Rasendracudamani 15

English (machine translation) 15

Language: English

15.1

Chapter 15
Nothing has been fully revealed by previous oceans of mercury [the masters]; I will now explain the operation of the king of rasas through the eighteen [samskāras].

15.2

The essence of all medicaments, beginning with nectar, resides in mercury. Mortals, drink it combined together, so that you may become immortal!

It bestows upon mortals diamond-like lifespan, gold-like bodily complexion, the metallic essence of mica, the strength of a rutting elephant, copper-like fierce hunger, / silver-like pacification of bile, and all that is radiant; the glorious mercury, when perfected for the body and base metals, removes every disease.

15.4

At the beginning of the kalpa, when sexual union causing agitation to the three worlds commenced out of love and mutual desire between Śiva and Śivā,

15.5

Agni was sent by the gods to interrupt their lovemaking, out of a yearning for the birth of Śiva's son to slay the demon Tāraka.

15.6

Agni, having assumed the form of a pigeon and arrived in a cave of the Himālaya, was agitated at not being a bird, and looked on with an amorous smile.

15.7

Seeing him, Śambhu was ashamed and, desisting from intercourse, caught with a single hand his own discharge of fiery energy.

15.8

It was thrown into the mouth of Agni, and it fell into the Gaṅgā; and by the Gaṅgā, being utterly scorched, it was cast outside.

15.9

From that, metals possessing superior properties equal to nectar were born. That which fell from Śiva's hand indeed became mercury (pārada).

15.10

By it the immortal, ageless best of the gods came to be; and from its impurities were born metals eight in number.

15.11

That which fell from the mouth of Agni indeed became mercury (rasa); it was consumed by the lordly serpents desiring to conquer old age and death.

15.12

That which, while being drunk, fell from the serpents' mouths due to its heavy weight, tumbled into a well a hundred yojanas deep.

15.13

Slightly yellowish inside and rough, that mercury transmutes the body and base metals. Desiring to seize a menstruating woman just bathed after her first menses who arrives riding a horse, that king of rasas comes out for a yojana all around, and then returns to the well. And it stays in large quantities in pits dug along her path; in this way, it is indeed collected by the local inhabitants.

15.14

That which, being carried along from the Gaṅgā by the wind, fell in a distant land because of its heavy weight, that region is known as Pārada.

15.15

From there, mercury that has entered the earth is obtained by the sublimation method; it should be known as pārada, because it ferries one across diseases.

15.16

Thus the auspicious, Śiva-born splendour was born in four forms. Knowing this origin of mercury, a person is not afflicted by diseases.

15.17

Rasendra and rasa are both naturally perfected mercuries; the other two must be processed, having arisen over a long time from contact with earth and regional soils.

15.18

It is called rasa because it tastes (rasanāt) [and absorbs] old age, premature death, poverty, and diseases, in accordance with the root meaning of the verbal stem ras-, 'to taste'.

15.19

Because it engenders (sūte) perfection in body and metals, it is regarded as sūta; and because it carries across (pārayet) the ocean of diseases, it is called pārada.

15.20

Since, while being purified by distillations, one quarter (pāda) remains and three parts perish, it is on that account known as pādarasa.

15.21

Seeing that humans, through the power of such mercury which destroys mortality and disease, attained strength and longevity equal to the gods,

15.22

Rudra, petitioned by Indra, afflicted mercury with twelve impurities, though previously it gave success even without purification.

15.23

The impurities are dirt, poison, fire, intoxication, and arrogance; and their results are swooning, death, burning sensation, eruptions, and dizziness.

15.24

The seven coverings of mercury arise from earth, mountain, water, copper, iron, lead, and tin; because of them, mercury is like poison.

15.25

These coverings cause, respectively: leprosy, dullness, wind-affliction, burning sensation, constriction of the throat, insanity, and severe colic.

15.26

A physician who administers mercury without having removed these five impurities and seven coverings existing in it becomes a killer of a Brahmin.

15.27

Having removed these twelve great defects, if one gives mercury, he shall obtain great spiritual merit and boundless, immense renown.

15.28

Eighteen processing operations are declared for mercury: steaming, grinding, swooning, recovery, distillation, confinement, and regulation; stimulation resulting from morsels; / the measure [of metals], causing liquefaction by penetration into internal and external states, and its digestion; coloration, movement, procedure of circumambulation, transmutation, and thereafter ingestion.

15.29

Now the proper purification of blemishes and covering sheaths / is expounded according to the method taught by Nandi.

15.30

Mercury purified in an amount less than five palas yields little result; / above ten palas by measure, it attains complete purity.

15.31

By steaming, grinding, swooning, and upward distillation seven times, / the king of elixirs becomes freed from all blemishes.

15.32

Likewise, steaming, grinding, and causing it to swoon seven times— / Bhāskara has declared that this brings success and produces virtues.

15.33

Dineśvara states that it is purified by grinding, steaming, and deposit; / while purification by upward and downward distillation is the view of Bhāluki.

15.34

Steaming, grinding, swooning, recovery, distillation, / confinement, and regulation: purification is considered sevenfold, / determined for the king of mercuries by the venerable Govindabhagavān.

