SB 3.25.7
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 7
- devahūtir uvāca
- nirviṇṇā nitarāṁ bhūmann
- asad-indriya-tarṣaṇāt
- yena sambhāvyamānena
- prapannāndhaṁ tamaḥ prabho
SYNONYMS
devahūtiḥ uvāca — Devahūti said; nirviṇṇā — disgusted; nitarām — very; bhūman — O my Lord; asat — impermanent; indriya — of the senses; tarṣaṇāt — from agitation; yena — by which; sambhāvyamānena — being prevalent; prapannā — I have fallen; andham tamaḥ — into the abyss of ignorance; prabho — O my Lord.
TRANSLATION
Devahūti said: I am very sick of the disturbance caused by my material senses, for because of this sense disturbance, my Lord, I have fallen into the abyss of ignorance.
PURPORT
Teachings of Lord Kapila, the Son of Devahūti, Text 7
Here the word asad-indriya-tarṣaṇāt is significant. Asat means "impermanent," "temporary," and indriya means "senses." Thus asad-indriya-tarṣaṇāt means "from being agitated by the temporarily manifest senses of the material body." We are evolving through different statuses of material bodily existence—sometimes in a human body, sometimes in an animal body—and therefore the engagements of our material senses are also changing. Anything which changes is called temporary, or asat. We should know that beyond these temporary senses are our permanent senses, which are now covered by the material body. The permanent senses, being contaminated by matter, are not acting properly. Devotional service, therefore, involves freeing the senses from this contamination. When the contamination is completely removed and the senses act in the purity of unalloyed Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we have reached sad-indriya, or eternal sensory activities. Eternal sensory activities are called devotional service, whereas temporary sensory activities are called sense gratification. Unless one becomes tired of material sense gratification, there is no opportunity to hear transcendental messages from a person like Kapila. Devahūti expressed that she was tired. Now that her husband had left home, she wanted to get relief by hearing the instructions of Lord Kapila.