in the middle; and those of the third with that word at the end.

"Let him first beg food of his mother, or of his sister, or of his
mother's whole sister; then of some other female who will not disgrace
him.

"Having collected as much of the desired food as he has occasion for,
and having presented it without guile to his preceptor, let him eat
some of it, being duly purified, with his face to the east.

"If he seek long life, he should eat with his face to the east; if
prosperity, to the west; if truth and its reward, to the north.

"When the student is going to read the Veda he must perform an
ablution, as the law ordains, with his face to the north; and having
paid scriptural homage, he must receive instruction, wearing a clean
vest, his members being duly composed.

"A Brahman beginning and ending a lecture on the Veda must always
pronounce to himself the syllable om; for unless the syllable om
precede, his learning will slip away from him; and unless it follow,
nothing will be long retained.

"A priest who shall know the Veda, and shall pronounce to himself, both
morning and evening, that syllable, and that holy text preceded by the
three words, shall attain the sanctity which the Veda confers.

"And a twice-born man, who shall a thousand times repeat those three
(or om, the vyahritis, and the gayatri) apart from the multitude, shall
be released in a month even from a great offence, as a snake from his
slough.

"The three great immutable words, preceded by the triliteral syllable,
and followed by the gayatri, which consists of three measures, must be
considered as the mouth, or principal part of the Veda.

"The triliteral monosyllable is an emblem of the Supreme; the
suppressions of breath, with a mind fixed on God, are the highest
devotion; but nothing is more exalted than the gayatri; a declaration
of truth is more excellent than silence.

"All rites ordained in the Veda, oblations to fire, and solemn
sacrifices pass away; but that which passes not away is declared to be
the syllable om, thence called acshara; since it is a symbol of God,
the Lord of created beings.

"The act of repeating his Holy Name is ten times better than the
appointed sacrifice; an hundred times better when it is heard by no
man; and a thousand times better when it is purely mental.

"To a man contaminated by sens