CHAP.

II.

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called práchínávítí; and nivítí, when it is fastened on ' his neck.

64. His girdle, his leathern mantle, his staff, his 'sacrificial cord, and his ewer, he must throw into the 'water, when they are worn out or broken, and receive others hallowed by mystical texts.

65. The ceremony of césánta, or cutting off the hair, is ordained for a priest in the sixteenth year from conception; for a soldier, in the twenty-second; for a merchant, two years later than that.

66. The same ceremonies, except that of the sacrificial thread, must be duly performed for women

at

the same age and in the same order, that the body may be made perfect; but without any text from the 6 Véda:

67. The nuptial ceremony is considered as the complete institution of women, ordained for them in the Véda, together with reverence to their husbands, dwelling first in their father's family, the business of the house, and attention to sacred fire.

68. Such is the revealed law of institution for the twice born; an institution in which their second birth clearly consists, and which causes their advancement in holiness now learn to what duties they must afterwards apply themselves.

69. THE venerable preceptor, having girt his pupil with the thread, must first instruct him in purifica

tion,

II.

tion, in good customs, in the management of the CHAP. consecrated fire, and in the holy rites of morning, noon, and evening.

70. When the student is going to read the Véda, he must perform an ablution, as the law ordains, with his face to the north, and, having paid scriptural 'homage, he must receive instruction, wearing a clean vest, his members being duly composed :

71. At the beginning and end of the lecture, he 'must always clasp both the feet of his preceptor; and 'he must read with both his hands closed: (this is 'called scriptural homage.)

72. With crossed hands let him clasp the feet of his tutor, touching the left foot with his left, and 'the right, with his right hand.

73. When he is prepared for the lecture, the pre'ceptor, constantly attentive, must say: "hoa! read;" and at the close of the lesson he must say : "take "rest."

74. A Bráhmen, beginning and ending a lecture on 'the Veda, must always pronounce to himself the syllable óm; for, unless the syllable om precede, his learning will slip away from him; and, unless it 'follow, nothing will be long retained.

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75. If he have sitten on culms of cusa with their points toward the east, and be purified by rubbing

'that

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CHAP, that holy grass on both his hands, and be further prepared by three suppressions of breath each equal in time to five short vowels, he then may fitly pro

C nounce om.

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76. BRAHMA' milked out, as it were,

from the

three Vedas, the letter A, the letter U, and the

letter M, which form by their coalition the triliteral 'monosyllable, together with three mysterious words, bhur, bhuvah, swer, or earth, sky, heaven:

77. From the three Vedas, also, the Lord of creatures, incomprehensibly exalted, successively milked out the three measures of that ineffable text, beginning with the word tad, and entitled savitri or gayatri.

78. A priest who shall know the Veda, and shall pronounce to himself, both morning and evening, 'that syllable, and that holy text preceded by the 'three words, shall attain the sanctity which the Veda ⚫ confers;

79. And a twice born man, who shall a thousand times repeat those three (or óm, the vyáhritis, and the gayatri,) apart from the multitude, shall be released in a month even from a great offence, as a snake from his slough.

80. The priest, the soldier, and the merchant, who shall neglect this mysterious text, and fail to perform

in due season his peculiar acts of piety, shall meet 'with contempt among the virtuous.

81. The

II.

81. The three great immutable words, preceded by CHAP. 'the triliteral syllable, and followed by the guyatrì ' which consists of three measures, must be consider'ed as the mouth, or principal part of the Véda :

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82. Whoever shall repeat, day by day, for three years, without negligence, that sacred text, shall hereafter approach the divine essence, move as freely as air, and assume an ethereal form.

83. The triliteral monosyllable is an emblem of the Supreme, the suppressions of breath with a mind fixed on GOD are the highest devotion; but nothing is more exalted than the gayatrì: a declaration of truth ' is more excellent than silence.

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84. All rites ordained in the Vida, oblatio ns to fire, and solemn sacrifices pass away; but that 'which passes not away, is declared to be the syllable om, thence called acshara: since it is a symbol of GOD, the Lord of created beings.

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85. The act of repeating his Holy Name is ten times better than the appointed sacrifice; an hundred times better when it is heard by no man; and a thousand times better when it is purely mental: 86. The four domestick sacraments which are accompanied with the appointed sacrifice, are not equal, though all be united, to a sixteenth part of 'the sacrifice performed by a repetition of the gaya6 trì:

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87. By the sole repetition of the gayatrì, a priest

CHAP.

II.

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may indubitably attain beatitude, let him perform, or not perform, any other religious act; if he be Maitra, or a friend to all creatures, he is justly named Brahmena, or united to the Great One.

88. In restraining the organs which run wild among ravishing sensualities, a wise man will apply diligent care, like a charioteer in managing restive horses.

89. Those eleven organs, to which the first sages gave names, I will comprehensively enumerate as the law considers them in due order.

90. The nose is the fifth after the ears, the skin, 'the eyes, and the tongue; and the organs of speech are reckoned the tenth, after those of excretion and generation, and the hands and feet:

91. Five of them, the ear and the rest in succession, learned men have called organs of sense; and the others, organs of action :

92. The heart must be considered as the eleventh ; which, by its natural property, comprises both sense and action; and which being subdued, the two other sets, with five in each, are also controlled.

93. A man, by the attachment of his organs to 'sensual pleasure, incurs certain guilt; but, having wholly subdued them, he thence attains heavenly • bliss.

94. Desire is never satisfied with the enjoyment of • desired