[141] **"I ask you, Blessed One; tell me this" (pucchāmi taṃ bhagavā brūhi me taṃ):** "I ask you (pucchāmi taṃ)"¹ means: I ask you, I beg you, I request you, I entreat your grace, [saying] "Explain to me" — thus, "I ask you."
**"Blessed One" (Bhagavā):** this is a term of reverence … this designation "Blessed One" is a designation verified [by realization] (sacchikā paññatti).
**"Tell me this" (brūhi me taṃ)** means: tell, declare, teach, make known, establish, disclose, analyze, make plain, explain. Thus, "I ask you, Blessed One; tell me this."
Therefore that brahmin said:
"If those yoked to sacrifice, dear sir, did not cross over
birth (jāti) and aging (jarā) by their sacrifices, — so said the venerable Puṇṇaka —
then who, dear sir, in the world of devas and humans
has crossed over birth and aging?
I ask you, Blessed One; tell me this."
¹ Variant (Burmese edition): "metanti."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.