Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.6.21
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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saṁspṛṣṭa - salilāḥ
—
having touched water (and sipped)
Compound — saṁspṛṣṭa (touched) + salila (water). The ācamana act. Gauḍīya tradition holds that ācamana with viṣṇu-names purifies more than the hand; it aligns the prāṇas before any sevā.
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nyasya
—
after placing (the letters)
Gerund of ni-as (to place, deposit). The technical verb of mantra-nyāsa — placing syllables of a Viṣṇu-mantra on specific limbs (hand, heart, head). The body, marked with mantras, becomes a movable mandir.
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bīja - nyāsam
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the process of seed-mantra placement
Compound — bīja (seed-syllable) + nyāsa (placement). Tantric vocabulary absorbed into Vaiṣṇava sevā. Bīja-mantras are the kernel-syllables of a deity-mantra; the Vraja mothers apply them to baby Kṛṣṇa with the same care the Gosvāmīs would later teach for Deity-worship.
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ātmani
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on their own (bodies)
Locative of ātman — here used for the bodily self, not paramātman. The Gauḍīya reading carefully distinguishes the two: nyāsa is on the deha and indriyas of the gopīs, preparing them for sevā; ātmā in the higher sense is not modified, only purified in its instruments.
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akurvata
—
(they) executed
Imperfect middle plural of kṛ (to do). Middle voice — done for one's own benefit and the child's. Bhakti-vidhi is reflexive in this sense: the act on Kṛṣṇa is simultaneously the act on the devotee.
Nyāsa-mantra includes ācamana, or first drinking a sip of water kept in the right hand. There are different viṣṇu-mantras to purify the body. The gopīs, and in fact any householders, knew the process for being purified by chanting Vedic hymns. The gopīs executed this process first to purify themselves and then to purify the child Kṛṣṇa. One executes the process of aṅga-nyāsa and kara-nyāsa 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 anusvāra and the word namaḥ: oṁ namo ’jas tavāṅghrī avyāt, maṁ mano maṇimāṁs tava jānunī avyāt, and so on. By losing Indian culture, Indian householders have forgotten how to execute the aṅga-nyāsa and are simply busy in sense gratification, without any advanced knowledge of human civilization.
In the beginning, because of great fear, they began the rituals for protection without doing acamana. After calming down, they then performed the rituals in the proper way, by first performing acamana (samsprsta salila). They then performed anga nyasa and kara nyasa on their own bodies and hands. Then, on the child’s limbs such as feet, they invoked bijas. The bija consists of the first syllable of the name with an anusvara. Example: am namah, "May Aja protect your feet." Mam namah, "May Maniman protect your knees."
Yaśodā and Rohiṇī are not included here as before. This is indicated by the word pṛthak (separately). The bīja-nyāsa is formed by the first syllable of the name of the Lord with an anusvara, followed by namaḥ (for instance yaṁ yajñāya namaḥ). The names from aja to īśvara were used to touch eleven parts of Kṛṣṇa’s body.
- Before sitting for japa or study today, perform ācamana with attention, not as ritual habit but as a deliberate purification of the instruments you will offer to Kṛṣṇa.
- Refuse to handle anything sacred — a Deity, a tulasī leaf, prasāda, a child in your care — until you have first cleaned your hands and quieted your mind with His name.
- Notice where you have inherited 'Indian culture' as fashion but lost its purifying disciplines, and reclaim one small Vedic practice (ācamana, mantra before meals) starting tonight.
The gopīs sipping water in ācamana, then placing mantra-syllables on their own hands before touching Kṛṣṇa, is the surgeon scrubbing in before lifting the newborn. The hands one offers to Bhagavān must be cleansed by Bhagavān's names first — sevā is sacred handling, and sacred handling begins with the handler.
In the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, Sanātana Gosvāmī systematized for Gauḍīyas exactly such daily details — ācamana, bīja-mantra-nyāsa, the placement of syllables on hands and limbs before approaching the Deity. He drew explicitly on Bhāgavata passages including this Pūtanā-rakṣā for authority.
The gopīs in 10.6.21 are not performing folk-religion; they are doing what the Six Gosvāmīs would later codify for every Vaiṣṇava household. The chain of ārcana-vidhi reaches back to Vraja's mothers.
My note
Source: vedabase.io