80. “The priest, the soldier, and the merchant, who shall neglect this mysterious text, and fail to perform in due season his peculiar acts of piety, shall meet with contempt among the virtuous.” 81. “The 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.” 82. “Whoever shall repeat, day by day, for three years, without negligence, that sacred text, shall hereafter approach the divine essence, move freely as air, and assume an ethereal form.” 83. “The triliteral monosyllable is an emblem of the Supreme, the suppressions of the breath with a mind fixed on God are the highest devotion; but nothing is more exalted than the gayatri.” The suppression of the breath is thus performed by the priest: closing the left nostril with the two longest fingers of the right hand, he draws his breath through the right nostril; then closing that nostril likewise with his thumb, holds his breath while he meditates the text: he then raises both fingers off the left nostril, and emits the suppressed breath, having, during its suppression, repeated to himself the gayatri, the vyahritis, the triliteral monosyllable, and the sacred text of Brahm. By an ancient legislator it is said to imply the following meditation: “OM! earth! sky! heaven! mansion of the blessed! abode of truth!—_We meditate on the adorable light of the resplendent Generator which governs our intellects_: which is water, lustre, savour, immortal, faculty of thought, Brahm, earth, sky, heaven.” The words in italics are very nearly the gayatri. Chap. vi., v. 70. “Even three suppressions of breath, made according to the divine rule, accompanied by the triliteral phrase (bhurbhuvaswah), and the triliteral syllable (OM), may be considered as the highest devotion of a Brahman.” 71. “For as the dross and impurities of metallic ores are consumed by fire, thus are the sinful acts of the human organ consumed by the suppression of breath, while the mystic words and the measures of the Gayatri are revolved in the mind.”