556 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 3, Ch. 14
TEXT 32
NTT ass TOTATTET TTT: |
STH farsi ae safe: TATA (12211
athopasprsya salilam
pranan ayamya vagyatah
dhyayahi jajapa virajam
brahma jyotih sanatanam

atha—thereafter; upasprsya—touching or taking bath in water; salilam—
waler; pranan dayamya—practicing trance; vak-yatah—controlling
speech; dhydyan—meditaling; jaj@pa—chanted within the mouth;
virajam—pure; brahma—Gayatri hymns; jyotit—effulgence; sandtanam—
eternal.

TRANSLATION

Thereafter the brahmana took his bath in the water and controlled
his speech by practicing trance, meditating on the eternal effulgence and
chanting the holy Gayatri hymns within his mouth.

PURPORT

As one has to take bath after using the toilet, so one has to wash him-
self with water after sexual intercourse, especially at a forbidden time.
Kasyapa Muni meditated on the impersonal brahmajyoti by chanting the
Gayatri 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 kirtana. The Vedic hymn
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/Hare Rama, Hare Rama,
Rama Rama, Hare Hare can be chanted both softly to oneself or loudly;
therefore it is called the maha-mantra or the great hymn.

K aSyapa Muni appears to be an impersonalist. Comparing his character
with that of Thakura Haridasa as referred to above, it is clear that the
personalist is stronger in sense control than the impersonalist. This is
explained in Bhagavad-gita as parari drs{va 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 Gayatri, but the
maha-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.
