स होवाच ये वै के चास्माल्लोकात्प्रयन्ति चन्द्रमसमेव ते सर्वे गच्छन्ति । तेषां प्राणैः पूर्वपक्ष आप्यायते । अथापरपक्षे न प्रजनयति । एतद्वै स्वर्गस्य लोकस्य द्वारं यश्चन्द्रमास्तं यत्प्रत्याह तमतिसृजतेऽथ य एनं प्रत्याहतमिह वृष्टिर्भूत्वा वर्षति स इह कीटो वा पतङ्गो वा शकुनिर्वा शार्दूलो वा सिंहो वा मत्स्यो वा परश्वा वा पुरुषो वान्यो वैतेषु स्थानेषु प्रत्याजायते यथाकर्म यथाविद्यम् । तमागतं पृच्छति कोऽसीति तं प्रतिब्रूयाद्विचक्षणादृतवो रेत आभृतं पञ्चदशात्प्रसूतात्पित्र्यावतस्तन्मा पुंसि कर्तर्येरयध्वं पुंसा कर्त्रा मातरि मा निषिक्तः स जायमान उपजायमानो द्वादश त्रयोदश उपमासो द्वादशत्रयोदशेन पित्रा सन्तद्विदेहं तन्म ऋतवो मर्त्यव आरभध्वम् । तेन सत्येन तपसर्तुरस्म्यार्तवोऽस्मि कोऽसि त्वमस्मीति तमतिसृजते
sa hovāca ye vai ke cāsmāllokātprayanti candramasameva te sarve gacchanti | teṣāṃ prāṇaiḥ pūrvapakṣa āpyāyate | athāparapakṣe na prajanayati | etadvai svargasya lokasya dvāraṃ yaścandramāstaṃ yatpratyāha tamatisṛjate'tha ya enaṃ pratyāhatamiha vṛṣṭirbhūtvā varṣati sa iha kīṭo vā pataṅgo vā śakunirvā śārdūlo vā siṃho vā matsyo vā paraśvā vā puruṣo vānyo vaiteṣu sthāneṣu pratyājāyate yathākarma yathāvidyam | tamāgataṃ pṛcchati ko'sīti taṃ pratibrūyādvicakṣaṇādṛtavo reta ābhṛtaṃ pañcadaśātprasūtātpitryāvatastanmā puṃsi kartaryerayadhvaṃ puṃsā kartrā mātari mā niṣiktaḥ sa jāyamāna upajāyamāno dvādaśa trayodaśa upamāso dvādaśatrayodaśena pitrā santadvidehaṃ tanma ṛtavo martyava ārabhadhvam | tena satyena tapasarturasmyārtavo'smi ko'si tvamasmīti tamatisṛjate
He said: all who depart from this world go to the moon. By their breaths its bright half waxes, and in its dark half it brings them forth again. The moon is the door of the heavenly world: who answers it, him it lets pass; and who does not answer, him it rains down here, having become rain, and he is born here as a worm, or a moth, or a bird, or a tiger, or a lion, or a fish, or a boar, or a man, or another, in these stations — according to his deeds and according to his knowledge. The one who arrives it asks: “Who are you?” And let him answer: “From the Far-seeing, O seasons, the seed was brought — from the fifteenfold, the begetter, from the abode of the fathers. Send me into a man, the doer; by the man, the doer, I was poured into the mother. Being born and born again, I am the added twelfth or thirteenth month beside the father of twelve or thirteen months. I know this; O seasons, raise me to immortality. By that truth, by that austerity — I am the season, I am born of the seasons. Who are you? — I am you.” And it lets him pass.
cd8d08fb415a · publicado 29 jul 2026, 3:43:45 UTC
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Here the teaching proper begins, and it answers Citra's question: where does the departing one go?
The first assertion is unexpectedly broad: “all who depart go to the moon”. Not only the righteous and not only the knowing — all. The moon is named not a reward but a crossroads: both roads pass through it, and only there is it decided which is yours.
It is also explained why the moon waxes and wanes: it “swells with their breaths”. The departed are its food, and in the dark half it “brings them forth again” — releases them back into the round. Thus the natural course of the month is read as the visible part of an invisible movement of souls.
Then comes the test, and it is framed as a question: “who are you?” Not “what have you done” and not “how many sacrifices have you brought”, but “who are you”. He who fails to answer is rained down and born “according to his deeds and according to his knowledge”, yathā-karma yathā-vidyam. Notice that two measures are named, not one: deeds determine the lot, but so does knowledge. And the list of births — from worm to man — is deliberately not ranked: it shows the breadth of the fall, not a ladder.
The answer itself is difficult, and its text is damaged in places in the manuscripts; but the line of thought is clear. The answerer names neither name, nor family, nor merits. He speaks of his provenance: the seed was brought from the moon, “the Far-seeing”, through the fathers and the seasons, and poured through the man into the mother. He identifies himself, that is, not as a separate person but as a link of that very round at whose gate he stands.
And the answer ends with the words for which all this is said: “I am the season, I am born of the seasons... Who are you? — I am you.” Having owned himself part of the whole, he recognises in the questioner the same principle. The questioning moon and the answerer prove to be of one nature — and therefore the gate opens.
Here one must not go wrong. What is said does not cancel the difference between the soul and the Lord: this is the gate of the round, not the end of the way. Further on, in the third mantra, the path of the gods will begin, and in the sixth the answer will be given to Brahmā himself — and there the answer will be different.