PSYCHEDELICS : THE INDIAN EXPERIENCE

BY HIS GRACE AND BLESSINGS I WRITE….

Swami Rama in his celebrated work “Living with the Himalaya Masters” has discussed about Soma , a Vedic herb  usually prepared from creepers . These creepers  belonging to the succulent family grow above 11,000 feet at a very few places in the Himalayas. As per this book Vaidya (a master of herbs) Bhairavdutt  was the last living authority in Soma in those times. This Soma as referred to in Vedic literature is a psychedelic substance traditionally used by the Spiritual Seekers in India. The use of this herb causes similar experiences as caused by the psychedelic substances found in the Amazonian forests. In ancient Vedic texts varieties of mushrooms are also mentioned which result in psychic experiences. A few herbs like Agaricus, Hyoscymus  and Stramonium  which are poisonous  but have hallucinogenic properties when consumed in small doses are also found in Himalayas and are mentioned in the Vedic literature.

Patanjali  who codified the science of Yoga  and founded of Yoga school of Hindu philosophy in the 1^st AD also makes mention of these substances . He is, however, of the view that though these substance have a psychic experience through senses, they are of no use to a spiritual seeker. Soma can be used for seekers who could not concentrate and have difficulty in sitting for longer durations in the course of meditation. The body becomes still and free of pain. Psychedelics in the Indian experience have been found to be harmful if not practiced under experts , with discipline, austerities and proper mantras. They might damage the nervous system, cause psychological addiction, subtle depression and especially disturb the finer channels of energies. A healthy diet, proper recitation of mantra , austerities, guidance of an expert, extreme discipline , suitable climate, purity of thought etc are necessary prerequisites before these substances get consumed and can show positive effects.

Swami Rama concluded that harm that psychedelic substances can cause far outweigh their positive effects. Those who are not psychologically prepared will have negative experiences and those who are prepared don’t need such drugs.

The experience of experts with psychedelic substances  of the Amazonian forest have been on the similar lines to the Indian experience .The experience of Richard Alpert with psilocybin mushrooms is a case in point. Richard was a professor of Psychology and had many great achievements to his credit (I will discuss about him in my future blogs). Richard was a leading figure in the field of Psychedelics movements in America in 1960s. Alpert was the  youngest Psychology professor at Harvard. He later on became the first person in the history  of this great institution to be dismissed from service for his insistence on conducting and continuing with his research projects on psychedelics. After failing to find a proper explanation for his psychedelic experiences in the West , he embarked on a spiritual/psychedelic journey to India to seek some the of the answers to his this out of the world experiences with psychedelics. His experience to him sounded very similar to the experiences of Buddha and other great spiritual teachers of the East. It was his journey to India that brought him to the Himalayas at the feats of   the most astounding ,extraordinary, mysterious and miraculous person of his life and that world had ever seen. It was his great Guru Neeb Karoli Baba also called Maharaj Ji whom he met at Kainchi (Nainital)in the Himalayas. His entire perspective on psychedelic substances was turned upside down after this meeting with his future Guru. Till the time Richard met Maharaj ji, he was in the habit of consuming lot of psychedelic substances (LSD) mistaking them for some sort of  experiences in divinity. It was one fine day that Maharaj Ji took all his doses of LSD (9 micrograms) and consumed all of them in a moment all before his eyes. To the utter surprise and shock of the rational mind of this Harvard Professor there were absolutely no effects of this much high dosages(extremely high and dangerous even for the regular users) of LSD on Maharaj ji. It was a sort of miracle and revelation to Richard that these substances serve a very limited purpose and are not very useful if someone is seeking deeper spiritual experiences. They may have beneficial impact on mental health and might be able to treat mental diseases and some physiological diseases but are not appropriate for deeper spiritual quests.(I will in my later blogs discuss all these experiences of Richard with LSD while he was experimenting with them in Harvard laboratories . I will also try to discuss as to what prompted a top Harvard professor to seek his answers in India and how did he happen to meet his Guru and how on earth his rational mind of a behavioural scientist and an extraordinary believer of scientific reasoning and logic was laid to rest with unconditional love that flowed from his Guru.)

Recent research suggests that use of psychedelic substances shall to be done under the expert guidance of a person of integrity, skill, knowledge and one who has a genuine desire to be supportive and helpful. The person undertaking a psychedelic journey should first undergo a very deep cleansing process. He should purge himself of all impurities of body and mind by regularly consuming healthy food and following proper spiritual practices like meditation over sufficient period of time before undertaking any such journey with these God Substances. It has been further established that psychedelics are not a substitute for daily spiritual hard work and for everyday discipline in all walks of life. Moreover, they are also not meant for the purposes of entertainment or experimentation . Thus, we may safely conclude that these substances may assist one on a spiritual journey and have a tremendous trasformative effect on one’s personality  only under certain conditions, otherwise they can prove harmful and lead to newer problems.

In the Indian context the knowledge about these substances as found in ancient Vedic texts is more or less lost. What remains is use of substances like marijuana, hashish etc which are detrimental to health and have no relation to spiritual growth. Many mendicants and Sadhus can be seen consuming these drugs in every nook and corner of any holy city. These Sadhus are completely dumb and fake, fraud and conman and have no inclination whatsoever, for spiritual progress. They fool the unsuspecting and gullible public (with which we have in millions of us have been  gifted in this holy land ). This Baba (Godman) culture is projecting Indian spiritualism and ancient Indian philosophy in a very bad light and one needs to be very very cautious of it. However, same is also true for all such practices anywhere in the world. Once a sacred practice gets commercialized , the sacred turns to profane and loses all its vitality. Once the intent is to make money out of the sacred exercises such as psychedelics,yoga, pranayam, tantra or meditation etc these practices fall prey in the hands of these traders/agents/marketeers of religion and its essence is lost forever. Similar is the experience of the Shamanism where lot of crimes have been committed in its name and public has grown averse or is afraid to undertake any experiment with such substances in the Peruvian forests. The original Shamans tribes who are repository of this healing science of psychedelics are the most endangered species of the Amazon today .

On an interesting note the word Soma has been employed by Aldous Huxley In his famous work Brave New World. Huxley was one of the greatest writer, philosopher and thinker of the 20^th century .He used term Soma in the context of an intoxicant which is given to public at large to control their behavior and make them mere consumers in the hands of  the giant corporations who operate in the garb of nation states. Soma for Huxley are all those things which prevent us from questioning and thinking. It is sort of reward system for becoming  slaves to the unfettered desires of our mind .This reward system is instituted by modern states in order to take control of our brains and convert  us to a herd of sheep .This Soma has made us sick, depressed, hyper, anxiety ridden, lonely and violent .If one looks closely one can decipher all of  the attributes of an Orwellian State and Brave New World of Huxley playing out so brazenly throughout the world from India to America and in many more modern Nation states. State has entered into all facets of life and is employing every means to control all sorts of freedom of the general public either through use of Orwellian means(fear) or through use of Soma (inducements albeit in a different manner). The time seems to be most appropriate to reignite this debate over psychedelics and how they can go a long way in reducing the effects of Soma of Huxley kind and free us from fear of the Big Brother of the Orwellian kind. Hopefully proper use of psychedelics will bring some sanity to an otherwise insane world. Let’s understand it more before we together further embark on this journey with psychedelics…bear with me till I write my next blog…

By His Grace and Blessing I will continue to write….

Dr. Seema Chaudhary