Sandhyavandanam (Samaveda) - Evening

1. Achamanam · ஆசமனம்

Take a little water in your right palm and sip it with each of the first three names - 3 times in total. Then wash your hands.

Now touch parts of your face and body as you say the names: Keshava and Narayana (right and left cheek), Madhava and Govinda (right and left eye), Vishnu and Madhusudana (right and left nostril), Trivikrama and Vamana (right and left ear), Shridhara and Hrishikesha (right and left shoulder), Padmanabha (navel), Damodara (top of the head). Some Sama families say "Om Keshavaya Svaha" for the sips instead; follow your family.

Om, salutations to Achyuta. (First sip.)

Om, salutations to Ananta. (Second sip.)

Om, salutations to Govinda. (Third sip.)

Keshava, Narayana; Madhava, Govinda;

Vishnu, Madhusudana; Trivikrama, Vamana;

Shridhara, Hrishikesha; Padmanabha, Damodara - twelve names of the one Lord, each touching one part of the body.

2. Ganesha prayer · விக்னேஸ்வர ப்ரார்த்தனை

Recite this before starting, to remove obstacles.

One who wears white garments, all-pervading, moon-coloured, four-armed,

with a cheerful face - one should meditate on him for the calming of all obstacles.

3. Pranayamam · பிராணாயாமம்

Close your nose with the right hand's ring finger and thumb — recite line 1 while inhaling (Puraka), line 2 while holding (Kumbhaka), line 3 while exhaling (Rechaka).

Om - the earth, the space between, the heavens.

Om - the higher worlds: Mahah, Janah, Tapah and Satyam.

We meditate on the adorable light of that divine Creator;

may he inspire and guide our minds.

Water, light, flavour, nectar - all is Brahman, the Universal Soul; the three worlds, Om.

4. Sankalpam · சங்கல்பம்

Take water in your right hand (left hand placed above), recite, and finally pour the water down.

Through the removal of all the sins that have clung to me,

to please the Supreme Lord, I worship the evening Sandhya.

5. Marjanam · மார்ஜனம்

Take water, recite each line, and sprinkle it on your head and shoulders.

Oh waters, you are indeed the source of happiness;

grant us food and strength,

so that our senses grow strong and we may have great joy.

That most blissful essence of yours,

make us share in it here,

as loving mothers share their milk with their children.

May we have enough of that essence of yours,

by whose presence within you, you give delight.

Oh waters, grant us offspring and new life.

6. Sipping water · நீர் அருந்தும் மந்திரம்

Take a little water in your palm, say this short mantra and sip it. Then do one Achamanam (3 sips, as in step 1). Samavedins use this short form in the morning and evening; at noon they use a longer one.

May the night and Varuna make me pure. May this offering be well made.

7. Second Marjanam · இரண்டாவது மார்ஜனம்

Sprinkle water on your head again with the Dadhikravno verse (Samavedins use the same verse as Yajurvedins here), then repeat the "Apo hi shtha" verses of the first Marjanam. Finish by sprinkling a little water around your head, clockwise.

I sing the praise of Dadhikravan, the victorious, all-pervading, swift one;

may he make our mouths (and senses) fragrant and lengthen our lives.

Oh waters, you are indeed the source of happiness;

grant us food and strength,

so that our senses grow strong and we may have great joy.

That most blissful essence of yours,

make us share in it here,

as loving mothers share their milk with their children.

May we have enough of that essence of yours,

by whose presence within you, you give delight.

Oh waters, grant us offspring and new life.

Om, earth, atmosphere and heaven. (Sprinkle water around your head, clockwise.)

8. Arghyam · அர்க்யம்

Face west. Cup both hands, take water, raise it to shoulder height, recite the Gayatri, and let it fall - 3 times. Then offer one more, the expiatory Arghya, with the second verse below (it makes up for any lateness). Samavedins use a rik, not the Gayatri, for this last one (RV 8.23.15).

Om. We meditate on the adorable light of the divine Creator;

may he inspire and guide our minds.

Over the mortal who honours Agni with offerings, no enemy has power -

not even one who works by magic.

9. Asau Adityo Brahma · அஸோ ஆதித்யோ ப்ரஹ்ம

Sprinkle a little water around yourself, clockwise, and turn once round. Then touch the middle of your chest with both hands, close your eyes and think of the Sun, Brahman and yourself as one. Then do Achamanam.

Om, earth, atmosphere and heaven.

That Sun is Brahman. I myself am that Brahman.

10. Deva Tarpanam · தேவ தர்ப்பணம்

Optional step. Pour a little water through your fingertips after each name, one name at a time. Sit on your heels: facing east in the morning, east or north at noon, north in the evening. Then do Achamanam once.

I offer water to the Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu.

I offer water to Keshava, Narayana, Madhava, Govinda, Vishnu, Madhusudana, Trivikrama, Vamana, Shridhara, Hrishikesha, Padmanabha and Damodara.

11. Nyasam · ந்யாஸம்

Say these lines while touching your forehead (sage), the area below the nose (metre) and the middle of the chest (deity). Then do Pranayamam ten times with the Gayatri, as your family teaches. Samavedins use these lines here instead of the hand-and-body Nyasa of the Yajurvedins.

