Shloka 45
अध्याय १६ — शङ्कर-उमा-वरदानम् तथा तण्डि-स्तुतिः (Śaṅkara–Umā Boon-Granting and Taṇḍi’s Hymn)
अयं च पितृयानानां चन्द्रमा द्वारमुच्यते । एष काष्ठा दिशश्वैव संवत्सरयुगादि च
ayaṃ ca pitṛyānānāṃ candramā dvāram ucyate | eṣa kāṣṭhā diśaś caiva saṃvatsarayugādi ca
Vāyu sprach: „Der Mond gilt als das Tor für jene, die den Weg der Ahnen (pitṛyāna) gehen. Von ihm werden auch die Einteilungen von Zeit und Richtung berechnet—wie die Himmelsgegenden, die festen Punkte (kāṣṭhā) und die Maße, die mit Jahr und Yuga beginnen.“
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links cosmic order with moral-ritual order: the Moon is presented as a key threshold for the pitṛyāna (ancestral post-mortem path) and as a regulator by which directions and major measures of time (year, yuga, etc.) are reckoned—implying that dharmic rites and the cosmos are coordinated through lunar order.
Vāyu is explaining cosmological structure: he identifies the Moon as the ‘gate’ for those who proceed along the ancestral route after death and states that the Moon is also the basis for reckoning directional points and temporal divisions such as the year and larger epochs.