Atri Smriti 1

Now begins the Atrismṛti.

Obeisance to holy Gaṇeśa.

O Keśava, for one blinded by the darkness of ignorance and covered by it, / be gracious with a benign face, O Lord, and grant the vision of knowledge.

Having approached Atri, best among the learned in the Veda, / seated after offering the agnihotra, the sages of praised vows inquired:

"O Blessed One, by what gift, silent recitation, or observance / are those burdened with sins purified? Tell us that, O great sage."

"For faults that have been confessed, as well as for grave sins, / and for all minor sins, I shall explain purification in truth:

By breath control, purifying [hymns], gifts, fire oblations, and silent recitation, / those desiring purification are released from sins; of this there is no doubt.

Seated with purifying kuśa grass in hand, repeating the daily sacred text, / [performing] breath controls, purifying [prayers], the sacred utterances, and the praṇava (Om),

always disciplined, one should repeatedly practice breath controls; / from the tips of the hair to the ends of the nails, one performs the highest austerity.

Faults committed through the skin, hide, flesh, blood, fat, marrow, and bones, / as well as those committed by the senses, are burned away by restraint of breath.

From retention wind is generated; from wind, indeed, fire is produced; / from heat, water arises; thus one is purified internally by the three.

Likewise skin and bodiless faults arrive according to nature; / thus the faults produced by the senses are burned away by the restraint of breath.

Through breath controls one should burn faults, and through concentrations, guilt; / through withdrawal, sense objects; and through meditation, unspiritual qualities.

Neither by severe austerity, nor by Vedic study, nor by sacrifice / are the gods able to attain that wisdom which they attain through yoga.

From yoga knowledge is attained; from yoga comes the characteristic of dharma; / yoga is the highest, constant austerity; therefore one should always be disciplined.

The Vedas begin with the praṇava and are established in the praṇava; / everything of speech consists of the praṇava; therefore one should repeat the praṇava.

For one devoted to the praṇava, to the seven sacred utterances, / and to the three-footed Gāyatrī mantra, there is no fear anywhere.

The single syllable is the supreme Brahman; breath control is the highest austerity; / and the Gāyatrī is the Brahman-power; it is handed down as the supreme purifier.

With the sacred utterances, with the praṇava, and together with the head verse, / one who holds the breath should recite the Gāyatrī three times; that is called breath control.

Thus ends the first chapter in the Smṛti of Atri.