Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 306

CLOSING PRAYERS
266
Then, facing the north, with his arms hanging down,
he recites the gayatri mantram, in the same manner and the
same number of times as before. It is impossible to repeat
this prayer too often in the evening, evening prayers being
so much more efficacious than others.
A Brahmin who
daily recites this prayer uninterruptedly from sunset to
midnight will by this pious exercise most assuredly place
for.
himself beyond the possibility of want or misery, and will
ensure for himself a quiet and peaceful death, without
sickness or pain, when his long and prosperous career
shall draw to a close.
To dismiss the goddess gayatri he uses the same formulas
as those of the noonday sandhya, and, after the tarpaiia,
or libation of water, to the sun and the planet Venus, he
addresses Siva in these words
Rudra protect me
from all accident and danger as well by night as by day.
You are the lord of the world take me under your pro-
tection that nothing may hurt me or do me harm.'
The
prayer to fire follows
then he offers tarpana to the follow-
ing gods, saying
Glory to Brahma
Glory to water
:
—
'
!
;
;
'
!
!
:
Glory to Varuna
Glory to Vishnu
Glory to Rudra
While offering arghya to the sun, he says
God of light,
god of the day I offer you worship
Receive the arghya
'
!
!
!
'
:
!
that I
now
and dangers
!
present to j^ou, and deliver
of the world
me from
the cares
'
!
Conclusion.
1
I
will conclude,' the
plaining
author goes on to say,
by ex-
is, and on what occasions it
'
what the sandhya
should be offered.
Brahma, the author and father of the Vedas, wishing
to extract the essence of them, composed the sandhya,
which is in respect to the other Vedas what butter is to
milk, or what gold is compared with the other metals.
In
short, as honey is the quintessence of flowers, so the sandhya
is the quintessence of the Vedas.
And as the sandhya is all that is most sublime in the
Vedas, so is the gayatri all that is most sublime in the
sandhya. This celebrated prayer obtains for mankind the
remission of their sins, plenty, joy, wealth, health, and
also ensures their happiness hereafter.
'
'