Smoking Marajuana??

[Tirisilex]

Every Summer I go camping deep in the woods to do what I call a spiritual quest. I smoke a small anount of marajuana and I get an experience that is usualy positive.. Its hard to explain.. It motivates me to go and do things spiritualy.. From making right moral desicions to meditating, chanting, and studying scriptures.. It gives me the drive to do the right thing. But when I do this I get into a conflict.. Smoking isnt a good thing.. But yet it makes me want to do the right thimg.. Thats why I do it only once a year... Is this a bad thing to do??

[madhavachari]

A lot of religious people in India smoke ganja. Shaivas and Ramanandis for example. It is up to you to decide whether it is good for you or not. It isn´t exactly everybody´s cup of tea, or should I say cup of herb?

[Guest guest]

Since it's not an addiction, and you are doing it for a specific spiritual experience, I would not think it is a bad thing. If you were doing it for a cheap high every weekend, that would be different.

 

There are some yogis who smoke ganja, and they also try to control the senses (they are not lascivious in their behaviour). So it can be used for good purposes, as long as you don't become a pothead, and do it under controlled means.

 

For the every Joe, I would say don't do it, because they have no control of their senses. But for a spiritually aware person, this is different.

[gHari]

Your interest is at the point where things are going to start to happen. You won't want to find yourself never knowing whether it was an hallucination or whether it was real. I mean REAL. If you hang out in the Gita for six months, things will happen, things more wonderful than any drug experience.

 

You have always seemed serious to me, so I have to think that with all the stars in the wilderness sky, a little mahamantra will go further than any material substance can. Besides you say you do it to become more spiritually inclined. That desire in itself is enough to make you more spiritually inclined. The slightest step toward Krsna, the slightest desire for Krsna can lead us out of the dream state forever.

 

I'd go camping with the Gita instead. The stars are good for humility which is the crux of advancement, finally realizing God's true greatness, then our own finite nature and absolute dependence on His mercy to know Him, the Ultimate Truth.

 

The temple and jungle are considered to be in the mode of goodness, so the deep woods experience is purifying. That may be well be what actually produces your inspiration, far from the sounds of the fornication and traffic jams of the city.

[Guest guest]

The body and the mind and all the intellectual faculties of the being have been given to us as instruments, whereas in ordinary life man is at the beck and call of the physical body and the senses. He does not know himself to be apart from them. And the other is that man also finds himself totally entangled in the desires and cravings of the mind. But to consider yourself the servant of the senses and slave to the cravings and desires of the mind is a woeful misconception. And also to regard them as instruments given solely for indulging in an endless round of sense-pleasures and objective enjoyments is a deplorable perversion. These instruments have been given in order to bring you closer to the attainment of the great goal. The mind, the body and the intellect should be recognised as such, treated as such, and nobly utilised to this end. In the great teachings of the sages we find that man as a social being and a member of the community is advised to live a life of honest labour. This labour may take the additional form of selfless service to all:

 

Experience shows that every great benefit conferred upon others by the exercise of man’s faculties comes from this highest form of labour. In his practical affairs, man should continue to care for and look after his family, his immediate relations and his friends. In his personal affairs, he should take due and proper care of his own body and mind. Thus living a life of usefulness and service unto others, you maintain your integrity. In doing thus, you are not taken out of the spiritual life. When it is based on the principles of Truth and honesty, your exertion for means of maintaining a livelihood is in no way an obstacle or a bar to your advancement in the inner life of spiritual unfoldment.

[Guest guest]

How can reason and logic be given the highest place’? The mind, intellect and reason fail when you are under the power of an intoxicant. When anesthesia is given, where is the logical mind? Does the logical mind function when you have fasted fully for a fortnight? It disappears in sleep and swoon. There are some herbs that incapacitate the mind the moment you take them. Thus, there are many occasions when the logical mind of man becomes impotent and stops its function. How can this logical mind or rational living be given the highest status? Intuition is the highest faculty and the evolution of man is complete when he develops this intuition to the greatest degree and realizes his Atman. The knowledge gained in Samadhi is the highest knowledge. It is Samyag-drishti or Tattva-jnana