The sage of the Pranava (Om) is Brahma, its metre is Devi Gayatri, its deity is the Supreme Self.

The sages of the seven Vyahritis (Bhuh, Bhuvah and the rest) are Atri, Bhrigu, Kutsa, Vasishtha, Gautama, Kashyapa and Angirasa;

their metres are Gayatri, Ushnik, Anushtup, Brihati, Pankti, Trishtup and Jagati;

their deities are Agni, Vayu, Arka (the Sun), Vagisha, Varuna, Indra and the Vishvedevas.

12. Gayatri Avahanam · காயத்ரீ ஆவாஹனம்

Fold your hands in front of your heart and invite the Goddess. After each "avahayami", join your palms with the little fingers touching, turn them once inwards towards yourself and bring them back.

Come, Goddess, giver of boons, who are one with the imperishable Brahman;

Gayatri, mother of the Vedic metres, accept this prayer of ours.

You are vigour, you are strength, you are might, you are radiance;

you are the home of the gods, you are everything, you are life itself;

you are all, you are the life of all; Om, you overcome everything.

I invite Gayatri. I invite Savitri. I invite Sarasvati.

13. Gayatri Japam · காயத்ரீ ஜபம்

Face west and recite the Gayatri mantra at least 10 times (traditionally up to 108). One family guide gives 108 in the morning, 32 at noon and 64 in the evening; follow what your family does. Count with a rudraksha mala or on your fingers.

Om. We meditate on the adorable light of the divine Creator;

may he inspire and guide our minds.

14. Gayatri Udvasanam · காயத்ரீ உத்வாஸனம்

Send the Gayatri back with these words after the japam.

Goddess, you dwell on the loftiest peak, on the summit of the mountain (Meru) rooted in the earth.

Having taken leave of the Brahmins who worshipped you, go back, Goddess, as it pleases you.

15. Upasthanam · உபஸ்தானம்

Optional step. Stand, fold your hands and recite. Samavedins have no separate Upasthanam after sending the Gayatri off; the book says some say only the lines from "Acchidram" onwards in the morning, and in the evening the last line changes. The first lines (Yaso aham...) and the "Adityanavam" line are added from two family guides.

May I become the glory of the Brahmins, the glory of kings, the glory of the people;

may I become the glory of truth, the glory of all that is glorious.

I have climbed aboard the ship of the Sun - full, without a single leak, able to carry us across, with a hundred oars - for our well-being.

Salutations to the Sun. Salutations to the Sun. Salutations to the Sun.

I follow you, O Sun, as you go to rest.

16. Digvandanam · திக் வந்தனம்

Optional step. Fold your hands and salute each direction as you face it. Face west for the first lines, then turn to the right for each of the next ones (w). Then face west again for the last six. This is the salutation to the directions that the book gives in place of an Upasthanam.

Salutations to Sandhya, to Savitri,

to Gayatri and to Sarasvati.

Salutations again and again to all the deities.

"Desire did it" - salutations again and again; "anger did it" - salutations again and again. (I bow for the wrongs done through desire and anger.)

Salutation to the West, to the North,

to the East and to the South;

salutation to above, to below,

to the sky in between, to the Earth,

to Brahma and to Vishnu.

17. Abhivadanam · அபிவாதனம்

Say your own pravara, gotra and name where shown, then pay respects to your elders. Samavedins usually say Drahyayana sutra and Sama shakha; some families follow Latyayana or Ranayaniya instead. Please confirm these words once with your elders.

Om - (say your own pravara rishis here), endowed with that pravara,

(say your gotra) gotra, of the Drahyayana sutra, student of the Sama shakha,

(say your name) Sharma am I - sir, I bow to you.

18. Closing slokas · நிறைவு ஸ்லோகங்கள்

Optional step. The 1898 book says these closing slokas are not an integral part of the Vedic Sandhya, and families choose them differently. Two family guides agree on the ones below. Skip this step if your family does not recite them. End with Achamanam.

Salutations to Yama, the king of dharma, to Death and the Ender; to Vaivasvata and to Time, who ends all beings;

to Audumbara, Dadhna, Nila and Parameshthi; to Vrikodara, Chitra and Chitragupta - salutations. Salutations to Chitragupta, again and again.

I bow to the Supreme Brahman, who is Truth and Law, the dark-and-tawny Person, ever-chaste, with unusual eyes - salutations to the One whose form is the whole universe, again and again.

Salutations to Savita, the one eye of the world, the cause of its birth, upkeep and end, whose form is the three Vedas, who carries the three gunas, who is one with Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

Always meditate on Narayana who stands in the middle of the sun's orb, seated on a lotus, with armlets, shark-shaped earrings, crown and garland, golden-bodied, holding conch and discus.

O Govinda, lotus-eyed, holder of conch, discus and mace, dweller of Dvaraka, protect me who have taken refuge in you.

As rain falling from the sky reaches the ocean, so every salutation to any god reaches Keshava. Salutation to Shri Keshava. Om.

Whatever I do - through body, speech, mind, senses, intellect or my own nature - I offer all of it to Narayana, the Supreme.

O Savita, bring us well-being together with our children today; drive away bad dreams. O Savita, drive away all wrongs and bring us whatever is good.