Anandakanda 1.6

Ānandakanda, 1.6
<The procedure for bodily projection>
Bowing with her head to Śambhu, the mountain's daughter asked:
Śrī Bhairavī [spoke]:
O Lord, bodily projection was earlier spoken of by you in brief.

Explain that bodily projection so that I may understand it completely.
Śrī Bhairava [spoke]:
O Goddess, I shall describe what is difficult to attain even for the gods,

bodily projection for yogins endued with enjoyment, O mistress of the gods.
One should perform digestive cooking and the rest, according to the rule of the five therapies.

<The five therapies; 1. Digestive cooking>
One should gradually purify the humors aggravated by salt and the like;
then one should ingest digested mercury gradually, like this, O mistress of the gods.

Taking light food during the day, [one takes] kṣudrā, coriander, and dry ginger;
one should stir these three, measured at one pala each, into water.

Boiling it down until an eighth remains, one should drink it every night for three days;
thereafter, one should drink a decoction of the three myrobalans for three days, as before.

Thus one should carry out digestive cooking. Now one should perform oleation.
<2. Oleation>
During the day, one should eat ghee-cooked rice with goat broth in proper measure.

Or, the intelligent person, eating lightly during the day, may have food with ghee or mung-bean broth;
at night he should drink cow's ghee mixed with rock salt:

one niṣka of rock salt and four niṣkas of ghee.
One should besprinkle all the limbs with oil of bhṛṅgarāja and myrobalan.

Thus for seven days one should perform oleation, which is exceedingly beneficial.
<3. Sudation>
Fish, meat, black gram, sesame, barley-derived pure flour-mash,

all this should measure one prastha. Ekāṣṭhīlā, agarwood, balā,
rāsnā, vyāghrī, nutgrass, cinnamon leaf, guggulu, ativiṣā, turmeric—

all these in a measure of two palas. One should cast all of it into two āḍhakas
of buttermilk, milk, water, and fermented gruel, and the intelligent person should boil it in an earthen pot.

By its steam one should make the body sweat for a duration of two ghaṭikās.
Thus for seven days one should perform sudation, which is exceedingly beneficial.

<4. Emesis>
One madana fruit, pāṭhā, and sixteen [palas] of water;
boiling it down until a quarter remains, in that water filtered through cloth,

one should add pippalī, indrayava, liquorice, and salt, just one karṣa [each],
and drink it in the morning; vomiting will ensue, curing all diseases.

<5. Purgation>
Quicksilver, borax, sulphur, the three pungents, and the three myrobalans in equal parts;
croton seed equal to these: one should grind it finely.

One should eat just two guñjās in measure together with jaggery.
This is declared as purgation, destroying all diseases.

The five therapies have thus been declared. One should perform them in sequence ending with purgation.
<Formulations that purify bodily defects>
One should drink a kuḍuva of screwpine root and jambīra lime daily,

for seven days in the morning, which removes defects caused by salt.
Into sixteen palas of water, one should throw one pala of the three myrobalans.

One should boil it until a quarter remains; when it has cooled, [adding] a pala of honey,
one should drink it at dawn for three days: it is supreme for removing defects caused by alkali.

Viḍaṅga with vacā, kuṣṭha, combined with screwpine root,
boiled and drunk for three days—one should drink it to remove defects caused by sourness.

Or else, combining one pala of water from tamarind ashes
with a karṣa of barley-ash and sugar, one should drink it for three days.

This is declared in rasāyana as the destruction of defects caused by sourness.
A karṣa each of vacā, biḍāla, palāśa seed, and viḍaṅga,

and a karṣa of jaggery: one should consume all that, and drink hot water
in the morning for three days; that brings about the expulsion of intestinal worms.

Śyāmā, chitraka, viḍaṅga, vāśā, the three pungents, the three fruits,
rock salt, deodar cedar, and mustā, each in equal parts—

one should lick one karṣa [of this] with ghee in the morning; within a week it conquers all diseases.
Having thus purified the body, eating cooked rice of wild paddy with milk,

and having gained full strength, one should then undertake the rejuvenation therapy.
<Application of rejuvenation therapy>
Churning oil obtained from the divine deodar together with
milk, ghee, āmalakī juice, and honey, one should drink two palas of all that every day.

Within a month, luster and intellect certainly arise, there is no doubt.

In the second month, one should drink four palas of the aforesaid [mixture];
thereby the bodily humors and disorders arising in the eyes are pacified.

Then in the third month, one should take a measure of six palas;
by that he will possess an immortal body and surely become endowed with great splendor.

