Garudapurana 1.217

Garuḍa Purāṇa 217 / Brahmā said: / Now I shall explain concisely the rite of twilight devotion for the twice-born: / Whether impure or pure, or in whatever condition one might be,

whoever remembers the Lotus-eyed One becomes pure both externally and internally.

The metre is Gāyatrī; the ṛṣi is Viśvāmitra; it has three feet. / The oceans are the belly; the moon and sun are the eyes; / fire is the mouth; / Viṣṇu is the heart; / Brahmā and Rudra are the head; / Rudra is the topknot. / The application is in the sacred thread ceremony. / Oṃ bhūḥ, on the feet; / bhuvaḥ, on the knees; / svaḥ, on the heart; / mahaḥ, on the head; / janaḥ, on the topknot; / tapaḥ, on the throat; / satyam, on the forehead. / Oṃ, to the heart, namaḥ; / oṃ bhūḥ, to the head, svāhā; / oṃ bhuvaḥ, to the topknot, vauṣaṭ; / oṃ svaḥ, to the armour, huṃ; / oṃ bhūrbhuvaḥ svaḥ, to the weapon, phaṭ.

“Oṃ bhūḥ, oṃ bhuvaḥ, oṃ svaḥ, oṃ mahaḥ, oṃ janaḥ, oṃ tapaḥ, oṃ satyam”—this has three feet. / “Oṃ, waters, light, essence, nectar, Brahman, bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ, om.” / “Oṃ sūryaśca…” and so forth; / “Oṃ āpaḥ punantu…” and so forth; / “Oṃ agniśca…” and so forth.

“Oṃ, may the boon-giving goddess come! In the forenoon she has Brahmā as her deity, / the twilight devotion named Gāyatrī, red-limbed, wearing red garments, / mounted upon an excellent swan, seated in splendid Puṣkara,

bearing a water-pot, peaceful, holding a rosary. / May the boon-giving goddess come at midday, white-formed,

the consort of Maheśvara, Sāvitrī, adorned with white garments and ornaments, / mounted upon the shoulders of a bull, holding an excellent trident.

May the boon-giving goddess come in the afternoon as Sarasvatī, / resembling the flax flower, Vaiṣṇavī, seated upon Garuḍa,

wearing yellow garments, equipped with conch, discus, mace, and lotus.” / Described as white in colour, residing in the solar orb,

seated upon a white lotus-seat, adorned with white flowers. / “Oṃ, waters indeed are soothing; make us enjoy food

for great and delightful vision. / Oṃ, what most auspicious essence is yours, / make us share in it here, / like loving mothers. / Oṃ, may we go to that realm of yours to whose dwelling you invigorate us; / and give us offspring, O waters. / Oṃ, may the waters and medicinal herbs be friendly to us; may they be unfriendly to him who hates us and whom we hate. / Oṃ, freed as if from a wooden post, sweating, [cleansed] as if from dirt by bathing, / purified like ghee by a strainer, may the waters cleanse me of sin. / Oṃ, cosmic order and truth were born from blazing austerity; / from that the night was born; / from that the billowy ocean was born. / From the billowy ocean the year was born, / ordaining days and nights, the ruler of all that blinks. / The Creator fashioned the sun and the moon as before, / and the heaven and the earth, the intermediate space, and the sky.”

Of the Gāyatrī, Viśvāmitra is the ṛṣi; the metre is Gāyatrī; / the deity is Savitṛ; the application is in recitation: / “Oṃ, the rays carry upward the god who knows all beings, / the sun, for all to see. / Oṃ, the radiant host of gods has risen, the eye of Mitra, Varuṇa, and Agni; / he has filled heaven, earth, and the intermediate space, the sun, the soul of what moves and what stands still. / Oṃ, that eye set by the gods, pure, which rises in the east, / may we see for a hundred autumns, may we live for a hundred autumns, / may we hear for a hundred autumns. / Oṃ, whose eyes are everywhere and whose mouth is everywhere, whose arms are everywhere and whose feet are everywhere, / fanning with his two arms and his wings, creating heaven and earth, the one god. / O gods who know the path […], O lord of mind, [protect] this sacrifice to the gods! Svāhā! Placed in the wind!” He should recite.

“O goddess born on the northern peak, dwelling on the earth’s mountains, / permitted by Brahmā, go according to your pleasure!”

Thus ends the two hundred and seventeenth chapter, named ‘Explanation of the Rules of Twilight Devotion’, in the Section on Proper Conduct, within the first part titled ‘First Section’ in the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa.