Light and darkness are equal in both halves of the lunar month — yet the Creator marked a difference in name. Taking the moon in one as “drying” and in the other as “nourishing”, the world gave one fame and the other blame.

चन्द्र-मास के दोनों पक्षों (शुक्ल और कृष्ण) में प्रकाश और अन्धकार समान ही होते हैं — फिर भी विधाता ने नामों में अन्तर कर दिया। चन्द्रमा को कहीं शोषक (क्षय करने वाला) और कहीं पोषक (बढ़ाने वाला) मानकर जगत ने एक को यश और दूसरे को अपयश दिया।

A quietly devastating observation. The bright and the dark halves of the lunar month have the same total light between them, night by night. The names “waxing” and “waning” assign the same phenomenon opposite valuations. Tulsīdās is preparing his readers to look past reputations — including his own poem’s.