Once, there was a great demoness whose body was immense, so vast that the food she consumed was never enough to satisfy the fire in her belly. Her hunger burned relentlessly, like a flame that cannot be quenched by a mere trace of water. No matter how much she ate, the great-bellied one never found satisfaction. She was restless, much like the tongue of the submarine fire, always seeking more. One day, she paused to reflect deeply. She thought, “Even if I were to swallow all the people living on Jambudvīpa, my hunger would not cease. Just as the ocean never stops inhaling the rivers, my appetite is never appeased.” Not even clouds or mirages could satisfy her hunger. She realized that only a method that could help her survive adversity would be suitable. She wondered, “Who can trouble all people equally, when they are protected by mantras, herbs, charity, austerity, worship of the gods, and similar means, and are free from obstacles?” Resolving to find a solution, she decided, “I shall perform supreme austerity with unwavering mind; for by the power of intense austerity, even what is difficult to obtain can be attained.” Driven by her hunger to consume all living beings, she remembered a remote and forbidding place, perfect for austerity. She climbed to its peak, her eyes steady as lightning, her body endowed with hands and feet, dark as a mass of clouds. Upon reaching the summit, she stood firm, bathing in the sky, practicing austerity. She stood on one foot, her eyes unmoving like the moon and sun. Time passed: days, fortnights, months, and seasons slipped by as she remained unmoved by cold or heat, like a rock that has been cut. She became like a garland of clouds, her form completely motionless, her hair rising upwards and dark, as if she were reaching up to seize the sky with her arms. Those who saw her witnessed her skin worn thin by the wind, her body slack, her form swaying with the gusts that made her ornaments ring, her hair standing up and shrouded in darkness, adorned with a stream of pearls. At last, the unborn one—Brahma, the Grandfather—approached her. After a thousand years, Brahma came to her, for even the fire fed with excrement is overcome by cold when severe austerity is accomplished. She bowed to him in her mind, stood there, and said, “So be it.” She pondered, “What boon is sufficient to end hunger?” She wished, “Let me become both effortless and made of iron, the needle of life; by this request, becoming a twofold needle, I will enter unnoticed and vanish. Along with the breath, let me enter the heart of all beings, as fragrance does, and by this means, let me consume all people as I wish.” As she reflected, “Gradually, the destruction of hunger brings supreme happiness,” the lotus-born one, Brahma, spoke to her. She saw another vision, like a cloud of nectar. Brahma said, “Daughter Karkaṭikā, garland of the mountain of the demon clan, arise. I am pleased with you; choose whatever boon you desire.” She replied, “Lord, master of past and future, may I become Jīvasūcikā. Let my boon be that I may be both effortless and made of iron, and may I have the power of choice.” Brahma granted her wish, saying, “So be it,” and spoke again. “In creation, you shall become Viṣūcikā, the needle-like one; with subtle illusion, you will cause harm to all the worlds. You will afflict those who eat poorly, undertake difficult actions, are foolish, unstable, dwell in bad places, or are reckless. Entering the heart with the life-breaths, piercing the spleen and other organs, you will become Viṣūcikā, a disease of wind in the form of a subtle line. You will approach people whether virtuous or not; but for the virtuous, I now declare this mantra for your treatment.” He revealed that on the northern side of the Himalayas, there is a demoness named Karkati, also called Viṣūcikā, a maiden who obstructs what is right. Reciting the great mantra, one should place it in the left side of the belly; then, with that hand, gently stroke the patient, maintaining composure. Imagine Karkati, shrieking harshly, fleeing toward the Himalayas, crushed by the power of the mantra as if pounded to dust. Visualize the patient as situated in the moon, in a lake of elixir—ageless, deathless, liberated from all diseases and disturbances. Indeed, the practitioner, having become pure and inwardly calm, with focused mind, by this method gradually destroys all forms of Viṣūcikā. Thus, the Lord of the three worlds, moving through the sky, with the mantra perfected and received from the accomplished ones of the sky, honored by Indra and others, returned to his own imperishable, supreme, and radiant city. Then, that great black demoness, shining like the peak of a cat’s-eye gem, poised to become thin, appeared like a streak of lampblack cloud. She took the form of a tree, abandoning her previous cloud-like shape; then she became the size of a man, and after that, the size of a hand. Then she became the size of a span, then took the form of a finger; then she was like a grain of lentil, and after that, she became a needle. She attained the state of a silken needle, beautiful like the filament of a lotus, and stood upright, resembling the peak of a mountain of thought. The black needle shone, entirely smooth and flawless, coiled by the subtle body, moving through the sky, carried by the wind. That needle was visible, yet there was no substance of iron; it was only a play of consciousness, appearing like a needle in a dream. Smooth as a jeweled needle, joined with the mind’s imagination, beautiful like a line of beryl’s radiance, graceful as a string of rods. Like a tendril of a black-lotus stamen carried by the wind, with a tiny, clear aperture, it was as if a pupil of the sky, subtle and transparent to sight. With a thread grasped by its own tip, with a smooth tail and shining point, it became visible for the sake of vast tranquility, entering a supreme vow of silence. Seen from afar like a lamp, it attained the state of pure being; from a distance, with a charming mouth, it seemed to utter forth into the sky.