काममाश्रित्य दुष्पूरं दम्भमानमदान्विताः।मोहाद्गृहीत्वासद्ग्राहान्प्रवर्तन्तेऽशुचिव्रताः॥
kāmam āśritya duṣpūraṃ dambha-māna-madānvitāḥmohād gṛhītvāsad-grāhān pravartante ’śuci-vratāḥ
Word by word
The verse says
They take shelter in a wanting that cannot be filled, full of pretence and pride and swagger. Confused, holding on to things that are not so, they work with dirty intentions.
In plain words
Kāma here is not simple wanting. It is the version that cannot be finished - duṣpūra, impossible to fill.
That word is the key to the whole chapter. Ordinary desire ends when it gets what it wanted. This kind does not end, because the thing it is really after was never on the table.
So the person keeps going, and the going itself becomes the shape of their life.
Where you've felt this · with money
An uncle in your family has been saying for thirty years that he will be comfortable once the next thing comes through. The shop, then the second shop, then the land. All three came through. He is sixty-eight now, has more than anybody else in the family, and still talks about money the way a man talks about a leaking roof. The amount was never the problem.
Going deeper
Wanting that cannot be filled is a specific condition, and it is the engine of everything else in this chapter.
Duṣpūra means hard to fill: a jar with a hole in it. Normal desire has a shape - you want a thing, you get it, the wanting stops. This kind has no shape, because the object is a stand-in. Someone chasing money is usually not chasing money. They are chasing the feeling of finally being safe, and money cannot deliver that, so no amount is ever the right amount.
This is also why the chapter reads as unkind and is not, quite. A person in this state is not getting away with anything. They are working extremely hard at a job that was designed never to finish.
And it offers something easier to check than your own motives. Not what you want, but whether getting it has ever once been enough.