[INDOLOGY] Alchemy metaphor

[Paul Hackett]

Dear Christopher,

On Jul 6, 2014, at 8:03 PM, Christopher Wallis wrote:

> When, further, these elements of prāṇa, body, etc., penetrated by the elixir of Consciousness, are completely immersed [in it], they are “matured” like the element of gold . . .'(?)

   The Parad Saṃhita (and presumably other related texts) specifies a number of alchemical preparations of mercury, in which it is combined with gold and/or arsenic, which serve to purify and de-toxify it, rendering the mercury suitable for consumption.  I suspect the reference to "gold" here is along these lines, and so would take "matured" in the sense of "perfected", and hence read the passage more like "... they are “matured” like [mercury] with the element of gold ..."

Regards,

Paul Hackett
Columbia University



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20140706/22deda82/attachment.htm>