Across the vastness of earth and ocean, from the eastern to the western seas, there moves a presence who knows no distance nor remoteness. Dolphins in the waters, pythons and armored creatures, fish, and all those whom he touches with dust—none escape his gaze. He is everywhere at once, beholding the world in its entirety. To this mighty Rudra, we pray: Do not afflict us with fever, nor poison, nor the wasting blaze of celestial fire. Turn your lightning aside; let it fall elsewhere, away from us. You are Bhava in the heavens, the lord of all that dwells on earth, and you encompass the broad midspace between. Wherever your power is directed, to that power we offer homage. O Bhava, king and lord of cattle, be gracious to those who sacrifice. Be kind to all who have faith and say, “the gods exist”—may their four-footed and two-footed creatures flourish under your benevolence. Rudra, do not harm our elders or our children, those who carry life or those yet to carry, nor our father, mother, or our own bodies. May you never wrong us. To your howling forms, Rudra, to those who devour unspoken hymns, to the great-mouthed ones and the dogs, we offer homage. Homage also to the noisy ones, to the long-haired, to those who are saluted, and those who feast together. To all the divine hosts, may there be well-being and safety for us. Now, consider the sacred porridge of sacrifice. Bṛhaspati is its head, Brahman its mouth. Heaven and earth are its ears, sun and moon its eyes, and the seven sages its breath and exhalation. The pestle is its eye; desire is the mortar. Diti becomes the winnowing basket, Aditi holds it, and the wind blows through. Horses are the grains, cows the rice, and mosquitoes the husks. Kabru make the pods, the arrow is the cloud. Its flesh is black metal, its blood is red. It carries the sheen of tin and ash, a green hue, and the fragrance of the lotus. The threshing floor, the vessel, the pestle, the pounding stone, and the oxen’s place—all are parts of this cosmic preparation. Its intestines, jaws, rectum, and ligaments are present as well. This very earth is the pot in which the rice is cooked, and the sky is its covering. The furrows, the sides, the sand, and the boundaries are all included. Truth is the hand-washing; the irrigation channel is the sprinkling. The hymn is placed upon the pot by the officiating priest, embraced by the sacred word, surrounded by the chant. The great Ayavana, the Rathantara, and the ladle are present. The seasons are the cooks, and the rites of the seasons kindle the fire. The sacrificial dish with five openings is heated by the Gharma. Through the rice, all the worlds belonging to sacrifice are completed. In this offering, the ocean, the sky, and the earth are established above and below. For this, the gods prepare eighty-six remnants. I ask you of the rice, whose greatness is vast. He who knows the greatness of rice should not belittle it, nor say “it is not sprinkled,” nor question it. Let the giver’s desire set the measure; let nothing more be said. The knowers of Brahman declare: “One eats the rice facing outward, another facing inward.” They say, “You have eaten the rice; the rice has eaten you.” If one eats facing outward, it is said, “Your life-breaths will depart.” If one eats facing inward, “Your inhalations and exhalations will leave you.” But truly, “I am neither the eater of rice, nor is rice the eater of me. One should eat rice as rice alone.” Then, with another head, they caused him to eat; with that head, the ancient seers partook. “Your offspring will die eldest,” was said to him. He replied, “I am not the one facing downward, nor outward, nor inward, but with the head of Bṛhaspati. With that I made him eat, with that I attained him. This rice is whole in all limbs, joints, and bodies. He who knows this becomes whole in all limbs, joints, and bodies.” Again, with two other ears, they caused him to eat; with those ears, the ancient seers partook. “You will become deaf,” was said to him. He replied, “I am not the one facing downward, nor outward, nor inward, but with the ears of Heaven and Earth. With those I made him eat, with those I attained him. This rice is whole in all limbs, joints, and bodies. He who knows this becomes whole in all limbs, joints, and bodies.” Thus, through reverence, wisdom, and right understanding, the worlds are nourished and the sacrificer is made whole.