SOMA EXPLAINED CONTD KR IRS Part 27 9 24 The noise is constantly designated by various verbs implying to roar or bellow. A roaring Soma is compared with or specifically called a bull, “as a bull ballows in the wood”. He is a heavenly bull as well as of the earth and the streans. Soma being so frequently called a bull (ukshan, vrishan, vrishabha) is sharp-horned (tigmashringa), an epithet especially applied to the Moon in Yajurveda which in five of its six occurrences in the Rigveda is associated with a word meaning bull. Soma is swift and as an illustration of the speeds with which the pressed juice flows is frequently compared with or designated a steed.
Soma being regarded as a divine drink which bestows immortal life. Hence it is mythologically called amrita, the draught of immortality. It is an immortal stimulant, which the Gods love and of which, when pressed by men and mixed with milk, all the Gods drink, for they hasten to exhilaration and become exhilarated. Soma is immortal and the Gods drank him for immortality. The Gods were originally mortal. They obtained it by drinking Soma, which is called the principle of immortality. He confers immortality on the Gods and on men. He places his worshippers in the everlasting and imperishable world where there is eternal light and glory and makes him immortal where king Vaivasvata lives. In the heavenly world Soma is united with the Fathers (The blessed dead) as the ground of their immortality. Soma is called the father of the Gods; which seems to mean that as the life-giving drink, Soma is creative of the real abiding existence even of the Gods. Soma is described as equivalent to the Fathers, doubtless in the sense that the continuous existence of the blessed dead was due entirely to Soma as the principle of immortality. The intoxicating effect of Soma most emphasized by the poets is the stimulates it imparts to Indra in his conflict with hostile powers. The Soma drink was considered the most effective of all medicinal preparations. The Soma drink was an elixir that worked both psycho actively upon the brain and nervous system to induce an altered state of consciousness as well as medicinally upon the human body to cure it of various diseases. It is medicine for a sick man both weakness and disease disappear in the physical body immediately after one drinks Soma, a unique and divine medicine. Hence the God Soma heals whatever is sick, making the blind to see and the lame to walk. He is the guardian of men’s bodies and occupies their every limb, bestowing length of life in this world. The juice of the Soma plant and the Soma mixtures were thought to have more magical potency than any other. The Soma draught is even said to dispel sin from the heart to destroy falsehood and to promote truth. When imbibed Soma stimulates the voice, which he impels as the rower his boat. This is doubtless the reason why Soma is called lord of Speech (Vacaspati) or leader of Speech. He is also said to raise his voice from heaven. In the Brahmanas, Vac (Speech) is described as the price paid by the Gods for Soma. Soma has all wisdom and knowledge. He surveys all things with his thousand eyes. Soma also awakens eager thought. He is also spoken of as a lord of thought and as a father, leader or generator of hymns. He is a leader of poets, a seer among priests. He has the mind of seers, is a maker of seers and a protector of prayer. As the treasure house of all wisdom, he is the source of all thoughts and songs. Soma is the ‘soul of Sacrifice’, a priest (Brahma) among the Gods and apportions to them their share of sacrifice. Soma’s wisdom thus comes to be predominantly dwelt upon. He is a wise seer. He knows the races of the Gods. He is a wise man seeing wave. Soma with intelligence surveys creatures. Hence he is many eyed and thousand eyed. Soma is participated in the ritual. The Soma drinkers are always respected, but if the ritual is not well performed and if there are errors in its performances, the Soma drinkers become unworthy of sacrificial gifts. The power of Soma is at the basis of many uses of Soma in the magical rites. Soma is a great fighter. He is a victor, unconquered in fight, born for battle. He is the most heroic of heroes, the fiercest of the terrible, ever victorious. He conquers for his worshippers’ cows, chariots, horses, gold, heaven, water, a thousand boons and everything. Without reference to his war like character, he is constantly said to bestow all the wealth of heaven and earth, food, cattle, horses, and so forth. Soma himself is occasionally called a treasure or the wealth of the Gods. Soma is a fighter against darkness. He can also afford protection from foes. He drives away goblins and like some other deities but more frequently, receives the epithet of goblin slayer (rakshoham). Soma is the only God who is called a slayer of the wicked. In the later Vedic literature the statement occurs that Brahmans who drink Soma are able to slay at a glance. Being a warrior, Soma is said to have weapons. Which like a hero he graps in his hand and which are terrible and sharp. He is said to have obtained his weapons by robbing his malignant father of them. He is described as armed with a thousand-pointed shaft and his bow is swift. Soma rides in the same chariot as Indra. He is charioteer to the car fighter Indra. He drives in a car, which is heavenly He has light or a filter for his car. He is the best of charioteers. He has well winged mores of his own and a team like Vayu. The conception of Soma comes to be extended to that of a being of universal dominion, who is ‘lord of the quarters, who performs the great cosmic actions of generating the two worlds of creating or establishing heaven and earth, of supporting heaven and of placing light in the Sun. The Soma drink enables the poetic drinker to compose a hymn. Therefore, Soma is very frequently called a kavi, poet. Soma is ‘the procreator of thoughts’ and is rishikrit, ‘the maker of seers. The poet Soma procreates the thought. Soma has a romantic aspect also. He is not only lovable but also a lover and sometimes even a beloved. The daughters of the priest have adorned him as if he were a beautiful youth. There are of course, the fingers. Again ten ladies have sung to him as a maiden welcomes her love. Soma, the red one, blends himself with the cows that yield their fair breasts. Hence the cows themselves stand for milk. Everyone does his best to beautify him. He settles down among men like a hawk moving as a lover to his beloved. The fingers are the glittering maids and sisters owing Soma as their lord. He flows on the skin of the sheep like one longing a bride. Apsaras that live in the waters of the sea have seated themselves within the vat and flow to Soma, who is their lover probably. He gives pleasure as a wife pleases her husband and moves onward like a youth to the youthful maids. He is sung by poets as a lover to his love. God Soma blesses the woman, who is in search of her husband; so that she obtains proper husband. A king who has lost the support of his people is banished out of his territory. He resorts to mountains. When again the times are favorable he is installed. Soma calls him back from the mountains, where he might be resting. In a few of the latest hymns of the Rigveda, Soma begins to be mystically identified with the Moon. In the Atharva Veda, Soma several times means the Moon and in the Brahmanas this identification has already become a common place. In the post Vedic literature, Soma is a regular name of the Moon, which is regarded as being drunk up by the Gods and so waning, till it is filled up again by the Sun. In the Chandagya Upanishad, the statement is found that the Moon is king Soma, the food of the Gods and is drunk up by them. Even in the Brahmanas the identification of Soma with the Moon is already a common place. Thus, the Aitareya Brahmana. remarks that the Moon is the Soma of the Gods. The Shatapatha Brahmana, that king Soma, the food of the Gods, is the Moon ; and in the Kaushitaki Brahmana, the sacrificial plant or juice is symbolical of the Moon God. In the Atharva Veda, Soma several times means the Moon. Soma is possessed of rays. Thus, we get the identifications of Soma with the Moon. Soma is directly called to be Candramas. The stem of Soma is the lord of fighters. By name it is never deficient in anything. Therefore, he (darsha, the slender crescent of the new moon) should never make the worshipper deficient in progeny and riches. The darsha or the young Soma plant (Moon) is complete at the point and at the end. He is charming to look at. The stems of Soma are unexhausted and the Gods feed on the unexhausted. It will thus be noticed that Soma plant is used by the Atharvavedic singer not only for ritual but also for magical and medicinal purposes. Great emphasis is laid on the power of Soma and somehow it is made to connect itself with the various amulets and charms. The identification of the plant with the moon is complete in the Atharva Veda and this naturally leads to the connection that the moon is the lord of plants and herbs. Soma, the Moon whose soothing light is praised by poets the world over, is the outer symbol of ananda, the delight of existence which upholds the universe. Soma is the lord of the north. There is a charm for securing safety from tigers, robbers, etc. The charm to crush the tigers belongs to Atharvan and is born of Soma. The strength of Soma is at the basis of such power of the charm. Soma is described to be always victorious in the battles. The plants with king Soma are praised to relieve one of his sins. Soma is invoked to purify a person from the offence that he might have committed with his eye, mind, speech, during wakeful or sleeping state. The rite of shaving or (godana) is performed under the instructions from Soma. Soma increases both power and knowledge. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Rigveda 1.5.6-7 Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Chapter 2(b) - Medicinal Power of Soma Soma is the name of one of the most sacred plants of the ancient world. The drink made from this divine herb was known not only as a panacea but also for its powers of rejuvenation and increasing longevity. Soma also gave its consumer paranormal abilities and a direct experience of immortality. Soma was a unique psychoactive and visionary elixir. The divine Soma drink was said to induce luminous ecstatic states that enhanced paranormal abilities. Consuming the drink induced the experience of inner light, which led to the development of an interior body of light or energy that was coextensive with a subtle universe behind matter. This subtle universe was conceived as the root cause and precursor of our physical universe. It was through the development of this spiritual body of light that human first gained immortality. The ritual use of the Soma drink was believed not only to rapidly aid in the spiritual development of this invisible immortal energy body, but to be the actual origin of the knowledge of such a body’s existence. The therapeutic effectiveness of the ancient world’s use of sacred plants stems from the combination of medicinal compounds that work in a variety of ways upon the physical body with other psychoactive compounds that induce certain types of altered states of consciousness. The results of these combinations can have profound effects on the physical body, altering consciousness so as to induce it to use the body’s own healing systems. The ancient Soma ceremony is a type of medicinal ritual;it uses a sacred plant or plants to heal, rejuvenate, regenerate, induce paranormal affects and gain a lasting experience of immortality. The original Soma plant and the various drinks that were prepared from it, along with its accompanying ritual, must be classified as inducing an entheogenic