Page:Durga Puja - With Notes and Illustrations.djvu/62

 those of self-consciousness, self-cogitation, or egoism.

Conceive in the left nostril, the mantra Yam which is described as fume-colored, and declared to be the vija or root of wind, repeat it 16 times while drawing air by the same nostril, then close the nose and hold the breath which is inherent in man, by assuming the kumbhaka form, and repeat 64 times the mantra. Purify the body by washing with Yam the black male form of Sin seated in the left cavity of the thorax, and let out the breath through the right nostril, while repeating the mantra 32 times.

Conceive in the right nostril the red mantra Ram, the root of fire, and fill the body with air, while repeating the mantra sixteen times. Purify the body by burning the male form of sin with the fire arising from the lower parts of the body. Then close the nose and hold the breath, while repeating sixty-four times the mantra. Exhale the ashes with the breath through the left nostril accompanied with 32 recitals of the mantra.

Similarly the white mantra Tham, the root of the moon, is to be established with the moon on the forehead, and the wind to be inhaled, retained and exhaled as stated before with 64 recitations