Srimad Bhagavatam — Ekadasha Skandha, Shloka 24
Avadhūta’s Teachers: Python, Ocean, Moth, Bee, Elephant, Deer, Fish—and Piṅgalā’s Song of Detachment
मार्ग आगच्छतो वीक्ष्य पुरुषान् पुरुषर्षभ । तान् शुल्कदान् वित्तवत: कान्तान् मेनेऽर्थकामुकी ॥ २४ ॥
mārga āgacchato vīkṣya puruṣān puruṣarṣabha tān śulka-dān vittavataḥ kāntān mene ’rtha-kāmukī
O Bester unter den Männern! Die Dirne, vom Verlangen nach Geld gequält, stand nachts auf der Straße, musterte die Vorübergehenden und dachte: „Dieser ist wohlhabend, er wird den Preis zahlen und gewiss meine Gesellschaft genießen.“
FAQs
This verse shows Pingalā’s conditioned mindset: seeing passersby, she immediately assumes they are wealthy customers for sense enjoyment—illustrating how greed and lust distort perception and bind one to suffering.
He sets up the contrast that follows in the chapter: her repeated disappointment becomes the turning point that awakens detachment (vairāgya) and a search for lasting spiritual happiness.
It warns against projecting happiness onto external ‘arrivals’—money, relationships, pleasures—and encourages cultivating contentment and spiritual focus rather than chasing temporary gratification.