Study a Verse

• One who does not desire fruitive rewards for his religious activities does not waste time going to the heavenly planets for celestial sense gratification.
• Similarly, one who does not neglect his prescribed duty or perform forbidden activities will not be bothered by going to hell for punishment.
• Thus avoiding material rewards and punishments, such a desireless person can be promoted to the platform of pure devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa.

The purport's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.

Uncertainty → Clarity. The coming separation makes the instruction personally urgent.

Chapters 10–20 of Canto 11: Kṛṣṇa's teachings on self, yoga and wisdom. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 20: Pure Devotional Service Surpasses Knowledge and Detachment

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

Persons who follow their own duty, who abandon that which is forbidden and who are free from greed and other unhealthy characteristics attain either monistic knowledge or else, if they are fortunate, devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such knowledge and devotion can be achieved in the human form of life, which is therefore a desirable object both for those living in hell and for the demigods.