anywhere without having to pay money. As Sri Krsna states in Bhagavad-gita (9.26):

The point is that we should offer something to Krsna with devotion. It is not that Krsna is hungry and is asking for food. No, He is feeding everyone, supplying everyone with all the necessities: eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman (Katha Upanisad 2.2.13). What, then, is He requesting? He is asking for bhakti, devotion, because He wants us to love Him. We are suffering in this material world, entangled in the tree of material existence, moving from one branch to another, and because of this we are suffering. Krsna does not want us to suffer, jumping like monkeys from branch to branch. We must come to Him and surrender to Him. When we come to this knowledge, we become perfect in knowledge. When we take shelter at the lotus feet of Krsna, we are no longer debtors to anyone. Na kinkaro nayam rni (Bhag. 11.5.41). Krsna assures us, aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami: Ill give you all relief. (Bg. 18.66) This is what we actually want. Therefore Devahuti herein takes shelter of Kapiladeva and tells Him, You are the ax capable of making me detached. When our attachment to the material world is severed, we become free. Bhakti is the means by which we can develop this detachment. Vairagya-vidya-nija-bhakti-yoga [Cc. Madya 6.254]. Bhakti-yoga is the science of detachment. This verse was composed by Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya when he understood that Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya was a great logician, and he composed a hundred verses to Caitanya Mahaprabhu, wherein he tells the Lord:

When a person advances in bhakti-yoga, he will automatically become detached from material attractions. There are many American and European boys and girls in this Krsna consciousness movement who have been born in countries where they can enjoy a good deal of material affluence, but they consider this material happiness and affluence like garbage in the street. Because they are devotees of Vasudeva, they are no longer attached to these material things. This is the result of bhakti-yoga, which enables one to be detached from material enjoyment. That detachment is the sign that one is advancing in bhakti-yoga. Bhaktih paresanubhavo viraktir anyatra ca (Bhag. 11.2.42). That is the test of advancing in bhakti. If we are advanced, we are no longer attached to material enjoyment. It is not that we think ourselves great devotees and then go ahead and enjoy material things. As stated in Bhagavad-gita (5.22):

Bhaktivinoda Thakura says, anadi karama-phale, padi bhavarnava-jale, taribare na dekhi upaya. If we are thrown into the ocean, there is a great struggle, even if we may be very great swimmers. There is no peace in this material world, however expert we may be in dealing with it. There is nothing but struggle. We cannot live here peacefully. It is not possible. Even if we are nonviolent and hurt no one, there will be trouble. However, if somehow or other we manage to reach the shore, we will find peace. There is peace even if we are an inch out of the water. Tava pada-pankaja-sthita-dhuli sadrsam vicintaya (Siksastaka 5). If somehow or other we become one of the particles of dust at Krsnas lotus feet, we will be liberated.

We may be a Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian for fifty or sixty years, or at the utmost one hundred, but again we have to take birth and be something else. We are thinking in terms of these religious designations, which are called asad-dharma, meaning that they may change at any moment. But what is our real dharma? Real dharma is sad-dharma, that which will not change, and this sad-dharma necessitates surrendering unto Krsna. This dharma will continue eternally. There are many propounders of sad-dharma, but actually the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the best propounder because He knows the reality. It is therefore said of the Gosvamis: nana-sastra-vicaranaika-nipunau sad-dharma-samsthapakau. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhus direct disciples, the Gosvamis, tried to establish sad-dharma, and we are trying to follow in their footsteps by establishing real dharma throughout the world with this Krsna consciousness movement.