Anandakanda 1.8

Ānandakanda, 1.8
<The Consumption of Rejuvenation Therapy>
Quicksilver, diamond, gold, loadstone, and mica— / these five are nectars designed by me for mortals.

O passionate woman, he who knows them is himself Maheśvara in visible form. / I am mercury and mercury is I; there is indeed no difference between the two of us.

Combined with it, diamond and the other substances definitely bestow success; there is no doubt about this. / Listen, O Pārvatī, as I explain who is a fit person for taking mercury:

Rejuvenation therapy must never be administered to women, eunuchs, or children. / Those fifteen years old are boys; up to thirty years they are young men;

around fifty years of age they are proclaimed mature adults; / beyond that they are aged. These [three categories] apply in rejuvenation therapy:

In the case of a young man, success from rejuvenation therapy occurs in the prescribed time; / in twice that time, success is certain for a mature adult;

in three times that time, an old man attains success. / They should be understood respectively, O goddess, as the best, the intermediate, and the lowest.

<The sequence of rejuvenation therapies>
First one should consume mica; then lodestone rejuvenation; / next lodestone and mica, O goddess; after that gold rejuvenation;

then the compound of mica and gold; lodestone-and-gold rejuvenation; / the compound of mica, lodestone, and gold; then diamond rejuvenation;

then ingestion of mica and diamond; lodestone and diamond after that; / mica, lodestone, and diamond; then gold and diamond;

after that mica, gold, and diamond; lodestone, gold, and diamond; / mica, lodestone, gold, and diamond; after that the consumption of mercury:

Next is the compound of mica and mercury; then lodestone and mercury; / mica, lodestone, and mercury, O goddess; after that gold and mercury;

mica, gold, and mercury after that; then lodestone, gold, and mercury; / mica, lodestone, gold, and quicksilver; then diamond and mercury;

mica, diamond, and mercury, O goddess; then lodestone, diamond, and mercury; / mica, lodestone, diamond, and quicksilver; then gold, diamond, and mercury;

mica, gold, diamond, and quicksilver; lodestone, gold, diamond, and mercury; / mica, lodestone, gold, diamond, and mercury. Beyond this there is none.

One after another, all these surpass each other in all virtues. / The single-ingredient rejuvenation therapies are five, O fair-faced goddess;

those made of two substances each are ten; those made of three substances each are ten; / those made of four substances each are five; and one is produced from five substances.

Thus rejuvenation therapy comprises thirty-one [combinations], O woman of lovely hips, O beloved: / mica, lodestone, gold, diamond, and mercury as the other.

Each subsequent one possesses greater qualities than the preceding one, O darling of my life. / The vehicle for mercury is diamond, gold, lodestone, and mica;

the vehicle for diamond is gold, lodestone, and mica, O beloved; / for gold, that derived from lodestone should be employed; the vehicle for lodestone is mica;

and the vehicle for mica is the essence of mica, since it bestows success. / When ingesting a single substance, the prescribed vehicle should be used.

When combined with two, three, four, or five remedies, there is no [special] vehicle; / triphalā, honey, and ghee serve as the general vehicle.