उपास्य तु शिवां सन्ध्यां दृष्ट्वा रात्रिमुपस्थिताम्।
रामस्य शयनं चक्रे सूतः सौमित्रिणा सह॥
upāsya tu śivāṁ sandhyāṁ dṛṣṭvā rātrim upasthitām
rāmasya śayanaṁ cakre sūtaḥ saumitriṇā saha
upāsya tu = performed and then; śivām = the auspicious; sandhyām = ritual of sandhyā-vandana; dṛṣṭvā = when he noticed that; rātrim = the night; upasthitām = had come about; rāmasya = for Rāma; śayanam cakre = a place to sleep; sūtaḥ = the sūta; saumitriṇā = Lakṣmaṇa; saha = with.
When he noticed that night had come about, the sūta performed the auspicious ritual of sandhyā-vandana and then, with Lakṣmaṇa, prepared a place for Rāmacandra to sleep.
1 Manu-saṁhitā 10.11 describes a sūta as the son of a kṣatriya man and a brāhmaṇa woman. They are allowed to perform sandhyā-vandana by offering obeisances unto the Supreme Lord situated within the sun. In Tattva-sandarbha, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī Prabhupāda has demonstrated with reference to Agni Purāṇa that the gāyatrī-mantra, chanting which is the central activity in sandhyā-vandana, is a meditation on Lord Nārāyaṇa.
The sūta’s performance of sandhyā-vandana consisted of his offering obeisances [unto the Supreme Lord within the sun]. All sūtas can perform sandhyā-vandana by offering [such] obeisances [but they cannot execute the other rituals of sandhyā-vandana, according to the scriptures].1