As a member of the National Parole Board, my experience with the majority of offenders whose cases came before me, confirms my observation. That said despite all the virtues Cannabis has and its close associations with divinities like Shiva and the Buddha, the majority of its modern-day consumers, lacking in spiritual discipline and ritualistic maturity, have dragged this holy stimulant into disrepute. According to a legend, the Buddha before he attained enlightenment subsisted only on one Cannabis seed a day. The fourth form of Cannabis’s consumption is “Majoon.” My maternal grandfather, a man of a yogic calm and patience used to prepare it by hard boiling the Cannabis leaves and poppy seeds in milk, ghee, nuts and sugar, but he never shared it with children, not even a portion as small as an ant’s head.Ĭannabis in Tibet has always been considered sacred. Shunya, one of my students, always wanted to visit India only to smoke Ganja, freely. I have similar memories of students smoking joints, getting high and protesting the Vietnam War in front of the University Library or Student Union Building of the University of Michigan. I recall walking down the Ganges river banks in Haridwar (India), and watching the matted-long- haired saffron robed holy men, smoking their clay pipes packed with Ganja and burning charcoal to attain a state of trance. Third, when smoked, it is called, “ Ganja.” It is made from the Cannabis flowers and upper leaves of its female plant. Second, Bhang is also ground and rolled in small balls and swallowed. Come to think of it, it sounds pretty yummy! First, grounded Cannabis leaves are combined with spices and nuts such as, black pepper, cardamom, poppy seeds and almonds and pistachios and then diluted in water or milk with sugar or in fruit juice. The preparation of Bhang has a simple process. These days, Bhang is often consumed as a recreational drink during festive celebrations such as, weddings or during Holi, the spring festival of colours. It gave the soldier courage to slip under the elephant and take away the sword from him. He gave him a mixture of Bhang and opium to drink. Guru Gobind Singh found one man in the group, who was willing to face the elephant. Once he watched his soldiers feeling scared of an attacking elephant with a sword in his trunk. There is a story about the tenth Sikh Guru, Shri Gobind Singh, who was a warrior, philosopher and a poet. During battles, Vijaya was consumed to seek freedom from fear and boost courage. First, as a drink, it is called, “Bhang” or “ Vijaya.” Vijaya means something that brings you victory (Vijay). By including these newly discovered leaves to his daily menu, Shiva not only elevated the status of Bhang, but also made it his cherished birthday present.Ĭannabis in India is consumed in four forms. He instantly decided to add those leaves to his regular diet. The after-effects of those leaves were a surge of energy and a mood change – a transformation from feeling angry to feeling happy. Curiously he decided to taste the leaves of that plant. When he woke up, he noticed a beautiful plant growing nearby. Drained from the anger and fatigue, he fell asleep under a tree. The Legend recounts that once Lord Shiva, after an argument with Parvati, left home in a huff and wandered off into the surrounding Himalayan woods. Another legend about a domestic dispute between Lord Shiva and his wife, Parvati, in which cannabis played a positive role by bringing peace to the family, seems to confirm this belief. The Vedas consider Cannabis a stimulant of happy feelings and liberator from fear and anxiety. These drops grew then into magical Cannabis loaded with supernatural powers.ĭuring the Vedic-fire sacrifices (Yagna) priests used to offer Cannabis-stems to the fire to please the god of fire ( Agni) to overcome evil forces. The gods and demons then fought over the pitcher of Amrit and during this battle, which the gods won, a few drops of it spilled out and scattered on the ground. It says that when the gods and demons churned the ocean, nectar ( Amrit) as well as poison ( Vish) emerged in two separate pitchers. There is a legend about the birth of this divine gift. “To the five kingdoms of the plants, which Soma rules as Lord we speak,darbha, bhang, barley, mighty power: may these deliver us from woe.” Historically speaking, this bounty of nature has always thrived in my motherland under the protection of our sacred scriptures - the Vedas, compiled as early as 2000 to 1400 B.C. I have hard time recalling ever lighting up a joint or even a leftover roach, though I grew up in India in a culture where the use of Cannabis ( Bhang/Ganja) was neither a sin nor a crime.
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