Some people have asked me why Lord Shiva drinks Bhang or smokes Ganja? Why do all the shaiv sadhus smoke Ganja all the time? Isn't it a drug? Do our Hindu religious leaders take drugs? Or worse, does one of our Trinity, Lord Shiva Himself, promote drugs? In this article, I'll answer these questions.
Bhang or Ganja are extracts of a plant called Cannabis Sativa, also known as Marijuana or Cannabis or Weed or Pot in the western world. In their ignorance, Americans put it into the category of illegal substances or illegal drugs and subsequently, it has been made illegal in India as well and therefore many Hindus themselves have started thinking that it is bad for us. I've seen even some fake ayurvedic doctors (and websites) following western doctors and claiming that bhang is a harmful drug.
BUT now western scientists are discovering that Bhang is one of the most effective natural medicines available to man - This is something that Hindus scientists had already discovered at least 3000 years back!
Since western doctors are realizing the truth, today they use Bhang/Ganja/Cannabis/Marijuana for treating ancer, Aids/HIV, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), chronic pains and depression patients and they're discovering its new applications every day! But our own Ayurveda mentioned the medicinal properties of Bhang/Ganja so long ago! In fact, Marijuana is mentioned in Rig Veda, Atharva Veda, Ayurveda and many other ancient Hindu texts! Some of the uses of Bhang that ancient Hindu scientists discovered thousands of years ago are - Dyspepsia, Nervous disorders, Severe pain, Insomania, Dysentery, Gonorrhoea, Loss of appetite because of illness and even poisoning. It's AMAZING that our ancient Hindu doctors were able to learn so much that western scientists are still catching up!
Before closing, I'd like to mention one more thing - Alcohol has already been considered bad in Hindu society but Bhang isn't (at least not until Indian government started following western governments). Both Bhang and Alcohol cause euphoria, pleasant feelings and more, so their effects seem very similar. BUT ancient Hindu scientists knew that alcohol is bad for human body but Bhang is a medicine. And now science has shown that Alcohol actually is bad for human body. Any type of alcohol causes hypertension, cancer and more. Bhang on the other hand cures all of these problems! There was no way for ancient Hindus to know all this but still somehow they knew! I'm always amazed at how our ancestors learned all that they did and I wish that we start paying more attention to our own Ayurveda and even guide western scientists with what our ancestors, the great Hindu scientists & doctors already taught us!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Why God can't be just a powerful alien being according to Hinduism?

The idea of the notion of God as a very advanced alien race(s) is very popular one. If you haven't heard of it before, it combines Abrahamic mythology with science that explains why God exists scientifically! Basically, there are two "branches" of the God as Alien theory -
1) That hundreds of thousands of years ago, a highly advanced race of aliens descended on earth and started life or genetically modified apes into Homo Sapiens for unknown reasons. They kept visiting the Earth every once in a while and the early humans, who couldn't understand them, started refering to them as gods.....Then over time, the idea of God evolved into so many religions that we see today.
2) That life had already begun on Earth but the humans had evolved very close to the Homo Sapien stage when the aliens arrived. These aliens decided to either help the early humans for various reasons or use them for manual labor and taught us technology and language. These aliens created mysterious strutures like Nazca lines and Stonehenge etc as well. Early humans, again, couldn't understand them and decided to worship them as gods. Then at some point the aliens left and over time the world forgot about them and it all became folklore finally transformed into religion.
Now both of these theories are very similar in nature and explain stories in Bible, Quran and many other ancient texts. The first theory explains things like creation of Adam from mud and creation of Eve from just a rib (genetic engineering maybe?). They explain the mysterious structures all over the world that early humans simply couldn't create on their own! They explain why Homo Sapiens had such abrupt explosion of technology that made us the dominant species on the planet. Even the stories in Greek mythology like Poseidon bringing Fire (technology may be?) to humans and Hindu stories of fallen gods roaming the planet!
A thoughtful reader of my blog asked me (in the comments in my post explaining the nature of Shiva) if this applies to Hinduism as well and I was intrigued to analyze the Hindu definition of God and try to match it with the God as Alien being theory. At first it seemed as if this alien being theory explains even Hindu notion of God but I realized that it is not so - God in Hinduism can't be an scientifically advanced alien or some other otherwise super powered being. Why?

Now let's see how the Hindu notion of God fares - In Hinduism, the supreme entity is Braham that manifests itself in this Universe and more. Braham is the sum total of the universe and more! He manifests Himself into Prakriti and Purush and Maya and that is seen as this world by our senses. How is it different from the God in Christianity/Islam? Because, according to this theory, Braham is all pervasive and everything is just one. The world looks what it looks like simply because thats how our senses see it but if someone suddenly god the Divya Drishti (the "sight" that

I hope I explained why God in Hinduism can't be seen as an advanced alien civilization in this post! Till the next post, au revoir!
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