<Procedure for consuming āroṭa mercury>
Now āroṭa mercury should be consumed in due order, O supreme Goddess.
Distilled from iron, copper, mica, and iron pyrite, and gradually killed,

this āroṭaka mercury is supreme in bestowing perfection of the body.
Mercury processed by the seven refinement processes such as steaming,

swooned and dyed, O Goddess, quicksilver is called āroṭaka;
it is foremost in rejuvenation therapy and the alleviation of diseases, granting all virtues.

Mica essence, loadstone essence, and āroṭa in equal measure to two guñjās,
one should consume with honey, ghee, and the three myrobalans for one month.

Thus one should consume it in sequence, in measures of two, three, four, five, and six;
thus until the end of sixteen months, to a measure of sixteen guñjās.

One should proceed thus with āroṭaka mercury, O beloved of my life;
freed from wrinkles and gray hair, he will live for a hundred autumns.

<Āroṭa mercury>
Loadstone essence, mica essence, and mercury that has digested gold—
having combined all this in equal parts, one should likewise consume āroṭaka.

This is indeed field-preparation, generating a lifespan of a thousand years;
mercury applied to uncultivated ground never sprouts anywhere.

Therefore, if someone applies quicksilver without having prepared the field,
his good fortune will not sprout, like seed sown in barren soil.

<Procedure for consuming khoṭa-bound mercury>
I shall describe in due order the supreme rite of the aforesaid khoṭa-bound quicksilver,
its transmutational infusion, and likewise its rules and prohibitions.

Listen with care, O Pārvatī, as I speak out of love for you:
loadstone, mica, gold, and diamond are the supreme transmutational infusion for mercury.

Without transmutational infusion, quicksilver achieves perfection neither in bodies nor in metals.
A guñjā's measure of khoṭa-bound [mercury] combined with the transmutational infusion and honey,

one should consume in this manner for one month, and again according to the prescriptive rule
up to sixteen months, just as with āroṭa mercury.

He attains a lifespan of a hundred years, completely freed from all diseases; / with the use of a single pala, he is not overcome by illnesses.

At the second [pala], an increase in semen occurs; at the third, he becomes powerful; / at the fourth, it destroys grey hair; at the fifth, he conquers wrinkles.

At the sixth, he remembers what he hears and is eloquent; at the seventh, it cures eye diseases; / at the eighth, he acquires eagle's sight, the lifespan of Brahmā, and the prowess of Brahmā.

He should consume nine palas, and there will be an assemblage of alchemical perfections; / he should employ ten palas, and he becomes a second Śaṅkara.

A man should consume quicksilver conferring a lifespan of a thousand years in the measure of a māṣa; / O dear one, he should consume quicksilver conferring a lifespan of ten thousand years in the measure of a barleycorn.

A wise man should consume quicksilver conferring a lifespan of a hundred thousand years in the measure of a rice grain; / for one hundred million [years], he should consume quicksilver by eating a measure of a mung bean.

The pervasion process of all these mercuries should be as before. / Quicksilver bestowing a lifespan of a thousand years produces the state of Brahmā;

quicksilver conferring a lifespan of ten thousand years grants the state of Viṣṇu; / quicksilver conferring a lifespan of a hundred thousand years brings about the state of Rudra;

and quicksilver bestowing a lifespan of one hundred million years produces the state of Śiva. / But quicksilver that has digested copper pyrite indeed bestows the state of Kubera;

digested with vimala, it gives the state of Indra; digested with mica, it gives the nature of the Sun; / digested with copper, it gives the state of Brahmā; and digested with silver, the state of Viṣṇu;

the state of Rudra arises when it has digested gold; the state of Īśa when it has digested diamond; / and mercury digested with liquefied metal gives the state of Sadāśiva;

quicksilver digested with seed metal possesses the nature of being, consciousness, and bliss. / But by ordinary steel, a man attains the state of Rudra.

Thus, he who consumes the calx of quicksilver that has digested metal / becomes water-formed through water, and goes to the nature of earth through earth;

he possesses fiery brilliance through light, O goddess, and assumes the form of wind through wind; / he is himself directly the creator and the destroyer, the maker of curses and blessings.

Wherever that adept discharges urine and feces, / stone and clay touched there turn into gold.

By the sweat of his body, he can transmute the eight base metals; / all of that becomes divine gold when twelve palas have been consumed.

Or, he should consume the calx of quicksilver that has digested silver; / copper, brass, tin, and bell-metal turn into silver from his sweat.

Or, he should consume the calx of quicksilver that has digested steel; / touched by his urine, tin turns into silver.

