Garudapurana 1.50

The glorious Garuḍa Purāṇa — [Chapter] 50
Brahmā said: / He who performs the daily rite day by day will attain knowledge. / Rising at the brāhma muhūrta, he should contemplate dharma and wealth;

He should contemplate in his heart Hari, who is bliss, unaging, seated in the lotus. / And when dawn has arrived, having performed the necessary [bodily duties], the wise man,

Having performed purification according to rule, should bathe in pure rivers. / By the morning bath even people who commit sins are purified.

Therefore, with every effort, one should perform the morning bath. / They praise the morning bath, for it produces visible and invisible results.

Saliva and other impurities continually flow from one who has slept peacefully; / Therefore, without first bathing, one must not perform rituals at all.

Misfortune, ill-omen, bad dreams, and ill thoughts— / Sins are washed away by the morning bath; of this there is no doubt.

And no rite is declared efficacious for men without a bath, / Especially in fire offering (homa) and recitation (japa); therefore one should perform the bath.

In case of incapacity, however, a bath without wetting the head is prescribed for him, / Or wiping the body with a damp cloth is declared to be a bodily [cleansing].

A sixfold bath should be observed: / The brāhma, āgneya, vāyavya, divya, / Vāruṇa, and likewise the yaugika [bath].

The brāhma bath is sprinkling with mantras using kuśa grass with drops of water; / The āgneya bath is dusting the body with ash from foot to head;

The vāyavya bath is declared to be the best, performed with dust [raised by] cows; / And the bath that is taken in rain accompanied by sunshine is called divya;

The vāruṇa bath is immersion [in water]; the mental bath is knowledge of the self; / The yaugika bath is described as meditation on Hari through yoga.

It is known as the sacred ford of the self (ātmatīrtha), frequented by knowers of Brahman. / Auspicious [tooth-twigs] are derived from milky trees, produced from the mālatī plant,

Apāmārga, vilva, and karavīra for cleaning [the teeth]; / Facing north or facing east, one should chew the tooth-cleansing twig.

Having washed it and chewed it, one should discard it in a clean place, composed in mind. / Having bathed, one should make libations to the gods, the ṛṣis, and the host of ancestors.

Having performed sipping according to rule, and constantly sipping again, restraining speech, / Cleansing oneself with mantras using kuśa grass with drops of water,

With the Āpo hiṣṭhā hymn, the vyāhṛtis, the Sāvitrī, and auspicious Vāruṇa hymns, / [And] the Gāyatrī, the mother of the Vedas, accompanied by the syllable Om and the vyāhṛtis,

Having recited [it], he should offer a handful of water to the sun with focused mind. / Then, standing upon darbha grass with tips pointed eastward, deeply concentrated,

Having then performed breath control, he should meditate on the twilight (sandhyā)—so says the Veda. / The twilight is the mother of the universe, beyond māyā, parts-less,

The sovereign, absolute power, originating from the three principles (tattva); / Having meditated on the red, white, and black Gāyatrī, the wise man should recite it.

Facing east, the brāhmaṇa should always perform twilight worship (sandhyopāsana); / One devoid of twilight worship is permanently impure, unfit for any ritual.

Whatever else he does, he does not partake in its fruit. / Good brāhmaṇas who have mastered the Vedas, with single-pointed minds,

Having worshipped the twilight according to rule, have reached the supreme goal of old. / The excellent twice-born who makes effort elsewhere in religious duties,

Abandoning salutation to the twilight, goes to ten thousand hells; / Therefore, with every effort, one should perform twilight worship.

Thereby the supreme deity, whose body is yoga, will be worshipped. / The wise man, facing east, self-controlled and pure, should recite the Gāyatrī,

A thousand times as the highest, a hundred times as the intermediate, and ten times as the minimum. / Then, composed in mind, he should attend upon the rising sun

With various solar mantras designated as ṛc, yajus, and sāman. / Having attended upon the Sun, the god of gods of great yoga,

He should make a prostration on the ground with his head consecrated by mantras: / 'Om, to Khakholka, the peaceful one, the cause of the three origins,

I offer myself; salutations to you whose form is knowledge! / You alone are the supreme Brahman, water, light, essence, nectar,

Bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ; you are the syllable Om, Sarva, Rudra, eternal.' / Having recited this Sūryahṛdaya, the supreme hymn of praise,

In the morning and at midday, he should bow to the Sun. / Then, returning home, the brāhmaṇa, having properly performed sipping according to rule,

Kindling the fire according to rule, should make offerings to Jātavedas. / An officiating priest, a son, or a wife, or a pupil, or a brother,

Having specifically obtained permission, may make the offering according to rule. / A rite done without a mantra bears no fruit here or hereafter.

