The employment of different chemicals to alter, transmute, and perfect the body with the ultimate aim of immortalizing the body is an esoteric tradition.
Alchemical schools exist among both Hindus and Buddhists.
- The Hindu dhatuvada school differs from the Buddhist rasayana school in that the latter is purely materialistic, while the former emphasizes meditation to achieve ultimate enlightenment.
- Many fundamental aspects of alchemy are shared by these two schools.
- Hindu alchemists see the universe as a series of bipolar opposites in conflict, and they believe that uniting these opposing energies leads to spiritual advancement and the end of reincarnation (samsara).
- Hindu tantra, an esoteric, ritual-based system of religious practice, and hatha yoga, which is based on a sequence of physical exercises that are also thought to influence the subtle body, share this concept of combining or transcending conflicting energies.
Despite the fact that all three systems have a similar premise, they prescribe distinct kinds of practice to achieve the same end result: ritual in tantra, physical exercises in hatha yoga, and physical ingestion of various substances in alchemy.
- The marriage of sun and moon is the ruling metaphor for this combination of opposites in the alchemical tradition.
- The sun and moon are linked to other opposing concepts in Hindu tradition via a complex chain of connections.
- Heat, drying power, fire, Shakti, and menstrual blood are associated with the sun, whereas coolness, healing power, water, Shiva, and sperm are associated with the moon.
- Mercury and sulfur are the two fundamental chemical elements in alchemical praxis, with the former associated with Shiva's sperm and the latter with Shakti's uterine blood.
- The aspirant's body is cleansed and polished by correctly combining and ingesting these components, ultimately making it eternal.
Modern explanations of this technique almost always state that it should only be done under the supervision of one's guru (spiritual instructor), since certain combinations may be dangerous otherwise. Mercury is a lethal toxin, so this warning comes as no surprise.
Obscure Religious Cults, by Shashibhushan B. Dasgupta, was published in 1962, and The Alchemical Body, by David Gordon White, was published in 1996.
You may also want to read more about Hinduism here.
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