| The mushroom imparts to the user a type of mental power. It allows the consumer to realize that his mind creates reality and therefore what he believes will create an entire reality structure and this can then be transposed onto the world at large. A mushroom consumer’s mind is powerful. This can be said for most psychedelics. Realizations which may take a lifetime to uncover, become instantly available to the psychedelic user: (5) Flow on, Sage Soma, with thy stream to give us mental power and strength, Effused for Indra, for his drink, for Mitra and for Varuṇa. (RV-IX) Hymn C. Soma Pavamana The Soma is now called the food of the gods and called a gladdening drink in the same sentence. This has likely led to much confusion about its true origin. The drinker finds success and drives away the demons, the gods of falsehood or lies, i.e. negative thoughts and feelings which plague the consumer of the juice. His goal is to transcend those negative thoughts and rise above them with positive vibrations and thoughts. This is part of the spiritual challenge for us all. Finally the drink makes one happy and delighted, producing laughter and joy: (5) Thou, Indu, art the food of Gods, O Sovran of all gladdening drinks: As Friend for friend, be thou best finder of success. 6 Drive utterly away from us each demon, each voracious fiend, The godless and the false: keep sorrow far away. (RV-IX) Hymn CIV. Soma Pavamana In the following hymn, most of the steps for processing the Soma are included. Once filtered through the fleece, the juice is mixed with milk. The soma itself springs forth from the heavenly udder or the far-seeing one, which is another epithet for a “Great Seer”: (2) Now, being purified, flow hither through the fleece inviolate and most odorous. We ladden thee in waters when thou art effused, blending thee still with juice and milk. (3) Pressed out for all to see, delighting Gods, Indu, Far-sighted One, is mental power. (5) Milking the heavenly udder for dear meath, he hath sat in the ancient gathering place. Washed by the men, the Strong Farseeing One streams forth nutritious food that all desire. (RV-IX) Hymn CVII. Soma Pavamana This gives us a lot to go with, since the Rig Veda descriptions tell us exactly what it is. One just needs to know where to look and how to interpret the hymns. Let’s hear what people have written about on “Soma” over the years. According to the David Frawley website, which appears to steer people away from the idea of mushroom use as Soma, we read the following: “An early Ayurvedic doctor, Sushrut, mentions 24 Soma plants, growing mainly on Himalayan lakes. He mentions 18 additional Soma like plants, which are mainly nervine herbs. Soma, therefore, was likely part of an entire science of sacred plant preparations and not just one plant in particular. A number of Soma-producing and Soma-like plants existed.” (44) |
The source for this previous extract, like most, uses the term “secret of soma” but never discloses it. In the Sushruta Samhita, (c. 600-100 BC), Bhishagratna writes of Soma: “The twenty-four species according to the difference of their habitats, structures, epithets, and potencies are as follows: Amshumat, Munjavat, Chanrdmah, Rajataprabha, Durvasoma, Kaniyan, Svetaksha, Kanakaprabha, Pratanavan, Talavrinta, Karavira, Amshavan, Svayamprabha, mahasoma, Garudahrita, Gayatrya, Traishtubha, Pankta, Jagata, Shankara, Agnishtoma, Raivata, Yathokra, and Udupati. All these kinds of Soma secure for the user a mastery of the Vedic chant and are known by the above auspicious names mentioned in the Vedas.” (45) This seems to have been extracted from an ancient Hindu text of some sort. Author David Frawley continues to cite this same source and we further read: “Somas of the best kind, the Chandramah species, are often found to be floating here and there on the mighty stream of the river Sindhu (Indus), which flows down at the foot of five large mountains beyond the north bank of Vitasta. The Munjavat and the Amshumat species may also be found in the same region, while those known as the Gayatri, Traishtubha, Pankta, Jagata, Shankara, and others looking as beautiful as the Moon are found to float on the surface of the divine lake known as the little Manasa in Kashmir.” (46) David Frawley is considered, by some, to be a “teacher of the ancient wisdom.” I did not find myself much wiser regarding the subject of Soma, after reading his book though. What I did learn is that Soma has at least 24 varieties and I figure the mushroom likely has 24 psilocybin containing varieties in the surrounding area of India. The additional 18 varieties of soma-like plants, I imagine could refer to non-psychoactive but medicinal mushrooms. This is only my speculation though. (44) http://vedanet.com/2012/06/13/the-secret-of-the-soma-plant (45) Gods, Sages, Kings p. 79-80; Kunjalal Bhishagratna, The Sushruta Samhita (Varanasi, India: Chowkhama Sanskrit Series, 1981), p. 530, SS.CS XXIX.5-9 (46) Gods, Sages, Kings, p. 79-80; Ibid, pp. 537-38, SS.CS. XXIX.28-31 |