Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 6.4.6

tābhyāḿ nirdahyamānāḿs tān

upalabhya kurūdvaha

rājovāca mahān somo

manyuḿ praśamayann iva

SYNONYMS

tābhyām — by the wind and fire; nirdahyamānān — being burned; tān — them (the trees); upalabhya — seeing; kurūdvaha — O Mahārāja Parīkṣit; rājā — the king of the forest; uvāca — said; mahān — the great; somaḥ — predominating deity of the moon, Somadeva; manyum — the anger; praśamayan — pacifying; iva — like.

TRANSLATION

My dear King Parīkṣit, when Soma, the king of the trees and predominating deity of the moon, saw the fire and wind burning all the trees to ashes, he felt great sympathy because he is the maintainer of all herbs and trees. To appease the anger of the Pracetās, Soma spoke as follows.

PURPORT

It is understood from this verse that the predominating deity of the moon is the maintainer of all the trees and plants throughout the universe. It is due to the moonshine that trees and plants grow very luxuriantly. Therefore how can we accept the so-called scientists whose moon expeditions have informed us that there are no trees or vegetation on the moon? Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura says, somo vṛkṣādhiṣṭhātā sa eva vṛkṣāṇāḿ rājā: Soma, the predominating deity of the moon, is the king of all vegetation. How can we believe that the maintainer of vegetation has no vegetation on his own planet?

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness