SB 1.3.10

SB 1.3.10

Devanagari

पञ्चम: कपिलो नाम सिद्धेश: कालविप्लुतम् । प्रोवाचासुरये साङ्ख्यं तत्त्वग्रामविनिर्णयम् ॥ १० ॥

Verse text

paṣcamaḥ kapilo nāma siddheśaḥ kāla-viplutam provācāsuraye sāṅkhyaṁ tattva-grāma-vinirṇayam

Synonyms

paṣcamaḥ the fifth one ; kapilaḥ Kapila ; nāma of the name ; siddheśaḥ the foremost amongst the perfect ; kāla time ; viplutam lost ; provāca said ; āsuraye unto the brāhmaṇa named Āsuri ; sāṅkhyam metaphysics ; tattva grāma — the sum total of the creative elements ; vinirṇayam exposition .

Translation

The fifth incarnation, named Lord Kapila, is foremost among perfected beings. He gave an exposition of the creative elements and metaphysics to Āsuri Brāhmaṇa, for in course of time this knowledge had been lost.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Fifth, he became Kapila, best of the perfected beings, and spoke to Āsuri brāhmaṇa the philosophy of Sāṅkhya, which defines the various principles of existence, which had become lost with time.

Purport

The sum total of the creative elements is twenty-four in all. Each and every one of them is explicitly explained in the system of Sāṅkhya philosophy. Sāṅkhya philosophy is generally called metaphysics by the European scholars. The etymological meaning of sāṅkhya is “that which explains very lucidly by analysis of the material elements.” This was done for the first time by Lord Kapila, who is said herein to be the fifth in the line of incarnations.

Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Āsuri is the name of a brāhmaṇa.