TuriyA state with rasamani gutikA

SrigurubhyO namahA

pArad/pAradA, also known in the south as rasamani is often spoken of as the 'seed of ShivA' in the alchemical writings and in the works of the tamil siddhAs. This rasamani is a strange substance - in as much as it is something from which its own intrinsic nature is taken away, and in its place a quality that is quite opposite to it is revealed. Rasamani is solidified mercury - yes, solidified mercury. As most of us know from our school lab level of chemistry, mercury is a liquid metal and by its nature flows wantonly. If the solidified mercury is the seed of shivA, then the plain elemental mercury is like the 'seed of men' - it flows incessantly, breaking itself into a million beads and corroding everything it comes in contact with along the way. pArad or rasamani on the other hand, is a mercury that has been first purified of its highly toxic nature through a series of samskArAs (ritual/alchemical steps) and finally 'gathered' together as a solid ball by the addition of some magical herbs or in some cases silver.

In the age of the internet, one would be forgiven in thinking that this pArad is a highly available substance as there are many websites that claim to sell 'real' solidified mercury in a multitude of forms - balls,bells,cups,lingams,statues, and even srichakrAs! Every astrologer in India has jumped on the pArad bandwagon and list off an array of pArad items to placate planets, gods and evil spirits. And dont even get me started on the many New age gurus who have supposedly made and installed huge 200 kilo lingams in solid mercury! I digress, so let me come back to the point. Anyway, if we go by the writings of the early alchemists themselves and observe texts such as the rasa siddhAntA, and that of the siddars of the bOgar lineage etc, it becomes evident that it is a herculean task to transform elemental mercury into pArad or rasamani.

The process involves many smaller process that are both chemical and metaphysical. The adept who is trying to accomplish this task must be one who is of the yOgic disposition and be blessed by the rasEshwarI vidyA to achieve the end result. Moreover he should be one who knows patience as the outer transformation of elemental mercury into rasamani is nothing more than an indicator of the inner transformation of the alchemist himself. Like the transformation of base metal/lead into gold is often times a metaphor for the inner transformation of the embodied soul into its higher self, the gathering together of mercury is a sign of the gathering together of the latent energies of the siddhA. Few are those who can really achieve this goal in the traditional way and they are perfected beings or siddhAs. With the advances we have made in the current age in the area of metallurgy it is now a commercially viable prospect to make crude amalgams of mercury with silver (this is much easier than solidifying mercury through the use of sacred herbs) which is what most of the marketed quality of pArad today is.

I have been lucky enough to have in my possession a siddha gutikA of rasamani - it is a small ball of solidified mercury that has been produced by the traditional siddha methods of yore by a devotee of rasEshwarI vidyA in Rajasthan. The rasamani is saturated with super natural powers and as a result there is much that it can accomplish. It is not my purpose here to list the various properties and virtues of rasamani, so I refrain from doing so. What I intend to tell you now though is about a curious incident that occur ed last night.

The said rasamani has been lying without use for nearly a year now in my pUja altar. Prompted by some unknown agency, I took it out of the box yesterday in the morning and after bathing the gutikA in some fresh water I proceeded to rub it with some vibUthy. After my morning pUja, I wore the gutikA as I have done before around my neck and went about my daily business. Nothing of note there and nothing else of note transpired through the day. But what happened in the night was different. Try as I might, I was unable to sleep when in bed. As usual I continued my japA mentally in bed and after a while realised I was still awake! The mind was still, fresh and wonderfully focused on the japA. There was no sense of fatigue or the need to sleep. It was a straight projection to a state of turiyA or transcendental awareness throughout the night for me. I was in a state where I was definitely not asleep and was fully aware of myself lying down and my immediate environment, yet I was aware of them only as an awareness and had no 'identification' with any of it. It was as if I was watching myself lying there but this watching had no effect on me. Thus I lay for a few hours until about 2am, mentally repeating the japA all the while. The sense of 'awakeness' heightened further and a feeling of lightness and what I can only describe as 'extreme awakeness' flooded me totally.

I got out of bed and went downstairs into the pUja room to try and make use of this sudden window into a state of deep mindfullness. Once there I remained seated on my AsanA for the rest of the night immersed in the same state of mind. I was fully aware of myself sitting and my body remained seated without any conscious effort on my part to keep it propped up. Even though the mind was awake, it was as if all the extensions (i.e. the senses and the cognitive faculties)were suspended. A mildly euphoric state. And one where the main noticeable feature was the lack of anything to notice. I remained so till about half five in the morning.

This morning I am inspired to start work on the thirumandiram commentary again! The last post on the text was more than a year ago, and it feels like the right time to start on that again now. Hopefully, I will continue for a bit this time!