Anandakanda 1.1

Ānandakanda, 1.1
Seated on the peak of Mount Kailāsa, the destroyer of Time and of Kāma, / serene, the supreme lord, the cause of the bliss of the world,

having bowed with supreme devotion, Bhairavī offered praise: / “O God of gods, Great God, destroyer of the poverty of mundane existence!

Be gracious, O embodiment of compassion! Be pleased, O supreme lord! / The secrets of the divine scriptures, the traditions of the Kula and Kaula, and the rest

I know by your grace, O you whose illusory form is auspicious! / I wish to hear, O Lord of all, your divine rejuvenation therapy,

which destroys senescence, birth, and disease, which grants alchemical perfections such as aerial locomotion, / which pacifies poverty and misery, and bestows supreme boons such as the status of Brahmā.”

Īśvara said: / “Well said, well said, O highly fortunate one, benefactress of all the worlds! / All that is produced from quicksilver, O beloved of my pure soul and breath of life!

For the benefit of all the worlds, the most secret of secrets, wholesome, / the origin and characteristics of the lord of mercury, O you who are worshiped by the gods,

all of that I will proclaim fully. Listen now, O Bhairavī!
<Origin of Mercury>
When beseeched by the chiefs of gods, celestial sages, Gandharvas, serpents, and Kiṃnaras,

who desired the birth of Kumāra from you, / for the destruction of the demon Tāraka and for the protection of the worlds,

then in a cave of the Himālaya mountain for a long time, O beloved, / our time passed sporting intimately together out of a desire for a son.

Sent by the gods to interrupt our lovemaking which shook the three worlds, / Agni, assuming the form of a dove, approached through a window-vent.

Seeing him, out of shame, O Goddess, our lovemaking was abandoned by me, / and our radiant energy was cast into the mouth of Agni.

Burning intensely with that, Agni submerged it into the Gaṅgā; / and greatly heated by it, the Gaṅgā also cast it out.

Having reached the outside, that divided into two parts: one for the birth of Skanda, / while the other became pure mercury, which carries [beings] across the ocean of misfortunes.

It settled into five wells that were a hundred yojanas deep; / from its impurities were born base metals, gems, and divine substances.

According to each specific region, differing in qualities such as name and color, / this lord of mercury, the destroyer of the poverty of birth, came to be divided.

At the dissolution, those five wells are known to have had mouths producing [the classes], / by withdrawing the five colors, hundreds of thousands were deposited.

They possess the five colors, O Queen of the gods, and are endowed with all essence. / In the east, the mercury is white; with various colors it destroys disease.

In the south, the lord of mercury is unsteady and blue in color; / free of defect, exceedingly dry, and extremely volatile, O beloved.

From that, the serpent kings were born, freed from senescence, birth, and defects of disease. / In the west, however, quicksilver is yellow in color and exceedingly dry.

Endowed with all defects, it becomes pure through the eighteen alchemical operations; / it grants all alchemical perfections, O Goddess, bestowing perfection of the body, transmutation of base metals, and the rest.

In the northern quarter, it is red and completely devoid of defects; / through that very rejuvenation therapy, the gods are free from birth and senescence.

In the center, however, it should be known as mixed mercury, endowed with all colors; / externally having the luster of the moon and sun, the mercury is endowed with defects.

Purified through the eighteen alchemical processes, it bestows alchemical perfection. / For the lord of mercury is Maheśvara himself, the true nature of the immortals.

Those two filled [them], and because of their scarcity they are exceedingly rare; / yet it bestows perfection in all other operations through [purificatory] procedures.

Completely purified through the eighteen [processes], it swiftly grants alchemical perfection. / He who knows the descent of mercury is the best among the righteous;

he will attain longevity, happiness, progeny, wealth, and health.
<Synonyms of Mercury and Their Etymologies>
Because it conveys [beings] across to the further shore

of the ocean of birth, disease, senescence, death, and poverty, it is proclaimed as pārada. / And because it acts as the master over mercury, secondary minerals, metals, and the like, it is rasendra.

Because it was generated from each of my limbs, it is designated as sūta; / and because it engenders all alchemical perfections, it is therefore called sūta.

Because it is the fluid essence of my body, it is celebrated as rasa; / it is praised for destroying senescence, death, poverty, and disease.

Therefore it is called rasa; and because of being a mineral essence, O lovely-faced one, / [and because] it assimilates all metals, it is therefore spoken of as rasa.

