Text 38
tasminn alupta-mahimā priyayānurakto
vidyādharībhir upacīrṇa-vapur vimāne
babhrāja utkaca-kumud-gaṇavān apīcyas
tārābhir āvṛta ivoḍu-patir nabhaḥ-sthaḥ
tasmin — in that; alupta — not lost; mahimā — glory; priyayā — with his beloved consort; anuraktaḥ — attached; vidyādharībhiḥ — by the Gandharva girls; upacīrṇa — waited upon; vapuḥ — his person; vimāne — on the airplane; babhrāja — he shone; utkaca — open; kumut-gaṇavān — the moon, which is followed by rows of lilies; apīcyaḥ — very charming; tārābhiḥ — by stars; āvṛtaḥ — surrounded; iva — as; uḍu-patiḥ — the moon (the chief of the stars); nabhaḥ-sthaḥ — in the sky.
Though seemingly attached to his beloved consort while served by the Gandharva girls, the sage did not lose his glory, which was mastery over his self. In the aerial mansion, Kardama Muni with his consort shone as charmingly as the moon in the midst of the stars in the sky, which causes rows of lilies to open in ponds at night.
The mansion was in the sky, and therefore the comparison to the full moon and stars is very beautifully composed in this verse. Kardama Muni looked like the full moon, and the girls who surrounded his wife, Devahūti, seemed just like the stars. On a full-moon night the stars and the moon together form a beautiful constellation. Similarly, in that aerial mansion in the sky, Kardama Muni with his beautiful wife and the damsels surrounding them appeared like the moon and stars on a full-moon night.