experience in the consumer based upon the description in the Rigveda. The unusual experiences mentioned in association with Soma are connected with divine ecstasy and these experiences are markedly different from hallucinations. Any plant that can induce an ecstatic state that leads to an expansion of consciousness of the divine could, by definition, be called entheogenic. All of the experiences described for Soma inebriation in the Rigveda can be attributed to ecstatic states. These ecstasies lead to paranormal activity and healing, which are not associated with mental illusions. Thus, the term hallucination does not fit the experiences that are attained through the consumption of Soma as described in the Rigvedic hymns. The consumption of the Soma drink helped priests come into contact, through the medium of light, with the Deity Soma, experienced as an inner radiant ecstasy. By the internal seeing of the luminous amrita, one was said to gain that amrita. The experience of the abode of Soma, which was a pure realm of light beyond the material universe. In the Rigveda, the Soma drink induces effects that are called madana, madyati, in Vedic Sanskrit, which can be translated into English as ecstasy or rapturous joy, inspiration, heightened awareness and exhilaration respectively. These ecstatic effects were known to bestow holiness and the experience of immortality, moving consciousness into direct contact with the luminous nature of being. This ecstatic effect of Soma inebriation appears to have been the mechanism that mediated all other experiences and effects known to have been obtained from the consumption of Soma. The Rigveda says that Soma, when united with the heart, produces the ecstatic vision, an ecstasy that brings expansion beyond this world, a perception of vastness surpassing both heaven and earth. Many hymns describe profound ecstatic states that come about through ingesting Soma juice, producing the experience of joy and bliss. In other hymns, Soma is referred to as the inspiring drink; Soma drinkers say “Let us drink Soma and become ecstatic, let us drink of the ecstasy that is Soma”, the Gods are said to imbibe ecstasy and the exhilarating nourishment of Soma, and priests become like the Gods after drinking Soma. Both the bliss induced by Soma and Soma itself are referred to as madhu, nectar, which is the source of the madhu-vidya or honey doctrine. By drinking Soma, the God Indra enters a state of divine ecstasy and the hymns say that it was in this ecstatic state that Indra created the entire cosmos. The Maruts, who are Deities that help Indra are said to drink in the ecstasy of Soma. And it is through these deep ecstatic states that the priest, identifying with Indra, leaves his physical body and ascends to the dome of the sky beyond this world. Soma, the plant with high medicinal properties is used in rejuvenation, vajikaranam and vitality and it acts as a stimulant and not a hallucinogen. It gives longevity of life and it protects from diseases and death. The plant is used as drug in heart diseases and psycho Soma tic disorders. One of the main contributions of Soma plant is believed to be its use in rasayana chikitsa (the science of potency) that is Kayakalpa chikitsa, the ‘kaya’ means body and ‘kalpa’ means treatment, completing rejuvenating the body with the juice of holy herb. The process of aging causes the body to lose its juices and fluids and therefore, wither. With the help of rasayana, one can retain, regain or enhance one’s youth, strength, stamina and health, virility. Soma is also credited with powers of life extension as well as the regeneration of various parts of the physical body. Along with its power to renew and even create life, Soma is said to be able to sustain that life perpetually as long as one continues to drink it. Thus the Vedic Gods maintain their immortality by consuming Soma. The hymns say the nourishing; life renewing Soma bestows new life on the aged and gives long life. To those who have found its hidden light, Soma gives magical power, expansion of consciousness and eternal life: ‘The worlds expand to him who from before time found light to spread the law of life eternal’. By drinking Soma, the sages have become immortal. The Soma drink was considered the most effective of all medicinal preparations. The Soma drink was an elixir that worked both psychoactive upon the brain and nervous system to induce an altered state of consciousness as well as medicinally upon the human body to cure it of various diseases. Both weakness and disease disappear in the physical body immediately after one drinks Soma, a unique and divine medicine. The use of the expressed juice of a Soma plant the lord of all medicinal herbs is followed by rejuvenation of the system of its user and enables him to witness ten thousand summers on earth in the full enjoyment of a new youthful body. Such a person bears a charmed life against fire, water poison and weapon and develops a muscular energy in his limbs which would be in no way inferior to the combined strength of a thousand excited rutted elephants, of the bhadra class (which are the most ferocious and irresistible) in their sixtieth year, equipped with such an excellent physique, he can easily and without any opposition cross the kshiroda (ocean) and go up to the abode of Shakro (the king of the Gods) and roam to the extreme confines of Uttara (northern) Kuru or to any other place he likes, He is invested with a beauty of frame which belongs to Kandarpa (the god of love) and his complexion (luster) vies with the beams of the full moon. The presence of such a beautiful man gladdens the hearts of all and the entire Veda with all their allied branches of knowledge instinctively down upon his consciousness. Like the Gods, he knows no failure in life and rooms about in the world in the full glory of divine majesty. 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