It acts as a friend, and having the same color, it bestows all alchemical perfections; / pārada destroys diseases; rasendra is used in alchemical operations;

in metallic operations it is sūta, and rasendra in mercurial mastery; / on account of its fitness for all operations and being all-encompassing, O beloved,

bestowing all alchemical perfections, O Goddess, it is called mixed mercury.
<Defects Inherent in Mercury>
Seeing this mercury, which grants infallible success, is spotless, and confers all alchemical perfections,

all the thirty gods, led by Brahmā and Viṣṇu, / petitioned me with various hymns, O beloved:

‘Merely by seeing the lord of mercury, men, birds, animals, and the rest / attain manifold alchemical perfection; therefore restrain it, O Śaṅkara!’

Therefore it was joined with defects in the form of three layers of sheath defects; / from that time onward, quicksilver, freed from defects and sheath defects,

and purified through the eighteen alchemical processes, becomes the bestower of alchemical perfection.
<States of Mercury>
Smoke, popping sound, frog-leap,

trembling, and violent shaking are the five states of mercury.
<Losses of Mercury>
The losses of mercury are five: in water, its loss is like that of water;

in smoke, quicksilver has the loss of smoke; when spread out, it has the loss like a swan; / in dross, it resembles dross, O Goddess; the fifth is the loss like a living soul.

Four losses are visible; the fifth loss is invisible. / The four losses are to be checked by apparatuses, medicinal herbs, and so forth, O beloved;

the fifth loss is to be checked by meditation, mantras, medicinal herbs, and the like.
<Innate Defects>
Earthy, watery, fiery, and airy;

etheric, elephant-skin, white-lotus-like, producing erysipelas, / turmeric-yellow, red-skin, orange, red-droplet-like,

intolerant of fire, and frog-like—these are traditional innate impurities.
<Adventitious Defects>
Kālikā defect, malinī defect, kapotī defect, red sheath,

hairy, mountain-born, and piṅgalī defect are the seven sheath defects. / These are to be known as adventitious defects celebrated in mercury, O beloved.
<Compound Defects>

Poison, lead, and tin are remembered as the three compound defects.
<Nature of the Defects>
The earthy produces leprosy; the watery causes an aggravation of the humors;

The fiery [defect] causes burning; the airy produces colic; / deafness is caused by the ethereal defect; and the elephant-skin defect causes elephantiasis.

The lotus defect causes ringworm, and the erysipelatous causes erysipelas; / the turmeric defect is said to cause jaundice, [and produces] red skin and pale-red eyes.

The orange defect produces udumbara-leprosy; the red-seed defect produces smallpox; / the intolerable-fire defect causes stupefaction; the frog defect produces warts.

Impurity causes fainting, O goddess. Likewise, those arising from the sheath defects are well known: / the kālikā defect causes a black complexion, and the malinī defect causes retention of impurities.

The kapotī defect produces hoarseness; the red sheath defect causes eruptions; / the hairy defect causes vomiting; the mountain-born defect produces torpor.

The piṅgalī defect destroys the eyes: these are known as the defects born of the sheaths. / Poison brings death; lead [causes] torpor; and tin, O you who are worshipped by the gods,

causes a foul odor: such are the diseases arising from compound defects. / <The Movement of Mercury to Another Place> / A beautiful woman of auspicious marks, who has bathed after her first menses,

wearing clean clothes, anointed with garlands and fragrances, well-adorned, / mounted on an excellent horse, and refraining from sexual intercourse,

having first worshipped Gaṇanātha, Bhairava, and the guru, / and having meditated upon Rasendra-Bhairava, O dear one, should look upon the mercury

standing in the well; then she should depart swiftly, and not look back again. / This maiden, equipped with a horse, [travels] the distance of a yojana.

Then, wishing to catch the maiden, / leaping up from the middle of the well, that [mercury] pursues her.

Having travelled as far as a yojana, it immediately re-enters the well. / Situated in those various pits made all around,

the master of alchemical practice, having purified himself, should collect that lord of mercury. / Because of its heaviness, it fell from the mouth of Agni into the country called Darada;

that quicksilver absorbed into the earth is gathered by experts in alchemy who know the Tantras. / Being placed into the earthen apparatus named pātanā,

the gathered mercury, O goddess, is declared to be free of defects. / In this very manner, here and there, the lord of mercury is always deposited

by perfected beings and Vidyādharas, O goddess, and bestows alchemical perfections.