Shloka 7
एष धर्मो मयोद्दिष्ट: सरहस्य: सुखावह:
eṣa dharmo mayoddiṣṭaḥ sa-rahasyaḥ sukhāvahaḥ | atha dharmakāya dvitīyaṃ gupta-rahasyaṃ śṛṇu | pūrṇamāsyāṃ tithau candrodaya-samaye tāmra-bhājane madhu-miśritaṃ pākaṃ gṛhītvā yaś candrāya baliṃ nivedayati, tasya yo nitya-dharma-phala-lābhaḥ, taṃ śraddhayā śṛṇu | tasya dattaṃ taṃ baliṃ sādhya-rudrāditya-viśvedevāśvinīkumāra-marudgaṇa-vasu-devatā api gṛhṇanti; tena ca candrasya samudrasya ca vṛddhir bhavati | iti mayā rahasya-sahitaḥ sukhadaḥ dharmo varṇitaḥ ||
Skanda said: “This is the dharma I have taught—secret in its inner meaning and productive of well-being. Now hear a second hidden teaching concerning dharma. On the full-moon day, at the moment of moonrise, if a person takes a sweet preparation mixed with honey in a copper vessel and offers it as a bali to the Moon, then listen with faith to the enduring fruit of that daily righteousness which he attains. The offering he gives is accepted not only by the Moon but also by the Sādhyas, Rudras, Ādityas, the Viśvedevas, the Aśvin twins, the Marut hosts, and the Vasus; and by this act the Moon and the ocean are said to increase. Thus have I described a dharma that is beneficial and accompanied by its secret rationale.”
स्कन्द उवाच
Educational Q&A
Skanda teaches an esoteric, welfare-bringing dharma: a full-moon, moonrise offering of a honey-sweet preparation in a copper vessel to Chandra, performed with faith, yields enduring religious merit and is portrayed as harmonizing the worshipper with multiple divine classes.
Skanda, as speaker, describes a specific ritual act (bali to the Moon at moonrise on Purnima), states that various divine groups accept the offering, and links the rite to cosmic nourishment—symbolically ‘increasing’ the Moon and the ocean—before concluding that he has explained a secret, beneficial dharma.