Rasarnava 4

English (machine translation) 4

Language: English

4.1

The blessed Devī spoke:
Without knowing the measures of apparatuses, crucibles, and fires, even one who knows the mantras,
what can he do, O Mahādeva? You should explain them to me.

4.2

The blessed Bhairava spoke:
Primary minerals, secondary minerals, metals, cloth, sour gruel, alchemical flux,
bellows, iron apparatuses, stone mortar, pestle,

4.3

a furnace, a bent tube, cow dung, concentrated fuel,
earthen apparatuses, pestles and mortars,

4.4

pincers, flat tongs, earthen vessels, iron bowls,
weights, balances, cutters, touchstone,

4.5

bamboo tubes, iron tubes, crucibles, charcoal, and herbs,
oils, acids, salts, alkalis, poisons, and secondary poisons—

4.6

having thus assembled the equipment, he should undertake the yoga of action.

In a pot whose belly is half filled with liquid substance,
with the pot placed horizontally at the mouth, mercury suspended by a thread
is steamed, hanging above the bottom; this is called the Dolāyantra.

4.8

Having made two iron crucibles measuring twelve angulas,
one of them provided with slight perforations and containing sulfur,

4.9

he should insert that into the other crucible containing mercury.
Water should be below the mercury, and the fire ignited above and below.

4.10

O auspicious one, he should carefully add an abundance of garlic juice
strained through cloth with effort, submerging both mercury and sulfur.

4.11

Having placed [the crucible] in an earthen pot, place another sturdy earthen pot above it.
One should carefully seal the joint with clay and cloth.

4.12

Inside the earthen pot, [apply] always the calcination fire called 'pigeon' by means of cow-dung fire.
Beneath the apparatus, one should give a dry cow-dung fire or indeed an intense fire.

4.13

In this way, one should perform [it] for three days; then one should dismantle the apparatus.
[One should carry it out] in warm water, upon a warm hearth; one should not perform the operation when it is cold.

4.14

There mercury does not perish, nor does it go anywhere.
By means of this step-by-step method, one should perform the digestion of sulfur.

4.15

Fire above, water below, and the collection of mercury in the middle—
O Devī, this crucible apparatus digests mica and the rest.

4.16

I will explain the internal apparatus (garbhayantra), the cause of reducing amalgam paste to ash:
A sturdy clay crucible four finger-breadths long,

4.17

Three finger-breadths wide at the center, and one should make its mouth round.
Twenty parts of iron and one part of bdellium (guggulu)—

4.18

Having ground [them] very finely, one should add water repeatedly.
Then one should coat the crucible [with it] and place the amalgam paste at the bottom.

4.19

One should apply gentle steaming on the ground with a fire of chaff and cow dung.
For a day and a night, or for three nights, the lord of mercury goes to the state of ash.

4.20

In digestion, in calcination, and in coloring the king of mercury,
the apparatus alone is the supreme secret key, wherein plants have great power.

4.21

Even when destitute of plants, this [mercury] is bound forcibly by the apparatus.
Mercury departs everywhere, except when it possesses the characteristics of the bhūdhara [apparatus].

4.22

Drawn away by deities, even when situated in a lump of earth, it departs.
Therefore, the power of the apparatus alone must not be neglected by the wise one.

4.23

Through the combination of mantra and plants, this [mercury] is indeed made perfectly accomplished.
Here the Aghora mantra is to be recited, and at the end of the recitation, one should worship mercury.

4.24

The operation is to be performed in solitude; seen by others, it becomes fruitless.

4.25

There is no loss of sulfur, nor does loss of mercury occur;
the loss should be known to be of the apparatus, [for] the operation is wrought within the apparatus.
If loadstone is not obtained, one should have the apparatus made of iron.

4.26

Without knowing the fire mark, half the loss of mercury occurs.
For one knowing the rule for loss of the apparatus, a fourth part of loss occurs.

4.27

In two months a second part [is digested], in three [months] the third part occurs.
Indeed, it endures a great fire where, made to flow, it stays.

4.28

Having filled a shallow dish with sand, one should place upon it
another shallow dish, and there cook slowly with a gentle fire.

4.29

Then [one digests] an alchemical flux with the five alkalis, the urines, and salts.
That is known as the 'goose cooking' (haṃsapāka) by those skilled in the meaning of apparatuses and tantras.

4.30

Black, red, yellow, and white-colored clay:
The first is best, the last is worst, and the intermediate ones are considered middling.

4.31

Clay mixed with burnt grain husks, in the construction of an extraction furnace
or made with a curved pipe, is commended, O fair-complexioned goddess!

4.32

Burnt clay plaster, burnt husks, burnt anthill earth,
and burnt dung of goats and horses, until it has turned black;

4.33

And the leaves of vāsaka together with anthill earth—
one should grind [all this] with boiled water until it has become smooth.

