How to perform Agnihotra — step by step

Before you begin

Have the six items ready the evening before: the copper kuṇḍa, dried cow-dung cakes broken into pieces, pure cow ghee, unbroken unpolished rice, a copper spoon, and camphor or a matchstick. Sit facing east at sunrise and west at sunset, on the floor or a low seat, with the kuṇḍa on a heat-proof surface in front of you.

Open the clock and read the next zero time. Everything below is timed backwards from it. The live clock does this for you with a voice in English or Hindi; the times here are the ones it uses.

−4:00 · Prepare

The horizon appears on the clock and the voice says: prepare your havan kund. Fill the kuṇḍa with pieces of cow-dung cake and smear them with ghee. Put a pinch of ghee into a small bowl of rice and mix lightly — two pinches are needed, one for each āhuti. Keep the ghee and the copper spoon at your right hand. In one and a half minutes the process starts.

−2:00 · Invoke the fire

The voice says: light the fire, Agni invocation. Light the ghee-smeared dung with camphor. While the flame rises, the three invocations are recited one after another: Oṃ agnim īḷe purohitaṃ…, the Agni Gāyatrī Oṃ mahājvālāya vidmahe…, and Oṃ vaiśvānarāya vidmahe…. Fan the fire gently if it needs help; never blow on it with the mouth.

≈ −1:30 · The Vyāhṛti offerings, three rounds

Take the copper spoon. For each of the four mantras pour one spoon of ghee into the fire at the word svāhā and complete the mantra: Bhūḥ svāhā, Agnaye idaṃ na mama · Bhuvaḥ svāhā, Vāyave idaṃ na mama · Svaḥ svāhā, Sūryāya idaṃ na mama · Bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ svāhā, Prajāpataye idaṃ na mama.

That is one round. Repeat the round three times — twelve spoons of ghee in all; the voice says "second time" and "third time". The clock shows which round and which mantra you are on. The three rounds end about half a minute before zero.

The wait · −0:10 Keep the āhuti ready

Put the spoon down. Take the first pinch of rice and ghee between the fingers of the right hand. Watch the horizon, or the clock. Breathe. Say nothing. The fire should be burning steadily without flame leaping — a glowing bed with a small flame is right. Ten seconds before zero the voice says: keep the āhuti ready now.

0:00 · The two āhutis — 24 seconds

Three seconds before zero the bell rings; at zero the first mantra is spoken. At sunrise: Sūryāya svāhā — offer the rice into the fire — Sūryāya idaṃ na mama. Take the second pinch: Prajāpataye svāhā — offer — Prajāpataye idaṃ na mama. At sunset the first mantra is Agnaye svāhā, Agnaye idaṃ na mama; the second is the same. On screen the golden window counts its 24 seconds while the sun disc rises in real time; then the voice says: Agnihotra time is over.

Both offerings belong inside the twenty-four seconds after zero. Do not hurry the words and do not drag them; two calm breaths each is right. If the moment passes before you offer, offer anyway and complete the words — the discipline matters more than the stopwatch — and be earlier tomorrow.

After

Sit with the fire until it burns down. Keep the breath slow; many practitioners use these minutes for their daily meditation or japa. Do not put the fire out and do not add anything to it. When it is cold, collect the ash in a glass or clay jar — this is Agnihotra bhasma, used on plants, in water, and in traditional preparations. Clean the kuṇḍa with water only.