Agni! Thou art not one but many! The eye beholdeth thee and confoundeth, unable to grasp thy true nature. Art thou the flame that danceth upon the altar? Art thou the glow that liveth in the coals? Art thou the smoke that riseth upward? All these are thy forms, yet none is wholly thee.

Thy forms are as the stars in the night sky—numberless, each distinct, yet all belonging to a single heaven. We have glimpsed thee in the lightning, in the sun, in the eyes of the tiger that burneth with hunger. We have heard thee in the roar of the forge fire where the smith shapeth metal.

O enigmatic one! Which of thy faces shall we call upon? When thou art gentle as the lamp burning in the dwelling, art thou the same as when thou art terrible as the forest fire that consumeth all things? Yes! Thou art the same fire, only varying in measure and in purpose.

The priests know thy many forms. They call to thee as Agni the purifier. They call to thee as Agni the destroyer. They call to thee as Agni the nourisher. Yet they know these are but names for the one flame that manifesteth itself in countless ways.

Thou art in the body of the sacrifice, transforming the offerings. Thou art in the seed that groweth, that transformeth earth into plant. Thou art in the mind that transformeth ignorance into knowledge, that burneth away delusion.

O fire of many forms! Show us thy true nature! Yet we know that perhaps thou hast no single true nature—perhaps thy truth is that thou art all forms simultaneously, that thou art the capacity for transformation itself, the eternal power that maketh all becoming possible.

Come to us in whatever form we most need! Be the comfort of the cold, the purification of the unclean, the light in the darkness, the fierce determination of the warrior. We praise thee in all thy manifestations, O Agni the multiple, O Agni the one.