Study a Verse

• Just as trees, having no means of defending themselves, are always being cut down, similarly, the conditioned souls are constantly being cut down by the cruel laws of nature, which impose innumerable miseries culminating in sudden death.
• Although foolish people think they are helping themselves and others, they actually do not know their own identity, nor the identities of their so-called friends and relatives.
• Absorbed in gratifying the senses of the external body, they spend their lives uselessly, without spiritual profit.

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

Striving → Complete devotional trust. The Lord redirects Uddhava toward enduring loving service.

Chapters 21–29 of Canto 11: Spiritual practice culminating in bhakti-yoga. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 21: Lord Kṛṣṇa’s Explanation of the Vedic Path

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

In regard to the execution of prescribed duties for sense gratification, the actual intent of all the scriptures is the subduing of materialistic propensities; such is the actual principle of religion that destroys sorrow, confusion and fear and bestows all good fortune. Work performed for sense gratification is not actually beneficial.