264 PRAYERS TO VARIOUS DEITIES
Ho makes the usual ablutions. Then, turning to the north, he reealls the memory of Vishnu. He then thinks of Brahma and addresses the following prayer to
: him
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Brahma, you have four faces, you are my creator!
Forgive me all the sins that I have committed. I am now
beginning the evening sandhya. Deign to be present, and repose on my chest, and deliver me from my sins.'
He then recites the mantram which begins with these
' words:—
' Glory to the lesser worlds! and so on as before.
Closing up both nostrils, he thinks of Vishnu, and imagines
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that he is resting on his navel, and says: Vishnu! you are of great stature and black in colour. You have
four arms, you are the preserver of all that exists; destroy my sins.' He offers worship to the seven greater worlds, as in the morning sandhya, and again addressing Vishnu,
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he says: You have created light, amrita, and all that is used for the food of mankind. Preserve me, and preserve
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all that lives in the world! Closing the right nostril with his finger, he breathes strongly through the left, and by this means burns all the sins that are in his body. Then he ejects them by breathing forcibly through the right nostril. He then directs his thoughts to Siva, the destroyer of sin and of all things, and imagines that he is resting on
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his forehead. He says to him: Siva! you are white and tall. You have the mark of a half-moon on your
forehead; you have three eyes; you destroy all things; you are the god of gods; I implore your protection, and
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offer you worship! He once more offers puja to the different worlds, and destroys his sins by virtue of the following prayer:—' Oh, may my sins be destroyed by the
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almighty power of the sun and the fire! He adds:
fire! you are prayer and the god of prayer. Forgive me
all the mistakes I have made in the different mantrams that
I have recited; and forgive me, besides, all the sins that I have this day committed in thought, word, and deed.
May this water, which I drink from my uplifted hand, destroy everything bad and sinful that may be in me.'
He performs the achamania as at the morning sandhya.
He also inhales some purified water into his nostrils, as he did before, and recites the mantram which begins with
'
O