Hindu Medicine c7.10

c7.10

The amulet, beforehand, has been dipped into cow's milk, and the residue of melted butter used as an offering to the gods has been sprinkled upon it. What is left of the holy food, shared by the divinities, and thus consecrated through the sacramental act of the sacrifice, is believed to have been transubstantiated into the divine fare of the celestials; it shares in the virtues of soma and amṛta, the “nectar and ambrosia” (amṛta, “deathless,” etymologically corresponds to Greek ἄμβροτος, ἀμβροσία) on which the immortals live. The amulet, sprinkled with the dregs of the vessel of oblation, imparts to the patient the power to conquer death. The food consecrated to the immortals serves as the most powerful antidote against the forces of destruction.