As the sacred rite unfolded, all the directions gathered, their presence felt most strongly in the south. The gods assembled, and the Aśvins were called to partake of the honeyed Gharma, offered with the sacred invocation of svāhā. The priests entreated that this sacrifice be placed in heaven itself, repeating their plea for the offering to rise to the celestial realms. With reverence, they hailed Agni, the ever-worthy recipient of sacrifice, for his role in the Yajus chants. Again, the Aśvins were invited—this time to drink the Gharma of the heart, shielded by their protections of the day. Homage was paid to the divine supporters, to Heaven and Earth, the great sustainers. The priests prayed that both the Aśvins and Heaven and Earth would consume the Gharma, and that all gifts and blessings might manifest here, in this very place. Their prayers turned to abundance: “Enrich us for nourishment, for vigor, for the priesthood, for sovereignty, for Heaven and Earth. You are law itself, of good law. Establish all powers in us—let the priesthood, sovereignty, and the people be firmly rooted.” With each invocation, they offered salutations: to Pūṣan, the swift one; to the sacred stones; to the gods who respond; to the ancestors, who sit upright upon their barhis, purifying the Gharma; to Heaven and Earth, and to all the gods. They honored Rudra, and the one invoked by Rudra, and to light itself. They prayed that both day and night, each with their own sign, would accept the good light. “May we partake of the sweet offering, O Agni, best among the gods; to you, O Gharma, we offer homage—do not harm us.” The mighty priest, radiant and great, became the very glory of heaven, spreading his fame across the earth. “You are great, shine forth, beloved by the gods,” they chanted, invoking Agni’s reddish, beautiful smoke. They called upon all aspects of the Gharma—the divine, the one in the Gāyatrī and the offering place, in the atmosphere and the Triṣṭubh, in the fire altar, on earth, in the Jagatī, and in the assembly—asking that each part come and settle in its proper place, sanctified by svāhā. For the protection of sovereignty and the strength of priesthood, they prayed: “Guard your body. Through righteousness, we follow you, seeking new prosperity.” The ritual drew upon the image of the fourfold garland, the navel of truth, spreading wide. “May this all-encompassing one grant us full life. Let hatred and decline depart; let us be united, even with those of different vows.” They recognized heat as the very essence of life: “By this heat, may you grow and be filled; may we too grow and be filled.” The mighty bull, tawny and great, roared forth like Mitra, visible to all. With the sun, he shone, like the ocean, the treasure of life. Turning their thoughts to the world, they prayed that waters and plants would be as friendly companions, wishing unfriendliness only to those who bear hatred. A moment of illumination came: “We have gone forth from darkness into light, seeing the higher world. We have reached the god among gods—the sun, the highest light.” They tended the sacred fire: “May we kindle your kindling; you are the fuel and the brilliance—place that brilliance in me.” With wide arms, they invoked Indra: “As vast as heaven and earth, as far as the seven rivers reach, so great is the draught of strength I take for myself, undiminished.” They sought that this great power, skill, and resolve be established within them, as the threefold heat shone with Brahman and brilliance. They drew up the essence of milk, praying to drink its yield year after year. “May your energy, will, skill, graciousness, your fire-offering, the draught drunk by Indra, the food eaten by Prajapati, full of sweetness, summoned and summoned—may I partake of it.” Then, with a series of offerings, they honored all the breaths with their lords, the earth, Agni, the midspace, Vāyu, the sky, and the sun. They extended their salutations to the directions, the moon, the stars, the waters, Varuṇa, the navel of the world, and the pure one. They paid homage to speech, to breath, to the eye, to the ear—each twice, acknowledging their vital importance. A prayer arose: “May I obtain the desire of the mind, the intention and truth of speech; may the form of cattle, the taste of food, fame, and prosperity abide in me. Svāhā.” They remembered the cycle of days and deities: Savitṛ on the first day, Agni on the second, Vāyu on the third, Āditya on the fourth, the moon on the fifth, the season on the sixth, the Maruts on the seventh, Bṛhaspati on the eighth; Mitra on the ninth, Varuṇa on the tenth, Indra on the eleventh, and all the gods on the twelfth. They invoked the fierce and terrible, darkness and the shaker, the victorious, the assailant, the scatterer—each with svāhā. The deities were honored in their many forms: the fierce one with redness, the friend with good vows, Rudra with bad vows, Indra with play, the Maruts with strength, the Sādhyas with joy; Bhava with the throat, Rudra with the side, Mahādeva with the liver, Śarva with the back, Paśupati with the belly. Every part of the body was sanctified: hairs, skin, red flesh, fat, flesh, sinews, bones, marrow, seed, and even feces—all offered to with svāhā. They honored effort and exertion, union and separation, rising, the pure and the shining, the one who shines, and even sorrow. Offerings were made to austerity and those who practice it, to the one being disciplined and the one who is disciplined, to the heat, to expiation and atonement, and to healing. They remembered Yama, Antaka, Death, Brahman, the slaying of Brahman, all the gods, and Heaven and Earth with oblations. Then, a great teaching was spoken: “All this—whatever moves in this world—is to be enveloped by the Lord. By renouncing it, enjoy; do not covet another’s wealth.” “One should wish to live here for a hundred years, performing actions in this way. For you, there is no other path; action does not cling to such a person.” “But those who destroy their own Self go, after death, to worlds of blinding darkness, called demonic.” “That One—unmoving—is swifter than the mind. The gods could not reach it, for it moved before them. Though standing still, it surpasses all that runs; in it, the wind sets the waters.” “It moves, and it does not move; it is far, and it is near. It is within all this, and it is outside all this.” “Whoever sees all beings in the Self alone, and the Self in all beings, has no doubt.” “For one who knows that all beings have become the Self, what delusion, what sorrow can there be, for one who sees oneness?” “He has gone all around, pure, bodiless, woundless, without sinews, spotless, untouched by evil; the seer, wise, all-pervading, self-born, has rightly assigned all things for eternal ages.” “Those who worship only the unmanifest enter blind darkness; those who delight only in the manifest go into even greater darkness.” “The wise have told us: one thing is born from the manifest, another from the unmanifest. So have we heard from those who know.” Thus, the sacred story and teaching flowed, connecting the ritual, the gods, the elements, and the deepest truths of the Self and the world, as revealed in the holy scriptures.