The Sacred Herb

I have been using cannabis spir­i­tu­ally since 1965. I really believe that it is one of the great sacred plants given human­ity by God to help us become God con­scious. Back in the 60s, Allen Gins­burgh taught us to chant Om Shiva Shankara Hara Hara Ganja before smok­ing for pro­tec­tion and a bet­ter high. High is a spir­i­tual term. We want that ecsta­tic vision, that beatific high. Many of Shivas fol­low­ers in India smoke reli­giously. In 1975, I became aware of the Rasta reli­gion and iden­ti­fied with that very closely also. You see, I am truly an eclec­tic uni­ver­sal­ist and adopt the best of every­thing. I must point out that I did not smoke while in ISKCON 1967–74 or while in sem­i­nary or serv­ing as a pas­tor (I drank then. It was much more acceptable.)

Cannabis is used in many cul­tures spir­i­tu­ally. There’s an inter­est­ing pas­sage in Jaiva Dharma, where a Gaudiya Vaish­nava main char­ac­ter sees a cou­ple of Sri Vaish­navas smok­ing cannabis under a tree by his house and goes to inquire of them in spir­i­tual matters.

Now, I find it is also the sacred annoint­ing oil, the balm of the nations, etc. Heck, I just know it from much per­sonal expe­ri­ence with many per­sons, it is a spir­i­tual herb, a sacra­ment that is able to lib­er­ate the mind from a cer­tain level of maya. In the hippie/beat move­ment, there was always a large group of spir­i­tu­ally minded per­sons who use herb and LSD sacra­men­tally while oth­ers were joy trip­pers or speed freaks. It is espe­cially good when used with mantra chant­ing and other raganuga sad­hana prac­tices as I do them. I don’t say it is good for every­one. Some per­sons expe­ri­ence a neg­a­tive effect. I remain clear headed and active. I think if more per­sons used herb rather than alco­hol, ice or tobacco, the world would be a much bet­ter place.

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 31st, 2006 at 19:48 and is filed under Steve's Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.