4.34

One should knead with that and construct the curved pipe and the extraction furnace.

4.35

Burnt clay plaster, burnt husks, burnt anthill earth,
rags, charcoal, and iron slag—it is not split even by a thunderbolt.

4.36

Six parts of burnt charcoal, one part of black clay,
rags, charcoal, and slag—this is proclaimed as the diamond crucible (vajramūṣā).

4.37

Chaff equal to cloth, burnt clay four parts,
combined with stone from a bottle—this is proclaimed as the superior crucible (varamūṣā).

4.38

The open crucible and the closed crucible: the crucible is taught to be of two kinds.

4.39

The open crucible, O mistress of gods, is shaped like a shallow earthen dish;
and in carrying through substances, it is highly praised by alchemists.

4.40

The closed crucible, however, is to be made resembling the shape of a cow's udder,
fitted with a lid, with its top slightly elevated.

4.41

In coating foil, in coloring, and in uniting pairs,
that same [crucible], provided with a hole, gentle, and deep, is suitable for the flowing process.

4.42

Two parts of sesame ash, combined with a part of brick [dust]—
this should be known as the ash crucible, beneficial in purifying silver.

4.43

Two parts of alkali of mokṣa combined with a part of brick [dust],
[and] parts of clay, are excellent for the purification of silver, O fair-complexioned one.

4.44

Mixed with the red group, soaked with the red group,
coated with the red group, it is splendid in all purifications.

4.45

Mixed with the white group, soaked with the white group,
coated with the white group, it is splendid in white purifications.

4.46

Mixed with the group of alchemical fluxes, it desires firmness in digestion;
one should carry through [the substance] by means of one smeared with the red group.

4.47

One should make a crucible coating with poison, borax, and guñjā seeds;
or in an open [crucible] one should apply a coating of charcoal.

4.48

Having placed the substance into that crucible, the wise one should melt it.
The coating is a coloring calcination, O Devī, by means of red ochre, sea-salt, and green vitriol.

4.49

When gold is being melted, the luster is yellow; in silver, white;
in copper, it resembles dark blue; in wrought iron, black-colored, O mistress of the gods;

4.50

In tin, the flame resembles a pigeon; in lead, dirty smoke;
in bitumen, O Devī, dusky gray; in iron, a tawny luster;

4.51

In loadstone, smoke-colored; in blue vitriol, it becomes red;
in diamond, a multi-colored flame; in the metallic essence of mica, a pale-white luster.

4.52

When there is no spark, no bubble, no film of streaks, and no sound,
[and] it is jewel-like in the crucible and motionless, then they pronounce the metal purified.

4.53

Throwing into [the melt] is to be applied first; quenching is immediately after that.
Throwing into [the melt] is covering; quenching they know as plunging;
sprinkling, however, they hold to be that which is done as washing.

4.54

Throwing into [the melt], quenching, and washing [are done] when molten and having attained purity.
Indeed, they desire [it] only hot; one does not desire it cold.

4.55

When the fire becomes possessed of a white brilliance and accompanied by sound,
that should be known as the swirling of the metal; the pure metallic essence falls.

4.56

Sixteen finger-breadths wide and a cubit in length, auspicious,
for bringing down metallic essences from ores, O fair-complexioned one, is the extraction furnace.

4.57

Filled with dense charcoals made from the wood of bamboo, khadira, madhūka, and badarī,
one should blow the extraction furnace with air;
and one should kindle the fire with bellows through the flame passage.

4.58

The furnace should have a wide mouth, an enclosed interior, and an internal grate set in place for a long time. / A bent tube equal in size to a crane's throat should be provided, and there should be an earthen hollow tube, long and cylindrical.

4.59

In an earthen vessel, or one of iron, or one made of loadstone, / or in stone, or crystal, or in one made of marble,

4.60

a very firm pestle four finger-breadths in height should be made, / and it should be made of iron, stone, or loadstone.

4.61

With the mantra called Aghorāstra or with the Mahāpāśupata [mantra], / one should perform purification and purify the ground with it.

4.62

With it, one should especially kindle the fire using all fuels / and substances, and with it purify the mortar.

4.63

With it, one should purify mercury and set it down on an auspicious day; / and having placed it in the mortar, one should meditate on the form of Śiva.

4.64

Having obtained the grace of the deity, knowledgeable in apparatus, crucibles, and measures of fire, / O ruler of the gods, for the success of mercury one should also know the plants.

4.65

The apparatus, crucibles, and measures of fire have been described, O ruler of gods. / Tell me then, O ruler of the gods: what else do you wish to hear?

Linked texts (1)

Rasārṇava — Sanskrit