O Agni, thou art joined with soma in the sacred rite! Where fire meets the wine of the heavens, there is born the supreme intoxication, the ecstasy that bindeth mortal consciousness to immortal awareness.

We crush the soma plant; we pour its precious juice into the vessels of stone. The priests sing over it; the chants grow louder. And then, O Agni, we pour the soma into thy flames! The moment of contact is the moment of transformation. The mortal drink becomes the divine elixir. What was earthly becometh celestial.

Thy flames leap higher when the soma toucheth thee, O fire-god. The smoke that riseth becometh visible to the immortals. They smell the sweetness of the offering; they hear the mingled cry of gratitude and ecstasy that riseth from our assembled voices. They bend their attention downward to our humble place upon the earth.

In this sacred fusion of fire and soma, the boundaries between above and below, between human and divine, grow thin and permeable. We who have drunk the soma feel thy heat within our bodies, O Agni. Thy flames burn in our chests; thy light burneth in our eyes. For a brief and glorious moment, we are no longer merely mortal.

The soma dances in the fire. The fire dances in the soma. The two are inseparable, neither complete without the other. As the soma giveth ecstasy to the soma-drinker, so doth it give power to thy flames, O Agni. Together, ye two accomplish what neither could achieve alone.

We thank thee for this marriage of fire and plant, of heat and coolness, of the earthly sacrifice and the heavenly gift. Let them remain ever united. Let thy flames forever consume the soma. Let the soma forever illuminate thy flames. In this eternal dance, we mortals find our glimpse of heaven.