By a single quenching, the fixation of lead and tin [is achieved]. / O goddess, one should consume only a guñjā's measure of mercury that has digested gold;

two guñjās of that which has digested silver, and three of that which has digested copper; / one māṣa, or one or two guñjās, of that which has digested steel, mica, or loadstone;

and one should consume that which has digested diamond or vaikrānta in the measure of a mustard seed. / One combined with lead, tin, fat, insects, poison, or secondary poison,

or mixed with urine, or forcibly bound, one should abandon such a paste in rejuvenation therapy. / That which has become fire-resistant progressively through the penetration of gold and silver,

and is bound, this king of mercuries bestows perfection of the body. / Diamond, loadstone, copper pyrite, vaikrānta, mica, and gold—

mercury digested with these, as available, is praised in rejuvenation therapy. / Just six secondary minerals are also used for ingestion in rejuvenation therapy.

One should consume one pala of the calx of that which has digested steel; / possessing an adamantine body, he lives for ten thousand years.

And thus one should consume twelve palas of that which has digested steel; / living in this way for a great cosmic cycle, he attains Śiva at the end of the dissolution.

By one pala of the calx of that which has digested copper, the lifespan of Brahmā [is gained]; / by two palas, the lifespan of Viṣṇu; but by three palas, the lifespan of Rudra;

and at the fourth pala, O goddess, a man attains the state of Śiva. / When three palas of the calx of quicksilver that has digested gold have been consumed in order,

eighty-eight thousand yoginīs, proud with passion, / stand as his handmaidens; the man can assume any form at will.

Whatever form he meditates upon, of that form he becomes the bearer; / wherever [other minds] dissolve, there his alchemical perfection dissolves.

When the gold calx has been consumed to the amount of twelve palas, / [taking it] in the measure of only a guñjā, O ruler of gods, having assessed one's own digestive fire,

one should eat it with ghee and honey, chew a betel packet, and enjoy a beloved woman. / Indeed, even a single subtle defect, when the calx of quicksilver is consumed,

after three weeks, O woman with shapely hips, makes a man blinded by desire; / he can agitate a thousand beloved women within a single day.

From union with a woman, O woman with shapely hips, quicksilver pervades the body; / without union with a woman, O goddess, what is undigested by him gets digested.

If semen is discharged from sexual intercourse done within three weeks, / danger to life arises; until then, one should avoid sexual intercourse.

Conversation should be held with a young woman, and body massage done by a young woman / by whose mere touch mercury pervades the body.

Just as gazing upon the beauty of a fine woman brings delight, / so that quicksilver pervades from that moment, O ruler of gods.

Whose support is like an aśvattha leaf, even and auspicious, / such a vulva, O goddess, is a vessel in rejuvenation therapy.

Fleshless, elongated, and with dried-up veins, / one should avoid that vulva in rejuvenation therapy, as it causes misery and poverty.

In the bright fortnight, on an auspicious day endowed with the strength of the moon and stars, / at an auspicious moment, a twice-born person, contemplating Śiva, fire, the Brahmins, and the guru,

being contented and cheerful, should take the mercury that bestows alchemical perfection. / Nasal therapy with milk, gold, and dry ginger is the foremost pervasion process;

an ointment made with the six metals, gold and the rest, is the supreme pervasion process. / <Wholesome and unwholesome regimen during the ingestion of mercury> / Hereafter, I shall declare what is wholesome and unwholesome during the use of mercury:

cooked red śāli rice, wheat, cow's milk, ghee, yogurt, / wild game meat, mung beans, sugar, honey, rock salt,

sun-purified water, vāstuka, meghanāda, punarnavā, / pointed gourd, bottle gourd, plantain, coriander, sugarcane, pomegranate,

coconut water, dry ginger, continuous chewing of betel packets, / and one should smear oneself with sandalwood paste, saffron, and musk;

fragrant, beautiful flowers, soft beds, desirable women, / discourses on Śiva and knowledge of the Self, gentle speech, comfortable leisure,

splendid clean garments, shade, little wandering about, / repetition of the Mṛtyuñjaya mantra, joy, gentle smiling, purity,

watching dance, listening to singing, worship of Śiva, / saluting the gods, fire, guru, and Brahmins, and observing the Vedic scriptures.

Absorption, compassion for living beings, truthful, beneficial, and pleasing speech, / [and] activity of speech, body, and mind that averts distress—

All this is declared to be the permeation of the lord of mercury, O beloved. / Now I shall describe what is unwholesome during the use of mercury; listen, O beloved:

Overeating, excessive drinking, excessive sleep, excessive wakefulness, / eating at improper times, excessive intercourse with women, and total avoidance of intercourse;

Inappropriate intoxication and laughing, joy, anger, excessive desire, / excessive chattering, water sports, sorrow, and obsessive worry;

Watermelon, bitter gourd, ash gourd, and cucumber, / kākamācī, horsegram, kārkoṭī, and safflower;

Sesame, linseed oil, black gram, pigeon, and lentils; / buttermilk with cooked rice, sour fermented barley-water, bitter, pungent, sour, and saline foods;

