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1. Now follow the penances for secret sins.
[30. For the Atikrikkhra penance, see M. XI, 214.
33. 1 Nand. adds, that a youth under the age of sixteen, who has not been initiated, and old women, as well as girls who have not yet attained maturity, must only perform a quarter of it, as directed in a Smriti.
LV. 1. M. XI, 248; Y. III, 301; Gaut. XXIV, 1.--2, 3. M. XI, 249, 260; Y. III, 302; Gaut. XXIV, 10.--4. Gaut. XXIV, {footnote p. 181} 10.--6. M. XI, 252; Y. III, 305.--7. M. XI, 260.--10-21. M. II, 76-87.]
2. The killer of a Brâhmana is purified, if, having approached a river (and bathed in it), he restrains his breath sixteen times, and takes only one meal, consisting of food fit for offerings, each day, for a month.
3. At the end of this rite he must give a milch cow.
4. By performing the same rite and by muttering (while standing in the water) the Aghamarshana[1] (instead of stopping his breath), a drinker of spirituous liquor[2] becomes free from sin.
5. (By performing the same rite and) muttering the Gâyatrî one thousand and ten times (each day), a stealer of gold becomes free from guilt.
6. One who has connection with a Guru's wife[1] (becomes free from sin) by fasting for three days and muttering the Purushasûkta[2] and (at the same time) offering a burnt-oblation.
7. Even as the horse-sacrifice, the king of sacrifices, removes all sin, the hymn of Aghamarshana likewise removes all sin.
8. Let a twice-born man stop his breath, in order to rid himself of all sin; all sins committed by a
[2. Nand. infers from a text of Manu (XI, 249), that this rule refers to one who has killed a Brâhmana intentionally.
3. This rule, Nand. infers from a passage of Yâgñavalkya (III, 305), applies also to the penances mentioned in the following Sûtra.
4. 1 Rig-veda X, 190.--2 'I. e. one who has knowingly drunk it, the penance for drinking it unknowingly being stated by Yâgñavalkya (III, 304).' (Nand.)
5, 6. 1 Nand. infers from M. XI, 251, 252, that these two Sûtras also refer to penances for crimes intentionally committed.--2 Rig-veda X, 90.]
twice-born man may be removed by repeated Prânâyâmas.
9. It is called a Prânâyâma, if a man, stopping the breath (which comes from the mouth and from the nostrils), recites the Gâyatrî three times, together with the Vyâhritis ('words')[1], with the sacred syllable Om, and with the (text called) Siras[2].
10. The lord of creatures (Brahman) has milked out from the three Vedas the letter A, the letter U, and the letter M (of which the sacred syllable Om is composed), and (the three sacred words) Bhûh, Bhuvah, Svah (earth, the atmosphere, and heaven).
11. The lord of creatures, the supreme deity, has also milked out from the three Vedas successively the three verses of the sacred stanza which begins with the word 'tad,' and is called Sâvitrî (or Gâyatrî).
12. By muttering, every morning and evening, that syllable and that stanza, preceded by the three 'words,' a Brâhmana will obtain that religious merit which the (study of the) Veda confers, just as if he had actually studied the Veda.
13. By repeating those three (Om, the 'words,' and the Gâyatrî every day) for a month out of the village, a thousand times, a twice-born man is purified even from a mortal sin, as a snake (is freed) from its withered skin.
14. Any member of the Brâhmana, Kshatriya, or Vaisya castes, who does not know those three texts,
[9. 1 The three Vyâhritis, 'words,' or Mahâvyâhritis, 'great words,' are quoted in the next Sloka.--2 It begins with the words, 'O ye waters, who are splendour and ambrosia.' (Nand., and Mitâksharâ on Y. I, 23.)]
or fails to recite them in the proper season, meets with reproach among the virtuous.
15. The three imperishable 'great words,' preceded by the syllable Om, and the Gâyatrî consisting of three divisions, have to be recognised as the mouth (or beginning) of the Veda[1].
16. He who repeats that stanza (preceded by the syllable Om and the three 'words') carefully every day for three years, will be absorbed in the highest Brahman after death, move as freely as air, and become as pure as air.
17. The monosyllable (Om) is the highest Brahman, the stoppings of the breath are the best of austerities, but nothing is more exalted than the Gâyatrî; (declaring the) truth is better than silence.
18. All religious acts ordained in the Veda, (whether) consisting in burnt-oblations or sacrifices (or alms-giving or other pious observances), perish (after the merit obtained by them has been exhausted); but the syllable Om (akshara) must be known to be imperishable (akshara), as it is identical with Brahman, the lord of creatures.
19. The act of reciting (the syllable Om, the 'words,' and the Gâyatrî) is ten times better than the (Gyotishtoma or other) sacrifices prescribed (by the Veda); it is a hundred times better when muttered in a low voice; it is a thousand times better when repeated mentally only.
20. The four Pâkayagñas[1] (small or domestic
[15. 'To explain this, Nand. quotes a passage of Âsvalâyana (Grihya-sûtra III, 2, 3, where, however, part only of this quotation is found) to the effect that the study of the Veda has to be begun by pronouncing Om, the 'words,' and the Gâyatrî.
20. 1 'The four Pâkayagñas are the offerings to gods, goblins (or "all beings,"), manes, and men, together with the offering to {footnote p. 184} Brahman.' (Nand.; see LIX, 20-25.) Kullûka, on the contrary (on M. II, 86), refers the term Pâkayagña to the four first only out of those five offerings, and this interpretation, besides being more simple than Nand.'s, is preferable for several other reasons. First, the 'offering to Brahman' includes the daily recitation of the Gâyatrî, which is mentioned here as opposed to the four Pâkayagñas. Secondly, the number of four Pâkayagñas is equally given in the Kâthaka Grihya-sûtra; and Devapâla, in his Commentary on that work, gives a definition of them, which agrees in the main with Kullûka's. 'Four' Pâkayagñas are mentioned in the Grihya-sûtras of Kausika, Pâraskara, and Sânkhâyana also. See Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 48. Thirdly, the Pâkayagñas are brought in here as opposed to the Vidhiyagñas or 'sacrifices prescribed by the Veda.' This is probably because the latter are offered in the triad of sacred fires, whereas the term Pâkayagña, in its narrower use, denotes the oblations offered in the domestic fire. Hence, it might come to include the 'offering to men,' i. e. the feeding of a guest, but certainly not the study of the Veda.]
offerings), together with the sacrifices prescribed (in the Veda), though all united, are not equal to a sixteenth part of the sacrifice performed by reciting (those sacred prayers).
21. A Brâhmana may beyond doubt obtain final emancipation by solely repeating (those prayers), whether he perform any other religious observance or no; one who is benevolent towards all creatures (and does not slay them for sacrifices) is justly, called a Brâhmana (or one united to Brahman).