Study a Verse

• As illustrated in this chapter by the conversation between King Yadu and the avadhūta, a sensitive, reasonable person can acquire real knowledge and happiness simply by carefully observing the world around him.
• By good association one should gradually come to understand one’s eternal position as servant of Kṛṣṇa, and then one becomes very eager to live in the company of other enlightened persons.
• Thus by one’s sensitive and rational observation of this material world, one should come to appreciate the value of spiritual life in the association of the devotees.

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

Grief and dependence → Detachment. The temporary world becomes a source of spiritual instruction.

Chapters 7–9 of Canto 11: The avadhuta's twenty-four teachers. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 7: Lord Kṛṣṇa Instructs Uddhava

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

Even great demigods like Brahmā are not completely surrendered to the Lord, but Uddhava declared that he himself had taken shelter of the only true instructor of the Absolute Truth — Lord Nārāyaṇa, the all-perfect, all-knowing master of Vaikuṇṭha and the only real friend of all living entities. Hearing this, the Supreme Lord replied that actually the jīva soul is his own guru.