Rasa Vaidya

Sadhguru: Today, when you use the word “temple,” it is a hugely contaminated word. When you say, “Temple,” people think, “Which religion?” It is human beings who need temples, not Gods, isn't it? So what kind of temples do human beings need? Whatever nurtures them and takes them to their peak, that is the kind of temple they need. The temple is not about God, it is about taking the “human animal” and allowing him the possibility of becoming a divine possibility.

This is horribly misunderstood in the world: in India, people are allowed to create their own gods because it is the only culture where people have understood that God is their making. We have thirty-three million gods and goddesses. And this happened when our population was thirty-three million. We know the technology of god-making.

If you convert or transform mud into food, we call this agriculture. If you make food into flesh and bone, you call this digestion. If you make this flesh and bone into mud again, we call this cremation. These are all different technologies. Similarly, if you can make any substance or space into a divine reverberation, this is called consecration. There is a whole science of consecration. You can energize any object. Let us say you hold a flower, if you are sensitive, if you hold this flower in your hand, see how it feels and give it to me for just ten, twenty seconds, I will hold it and give it back to you. I will make it feel completely different in your hands. But after some time, once again it will be just a flower. But if you energize certain forms created out of certain material, in a certain way, they will become eternal forms. One important material like this is mercury.

When we energize a substance, we want the densest possible material that we can find. Mercury is one of the densest possible substances and it is in liquid form – it is the only liquid metal. Once you energize this, it will remain the same way for ten, fifteen thousand years. If the right kind of situation is maintained, it may remain that way for a hundred thousand years.

The idea and the science and technology behind this is that you create an energy form which will do something that you want to do for a long period of time. It is because of this that most of the lingas are mercury-based. The mercury lingas in the Theerthakunds are solidified mercury – 99.2% pure mercury – that 0.8% impurity is because laboratories are not capable of removing it. According to modern chemistry, you cannot solidify mercury at room temperature; you can solidify mercury only if you take it to -38 degrees Centigrade. But I will take it in my hand and solidify and liquefy it at room temperature. This is Indian alchemy and this is a way to energize any space. We have seen how for people who have taken solidified mercury forms into their homes, their health situation, their mental situations, even their economic situations, have changed phenomenally.

Indian systems of medicine like Ayurveda and Siddha Vaidya use mercury on a daily basis. Siddha Vaidya cannot operate without mercury.

Normally, the thing about idols which are consecrated with mantras and chants and things like that is that if you do not take care of it for a certain period of time, it will become a receding force. This is the reason why if any idol is even slightly damaged, they will take it and throw it into a well or a river because if you are in the presence of a form which is in a state of receding energy, it will cause harm to you. So it is instantly taken and put in a place where no human beings will approach it. That’s the idea. But once a form is created with solidified mercury, it will never be a receding force even if nobody takes care of it. That is the safety. This whole science of solidifying and energizing mercury is called Rasa Vaidya. It is a subjective science, because if you have to change one thing into something else, you need some kind of addition, subtraction, change in temperature – you have to do something, otherwise it cannot happen. But now at room temperature, mercury is solidified without any addition. That cannot be physical, objective science. It has to be subjective science. Indian systems of medicine like Ayurveda and Siddha Vaidya use mercury on a daily basis. Siddha Vaidya cannot operate without mercury. Mercury is the most essential ingredient in Siddha Vaidya and also in some Ayurvedic products. This practice has been on for thousands of years. Consumption of mercury is very much a part of yogic practice. We know what it does to the system. In India, you will see people wearing mercury balls around their neck. There are any number of people who have come out of very serious immunological diseases just by having a piece of solidified mercury on their body. Everything on this planet, if you know how to use it, it will be for your wellbeing. If you do not know how to use it, it will be your poison. Today, I am alive and healthy only because of mercury. After I finished the Dhyanalinga consecration, my body was in such a broken condition. When I went to the United States and took a few blood tests, they diagnosed me with all kinds of bizarre diseases. They said, “You are a Blue Light Emergency. You should not get onto an airplane because you could die anytime.” But here I am, I have been flying and I am much more healthy than most people can imagine. I put in much more activity than a lot of people can ever do in a day.

Mercury has been my saving grace. Without it, my body would not be what it is today.

Mercury is not poison. Especially in the western part of the world, people are terrified of mercury poisoning. The poisoning happened only because industries used mercury and let out mercury compounds into rivers. It is the mercury compounds which poison. Mercury has always been on this planet. It has not poisoned the earth, has it? It is part of the earth. If you misuse it, it poisons you. Even the oxygen that you breathe can poison you. If you take in excess oxygen, you can become comatose. Everything on this planet, if you know how to use it, it will be for your wellbeing. If you do not know how to use it, it will be your poison. Shiva has always been known as the Neelakantha. That means a poisoned throat. If you have a cobra hanging around your throat, if you wear a cobra as an ornament, you are bound to have your throat bitten often enough to turn blue. But there has never been another man with the capabilities and the knowing that this man had. So what is poison and what is the elixir of life simply depends on who you are.

In the South, we have temples where the idol is made of nine deadly poisons. They are called navapashanas. A cocktail of poisons together become very healing and medicinal in nature. It is a very deep science of how to convert visha into amrita – of making a cocktail of poisons, which would instantly kill you, but instead it nourishes you.

People consume the water that runs off these idols and it is very healing. But slowly the deity wears out. Generally their lifespan could be anywhere between hundred and fifty to two hundred years depending upon the size. Slowly they lose their shape and form because every day as water falls on it, it wears out and people are drinking it up, taking the Divine in. Unfortunately, these deities are not being replaced today. Right now in the world, people who think logically are trying to handle human wellbeing by changing only attitudes. That is the only solution people have in the modern world, isn't it? “Be calm, take care of yourself, don’t worry, be happy” ­– all this stuff. You will never achieve wellbeing that way. By changing attitudes you can manage to a certain extent, yes, but it will never happen to its fullest extent because there are other dimensions and forces working upon you. Without handling those, you will never be free from certain things. It does not matter how much you try to change your attitude, you can just go bonkers in your mind simply because there are other forces both within you and outside of you. If they are not dealt with, one will not know a true sense of wellbeing.