Once Dattatreya was sitting in meditation when King Yadu passed by and saw this young person sitting unaffected, happy and calm.
King Yadu approached Dattatreya and humbly asked, “ How do you remain unaffected by troubles, happy and calm? Why do you always seem to be floating in bliss (happiness)? What has made this possible?”
Dattatreya replied, “O King Yadu I have observed the world closely and obtained a little knowledge from a number of gurus (teachers). Listen carefully! I will tell you what I have learnt.”
Datta said, “O King Yadu, listen carefully to what I learnt from the Courtesan Named Pingala.”
“Pingala was a courtesan and I have learnt from her also. I shall now narrate that story to you.
In the Holy City of Videha, the capital of King Janaka, there lived a courtesan named Pingala. One day she was overcome by the desire for wealth and pleasures. She stood as usual at the door of her house, looking for men. Unfortunately, no one turned up that day.
She stood waiting for a very long time with her eyes keen and desires strong. Midnight approached, her legs began to drag and she grew weary. When she went inside disappointed, the desire for wealth and pleasures would sprout again. She could not remain inside but went to the door again. Thus going inside and coming out again and again, she became physically exhausted. Though midnight had passed, still no one had turned up.
Strange indeed are the ways of the Divine. As a result of her exhaustion, her longing for wealth, as well as for pleasures gradually left her. She even regretted that she had sunk so low, and her desire for pleasures vanished. Pingala became disgusted with herself! Without it, bondage to the body cannot be loosened and one cannot reach a state of freedom from desires. By God’s grace, freedom from passion was kindled in her and she began to think to herself.
She thought, “Shame on me, unable to control my senses, I have lamented, all the while waiting for a mean man who desires a woman. Shame on me, for having the miserable desire that someone would come to make me happy.”
“Forgetting that God who is truth, who is eternal and the one who gives happiness is ever near. I imagined, that if a low and unrighteous man were to hold this body, I would get happiness. How wicked is my mind!”
“I thought this body to be beautiful and was carried away by my beauty! What is the body made of? There are two legs like pillars, two arms, a backbone like a stick joining the hands and legs. There is the chest made up of bones like a rafter in the ceiling. All this is covered by skin. There are openings in the body from which nothing but filth comes out daily.”
“How much effort I have made to beautify this thing called the body! What a fool I have been! I am living in the Holy City of Videha, still I am thinking of another person forgetting God, who resides in the temple of this body and gives peace and happiness.”
“What happens to my body with time? This body will grow old eventually, sickness will come and the body will perish. What is the use of loving and wanting perishable things (things that decay and rot)? I shall not allow myself to be consumed with the body and desires for satisfying the sense of pleasure anymore.”
“God’s grace alone has fallen on me. How else should such good sense prevail (come) in a sinner like me?”
“Considering God (Sri Hari) as the well-wisher of all and dearest to me. Considering these good thoughts have come to me at His command, I shall think of Him and surrender my thoughts, words and actions to Him. He alone can save persons like me. He alone is my protector.”
Thus when dispassion became steady, Pingala attained marvelous tranquility and peace of mind.
Therefore O King Yadu, I learnt from the events of Pingala’s life,
that Desire is Sorrow and being Desireless, is the Highest Happiness.