Agni

I aspire to Agni, the Divine Will set in front as our leader of the sacrifice— the godhead who labours in the right season and the right truth; the invoker who calls the powers: most capable of founding in us the inner riches.

For our fostering and protection we invoke (Agni), the perfectly-formed and unbroken Power, as one invokes a richly-yielding cow for the milking of the Light—day after day.

We choose Agni as the messenger—the inner envoy of the Divine—who stands as our invoking priest, knower of all; may he be the luminous and right-effective will for this sacrifice of self-offering.

In the waters Soma spake to me: ‘Within are all the medicines; and Agni too, existent as the healer of all.’

O Agni, bring hither the Yātudhāna, the Kimīdin, unto the man who praiseth thee. For thou, O God, when duly adored, hast become the slayer of the Dasyu.

This man, hymning, hath come hither: seize ye upon this one in return. O Bṛhaspati, having gotten him within thy sway, O Agni and Soma, pierce him through, yea, smite him asunder.

“For nourishment (iṣ), I take you; for vital strength (ūrj), I take you. O Vāyu, you are the ‘opener/approacher’ (stho’pāyavaḥ); you are the ‘non-harming’ (stho’devāḥ) [i.e., auspicious, not injuring the rite]. May Savitṛ, the…

“Be well-prepared / well-ordered for the divine work—for the worship that is sacrifice. You are Mātariśvan’s gharma (the heated offering, the ‘hot draught’/heated milk used in Pravargya); you are Heaven; you are Earth; you are the…

“May I not injure (any being). For the wide-moving Wind (Vāyu)—the god—at Savitṛ’s impulsion (prasava), with the two arms of the Aśvins, with the two hands of Pūṣan, I cast out (nirvapāmi) what is ‘Agni-pleasing’ as an offering for Agni.…

O Bhārgava, the waters that are in Rasātala, having come into contact with Citrabhānu (Agni), release their heat through mountain-springs, being intensely heated by that fire’s radiance.

Indra said: “Come, Jātavedas; go, dispatched by me, to deliver Bṛhaspati to Marutta. It is Bṛhaspati who will officiate your sacrifice, and he will also confer upon you the status of an immortal.”

Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Thus addressed by his brothers, Jaritāri praised Vibhāvasu (Agni), joining his hands in reverence. Listen, O king, to how he did so.