Let us now recount the sacred morning practices as taught in the revered scripture. The wise are instructed to begin their day with careful purification, using auspicious clay for cleansing. This ritual is especially important after answering the calls of nature, for it is declared that such purification restores one’s bodily purity after urination and defecation. For the feet, three separate lumps of clay are to be used, ensuring thorough cleansing. This is the prescribed practice for householders, while students—those devoted to learning—are to use twice as much, reflecting their heightened discipline. At home, one must maintain complete cleanliness, but on the path, half that effort suffices, as advised to the best of sages. The discerning practitioner should remove all odors and dirt, striving for true purity. For those who observe vows, purity is to be maintained at the level of ascetics, setting a high standard for spiritual discipline. After these acts of purification, one should focus the mind fully, preparing for the next steps. The ritual continues with drinking water three or four times, ensuring it is free from smell, foam, or any impurity. With the thumb and forefinger joined, one gently touches both nostrils; with the thumb and little finger joined, a twice-born touches the navel region. Using the palm or fingertips, the shoulders are touched, completing the ritual gestures. Next, the wise chew a tooth-stick with bark, taken from a proper tree, and wash it with water or consecrate it with a mantra. As they prepare, they pray: “O tree, grant me Brahman, wisdom, and intelligence from yourself.” The length of the tooth-stick varies by caste: nine finger-breadths for Kshatriyas, eight for Vaishyas. If proper tooth-sticks are unavailable, one cleanses the mouth with water, using mouthfuls equal to the measure of the sun. Taking the tooth-stick with the left hand, one rubs it against the left canine tooth. The tongue is then scraped with the stick and water, an act performed by those who have mastered their senses. With this, the body is ready for bathing. Bathing is to be done at the beginning of a river or in pure water. There, one bows to the sacred fords and invokes them from the solar orb, bathing while remembering auspicious mantras and the holy fords of Brahma. The devotee calls upon the sacred rivers—Narmada, Sindhu, Kaveri—to make their presence felt in these waters, praying that the highly fortunate ones may always come at the time of bathing. It is taught that the city of Dvaravati is sacred, granting liberation to the righteous. After the bathing rites and offering to the ancestors, one offers arghya to the Sun, completing the morning’s spiritual duties. Having bathed, one dresses in a washed, unhemmed garment, wrapping a second cloth around the body. Facing northeast, the Brahmin sips water while reciting the Gayatri mantra, as prescribed for the twice-born. Afterward, one sprinkles and washes thoroughly with water, then sprinkles the head with pure water while reciting the sacred vyahritis, beginning with ‘bhur.’ The syllable ‘Om’ is placed upon the heart, ‘Bhu’ upon the head, and the sacred syllables ‘Bhu,’ ‘Bhuvah,’ and ‘Svah,’ along with the protective mantra, are placed in the three directions. The goddess is invoked: “Come, O bestower of boons, O goddess, O three-syllabled, O knower of Brahman.” At midday, she is envisioned riding a bull, clothed in white garments; in the evening, she appears riding Garuda, dressed in yellow. The devotee recites the sacred syllable, the vyahritis, and the three-footed mantra together, restraining the breath in sequence—left, center, and right—through the practice of pranayama. It is said that the waters purify at midday, and fire in the evening. After declaring, “May it not be impure by urine,” and using water that has not touched the nose, the act of purification is completed. Finally, one recites, “Truth and righteousness,” sealing the ritual in purity and virtue.