Teachings of Lord Kapila (The Son of Devahuti)

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Kapila Muni, a renowned sage of antiquity, is the author of the philo- sophical system known as Sänkhya, which forms an important part of India's ancient philosophical heritage. Sänkhya is both a system of metaphysics, dealing with the elemental principles of the physical uni- verse, and a system of spiritual knowledge, with its own methodology, culminating in full consciousness of the Supreme Absolute. Kapila, however, is not an ordinary philosopher or sage. According to Vedic tra- dition, the tradition of India's ancient scriptural literature, He Himself is an avatara (incarnation) of the Supreme Absolute Truth.

Kapila's teachings are originally inscribed in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, or Bhagavata Purana, one of the most important scriptural documents of Vedic theism. Within the Bhagavatam, Kapila's teachings comprise Chapters Twenty-five through Thirty-three of the Third Canto. This book, Teachings of Lord Kapila, the Son of Devahuti, is based on a unique series of lectures presented in Bombay, India, in the spring of 1974, by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. In this series, Srila Prabhupada spoke from the Twenty-fifth Chapter, which contains the beginning of Lord Kapila's teachings. Srila Prabhu- pada is the author of a celebrated multivolume translation and commen- tary on the entire text of the Bhagavatam, and at the time of the Kapila lectures he had already completed his written commentary on the section of the Bhagavatam dealing with Kapiladeva's teachings. In these special lectures, however, Srila Prabhupada went into significantly greater detail in elucidating the verses and shed an even broader light upon these fascinating teachings.