Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.3.10

pañcamaḥ kapilo nāma

siddheśaḥ kāla-viplutam

provācāsuraye sāńkhyaḿ

tattva-grāma-vinirṇayam

SYNONYMS

pañcamaḥ — 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; sāńkhyam — 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.

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 Sāńkhya philosophy. Sāńkhya philosophy is generally called metaphysics by the European scholars. The etymological meaning of sāńkhya 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.