556
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 3, Ch. 14]
TEXT 32
अथोपसृश्य सलिलं प्राणानायम्य वाग्यतः । 
    अथायञ्जजाप विरजं ब्रह्म ज्योतिः सनातनम् ॥३२॥
athopaspṛśya salilam 
    prāṇān āyamya vāgyataḥ 
    dhyāyañ jajāpa virajam 
    brahma jyotiḥ sanātanam
atha—thereafter; upaspṛśya—touching or taking bath in water; salilam—water; prāṇān āyamya—practicing trance; vāk-yataḥ—controlling speech; dhyāyan—meditating; jajāpa—chanted within the mouth; virajam—pure; brahma—Gāyatrī hymns; jyotiḥ—effulgence; sanātanam—eternal.
TRANSLATION
Thereafter the brāhmaṇa took his bath in the water and controlled his speech by practicing trance, meditating on the eternal effulgence and chanting the holy Gāyatrī hymns within his mouth.
PURPORT
As one has to take bath after using the toilet, so one has to wash himself with water after sexual intercourse, especially at a forbidden time. Kaśyapa Muni meditated on the impersonal  brahmajyoti  by chanting the Gāyatrī  mantra  within his mouth. When a Vedic  mantra  is chanted within the mouth so that only the chanter can hear, it is called  japa . But when such  mantras  are chanted loudly, it is called  kīrtana . The Vedic hymn Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare can be chanted both softly to oneself or loudly; therefore it is called the  mahā-mantra  or the great hymn.
Kaśyapa Muni appears to be an impersonalist. Comparing his character with that of Thākura Haridāsa as referred to above, it is clear that the personalist is stronger in sense control than the impersonalist. This is explained in  Bhagavad-gītā  as  paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate ; i.e., one ceases to accept lower grade things when one is situated in a superior condition. One is supposed to be purified after taking bath and chanting Gāyatrī, but the  mahā-mantra  is so powerful that one can chant loudly or softly, in any condition, and he is protected from all the evils of material existence.