Method of processing mercury

After worshipping the Jina, the presiding deities, the lords of the yakshas, Ambika and the yakshi Kushmandini, reciting the five-salutation mantra 24 times and taking the preliminary initiation with the nine planets, the physician purifies mercury by grinding it with brick powder and milk, washing it with kanji and steaming it for three days in a dolayantra with trikatu, salts and asafoetida, after which it is said to eat all metals. Gold (bija) is then added, digested by garbhadruti and steamed between layers of vida; and for binding gold-making mercury a globule of copper, gold, svarnamakshika and sulphur is blown in a crucible, processed many times, powdered and fed to the mercury in stages.