O blazing one! O raging one! O thou that art all fury and all light! Thy flames consume and destroy with a violence that feareth nothing. There is in thy essence an ancient and terrible power that strippeth away all pretense, all softness, all complacency.

We do not approach thee, O primal fire, with words of gentle flattery. Thou art not moved by such tactics. Thou art moved only by witness to genuine sacrifice, by the sight of true devotion, by offerings poured forth from hearts that understand thy nature in its deepest aspect.

Thou art not the domesticated flame that warmeth the hearth or the refined fire that burneth the ceremonial offerings. Thou art the wildfire that raceth across the dried grass, that devoureth the forest, that turneth the earth black and bare. Thou art the volcano that explodeth from the belly of the earth. Thou art the lightning that striketh the tallest tree without warning.

In thy absolute form, thou art beyond good and evil, beyond right and wrong. Thou simply art—a force of nature, neither merciful nor cruel, neither just nor unjust. Thou burnest what thou burnest. Those who standeth in thy path perish. Those who fleeth from thee survive. Such is thy way.

We honor this primal aspect of thee, O Agni. We acknowledge thy terrible beauty. We bow before thy absolute power. We do not ask thee to be gentle with us, for we understand that gentleness is not thy nature. We only ask that thou recognizest us as thy worshippers, that when thy flames consume the sacrifice we place before thee, thou wilt not also consume us.

O blazing fire of creation and destruction! Accept our fear and our reverence. Let thy flames burn bright and eternal. Let thy power shake the very foundations of the world. Thou art the breath of the cosmos, the eternal engine of transformation. We mortals are but dust before thy magnificence.