Text 30
piṅgalovāca
aho me moha-vitatiṁ
paśyatāvijitātmanaḥ
yā kāntād asataḥ kāmaṁ
kāmaye yena bāliśā
piṅgalā — Piṅgalā; uvāca — said; aho — oh; me — my; moha — of illusion; vitatim — expansion; paśyata — just see, everyone; avijita-ātmanaḥ — of one whose mind is not controlled; yā — which person (me); kāntāt — from a lover; asataḥ — useless, insignificant; kāmam — lusty pleasure; kāmaye — I desire; yena — because; bāliśā — I am a fool.
The prostitute Piṅgalā said: Just see how greatly illusioned I am! Because I cannot control my mind, just like a fool I desire lusty pleasure from an insignificant man.
In material existence all of the senses are attracted by different objects, and thus the conditioned soul becomes a first-class fool. The cause of material life is one’s indifference to the Absolute Truth. The conditioned soul considers himself to be the lord and enjoyer of the material world and considers the purpose of life to be sense gratification. The more one tries to enjoy the material world, the more one’s illusion increases.
It appears from this verse that the prostitute Piṅgalā was not only earning her livelihood through prostitution, but was actually enjoying her illicit contact with innumerable men. The words kāntād asataḥ indicate that she was freely selling herself without discrimination to the most ordinary and useless men, considering them to be “lovers.” Thus she says, “I was a great fool.” The word bāliśā means “one who has a childish mentality, without practical experience of right and wrong.”