Shloka 36
The Rise of Soma-vaṁśa: Budha’s Birth and Purūravā–Urvaśī; The Origin of Karma-kāṇḍa in Tretā-yuga
उर्वश्युवाच मा मृथा: पुरुषोऽसि त्वं मा स्म त्वाद्युर्वृका इमे । क्वापि सख्यं न वै स्त्रीणां वृकाणां हृदयं यथा ॥ ३६ ॥
urvaśy uvāca mā mṛthāḥ puruṣo ’si tvaṁ mā sma tvādyur vṛkā ime kvāpi sakhyaṁ na vai strīṇāṁ vṛkāṇāṁ hṛdayaṁ yathā
Urvaśī said: My dear King, you are a man, a hero. Don’t be impatient and give up your life. Be sober and don’t allow the senses to overcome you like foxes. Don’t let the foxes eat you. In other words, you should not be controlled by your senses. Rather, you should know that the heart of a woman is like that of a fox. There is no use making friendship with women.
Cāṇakya Paṇḍita has advised, viśvāso naiva kartavyaḥ strīṣu rāja-kuleṣu ca: “Never place your faith in a woman or a politician.” Unless elevated to spiritual consciousness, everyone is conditioned and fallen, what to speak of women, who are less intelligent than men. Women have been compared to śūdras and vaiśyas ( striyo vaiśyās tathā śūdrāḥ ). On the spiritual platform, however, when one is elevated to the platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, whether one is a man, woman, śūdra or whatever, everyone is equal. Otherwise, Urvaśī, who was a woman herself and who knew the nature of women, said that a woman’s heart is like that of a sly fox. If a man cannot control his senses, he becomes a victim of such sly foxes. But if one can control the senses, there is no chance of his being victimized by sly, foxlike women. Cāṇakya Paṇḍita has also advised that if one has a wife like a sly fox, he must immediately give up his life at home and go to the forest.
FAQs
This verse shows Urvaśī warning Purūrava not to be deluded by attachment; worldly attraction is unstable, and clinging to it brings suffering—prompting detachment and self-mastery.
In the narrative, Urvaśī is separating from Purūrava; she speaks sharply to break his infatuation and to push him toward sober understanding rather than helpless dependence.
Do not base identity or peace on another person’s affection; cultivate self-control, discernment, and spiritual grounding so relationships are guided by dharma rather than obsession.