Study a Verse

• One might argue, “Among all the gurus mentioned thus far, the material body is certainly the best, since it awards the detachment and fine intelligence that enable one to engage in the devotional service of the Lord.
• Thus, we should serve the body, although it is temporary, with great attachment, or risk the offense of ungratefulness.
• Finally the body, having paved the way for unlimited suffering in material existence, drops dead.

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 9: Detachment from All that Is Material

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

From the weak insect who assumed the same form as the peśaskṛt wasp, the avadhūta brāhmaṇa learned that the living entity, under the sway of affection, hatred and fear, attains in his next life the identity of that object upon which he fixes his intelligence.