He should bow down to the deities and present offerings; / He should also serve the guru and perform what is beneficial to him.

Then the twice-born should diligently engage in the study of the Veda according to his capacity; / He should recite, or teach students, or memorize, or deliberate.

The excellent twice-born should also examine the treatises on dharma and the rest, / And the Vedic scriptures and auxiliary sciences (vedāṅgas) completely.

He should approach God for the attainment of acquisition and preservation (yogakṣema); / Then the twice-born should pursue various means of livelihood for the sake of his household.

Then, at midday, he should fetch earth for the sake of bathing, / Flowers, unbroken grain, sesame, kuśa grass, and pure cow dung.

He should bathe in rivers, artificial ponds made for deities, tanks, and natural lakes; / He should never bathe in [a water reservoir] belonging to another.

Without lifting up five lumps of earth, bathing is always considered tainted. / One should wash the head with one lump of earth, and above the navel with two.

Below [the navel] one should wash with three, and likewise both feet with six. / The clay is prescribed to be the size of a large myrobalan fruit.

The same measure is prescribed for cow dung, with which one should then smear the body. / Having rinsed and properly sipped water according to the rule, one should then bathe with a collected mind.

Having smeared [oneself] while standing on the bank, with mantras containing the appropriate marks, / and having consecrated the water with auspicious mantras addressed to Varuṇa,

at the time of bathing one should remember Viṣṇu, because water is Nārāyaṇa. / Looking upon the sun with the syllable Oṃ, one should immerse oneself three times in the body of water.

Having sipped water, the knower of mantras should sip water again with this mantra: / 'You move within beings, inside the cave of the heart, facing in all directions;

you are the sacrifice, you are the vaṣaṭ-call, you are the waters, light, essence, and nectar.' / Or one should repeat the drupadā verse three times, accompanied by the vyāhṛtis and the praṇava,

or the wise person should recite the sāvitrī and also the aghamarṣaṇa mantra. / Then one should perform sprinkling with the hymn 'āpo hi ṣṭhā mayobhuvaḥ…' [RV 10.9.1],

and likewise with 'idam āpaḥ pravahata…' [RV 1.23.22] and the vyāhṛtis. / Then the water, consecrated with the mantras beginning with 'āpo hi ṣṭhā…',

submerged under water facing downward, one should recite the aghamarṣaṇa three times, / or the drupadā, or the sāvitrī, or 'tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṃ padam…' [RV 1.22.20].

Or one may repeat the praṇava, and remember Hari, the God of gods. / Taking up water in the hand and reciting [mantras] when the sprinkling has been done,

and placing that water on the head, one is freed from all sins. / Having performed the twilight worship and sipped water, one should constantly contemplate the Lord.

Then one should stand facing the sun with hollowed hands raised filled with flowers. / Offering it, one may gaze at the rising deity if possible.

With the mantras 'ud u tyaṃ…' [RV 1.50.1], 'citraṃ…' [RV 1.115.1], 'tac cakṣur…' [RV 7.66.16], / with 'haṃsaḥ śuciṣat…' [RV 4.40.5], and especially with the sāvitrī,

and with other Vedic solar hymns; and thereafter one should recite the Gāyatrī / and various mantras, seated on a kuśa grass seat whose tips point eastward.

Standing and looking at the sun, one should recite with a collected mind. / With [rosaries of] crystal, lotus seeds, rudrākṣa, or those made of putrajīva,

a rosary should be made, which is stated to be used inwardly. / If wearing wet clothes, one should perform [the recitation] standing in the midst of water;

otherwise, [one should perform it] on pure ground, seated on darbha grass with a collected mind. / Having turned in circumambulation and then bowed down upon the ground,

and having sipped water according to the scriptures, one should perform personal Vedic study to the best of one's ability. / Then one should offer libations to the gods, the sages, and the ancestral spirits.

