did the ancient indians (and gods) really use marijuana?
im studying hinduism for a philosophy class and came across some interesting stuff about lord shiva advocating the use of marijuana for religious purposes
wiki summarizes the sources of ancient texts well
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_use_of_cannabis#Hindu_use
During the Hindu festival of Holi, people consume a drink called bhang which contains cannabis flowers.[4][5]
Charas, is smoked by some Shaivite devotees and cannabis itself is seen as a gift of Shiva to aid in sadhana.
any hindus know about this etc?
In Indian society, only the lower-class people use bhang or marijuana. High-class religious people dont touch it.
Pseudo-devotees of Lord Siva imitate him by taking poison, but without the assimilative power of Lord Siva, they are simply calling death very near.
“We should always consider the position of the isvaras, or those who can actually control the movements of the sun and moon, as superior. Without such power, one cannot imitate the isvaras, who are superpowerful. Lord Siva drank poison to the extent of swallowing an ocean, but if any common man tries to drink even a fragment of such poison, he will be killed. There are many pseudo devotees of Lord Siva who want to indulge in smoking ganja (marijuana) and similar intoxicating drugs, forgetting that by so imitating the acts of Lord Siva they are calling death very near. Similarly, there are some pseudo devotees of Lord Krishna who prefer to imitate the Lord in His rasa-lila, or dance of love, forgetting their inability to lift Govardhana Hill. It is best, therefore, that one not try to imitate the powerful, but simply follow their instructions; nor should one try to occupy their posts without qualification. There are so many “incarnations” of God without the power of the Supreme Godhead.”
“In our Vedic literature, there was a poison ocean, so people could not find out what to do with it. Then Lord Siva said, “All right, I’ll drink it.” So he drank the whole poison ocean and kept it in his throat. Can you drink poison? Not the ocean-just one cup? So how can we imitate Lord Siva? Lord Siva never advised that we drink poison. So you have to abide by the advice, not imitate. These LSD and marijuana people say that Lord Siva used to smoke ganja. But Lord Siva drank the whole poisoned ocean. Can you do that? Lord Siva’s instructions should be taken. He says that the best worship is worship of Visnu. Visnor aradhanam param. When he was asked by Parvati what method of worship is best, then he said, “The best worship is worship of Lord Visnu [Krsna].” There are many demigods, but he recommended Visnu worship as the best. And better than Visnu worship is worship of a Vaisnava. Tadiyanam-His servants, or those who are in relation to Him. For instance, we are worshiping this plant, tulasi. We are not worshiping all plants, but because this tulasi has a very intimate connection with Krsna, Visnu, we are therefore worshiping her. Similarly, if anything is intimately related with Krsna, worship of that thing is better than worship of Visnu.”
It depends on the sect of Hinduism.
With my God, he said that you should not take any type of intoxication (alcohol, smoking, etc.) He says that if one takes it, then one becomes addicted to it and it becomes a habit. That’s why my God doesn’t recommend it.
I have never heard about Shiva taking marijuana or anything, but I’m not a Shaivite.