With reverence and careful attention, the ritual began. The sacred objects were placed in their proper positions, and with a steady heart, the wide covering was established over them. Then, invoking the power of the weapon mantra for the speakers, the practitioner touched the three ends of the sacred stalks, marking the boundaries of the space. He took five kindling sticks, each soaked in pure ghee, and offered them at the ends and roots of the stalks. Within his heart, he worshipped Brahmā, Śaṅkara, Viṣṇu, and Ananta, honoring their presence and seeking their blessings. With blades of dūrvā grass, he circumambulated the boundary, moving in sequence to each designated place, offering worship to Indra and the other lords, proceeding in the ordained order. Facing the sacred fire, he offered worship in every direction with deep concentration, praying for obstacles to be removed and for the protection of the child for whom the rite was performed. Then, the Śaiva command was proclaimed to the assembled deities. Taking up the sruk and sruva ladles, he moved them in order, one with its mouth upward, the other downward, as prescribed. After heating the darbha grass in the fire, he touched its root, middle, and tip, sanctifying each part. At the place where the kuśa grass was touched, he contemplated the self as pure knowledge and as Śiva himself. Sequentially, he established the three principles with the sacred syllables hāṃ, hīṃ, hūṃ, and saṃ. Śakti was placed in the sruci, Śambhu in the sruva, all with the subtle point of the heart. He adorned the necks of the implements with three sacred threads, worshipped them with flowers and other offerings, and placed them above the kuśa grass, to his right. He then took cow’s ghee, purified by his gaze and other means, meditated upon his own form as Brahman, and prepared to offer the ghee. Above the altar, he revolved the ghee at the heart’s center within the domain of the fire. Meditating upon the form of Viṣṇu, he placed the ghee in the realm of Īśāna. Using the tip of kuśa grass, he offered the ghee with the syllable ‘svāhā’ and the subtle point of the head, first to Viṣṇu and then immediately to Rudra. Contemplating his own self, he held the offering at the navel and performed the floating ritual, touching it with darbha grass of finger’s length using the tips of his thumb and ring finger. Holding the offering with both hands, he faced the fire and performed the floating, invoking the weapon mantra. From the heart and the self, he continued the floating in the same manner. He then purified the darbha grass by burning it with the power of the heart, casting it away with the weapon mantra. With another blazing piece of darbha, he swept and ignited the fire further. Again, with the weapon mantra, he burned the darbha grass in the fire, and after casting it, took a piece tied with a knot, of finger’s length, and placed it in the ghee. He contemplated the two wings and the three channels—iḍā and others—within the ghee. Sequentially, he took three portions of ghee with the sruva and offered them into the fire. Thus, he offered a portion of ghee, then the remaining ghee in order, reciting: ‘Om hāṃ, to Agni, svāhā; Om hāṃ, to Soma, svāhā; Om hāṃ, to Agni and Soma, svāhā.’ For the opening of the eyes, he offered to the three eyes of Agni. With the sruva filled with ghee, he made the fourth oblation: ‘Om hāṃ, to Agni, for the sviṣṭakṛt, svāhā.’ With the six limbs, he awakened the fire with the gesture of the cow. He covered the ghee with the three sacred threads, protected it with the subtle point of the arrow, and from his heart, scattered drops of ghee, purifying by sprinkling. He performed the joining of the mouths and their unification, offering ghee with the mantras: ‘Om hāṃ, to Sadyojāta, svāhā; Om hāṃ, to Vāmadeva, svāhā; Om hāṃ, to Aghora, svāhā; Om tatpuruṣa, svāhā; Om hāṃ, to Īśāna, svāhā.’ With each ghee offering, he joined the mouths as prescribed. Next, he recited: ‘Om ham, to Sadyojata and Vamadeva, svaha. Om ham, to Vamadeva and Aghora, svaha. Om ham, to Aghora and Tatpurusha, svaha. Om ham, to Tatpurusha and Ishana, svaha.’ In this way, he contemplated the faces in sequence, from Agni to Vayu, ending with Nirrti and Shiva. Bringing the faces together, he poured ghee with the ladle, reciting: ‘Om ham, to Sadyojata, Vamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha, and Ishana, svaha.’ Thus, in the desired face, the inclusion of all faces and their forms was established. He worshipped Agni with Īśāna, offering three oblations with the astra mantra, and with full intent, proclaimed: ‘You are Shiva, the fire, the consumer of offerings.’ Having worshipped in his heart and established the fire, he offered the complete prescribed oblation to the ancestors, using the root mantra ending with ‘vauṣaṭ’, as is proper. Then, in the lotus of the heart, complete with all its parts and retinue, radiant and supreme, he invoked and worshipped as before. Having sought permission, he offered to Shiva. He connected the channels of the sacrificial fire and Shiva within himself, and performed the homa with the root mantra and its parts, offering one-tenth portions as required. The ghee offering was measured as one karsha; for milk and honey, the same. For curds, a shellful was used; for rice pudding, a prasriti. For all foods and grains, a handful was offered; for roots and fruits, three pieces, each according to its own measure. For cooked foods, he offered half a mouthful; for fine substances, five portions. For sugarcane, the measure was an upper joint; for creepers, two finger-widths. Flowers and leaves were offered in their proper measure; for kindling sticks, ten finger-widths. For camphor, sandalwood, saffron, musk, and resin, each was measured like a kalaya pea; for guggulu, like the seed of a jujube. For tubers, one-eighth part was offered, as is proper. Thus, he performed the homa with the seed syllables of Brahman. Placing the ladle face down in the vessel full of ghee, he then placed a flower at the tip of the ladle, holding it with his left hand, and again holding both with his right, forming the gesture resembling a conch. With his body half-raised, feet together and upright, he placed that gesture at the navel, fixing his gaze on the tip of the ladle. Having withdrawn from all causes beginning with Brahma, and led his awareness out through the Sushumna, he brought it to the left breast and attentively placed the root of both there. He recited the root mantra softly, ending with ‘vauṣaṭ’, and then offered a measure of ghee into the fire the size of a barley grain. After sipping water, offering sandalwood, and betel and the like, he honored that glory with devotion and performed the supreme salutation. Finally, having worshipped the fire with the astra mantra ending in ‘phat’, and performing the sealing gesture of destruction, he humbly said, ‘Forgive me.’ He established the radiant enclosing fires with his breath, heart, and subtle self, filled with supreme faith, within the lotus of his heart. Taking the foremost of all offerings, he made two circles and offered the oblation both inside and outside, in the presence of the fire-pit dedicated to Agni, thus completing the sacred rite.