Uttering the syllable Oṃ at the beginning, followed by 'namaḥ' and 'tarpayāmi' at the end, / one should offer libations to the gods and the brahmanical sages with water mixed with unbroken grains;

to the ancestors, the gods, and the sages with devotion, according to the rule declared in one's own sūtra.

The wise person should satisfy the gods and sages, and the ancestors with hollowed hands of water; / wearing the sacred thread over the left shoulder for the gods, suspended around the neck for libations to sages,

and over the right shoulder for the ancestral rites, using that sacred part of the hand, O Bhārata. / Wringing out the bathing garment and sipping water with restrained speech,

one should worship the gods with their respective mantras, using flowers, leaves, and water: / Brahmā, Śaṅkara, Sūrya, and likewise Madhusūdana,

and other chosen deities with devotion, free from anger, O Hara! / Or one may offer flowers and the like with the Puruṣa Sūkta.

All deities are indeed present in the waters; they are thus fully worshipped by this. / Having meditated on the deity with the praṇava, composed in mind in the water,

one should offer flowers individually with obeisance. / For without worship, no Vedic rite produces merit.

Therefore, at the beginning, middle, and end thereof, one should hold Hari in mind / with the mantra 'tad viṣṇoḥ…' and with the Puruṣa Sūkta,

and one should dedicate oneself to Viṣṇu of spotless splendor. / With mind intent on the Supreme Self, peaceful, through the mantra 'tad viṣṇoḥ…',

[…] one should worship Hari with flowers. / One should perform the five sacrifices: the sacrifice to the gods, the sacrifice to the ancestors, / likewise the human sacrifice, and the sacrifice to Brahman.

If [it is performed] prior to the libation, how could the sacrifice to Brahman take place? / Having performed the sacrifice to humans, one should then perform personal Vedic study.

The Vaiśvadeva rite must be performed; that is remembered as the sacrifice to the gods. / That which is an offering of food to living beings should be known as the sacrifice to beings.

To dogs, outcastes, the fallen, and the like, / and to birds, the best of the twice-born should give food outside on the ground.

One should feed a single brāhmaṇa on behalf of the ancestors, O best of men; / that daily śrāddha offered on their behalf is the sacrifice to the ancestors, granting a good destination.

Or having set aside some food to the best of one's ability with a collected mind, / one should offer it to a twice-born person who knows the true meaning of the Veda.

One should always revere a guest; one should bow to and worship a twice-born person / who is peaceful, with mind, speech, and deed, welcoming them into one's home.

They say an alms-portion consists of a single mouthful of food, and four times that is a measure of food; / four times that is called a hantakāra, a bountiful offering.

One should oneself wait for a guest for the time it takes to milk a cow. / Likewise, one should honour guests who have arrived according to one's capacity.

One should give alms to a renunciant according to the rule, and to a celibate student; / free from greed, one should give food to supplicants according to one's ability.

One should eat together with kinsmen with restrained speech, not finding fault with the food. / But if a twice-born, the best of the twice-born, without having performed the five great sacrifices,

eats, that foolish person goes to the womb of an animal. / Daily study of the Veda according to ability, forgiveness, and performance of the great sacrifices,

as well as the worship of the gods, quickly destroy sins. / One who, out of delusion or laziness, eats without having performed worship of the deities,

goes to the hells and is born among swine. / I shall now declare ritual impurity: an impure person is always a sinner.

Ritual impurity arises from contact, and purification from avoiding contact. / All wise brāhmaṇas declare ritual impurity to last ten days

upon deaths or births among brāhmaṇas, O best of the twice-born. / Before the eruption of teeth [purification is] immediate; up to the tonsure rite, [impurity lasts] one night;

three nights up to the sacred thread investiture, and ten nights thereafter. / A kṣatriya becomes pure in twelve days, a vaiśya in fifteen,

and a śūdra is purified in a month; ascetics incur no taint. / In miscarriages, purification is attained in as many nights as the months [of gestation].

Thus ends the fiftieth chapter, named 'Determination of Daily Rites and Impurity', in the Ācārakāṇḍa of the first part in the first section of the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa.