सः होवाच गार्ग्यः यः एव असौ चन्द्रे पुरुषः एतम् एव अहम् ब्रह्म उपास इति सः होवाच अजातशत्रुः मा म एतस्मिन् संवदिष्ठाः बृहन् पाण्दरवासाः सोमः राजा इति वै अहम् एतम् उपास इति सः यः एतम् एवम् उपास्ते अहर् अहर् सुतः प्रसुतः भवति न अस्य अन्नम् क्षीयते
saḥ hovāca gārgyaḥ yaḥ eva asau candre puruṣaḥ etam eva aham brahma upāsa iti saḥ hovāca ajātaśatruḥ mā ma etasmin saṃvadiṣṭhāḥ bṛhan pāṇdaravāsāḥ somaḥ rājā iti vai aham etam upāsa iti saḥ yaḥ etam evam upāste ahar ahar sutaḥ prasutaḥ bhavati na asya annam kṣīyate
Gārgya said: "The person who is in the moon — him I venerate as Brahman." Ajātaśatru said: "Do not speak to me of him! I venerate him as the great King Soma in white raiment." For him who venerates him thus, [soma] is pressed and poured day after day, and his food does not fail.
02a2d7668175 · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:50:55 AM UTC
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The second address is the moon, and again the king is ahead: "the great King Soma in white raiment" — the moon as the heavenly cup of the sacrificial draught, clothed in white light. The fruit is proportionate: for the knower "soma is pressed day after day" — his life becomes an unbroken sacrificial plenty, and "his food does not fail".
The king's method is worth noting: he rejects none of Gārgya's images — for each he names the exact rank and the exact payment. In this he goes deeper than any disputant: to refute the partial is cheap; to know the place of the partial is knowledge. But the sum of all the places still will not yield the Master of the places — and that is where the king is leading.