Study a Verse

• Kaca, the son of the learned celestial priest Bṛhaspati, had been a student of Śukrācārya, from whom he had learned the art of reviving a man who has died untimely.
• Devayānī desired to have Kaca as her husband, but Kaca, out of regard for Śukrācārya, looked upon the guru’s daughter as a respectable superior and therefore refused to marry her.
• Devayānī angrily cursed Kaca by saying that although he had learned the art of mṛta-sañjīvanī from her father, it would be useless.

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

Insatiable desire → Renunciation. Exhausted enjoyment generates insight.

Chapters 18–19 of Canto 9: Yayāti's craving and liberation. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 18: King Yayāti Regains His Youth

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

Śukrācārya was a brāhmaṇa and Yayāti a kṣatriya, but Yayāti married her nonetheless. Śukrācārya’s daughter, named Devayānī, had a girlfriend named Śarmiṣṭhā, who was the daughter of Vṛṣaparvā.