उपनिषद् · Varāha 2.79
॥
देवनागरी
मूर्च्छितो हरति व्याधिं मृतो जीवयति स्वयम् । बद्धः खेचरतां धत्ते ब्रह्मत्वं रसचेतसि
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
mūrcchito harati vyādhiṃ mṛto jīvayati svayam | baddhaḥ khecaratāṃ dhatte brahmatvaṃ rasacetasi
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
मूर्च्छितः हरति व्याधिंmūrcchitaḥ harati vyādhiṃswooned, it carries away disease
मृतः जीवयति स्वयम्mṛtaḥ jīvayati svayamdead, it revives, itself
बद्धः खे-चरतां धत्तेbaddhaḥ khe-caratāṃ dhattebound, it grants passage through the air
ब्रह्मत्वं रस-चेतसिbrahmatvaṃ rasa-cetasibrahman-being — with a mercury-consciousness
अनुवाद
"Swooned [mercury] carries away disease, dead it revives of itself, bound it grants passage through the air; brahman-being — with a mercury-consciousness."
संस्करण
b812a7586e98 · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Three states of mercury are named in alchemical language: murchchhita ("swooned"), mrita ("dead"), baddha ("bound"). These are genuine technical terms: they name successive degrees of processing, each with its own methods. The promises attached to them — carrying away disease, reviving, granting passage through the air — are the usual promises of this craft.
Let us say of them plainly and briefly: there is no passage through the air from mercury, and its immoderate use causes poisoning, described in Indian medical treatises. Let us add, however, what deserves saying of the comparison itself, for it is cited for the sake of the mind, not the mercury. Its sense is this: as mercury, processed step by step, acquires properties it did not have while fluid, so too the mind, "bound," acquires what it did not have while scattering.
In this form the comparison is true and verifiable by anyone: a concentrated mind truly does what a scattered one does not. The Vaishnava side says of such promises what it said of siddhi, discussed when reading the Jabala-darshana (6.20): both Patanjali and the Bhagavatam call perfections a hindrance. Let us add what deserves noting in the last half-verse: brahmatvam rasa-chetasi, "brahman-being — with a mercury-consciousness."
That is, even here the Highest is placed separately from powers, and called a different order; and this, in my view, is the only thing in this verse worth holding onto.