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Messages: 1 - 4 (6 total)
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sushimitsured
3/28/2004 1:19 AM
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1 out of 6 |
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I have heard that in Saivism that the smoking of marijuana ( ganja, charas, pot) is encouraged. COuld you please explain the significance of smoking this herb in Saivism ?> What are the main groups which take part in this practice?
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aumkar13
3/28/2004 2:26 PM
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2 out of 6 |
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you have heard incorrectly. First of all, Shaivism consists of a range of people (who believe that Shiva is the ultimate form of God) that is as wide and varied as India itself.
Do you know that India has around 14 or so languages, in addition to hundreds of dialects? Do you know that stories regarding the same gods in the Puranas and popular lore differ greatly?
In the same way, practices differ from region to region, and also within regions.
Smoking of marijuana is never encouraged. Shaivism is based on Vedic and Agamic understandings of self-care and morality. Drugs dilute the thinking process, ruin the health of an aspiring yogi, etc. In general, adherence to cleanliness and abstaining from intoxicants is the highest norm.
Bhaang, which is a marijuana drink, is consumed perhaps once or twice a year on special occasions by SOME people. It is not encouraged as a regular habit or a spiritual practice and even this once-in-a-blue-moon practice is not practiced by many Shaivaites.
Ritual consumption of intoxicants, antinomian practices, are limited to smaller LEFT-HAND tantric sects. Note that there are many Tantrics who are some of the biggest puritans you'll find, who interpret understandings of scriptures on different levels. But even those who practice left-hand tantra go through upto 12 years at a time practicing strict vegetarianism, celibacy (including autoeroticism) and moral practices before going into carefully supervised practices under the Guru.
Lastly, most people don't fall under the category, according to all the Tantric scriptures, of being allowed to undertake these practices for spiritual purposes. There are three classes, the lowest being pashu-bhaava. That means animal-disposition. if you are of such disposition, you are not fit for such practices.
Pashu-bhaava is: any dishonesty, including lies of omission; non-vegetarianism; sexual promiscuity; indulgence in intoxicants, from alcohol to marijuana, opiates, etc.
If you are looking for an excuse to smoke pot and convince yourself you're 'being spiritual,' you'll find one. But remember some things:
Being a Shaivaite is love of Shiva as the ultimate and most Shaivaites NEVER do antimonian practices : Shiva himself was a pure, monogamous Ascetic who did deep meditation.
Smoking pot is not a means of meditation. like the hippies of the sixties, drug-heads try to convince themselves that the mythic Soma in the Vedas gives them license to get high and claim religiosity. Well, are these people also performing the Vedic ritual practices, leading the vedic life, doing brahmacharya and memorizing hundreds and thousands of shlokas and performing daily pujas to the Gods in fire rituals? No.
People are selective. Intention is very important. Why are you interested in finding this out? Are you truly invested in finding yourself in Lord Shiva? Or are you finding an excuse to indulge what might very well be an addiction? It is said that those who are truly invested in finding God give themselves to a Guru who guides them. Many stories exist of Gurus telling pupils to do things that seem completely off-focus, or that go against the student's grain. This is to impress a sense of ego-dissolution and reduction of fear, since fear is a component of avidya, lack of knowledge.
People who smoke pot regularly and then half-way follow SOME practices of Tantra, or left-hand Tantra shaivaite practices, and conveniently ignore everything else, are fooling not only themselves but others.
The overwhelming majority of Shaivaites, it can be unequivocally stated, NEVER encourage indulgence in intoxicants. It is a marginal practice, and even in those circumstances, ensconsed in severely disciplined system of Guru-observed practices coupled with long bouts of fasting, celibacy and intense moral discipline.
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prithvijaya
4/1/2004 12:42 PM
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3 out of 6 |
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Here's a link that give's a somewhat different take on the link between Shaivism and drugs:
http://www.infinityfoundation.com/indic_colloq/persons/person_sunthar.htm
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prithvijaya
4/1/2004 12:46 PM
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4 out of 6 |
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Here's the relevant excerpt from the above link:
With the right mix of cultural orientations, aesthetic sensibility can permeate the 'ordinary' life of the masses well beyond those restricted circles where it is nourished, cultivated and refined through the formal techniques of the fine arts. The day-to-day ethos (banarasi-pan) of Banaras, the holy city of the Hindus, had long been characterized by a feeling of gentle 'intoxication' (mauj, masti) that takes an eccentric delight in simple pleasures such as the chewing of betel-leaves ( pan), bathing in the Gangā, going on an outing (bahrī alang) on an unpredictable whim, consumption of marijuana (bhang), etc., that extended to all age groups, castes and religious denominations. The cultural justification for such carefree behavior in this center of Hindu orthodoxy, was that such a life-style was modeled on the patron deity of the city, namely the ascetic Shiva. Spirituality is not confined to places of worship but permeates the entire public space as calls to prayer, devotional songs, murmuring of pilgrims thronging the streets. Inner detachment was also fostered by the omni-presence of death that constantly walks the alleys with piercing cries of "Ram's name (alone) Is!" Moreover, under the watchful eyes of Bhairava, Banaras was earlier the center of transgressive Shaiva currents such as the Kāpālikas and Pāzupatas, who sought spiritual autonomy by deliberately and publicly violating social conventions. These attitudes seem to have filtered over the centuries into the down-to-earth sensibilities of the local populace, including merchants, so as to shape their sensibilities. An attitude of inner autonomy (svātantrya) especially characterized the (mostly poor) Muslim artisans who would stop working at their looms to take a boat to the other side of the Gangā whenever they felt like it even if this meant a diminution of income. This ethos is what made traditional Banaras such a hospitable place during the seventies for hordes of Western hippies who felt crushed by the 'heartlessness' of their own industrialized societies. Gradually over the years, many of them weaned themselves of their (drug and other) addictions, mastered some art-form such as dance, music, painting, etc., studied a branch of traditional knowledge, and/or assimilated a spiritual discipline of their preference, and eventually returned home to reintegrate as productive and even creative members of their countries of origin. My own teacher of 'Kashmir Shaivism', an extremely orthodox Mithila brahmin and a very learned (not only) Advaita Vedāntin, would proceed after our sessions to the banks of the Gangā where, intoxicated with bhang, he would become immersed in spiritual contemplation (samādhi). His daily words of parting was the benediction: "remain wholly intoxicated" (khūb mast raho)! Aesthetic sensibility opens doors to experience beyond the narrower confines of art.
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