TEXT 21
gopyah samsprsta-salila
angesu karayoh prthak
nyasyatmany atha balasya
bija-nyasam akurvata
SYNONYMS
gopyah—the gopis; samsprsta-salilah—touching a cup of water and drinking; angesu—on their bodies; karayoh—on their two hands; prthak—separately; nyasya—after placing the letters of the mantra; atmani—on their own; atha—then; balasya—of the child; bija-nyasam—the process of mantra-nyasa; akurvata—executed.
TRANSLATION
The gopis first executed the process of acamana, drinking a sip of water from the right hand. They purified their bodies and hands with the nyasa-mantra and then applied the same mantra upon the body of the child.
PURPORT
Nyasa-mantra includes acamana, or first drinking a sip of water kept in the right hand. There are different visnu-mantras to purify the body. The gopis, and in fact any householders, knew the process for being purified by chanting Vedic hymns. The gopis executed this process first to purify themselves and then to purify the child Krsna. One executes the process of anga-nyasa and kara-nyasa 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 anusvara and the word namah: om namo ’jas tavanghri avyat, mam mano manimams tava januni avyat, and so on. By losing Indian culture, Indian householders have forgotten how to execute the anga-nyasa and are simply busy in sense gratification, without any advanced knowledge of human civilization.

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