HV 68.1
अथास्तं गच्छति तदा मन्दरश्मौ दिवाकरे । संध्यारक्ततले व्योम्नि शशाङ्के पाण्डुमण्डले ॥
athāstaṃ gacchati tadā mandaraśmau divākare | saṃdhyāraktatale vyomni śaśāṅke pāṇḍumaṇḍale
Then, with the sun sinking with its dimmed rays, the sky's floor red with dusk, the moon with its pale circle rising.
The Living Words
*Manda-raśmau divākare*, 'with the sun's rays dimmed'; *saṃdhyā-rakta-tale vyomni*, 'the sky's floor (plane) red with twilight'; *śaśāṅke pāṇḍu-maṇḍale*, 'the moon with its pale circle.' Three celestial phenomena in three brief phrases — the sun weakening, the sky's red, the moon rising pale. The verse is a painting in words.
The Heart of It
The chapter opens on an emptied sky. The Harivaṃśa does something careful: before Akrūra sees Kṛṣṇa, it spends three verses showing us the evening Akrūra is arriving in. The darśana will land in a specific atmosphere. The Varkari tradition's love of sandhyā — the twilight-hour recitation of the Name, the arati-lamp waved at exactly this moment — is rooted in this verse's register. The hour is when the god's arrival becomes possible.