[192] **"Him do I pay homage to, having met him, the nāga (taṃ taṃ namassāmi samecca nāgaṃ)"**: by "him (taṃ)" he speaks of the Blessed One. **"I pay homage (namassāmi)"** means: I pay homage with the body, or I pay homage with the mind; I pay homage by practice in accordance with the meaning (anvatthapaṭipatti), or I pay homage by practice in conformity with the Dhamma (dhammānudhammapaṭipatti); I honor, I revere, I esteem, I venerate him. **"Having met (samecca)"** means: having met, having encountered, having come together with, having approached him, face to face I pay homage to him. **"The nāga"**: a nāga. The Blessed One does no wrong (āguṃ na karoti), therefore he is a nāga. He does not go (na gacchati), therefore he is a nāga. He does not come back (na āgacchati), therefore he is a nāga.
How does the Blessed One do no wrong, so that he is a nāga? "Wrongs (āgu)" are said to be evil, unwholesome dhammas that are defiling, that lead to renewed existence, that are accompanied by anguish, that ripen in suffering (dukkha), that lead to future birth, aging, and death.
He does no wrong whatever in the world;
having cast off all yokes and bonds,
liberated, he clings nowhere at all—
such a one (tādi) is called a nāga, because he is thus.
Thus the Blessed One does no wrong, therefore he is a nāga.
How does the Blessed One not go, so that he is a nāga? The Blessed One does not go the wrong course of desire, does not go the wrong course of hatred, does not go the wrong course of delusion, does not go the wrong course of fear; he does not go by the power of lust, does not go by the power of hatred (dosa), does not go by the power of delusion (moha), does not go by the power of views, does not go by the power of conceit, does not go by the power of restlessness, does not go by the power of doubt (vicikicchā), does not go by the power of the latent tendencies (anusaya); he is not led, not carried off, not borne along, not swept away by partisan dhammas. Thus the Blessed One does not go, therefore he is a nāga.
How does the Blessed One not come back, so that he is a nāga? Those defilements (kilesa) that were abandoned by the path of stream-entry — to those defilements he does not come again, he does not return, he does not come back. Those defilements that were abandoned by the path of once-returning, by the path of non-returning — to those defilements he does not come again, he does not return, he does not come back. Those defilements that were abandoned by the path of arahantship — to those defilements he does not come again, he does not return, he does not come back. Thus the Blessed One does not come back, therefore he is a nāga. Hence: "Him do I pay homage to, having met him, the nāga."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.