Alkali, honey, slimy food, pitta-provoking food, and parūṣaka fruit; / buffalo-milk products, cracked melons, and mangoes;

Oranges, bael, lakoocha, and drumstick, eating offerings made to deities, / touching fire with the feet, striking cows or brāhmaṇas,

Striking young girls, children, horses, cattle, and the like, / sinful conduct, injuring living creatures, and cutting down trees;

The seven vices such as gambling, the shadow of a sacred fig or wood-apple tree, / the shadow of a liṅga, a woman, a man, or a cot, and likewise of leopards and bibhītaka trees;

Discharging feces and urine at crossroads or overly secluded spots; / [disrespect to] Śiva, brāhmaṇas, gurus, women, heroes, and self-restrained ascetics,

Initiation pledges, scripture, quicksilver, rivers, pilgrim waters, and people; / onions, cinnabar, garlic, mustard seeds, and both varieties of bṛhatī;

Niṣpāva beans, fasting, massage unguents, sleeping during the night-watch, / sleep [by day], fermented liquor and fermented infusions, rooster, and aquatic meat;

Sharp, hot, heavy, constipating, dry, and dried meat, honey, / eating on banana leaves or in bell-metal vessels, and basking in the heat of the sun.

These substances are prohibited in rejuvenation therapy. / <Diseases Arising from Unwholesome Regimen> / If one should consume them through negligence, disorders arise immediately.

In indigestion caused by mercury, O beloved, there may occur emaciation, fainting, dizziness, fever, / fatigue, trembling, retention of feces and urine, colic, and shaking,

Insomnia, lethargy, hiccups, cough, dyspnea, and excessive yawning, / anorexia, diarrhea, and erection or stiffness of the phallus, [and pain] in the eyes and abdomen,

In the chest, ears, belly, feet, penis, head, and joints; / burning sensation, aching limbs, and truly all other diseases arise.

For the pacification of indigestion caused by mercury, this formulation is taught by me: / rājakośātakī, śarapuṅkhā, garuḍī, bitter gourd,

Kārkoṭī, kākamācī, devadālī, and aparājitā: / one pala of all these together, into four palas of cow's urine,

One should boil down to one quarter remaining; one should add / one karṣa of clean rock salt. One should drink that decoction; it brings relief in indigestion caused by mercury.

One becomes comfortable within three days, and the permeation of mercury occurs. / Wherever mercury causes pain, one should massage that particular limb,

Or with the breast of a slender-limbed woman; [then] the mercury permeates free of pain. / <Transmutation of the Seven Tissues> / Transmutation of the skin is the first, O Goddess; transmutation of blood is the second;

Transmutation of muscle would be the third; transmutation of fat is the fourth; / transmutation of bone would be the fifth; the sixth consists of marrow;

Transmutation of semen would be the seventh; likewise, transmutation of channels is the eighth; / the ninth is transmutation of the eyes; the tenth is the transmutation of all [tissues].

By transmutation of bodily fluids, lead becomes gold; by transmutation of blood, / tin becomes gold; by transmutation of muscle, steel becomes gold;

By transmutation of fat, copper becomes gold; by transmutation of bone, / silver becomes gold; by transmutation of marrow, base metals become gold;

By transmutation of semen, an earthen vessel turns to gold, O beloved. / [Mercury that has] consumed diamond transmutes semen; consumed mica, [it transmutes] marrow;

Consumed gold, it transmutes bone; consumed silver, it transmutes bodily fluid, O beloved; / consumed pyrites, it transmutes fat; quicksilver that has consumed [iron] transmutes muscle;

Consumed copper, it transmutes blood; consumed loadstone, it transmutes bodily fluid. / Bound with steel, it has a dark blue lustre; with copper, it has a reddish glow;

With silver, it resembles the moon; with gold, it has the glow of gold. / [Mercury] that perceives smoke, held in the mouth, brings about aerial locomotion within a month;

Transmuting by touch, held in the mouth, it grants perfection within two months; / within three months, it [transmutes] a hundred crores; within four, it makes ten crores;

Within five months, it transmutes a crore; and within eight, ten thousand; / within nine months, a thousand; and in the tenth month, a hundred [parts].

By smearing with his urine, feces, phlegm, and bodily wastes, / whatever base metals exist on earth turn into gold.

It transmutes a sixty-fourth part in the eleventh month; / but transmuting a thirty-second part, it transmutes the body within a year.

Freed from all diseases, free of wrinkles and grey hair, / he cannot be cut by weapons, nor is he burned by fire.

Moving with the speed of wind, endowed with great splendor, like a second God of Love, / at will he becomes visible, and he also becomes invisible.

By his mere touch all base metals become gold. / When this dreadful single ocean [at universal dissolution] has destroyed all stationary and moving things,

Where the gods dissolve, there alone the adept dissolves.