Text 21]
The Killing of the Demon Pūtanā
19
TEXT 21
गोप्यः संस्पृष्टसलिला अङ्गेषु करयोः पृथक् । न्यस्यात्मन्यथ बालस्य बीजन्यासमकुर्वत ॥२१॥
gopyaḥ saṁsprṣṭa-salilā aṅgeṣu karayoḥ prṭhak nyasyātmany atha bālasya bīja-nyāsam akurvata
gopyaḥ —the  gopīs ;  saṁsprṣṭa-salilāḥ —touching a cup of water and drinking;  aṅgeṣu —on their bodies;  karayoḥ —on their two hands;  prṭhak —separately;  nyasya —after placing the letters of the  mantra ;  ātmani —on their own;  atha —then;  bālasya —of the child;  bīja-nyāsam —the process of  mantra-nyāsa ;  akurvata —executed.
TRANSLATION
The  gopīs  first executed the process of  ācamana , drinking a sip of water from the right hand. They purified their bodies and hands with the  nyāsa-mantra  and then applied the same  mantra  upon the body of the child.
PURPORT
Nyāsa-mantra  includes  ācamana , or first drinking a sip of water kept in the right hand. There are different  viṣṇu-mantras  to purify the body. The  gopīs , and in fact any householders, knew the process for being purified by chanting Vedic hymns. The  gopīs  executed this process first to purify themselves and then to purify the child  Kṛṣṇa . One executes the process of  aṅga-nyāsa  and  kara-nyāsa  simply by drinking a little sip of water and chanting the  mantra . The  mantra  is preceded with the first letter of the name, followed by  anusvāra  and the word  namaḥ :  aṁ namo 'jas tavāṅghrī avyāt, maṁ mano maṇimāṁs tava jānunī avyāt , and so on. By losing Indian culture, Indian householders have forgotten how to execute the  aṅga-nyāsa  and are simply busy in sense gratification, without any advanced knowledge of human civilization.