Study a Verse

• The supersenses are not the senses of the material elements.
• The real senses, however, are within the material covering.
• If one is not trained to satisfy the spiritual senses and continues in material sense gratification, he will never obtain happiness that is eternal and blissful.

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

Each link is a verse the purport itself quotes, or a purport elsewhere that quotes this verse, shown with the purport's own words.

Public loss and humiliation → Total surrender. An apparent external defeat conceals a devotional triumph.

Chapters 19–23 of Canto 8: Vāmana tests Bali; Bali offers everything. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 19: Lord Vāmanadeva Begs Charity from Bali Mahārāja

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

Śukrācārya advised Bali Mahārāja to withdraw his promise. He explained that in subduing others, in joking, in responding to danger, in acting for the welfare of others, and so on, one could refuse to fulfill one’s promise, and there would be no fault.