Hari, the Supreme Lord, spoke to Shiva with gentle wisdom, revealing the ancient secrets of healing and vigor. “O Rudra,” he began, “know that the powder of certain herbs, when taken with warm water, greatly sharpens the appetite. Likewise, pork meat cooked in ghee, when consumed, stirs hunger deeply within.” He then spoke of wondrous remedies: “The leaves of the hastikarna-palasha, ground into a fine powder—one hundred palas in weight—form a medicine that frees one from all diseases, O Bull-bannered One. If a man eats this powder with milk for seven days, he will be blessed with keen hearing and the strength and gait of a lion. His body will shine with the luster of the padmaraga gem, and, by continually consuming milk, he will enjoy a lifespan of a thousand years, retaining the youthful form of a sixteen-year-old. Milk, when mixed with honey and ghee, becomes a nectar that prolongs life. If consumed together with honey, it grants a lifespan of ten thousand years. He who regularly eats curd becomes learned, beloved by women, and his body grows as hard as a diamond. Food mixed with saffron bestows a thousand years of life, and when combined with sour gruel, it should be consumed by those seeking longevity. Honey taken with triphala grants a divine body for a hundred years, free from wrinkles and gray hair, and bestows keen eyesight. Even a blind person may see by eating this powder mixed with ghee; when applied with buffalo milk, it turns hair black. Even a bald man will grow hair by using the powder mixed with oil; it removes wrinkles and grayness. By merely rubbing it on, all discoloration vanishes. And by applying the powder with goat’s milk as collyrium, eyesight is restored within a month. In the sacred month of Śrāvaṇa, one should gather the seeds of the palāśa tree and grains of vītuṣa, and eat their powder with fresh butter. Daily, one should take half a karsha or a full karsha, always bowing to Lord Hari; by eating wholesome food—ancient and sixty-grained rice—and drinking water, one lives a thousand years, free from wrinkles and gray hair. The root of bhringarāja, gathered under the Puṣya constellation, should be powdered and taken with sauvira, a fermented drink. By using this for just a month, a person becomes free from wrinkles and gray hair, lives five hundred years, gains the strength of an elephant, and becomes learned, especially when consumed under the Puṣya constellation. Hari continued, “Know, O Shankara, that wounds and pus are healed by a blow filled with ghee. The root of apāmārga, rubbed with the hands and its juice applied to a wound, stops bleeding and prevents suppuration. The root of rudra-lāṅgalikā and kuśa grass, when placed at the mouth of a wound, expels foreign matter, even if it has been lodged there long. The root of bālamūla or meṣaśṛṅgī, rubbed with water and applied, heals chronic sinus wounds. Powder of hiṅgu root, given with buffalo curd and kodrava rice, cures fistulous wounds. The fruit of brahmayaṣṭi, ground and applied with water, destroys blood disorders. Ash of barley, viḍaṅga, and gandhapāṣāṇa, with dry ginger, should be powdered and mixed with blood for application; this destroys abscesses. The seeds of saubhāñjana, combined with atasi and sword-bean, and all these mixed with mustard seeds and cow’s urine, when made into a paste and applied, will surely destroy glandular swelling. The root of white aparājitā, ground with rice water and used as nasal medicine, disperses the assembly of spirits. The flower of Agastya, marīca, snake skin, asafoetida, neem leaves, and barley, made into a paste with cow’s urine, dispels spirits. Cow’s gall, marīca, long pepper, rock salt, honey, and collyrium, prepared together, become a remedy for afflictions caused by spirits and planets. Incense made from guggulu and owl’s tail dispels planetary afflictions; and one freed from fourth-day fevers should be wrapped in black cloth. Hari spoke further: “When the root and flower of white aparājitā are used as an eye filling, all affliction is destroyed—no further remedy is needed. Chewing the root of gokṣuraka destroys tooth worm pain. A woman who drinks the juice of puṣpādinī with cow’s milk while fasting, and the root of white arka, will have her abdominal tumor and pain alleviated. When the flower of white arka is ritually collected, consecrated with mantra, and tied at the waist of a woman purified by her cycle, it brings about childbirth. The root of palāśa or apāmārga, tied to the hand, removes all fevers and dispels spirits, ghosts, and the like. If the root of scorpion is drunk in the morning with water kept overnight, it destroys burning fever; when tied in the hair, it removes one-day and two-day fevers, and when drunk with water kept overnight, it removes all poisons. Whoever is given the root of lajjāluka with their own semen, man or woman, will become reconciled with their enemy—there is no doubt. Whoever drinks the root of pāṭhā ground with cow’s ghee will have all poison destroyed. The root of śirīṣa with water kept overnight, and the juice of red citraka, when applied to the ears, removes jaundice. The root of white kokilākṣa mixed with goat’s milk, drunk for twenty-one days, cures consumption. The flower of coconut mixed with goat’s milk, when drunk three times, destroys disorders of blood and wind. The root of sudarśana, gathered properly with a garland and tied at the neck, destroys afflictions caused by spirits and planets for three days and more. Thus, Hari revealed to Shiva the sacred knowledge of herbs, roots, and sacred preparations, bestowing health, longevity, and freedom from all afflictions upon those who honor these ancient teachings.