In the sacred dawn, the sages gathered to invoke Agni, the divine fire, with reverent hymns. They prayed that, through Agni’s help, they might attain the swift horse of power—wise, auspicious, and stirring the heart. With focused minds and offerings of clarified butter, they presented their discernment, just as the righteous gods, upholders of truth, had once come to this very place. All their offerings, made to the lord of all beings—the creator of all—were for the fulfillment of every desire. They praised Agni, recognizing his seven kindlings, his seven tongues of flame, his seven sages, and seven beloved abodes. Seven priests worshipped him with sevenfold devotion, pouring ghee into seven wombs, sanctifying the act with the sacred invocation, Svāhā. The sages then beheld the many aspects of light: the brilliant, the variegated, the true, and the radiant; the bright guardian of truth and the great ones who preserve it. They spoke of things similar and different, measured and well-measured, all bearing together in harmony. They honored order, truth, stability, and support—the holders, arrangers, and sustainers of the cosmos. They celebrated the conquerors—those who triumph by order, by truth, and in battle with noble forces. They invoked the friend at the border, keeping the unfriendly at a distance, and welcomed the host of powers. Calling upon all such beings—those measured and well-measured, those similar and corresponding—they invited the Maruts, the storm gods, to their sacrifice, that they might come in strength. They honored Agni in his many forms: the possessor of wealth, the devourer, the inflamer, the householder, the playful, the bearer of branches, the exciter. They acknowledged his fierce, terrible, dark, and shaking aspects—his power as the assailant and hurler. As the divine Maruts had once followed Indra, so they prayed that all divine and human hosts might follow the worshipper in this sacred act. Turning to Agni, they invited him to drink the nourishing breast—rich and full—offered in the midst of the body. They asked him to accept the sweet, flowing spring, the oceanic seat of the offering, and to enter into it fully. Ghee, the sacred clarified butter, was praised: produced, established, and abiding in itself, its journey was celebrated as the bull carried the Svāhā-offering in due order. From the cosmic ocean, a wave full of sweetness arose, carrying the subtle essence of immortality. The secret name of ghee was revealed—the tongue, navel of the gods, is the very center of immortality. The sages declared this name with reverence, upholding it in sacrifice as the inspired priest listened. They spoke of the four-horned bull that had descended, a mystical being with four horns, three feet, two heads, and seven hands, bound in threefold ways, bellowing as the great god entered the mortal realm. The gods had once discovered the ghee, hidden within the cow, divided threefold and concealed by hands. Indra generated one part, the Sun another, and Vena pressed out the third by his own power. From the heart and the ocean, a hundred streams of ghee flowed, unstoppable, a golden reed shining in their midst. These streams, pure and eager, flowed like rivers and cows, their waves rushing forth like deer toward the swift arrow. They roared like rivers, swift as the wind, breaking through obstacles like a red horse, swelling with abundance. Together they moved, adorned like smiling maidens, offering themselves to Agni, who delighted in their nourishment. Where Soma was pressed and sacrifice performed, these anointed streams flowed forth, victorious and full of praise. The sages prayed that these offerings would bring auspicious wealth, and asked the deities to lead the sacrifice, letting the sweet waves of ghee pour forth. Upon Agni’s abode, the whole world rests—in the ocean, the heart, and the very breath of life. In the assembly of waters, where the offering is brought, the worshippers longed to partake of the wave full of sweetness. With the offerings complete, the sages turned their prayers toward all blessings, seeking them through the power of sacrifice. They prayed for vigor, impulse, aspiration, progress, thought, resolve, sound, praise, fame, hearing, light, and well-being—all to be accomplished through sacrifice. They continued, asking for breath in all its forms, for life, mind, understanding, speech, sight, hearing, skill, and strength. They sought energy, endurance, selfhood, bodily health, protection, armor, limbs, bones, coverings, and the fullness of life and old age. Their prayers encompassed supremacy, lordship, passion, force, abundance, water, greatness, breadth, expansion, rain, length, growth, and increase. They sought truth, faith, the moving world, wealth, the universe, play, delight, all that is born and yet to be born, good speech, and good deeds. They invoked order, immortality, freedom from disease and enemies, long life, fearlessness, happiness, good sleep and awakening, and the blessing of a good day. They asked for guidance, support, security, steadfastness, consciousness, knowledge, good offspring and progeny, successful ploughing, and rest. They sought peace, delight, affection, favor, desire, happiness, fortune, welfare, prosperity, excellence, and fame. They prayed for vigor, sweet speech, nourishment, essence, ghee, honey, good food and drink, agriculture, rain, victory, and abundant plants. They wished for wealth, nourishment, thriving, expansion, mastery, fullness, inexhaustible food, and freedom from hunger. They desired possessions, knowledge, what has come into being and what is yet to be, easy passage, good paths, prosperity, preparation, and understanding. They prayed for the harvests of the earth: rice, barley, beans, sesame, green gram, millet, priyaṅgu, panic seed, black millet, wild rice, wheat, and lentils. They invoked the blessings of stone, clay, hills, mountains, sand, trees, gold, copper, iron, lead, and tin. They asked for fire, water, herbs, medicinal and cultivated plants, wild and domestic animals, wealth, prosperity, being, and becoming. They sought goods, dwellings, action, power, purpose, wish, and attainment. Finally, they prayed for the companionship and blessings of the gods: Agni and Indra, Soma and Indra, Savitṛ and Indra, Sarasvatī and Indra, Pūṣan and Indra, Bṛhaspati and Indra; Mitra and Indra, Varuṇa and Indra, Dhātṛ and Indra, Tvaṣṭṛ and Indra, the Maruts and Indra, and all the gods with Indra. All these, they prayed, might be accomplished and bestowed through the sacred act of sacrifice. Thus, in this great assembly, the sages wove their prayers and offerings into a tapestry of praise, seeking the blessings of the divine for themselves and all beings, trusting in the power of sacrifice to fulfill every noble desire.