15.35

Now the purification of the king of elixirs, which destroys all blemishes entirely, / is proclaimed in the manner taught by the venerable Nandi.

15.36

Steamed for three days in a swing apparatus with fermented sour gruel / using radish, citraka, rock salt, mustard, ginger, and the three pungents, each in one-sixteenth part of the mercury, mercury becomes free from impurities.

15.37

Mercury should be ground for three days with burnt wool, soot from the house, lotus seed, mustard, together with jaggery and brick dust, in sixteenth parts, to pacify its heat.

15.38

Indeed, mercury must always be ground each time the morsel is digested; / for through these very medicaments, being spotless, it absorbs colors.

15.39

Through grinding with the juice of lakuca combined with the three pungents and borax, / mercury, swooned for three days, casts off its uncontrollable frenzy.

15.40

Kept for three days with borax, the three fruits, priyaṅgu, and borax together with fermented sour gruel, / mercury completely abandons its own poison blemish.

15.41

Boiled and taken out with the juices of sarpākṣī, kākamācī, and the three pungents, / it quickly casts off pride; such is the purification of blemishes.

15.42

Kept in a windless place with alkalis, acids, and warm water, / it produces coldness in the potency of mercury, destroying its potency.

15.43

Mercury ground for a day with alum, green vitriol, and citron juice, / ground and washed with fermented sour gruel, sheds the earthy covering sheath.

15.44

Mercury triturated with the fresh juices of girikarṇī and jayantī / for three times indeed sheds its mountainous covering sheath.

15.45

Boiled for three days with a decoction of jaggery, guggulu, and neem, / mercury sheds the water-born covering sheath that produces many defects.

15.46

Having ground it with white sugar, ginger, and buttermilk, and then raised it, / washed with warm urine of cows, it should shed the copper-born covering sheath.

15.47

Mercury thoroughly ground with the juices of bitter gourd and karkoṭī / sheds the iron covering sheath, just as an inconstant man casts off friendship.

15.48

Mercury made into an amalgam with copper and distilled in a distillation apparatus / quickly casts off the covering sheath arising from lead and tin.

15.49

Having smeared the mercury ground with the three fruits, citraka, rock salt, horse-radish tree, mustard, and collyrium mineral onto the upper part of the distillation vessel, / surrounded in the belly of the pot filled with water, one should heat it with a gentle fire; it then sheds the covering sheath of tin.

15.50

Mercury distilled in this manner, shining like a flickering streak of lightning, / is freed from lead and tin, and after that, this follows:

15.51

Whenever mercury becomes distressed by indigestion of the morsel, / it must be distilled then and there in this very manner.

15.52

Tormented by purifications beginning with steaming and ending with distillation, / mercury becomes weak in potency; therefore, one should perform refreshing.

15.53

Remaining in rock salt along with water for the period of three days, / having obtained refreshing once again, it does not become impotent, but becomes potent.

15.54

Bhāluki taught steaming and deposit after regulation, / determined to make a mouth for consuming all metals.

15.55

Having placed mercury in a vessel set on burning coals, one should digest / citraka in a sixteenth part; that is regarded here as steaming.

15.56

It certainly removes all diseases, endowed with power and superior in virtues; / it swiftly bears fruit; of this there is no doubt.

15.57

Likewise, through deposit together with alkalis, acids, and salts, / in the manner taught in the fourth chapter, there arises in mercury indeed:

15.58

Appetite, pervasiveness, sharpness, swift action, / the capacity to cure all diseases, and the state of having shed all blemishes.

15.59

Through steaming for three days with black pepper, lotus seed, brown mustard, drumstick bark, bhūkhaga, and borax / along with fermented gruel, stimulation of mercury takes place.

15.60

And one should perform stimulation of mercury with the group of stimulant drugs taught in the ninth chapter; / that brings supreme benefit.

15.61

Mercury combined with gold in an eighteenth part, steamed / with alkalis and acids free from defects, develops a mouth to consume.

15.62

Combined with an eighth part of pyrite essence and twice as much gold, / mixed repeatedly with vinegar and sal ammoniac,

15.63

one should grind it with great force inside a heated mortar / along with the alkaline water of chickpeas and the juice of royal lime,

15.64

for twenty-one days, one watch each day; / in this way it acquires a demonic mouth and devours everything, without a doubt.

15.65

The eighteen operations on mercury do not succeed for men / without good fortune, ascetic practice, and the grace of Īśvara.

15.66

Endowed with all the varied, delightful procedures and refined processes, mercury abandons all alterations, destroying the disease of vitiligo; / until then, Somadeva, the lord of the noble city, declares this purification taught by Nandi, which brings manifold qualities, is easily accomplished, and is coupled with wholesome regimens.

15.67

With the three alkalis together with the five salts and acids, mercury triturated in a mortar for three days should then be placed, enclosed within a paste of asafoetida, mustard, and dry ginger.
In fermented wash for three days indeed it should be cooked with a gentle flame in a swing apparatus: the mercury freed of flaws, equal to ambrosial nectar, grants success without dietary restrictions.

Linked texts (1)

Rasendracūḍāmaṇi — Somadeva (alchemist), Sanskrit