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 best among men, the courtesan, burning with desire for money, stood at night upon the road and watched the men who passed by, thinking, “This one is surely wealthy; he will pay the fee and will delight in my company.”
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.