“We have drunk Soma and become
immortal; we have attained the light, the Gods discovered. Now what may foeman's
malice, do to harm us? What, O Immortal, mortal man's deception? - Rig Veda (8.48.3)
So, is usage of drugs divinely sanctioned?
This
question has vexed even the best, at all times, in every time, since the
beginning of time. Now, more than ever, many a people see no harm in “mild”
form of drug usage in normal, everyday life. Banned or not, it cannot be denied
that marijuana, hashish or “soma” herbs such as of charas, ganja, opium find their
way in every society, at any time, every time.
The voices
of those who are not religious, yet religiously seeking governmental sanction
in usage of marijuana and other such intoxicating and addictive substances are
becoming shriller day by day. Despite evidence to the contrary, of more harm
than good coming from such usage of hallucinogenic drugs, people are
increasingly taking a rather cavalier attitude towards it. Some countries and
cultures either allow habitual usage of above mentioned easily available “soft”
and seemingly “harmless” drugs or look the other way, without much of a say
either way.
"There
is always a need for intoxication: China has opium, Islam has hashish, the West
has woman," said Andre Malraux. However, the twain has met. Now, in both
East and West - drugs are the best.
“A gramme is
better than a damn.. I wish I had my soma!” Aldous Huxley, in The Brave New
World. And, William S. Burroughs refers to “soma” (Greek word for “body”) as a
non-addictive, high-quality form of opium said to exist in ancient India. Soma
was a Vedic ritual drink amongst early Indo-Iranians, subsequent Vedic and
greater Persian cultures.
In nutshell,
drugs, in mild or wild form, have been used in most regions and religions
throughout history of mankind. Yet, do they induce mystical or hallucinogenic
experiences?
There is no
denying that drugs make us lose inhibitions and “make” the users see “things”
which they do not usually witness in everyday living, without drugs. What
happens? More importantly, why does this happen?
The
metaphysical reality, as witnessed by yogis and free mystics of ancient India,
is that Things That Be, quintessentially, are One. That is Consciousness, Life
and Existence is composed of and emanate from One, Single, Indivisible “Stuff”.
There are essentially no boundaries between The Conscious, Sub-Conscious and
The Unconscious - like lines drawn across the sky.
Drugs make
its users “lose” touch with the baser ego-consciousness; in the process, “crossing
lines” as if, unto The Unconscious. In this “nowhere land”, drug users “see”
hereto untapped potentialities. The yogi, on the other hand, consciously is “taken”
to newer “realities”; which, continued over a longer period, “show” One Divine
Reality as The Primordial Source of All That Is.
Hence, in the
former case, using drugs one may “feel” bliss et all and “see” many a
transcendental vision; yet, an unbalanced mind is not intellectually or
spiritually endowed to “physically” get The Ultimate Reality as a verifiable
fact. For, drugs diminish the incisive intellectual ability of the user;
sometimes demonizing it so. That is, one hallucinates more than one understands
What Is.
Self-Realization
of The Divine Self, the fundamental reality behind everything, requires the
practitioner to be fully aware and lucid; to “get” That Which Is. It’s An
Experimentation upon The Self. The laboratory is one’s own physical entity.
Just as scientists looking for the “god-particle” would not dare do so in an
inebriated state; similarly, any search unto The Alpha and The Omega cannot be
seriously taken up in a drugged state. It’s this simple.
Whether one
believes in The Divine Order of Existence or not, or is an adherent of The Big
Bang Theory; metaphysics or simple physics “experimentation” has to be
conducted not in a stupor but in a serene way.
Metaphysically,
“Soma” is “So”-That “Ma”-Am. Or, “That
Am”. So, when mystics or yogis of India spoke about taking “soma”, it was meant
that they “took” The “am” of “That” – The Universal Self: The One Ultimate
Reality.
Use of drugs
is for “lower” isms. Higher science or spirituality must have nothing to do
with it. Drugs lead to delusion, not divinity. Period.
Let’s
understand this once and for all.
