Nitāi: "Devahūti said: O Supreme Personality of Godhead, kindly explain the characteristics of the Supreme Person and His energies, because both of these are the causes of this manifest and unmanifest creation."
Prabhupāda:
- prakṛteḥ puruṣasyāpi
- lakṣaṇaṁ puruṣottama
- brūhi kāraṇayor asya
- sad-asac ca yad-ātmakam
- (SB 3.26.9)
So Kapiladeva is addressed here as Puruṣottama. Puruṣottama. The living entities, the Supersoul, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Living entities are sometimes called puruṣa because puruṣa means enjoyer. So the living entities wants to enjoy this material world although he is not enjoyer. We have explained many times. The living entities, that is also prakṛti, but he also wants to enjoy. That is called illusion. So in his enjoying temperament he may be called puruṣa, illusory puruṣa. Real puruṣa is Bhagavān. Puruṣa means bhoktā. The bhoktā, real bhoktā, enjoyer, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram (BG 5.29).
So Devahūti wants elucidation of the characteristics of puruṣa and prakṛti. So puruṣa is one, but prakṛti, there are many, energies. Prakṛti, energy. Just like we have got practical experience that husband and wife, the wife is supposed to be the energy. The husband works day and night very hard, but when he comes home, the wife gives him comfort, eating, sleeping, mating, in so many ways. He gets fresh energy. Especially the karmīs, they get energy by the behavior and service of the wife. Otherwise the karmīs cannot work. Anyway, the energy principle is there. Similarly, the Supreme Lord, He has got also energy. In the Vedānta-sūtra we understand that Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original source of everything, Brahman... athāto brahma jijñāsā. That Brahman... In one code Vyāsadeva describes that janmādy asya yataḥ: (SB 1.1.1) "The Brahman, Supreme Absolute Truth, is that from whom everything comes." So unless this principle is there, that Brahman, the Absolute Truth, is also energized or worked with His energies; otherwise why this conception comes within this material world? The material world is shadow reflection of the spiritual world. Unless the original thing is there in the spiritual world, it cannot be reflected in the material world.
So puruṣa is accompanied by varieties of energies. In the Upaniṣad it is stated,
- na tasya kāryaṁ karaṇaṁ ca vidyate
- na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate
- parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate...
(Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport)
Para, the Supreme Lord, Absolute Truth, has multi-energy. So the multi-energy is divided into three division. That is called antaraṅga-śakti, internal energy, external energy, and the marginal energy. All of them are energies, or prakṛti. So in the Sāṅkhya philosophical discussion, Devahūti—she is also the mother of Kapiladeva—she asked this intelligent question: "What are the characteristic of the prakṛti, and what are the characteristic of the puruṣa?" Prakṛteḥ puruṣasyāpi lakṣaṇaṁ puruṣottama. He (she) is addressing his (her) son, Kapiladeva, God, as Puruṣottama. Uttama puruṣa. Uttam a, madhyama, and adhama. There is a comparative. So uttama puruṣa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, or His incarnation like Kapiladeva, Ṛṣabhadeva. There are many incarnations. So they are all Puruṣottama.