Garudapurana 1.197

The glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa: 197 / Dhanvantari said: / I shall proclaim the Gāruḍa [lore] spoken indeed by Garuḍa / to Kaśyapa, the good friend, destroying poison, by which one becomes a Gāruḍa.

Earth, water, fire, wind, and ether— / the classes of letters on earth and the rest are indeed the regents of the maṇḍala.

The deities situated in the five elements are attained by worshippers of Viṣṇu, / distinguished by long vowels and devoid of neuter ones.

Śiva is declared as having six limbs: heart, head, crest in order, / armour, eye, and weapon; the placement is fixation in its proper place.

At the end of what bestows all perfections are the fire of time, and wind below, / endowed with the sixth vowel, joined with the supreme crescent moon.

Divided into higher and lower, they are pronounced above and below Śiva; / with the letter 'ra' one should properly perform the placement upon all limbs according to rule.

In the heart, on the palm of the hand, on the body, on the ear, and on the eye he places it; / and from recitation of that four-faced [mantra] all success arises.

One should visualize the earth as square, very broad, yellow in color, / presided over by Indra; and in its center the circle of Varuṇa,

and in its center likewise an endowed lotus, a crescent moon, extremely cool, / having the radiance of a sapphire, gentle; or next the fire-circle:

triangular, marked with svastikas, blazing with wreaths of flames, one should contemplate fire; / [and air] resembling broken collyrium, a circle of its own, adorned with a dot;

resembling waves of milk, having the luster of pure crystal, / inundating the entire universe—one should contemplate the mantra of space as nectar.

Vāsuki and Śaṅkhapāla are situated in the circle of earth; / Karkoṭa and Padmanābha are placed in the circle of Varuṇa;

and in that of fire Kulika and Takṣaka, as well as Mahābja; / and residing in the circle of wind, he should place the five elements.

From the thumb to the little finger in regular and reverse order, / and on the joints of the digits, Jayā and Vijayā are to be placed;

beginning with the face, in the place of his own body, he should place the six limbs of Śiva; / beginning with the little finger, beginning with the heart, on the crest, and on the hands he should place them.

And the pervasive [nyāsa] preceded by the principles, in order on the joints of the fingers; / and again the placement of the elements and likewise the limbs of Śiva,

beginning with the Praṇava and ending with 'namaḥ', conjoined with the name itself— / this procedure is proclaimed for all mantras in installation and worship.

The first letter of that name is proclaimed as the mantra; / it is the mantra that causes the presence of the eight classes of serpents.

Accompanied in order by 'oṃ svāhā', preceded by the five elements, / this becomes Tārkṣya incarnate, the accomplisher of all rites.

Having performed the placement on the hands with vowels, one should then place it on the body; / one should visualize the blazing vital breath that purifies the self.

Then one should visualize the seed-syllable, consisting of nectar at the end of the rain; / having thus performed nourishment, and meditating upon one's own head,

he should assign the earth to the feet, possessing the brilliance of molten gold, / filled with countless worlds, accompanied by the world-guardians.

The wise man should place this divine earth upon his own body; / he should meditate on it as dark-colored, doubled in size from earth.

Raging with garlands of flames, blazing, reaching up to the world of Brahmā; / having placed between the navel and the neck the triangular circle of the sun,

resembling broken collyrium, standing pervading everything, / situated as one's own form, he should meditate on the fierce circle of wind,

residing above the crest, divine, having the luster of pure crystal, / immeasurable, pervading the great space, and resembling nectar.

Having first performed the placement of the elements, and of the serpents in proper order, / the mantras end in the letter 'la' and are joined with the dot, in the order of the elements.

Then he should give the seed-syllable of Śiva, and then he should visualize the maṇḍala; / the expert who understands the procedure should contemplate for each maṇḍala / whose order has been declared its respective color at the time of the rite.

