Study a Verse

• Bhramara refers to that honeybee who wanders about from flower to flower, and makṣikā is the honeybee who accumulates more and more honey in the beehive with great attachment.
• A saintly mendicant should be like the bhramara bee because if he imitates the makṣikā bee his spiritual consciousness will be ruined.
• This point is so important that it is repeated in this verse.

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 8: The Story of Piṅgalā

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

The instruction received from the second insect, the honeybee, is that a mendicant sannyāsī should not save the food he begs for the sake of having it later that night or the next day, because if he does so, then just like the greedy honeybee he will be destroyed along with his hoard. From the elephant the avadhūta brāhmaṇa received the following instruction.