View source for The alchemists of the medieval age tried to manufacture gold, but they were unsuccessful, perhaps because they did not follow the right instructions

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{{terms|"The alchemists of the medieval age tried to manufacture gold, but they were unsuccessful, perhaps because they did not follow the right instructions"}}
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{{compiler|MadhuGopaldas}}
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{{first|19Nov12}}
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[[Category:Alchemy]]
[[Category:Medieval]]
[[Category:Age - period of history]]
[[Category:Try To]]
[[Category:Manufacture]]
[[Category:Gold]]
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[[Category:Were]]
[[Category:Unsuccessful]]
[[Category:Perhaps]]
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[[Category:Did Not]]
[[Category:Not Follow]]
[[Category:Right (Correct)]]
[[Category:Instruction]]
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<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam" class="section" sec_index="1" parent="compilation" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam"><h2>Srimad-Bhagavatam</h2>
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<div id="SB_Canto_5" class="sub_section" sec_index="5" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 5"><h3>SB Canto 5</h3>
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<div id="SB52417_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_5" book="SB" index="605" link="SB 5.24.17" link_text="SB 5.24.17">
<div class="heading">Apart from this, if one takes a hint from this verse and learns how to mix mercury with bell metal by properly heating and melting them, one can get gold very cheaply. The alchemists of the medieval age tried to manufacture gold, but they were unsuccessful, perhaps because they did not follow the right instructions.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 5.24.17|SB 5.24.17, Translation and Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">The next planet below Atala is Vitala, wherein Lord Śiva, who is known as the master of gold mines, lives with his personal associates, the ghosts and similar living entities. Lord Śiva, as the progenitor, engages in sex with Bhavānī, the progenitress, to produce living entities, and from the mixture of their vital fluid the river named Hāṭakī is generated. When fire, being made to blaze by the wind, drinks of this river and then sizzles and spits it out, it produces gold called Hāṭaka. The demons who live on that planet with their wives decorate themselves with various ornaments made from that gold, and thus they live there very happily.</p>
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<div class="purport text"><p>It appears that when Bhava and Bhavānī, Lord Śiva and his wife, unite sexually, the emulsification of their secretions creates a chemical which when heated by fire can produce gold. It is said that the alchemists of the medieval age tried to prepare gold from base metal, and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī also states that when bell metal is treated with mercury, it can produce gold. Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī mentions this in regard to the initiation of low-class men to turn them into brāhmaṇas. Sanātana Gosvāmī said:</p>
:yathā kāñcanatāṁ yāti
:kāṁsyaṁ rasa-vidhānataḥ
:tathā dīkṣā-vidhānena
:dvijatvaṁ jāyate nṛṇām
<p>"As one can transform kaṁsa, or bell metal, into gold by treating it with mercury, one can also turn a lowborn man into a brāhmaṇa by initiating him properly into Vaiṣṇava activities." The International Society for Krishna Consciousness is trying to turn mlecchas and yavanas into real brāhmaṇas by properly initiating them and stopping them from engaging in meat-eating, intoxication, illicit sex and gambling. One who stops these four principles of sinful activity and chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra can certainly become a pure brāhmaṇa through the process of bona fide initiation, as suggested by Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī.</p>
<p>Apart from this, if one takes a hint from this verse and learns how to mix mercury with bell metal by properly heating and melting them, one can get gold very cheaply. The alchemists of the medieval age tried to manufacture gold, but they were unsuccessful, perhaps because they did not follow the right instructions.</p>
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