Devanagari
भगवन्तं परं ब्रह्म सत्त्वेनांशेन शत्रुहन् ।
तत्त्वसंख्यानविज्ञप्त्यै जातं विद्वानज: स्वराट् ॥ १० ॥
Verse text
bhagavantaṁ paraṁ brahma
sattvenāṁśena śatru-han
tattva-saṅkhyāna-vijṣaptyai
jātaṁ vidvān ajaḥ svarāṭ
Synonyms
bhagavantam
—
the Lord
;
param
—
supreme
;
brahma
—
Brahman
;
sattvena
—
having an uncontaminated existence
;
aṁśena
—
by a plenary portion
;
śatru
—
han — O killer of the enemy, Vidura
;
tattva
—
saṅkhyāna — the philosophy of the twenty-four material elements
;
vijṣaptyai
—
for explaining
;
jātam
—
appeared
;
vidvān
—
knowing
;
ajaḥ
—
the unborn (Lord Brahmā)
;
sva
—
rāṭ — independent .
Translation
Maitreya continued: O killer of the enemy, the unborn Lord Brahmā, who is almost independent in acquiring knowledge, could understand that a portion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His quality of pure existence, had appeared in the womb of Devahūti just to explain the complete state of knowledge known as sāṅkhya-yoga.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Independent Brahmā, knowing that the Lord had appeared in a śuddha-sattva portion to teach enumeration of the elements, worshipped the Lord’s future activities with pure heart and then spoke to Kardama and his wife with joyful senses.
This form of Kapila was not a full form, but a portion which was śuddha-sattva (sattvena aṁśena). Brahmā understood that the Lord had appeared to teach particularly (vijyaptai) the philosophy which enumerates elements (tattva-saṅkhyāna). He worshipped (sabhājayan) him. He spoke with joyful senses (asubhiḥ). Asubhiḥ actually means life airs, but that also includes the senses. The word ca indicates Devahūti.
Purport
In
Bhagavad-gītā,
Fifteenth Chapter, it is stated that the Lord Himself is the compiler of the
Vedānta-sūtra
and is the perfect knower of the
Vedānta-sūtra.
Similarly, the Sāṅkhya philosophy is compiled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His appearance as Kapila. There is an imitation Kapila who has a Sāṅkhya philosophical system, but Kapila the incarnation of God is different from that Kapila. Kapila the son of Kardama Muni, in His system of Sāṅkhya philosophy, very explicitly explained not only the material world but also the spiritual world. Brahmā could understand this fact because he is
svarāṭ,
almost independent in receiving knowledge. He is called
svarāṭ
because he did not go to any school or college to learn but learned everything from within. Because Brahmā is the first living creature within this universe, he had no teacher, his teacher was the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, who is seated in the heart of every living creature. Brahmā acquired knowledge directly from the Supreme Lord within the heart; therefore he is sometimes called
svarāṭ
and
aja.
Another important point is stated here.
Sattvenāṁśena:
when the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears, He brings with Him all His paraphernalia of Vaikuṇṭha; therefore His name, His form, His quality, His paraphernalia and His entourage all belong to the transcendental world. Real goodness is in the transcendental world. Here in the material world, the quality of goodness is not pure. Goodness may exist, but there must also be some tinges of passion and ignorance. In the spiritual world the unalloyed quality of goodness prevails; there the quality of goodness is called
śuddha-sattva,
pure goodness. Another name for
śuddha-sattva
is
vasudeva
because God is born from Vasudeva. Another meaning is that when one is purely situated in the qualities of goodness, he can understand the form, name, quality, paraphernalia and entourage of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The word
aṁśena
also indicates that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, appeared as Kapiladeva in a portion of His portion. God expands either as
kalā
or as
aṁśa.
Aṁśa
means “direct expansion,” and
kalā
means “expansion of the expansion.” There is no difference between the expansion, the expansion of the expansion, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead directly, as there is no difference between one candle and another — but still the candle from which the others are lit is called the original. Kṛṣṇa is therefore called the Parabrahman, or the ultimate Godhead and cause of all causes.