Study a Verse

• The fisherman places meaty bait on a sharp hook and easily attracts the unintelligent fish, who is greedy to enjoy its tongue.
• Thus one will fall down into the lower modes of nature and commit sinful activities that lead to the death of one’s spiritual life.
• From the fish one should carefully learn the real dangers involved in gratifying the tongue.

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:

Similarly, an unintelligent person who is victimized by his insatiable tongue will also end up losing his life. There was once a prostitute named Piṅgalā in the city of Videha, and from her the avadhūta learned another lesson.