Then, in cases of immobile and mobile poison, one should constantly meditate on Tārkṣya, / adorned with flashing black serpents on his feet and wings,

and in cases of planetary seizures, spirits, piśācas, ḍākinīs, yakṣas, and rākṣasas; / having made himself surrounded by serpents, he should place Śiva on his own body.

The placement of the serpents and the elements has been declared as twofold; / having meditated thus, one should perform the rite of the self-principle and the rest in order.

Having first assigned the triad of principles, next the principle of Śiva, / just as on the body, so on the deity and on the joints of the fingers.

Having first performed the placement on the body in regular and reverse order, / [one visualizes] the root, the stalk, likewise the lotus, dharma, and knowledge and the rest;

combined with the second vowel, he should worship with the end of the consonant-group; / with 'śauṃ' in the center of the pericarp, joined with 'r' upon the head.

The consonant classes a, ka, ca, ṭa, ta, pa, ya, and śa he should place beginning in the east; / on the edges of the petals and on the edges of the filaments, two each, beginning in the east likewise;

and on the filament he should place the vowels, and worship the sixteen ending with Īśa; / the powers beginning with Vāmā are declared, and then he should place the triad of principles.

Then he should invoke Śiva upon the head, and then the limbs; / in the pericarp he should place the god together with his limbs, preceding there.

Earth is on the western petal, and water is situated on the north; / fire is on the southern petal, and one should worship wind on the east.

One should imagine one's own seed-syllable in bodily form as spoken before: / 'yaṃ' the root of wind in the southwest, and the letter 'ra' situated in fire;

and 'vaṃ' is always to be worshipped in the northeast, and he should worship 'oṃ' situated in the heart; / he should worship outside the subtle elements and the gross elements.

After that, having meditated on the limbs of Śiva, he should worship them: / having worshipped the heart in the southeast, the head in the direction of the northeast,

he should assign the crest in the southwest, and place the armor in the northwest; / he should assign the weapon on the outside, and the eye situated in the north.

On the tips of the petals and on the tip of the pericarp he should worship the seed-syllables; / the eight serpents beginning with Ananta and ending with Kulīra are placed in order.

In order beginning from the east and ending with the northeast, / the mantra-adept should always worship each separately according to the rule,

in the lotus of the heart according to rule, or on a stone or other surface where a maṇḍala is drawn; / this rite has been taught for regular as well as occasional observances.

He should constantly contemplate himself as assuming any form at will, charming, / inundating the entire universe, the cause of creation and dissolution,

blazing with garlands of flames up to the world of Brahmā, / ten-armed, four-faced, yellow-eyed, holding a trident in hand,

terrible with fangs, extremely fierce, three-eyed, bearing the moon on his crest; / one should remember Bhairava for success, and Garuḍa in all rites:

Garuḍa, terrifyingly fierce, for the destruction of the serpents; / his feet resting in Pātāla, and the directions being his wings,

the seven heavens on his chest, and the universe resting in his throat; / one should contemplate his head extending from the east to the northeast,

abiding at the crest of Sadāśiva, and the triad of powers; / the higher than the highest, Śiva himself, Tārkṣya, the lord of the worlds,

three-eyed, of fierce form, the destroyer of poisonous serpents, / devouring, of terrifying face, Garuḍa the embodiment of mantra;

and blazing like the fire of destruction, one should contemplate him in all rites. / Having thus performed the procedure of nyāsa, whatever one contemplates in mind—

Whatever [is thought of] becomes achievable; indeed, that man acts like Garuḍa. / Pretasa, bhūtas, yakṣas, nāgas, gandharvas, and rākṣasas, / along with quartan and other fevers, are destroyed at the sight of him.

Dhanvantari said: / Thus he spoke to Garuḍa, and Garuḍa to Kaśyapa. / Listen now to the knowledge just as Maheśvara spoke it to Gaurī.

Thus ends the one hundred and ninety-seventh chapter in the Ācārakāṇḍa, belonging to the first part in the first section of the glorious Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa.