When thunder rumbles within the womb, it is said that Prajāpati, the Lord of Creatures, manifests himself among his offspring. In this sacred moment, one should stand with the sacred thread draped over the right shoulder, holding the thought, "May I awaken with Prajāpati." With this awareness, Prajāpati awakens alongside his children, bestowing his presence upon all who know this secret. Seeking strength, the devotee turns to the mighty bull, the slayer of rivals, offering ghee and clarified butter in reverence. With prayers, he implores the bull’s great power to humble his adversaries. He wishes to release all that is unwelcome: whatever displeases his mind, eye, or tongue, asking that evil dreams depart and that his rivals be shattered and broken. He beseeches the mighty lord to free him from evil dreams, desires, misfortune, barrenness, darkness, and misguidance, especially from the harm intended by those who bear hatred. He prays for desire to be driven away, for rivals to turn from him, and calls upon Agni to burn the lowest, darkest dwellings of those cast down. Desire, known as the cow and shining speech by the wise, is invoked to encircle his rivals, so that breath, cattle, and life may favor him. He calls upon the strength of Kāma, Indra, Varuṇa the king, Viṣṇu, and the impulse of Savitṛ, and through Agni’s offering, asks that his rivals be driven away, as a skillful one launches a boat into the waters. He prays for Kāma, the mighty overseer, to free him from rivals, and for all the gods to become his protectors, responding to his invocation. He invites the foremost in desire to rejoice in the clarified butter, to delight in it, and to make him unrivaled. Indra and Agni are invoked together with desire, urged to press his rivals down. Agni is again called to burn the lowest, darkest dwellings of those cast down. Desire is entreated to strike down his rivals, casting them into blind darkness, making them powerless, devoid of essence, and not allowing any to survive, not even for a day. He asks desire to slay his rivals and create a broad world for him, fit for wisdom. He wishes for the four directions to bow to him and for six broad streams of clarified butter to flow his way. Those cast down should drift away like boats cut loose from their moorings, for those struck by arrows cannot return. Agni, Indra, and Soma are equated with barley; may the gods who delight in barley drive away his rivals. He wishes that those cast down wander without offspring, shunned by friends and kin, sinking into the earth like a thunderbolt, struck by the mighty god. He observes that the great one has fallen, but the lightning that does not fall bears all the thunderings. As the sun rises with wealth and brilliance, may the mighty one drive his rivals down. He invokes the triple-shielded protection of desire, the unfailing armor stretched out by the Brahman, to surround his rivals, so that breath, cattle, and life may favor him. He recalls the power by which the gods drove away the Asuras and Indra led the Dasyus into the lowest darkness, asking desire to drive his rivals far from this world. As the gods overcame the Asuras and Indra conquered the Dasyus and darkness, so may desire drive away his rivals far from this world. Desire was born first; neither gods, ancestors, nor mortals could attain him. Therefore, desire is greater, all-conquering, mighty, and to him the devotee offers a reverent salutation. As vast as heaven and earth, as far as waters and Agni reach, desire is greater, all-conquering, mighty, deserving of reverent salutation. As many directions, intermediate directions, crossways, and shining regions as are seen in the sky, desire is greater than all, all-conquering, mighty, and he bows in homage. Greater than beetles, insects, kurūras, and tree-serpents, Kāma is the destroyer of all, mighty, and the devotee bows in homage. Kāma is greater than blinking, than standing still, than the ocean, greater than wrath, destroyer of all, mighty, and to him the devotee bows. Not even wind, fire, sun, or moon attain Kāma; he is greater than all, destroyer of all, mighty, and deserves homage. The auspicious, gracious forms of Kāma, by which truth comes into being, are invited to enter among the people, while the thoughts of the wicked are driven away elsewhere. Within the all-encompassing hall, the measured, counter-measured, and limited, whatever is bound, is loosened and set free. The snare and knot within the hall are loosened, like Bṛhaspati with speech. The devotees have come, strengthened, made the knots firm, and, knowing the obstacles, loosen what is bound like Indra with his weapon. Of the hall’s bamboos, fastenings, breath of the living, grass, and wings, what is bound is loosened and set free. Of the pincers, plates, and clasp of embrace—bindings of the mind’s wife—these are loosened and set free. Whatever is inside the baskets, whatever is pierced for pleasure, these things are loosened and set free; may the wife of the mind not rise against her own form. The offering place, fire hall, seat of wives, and assembly are recognized as the seat of the gods, the divine hall. The axle, yoke, thousand-eyed crossbeam, and what is bound and declared by the Brahman are loosened and set free. Whoever receives the hall and by whom it is measured, may both, the mind’s wife, live long, growing old together. May none go to the other world; what is firmly bound and adorned, every limb and joint, is loosened and set free. He who measured the hall, who joined the trees, is Prajāpati, the supreme lord, who made the hall for the sake of offspring. Homage is offered to him, to the giver, to the lord of the hall, to Agni who moves, and to the person. Homage to cows, horses, and whatever is born in the hall; in the hall rich in offspring and progeny, their bonds are loosened. The hall covers men possessing fire, together with cattle; in the hall rich in offspring and progeny, all bonds are loosened and set free.