As the sage pondered the daunting responsibilities of the householder’s life, a sudden vision appeared before him: Ghritachi, the apsara of divine form, stood radiant in the sky nearby. Her enchanting eyes and celestial beauty caught his attention, and despite his steadfast vows, his body was immediately overwhelmed by the five arrows of love. Troubled by this unexpected surge of desire, he thought, “What should I do now, caught in this peril?” He reflected deeply: even in the presence of Dharma, the force of desire is difficult to overcome. If he were to accept Ghritachi, who had come to tempt him, he knew that great ascetics and noble souls would mock him, seeing him agitated after a hundred years of severe austerity. “How has this great ascetic become helpless at the sight of an apsara?” he imagined them saying. Yet he mused, “Let there be reproach, if only there is incomparable pleasure.” He considered the householder’s life, which brings happiness, grants sons, and is said to bestow heaven—and for the wise, even liberation. But he realized that such fulfillment would not come from union with a celestial maiden. He recalled the tale he had heard from Narada, of how King Pururavas was defeated and enslaved by Urvashi. At this, the sages gathered and asked, “Who is King Pururavas? Who is Urvashi, the celestial maiden? What hardship did that great-souled king encounter? Please, O son of Lomaharshana, tell us the whole story. We long to hear the nectar of your speech, which is sweeter than ambrosia, just as the gods never tire of drinking amrita.” Suta replied, “O sages, listen to this divine and delightful tale as I have heard it from the noble Vyasa, to the best of my understanding.” He began: The beloved wife of the guru, famed as Tara, was endowed with beauty and youth, graceful and intoxicated with passion. One day, Tara went to the abode of the Moon, the sacrificer. The Moon, resplendent with beauty and youth, saw her and was instantly overwhelmed with desire. Tara, seeing the Moon, was likewise afflicted by love. Maddened by passion, both Tara and the Moon were pierced by love’s arrows. Intoxicated and mutually desiring, they spent several days together, delighting in each other’s company. Bṛhaspati, Tara’s husband, was afflicted with sorrow and sent his disciple to bring Tara home, but she, enchanted by the Moon, did not return. When the disciple repeatedly failed, Bṛhaspati, angered, went himself to the Moon’s abode. There, he confronted the smiling, intoxicated Moon. “O Moon, what is this deed you have done, so condemned by righteousness? Why have you taken my wife, whom I was protecting? I am your guru, and you are always the sacrificer. How, O fool, have you enjoyed your teacher’s wife, or did you protect her? A slayer of a Brāhmaṇa, a thief of gold, a drinker of liquor, one who violates the teacher’s bed—these are great sinners, and one who associates with them is the fifth. You are engaged in a great sin, of wicked conduct and utterly condemned; you are not fit for the abode of the gods if you have enjoyed this woman. Release this dark-eyed woman, let me take her to my house; otherwise, I will declare you as a thief of your guru’s wife.” As Bṛhaspati spoke thus, the lord of Rohiṇī replied to him, who was filled with anger and distressed by separation. The Moon said, “Because of your anger, Brāhmaṇas are difficult to please; they are worthy of worship, versed in the law, and must be avoided if otherwise. Tara will come to your house as she wishes; she is merely staying here, still a girl—what harm is there to you? She remains here of her own will, desiring pleasure; after a few days, she will return as she wishes. You yourself have previously stated the doctrine: a woman is not defiled by wandering, nor a Brāhmaṇa by Vedic rites.” Thus addressed, the guru, overwhelmed with grief, quickly returned to his own house, absorbed in anxious thoughts and stricken by love. After a few days, tormented by worry, he hurried to the house of the lord of medicines. Standing at the entrance, forbidden by the kṣatriyas, Bṛhaspati grew even more enraged when the Moon did not come out. He declared, “This one, who has become my disciple, has forcibly taken my guru’s wife, my mother; now he must be disciplined by me, for he is unrighteous.” Standing outside, he spoke in anger, “Why do you remain in the house, fool, wicked one, lowest of the gods? Give me my beloved woman at once, or I will curse you; if you do not give me my dear one, I will surely reduce you to ashes.” Hearing these harsh words, the lord of the twice-born quickly left the house. Soma, laughing, said, “Why do you speak so much? That dark-eyed, perfectly endowed woman is not suitable for you. Take another woman, one who is ugly and like yourself, O twice-born; such a beauty is not fit for a beggar’s house. It is said that pleasure is with a beloved who is one’s equal, O woman; you do not understand, dull-minded one, the decision of the science of love.” Thus, Suta narrated the tale, revealing the complexities of desire, dharma, and the power of passion even among the gods and sages.