A History of Ganja Infused Yoga
CANNABIS CULTURE Ganja infused Yoga is widely considered a modern practice that combines the ancient tradition of yoga with the mindful use of cannabis to enhance the mind-body connection and deepen the overall experience. This article explores the history of this combination, revealing that rather than a new phenomena, cannabis infused yoga, is an ancient combination that has been used by countless yogis, since the development of Yogic practice.
What is Yoga?
Yoga is a holistic practice originating in ancient India over 5,000 years ago, encompassing physical, mental, and spiritual disciplines aimed at achieving harmony between the body, mind, and soul. Rooted in Sanskrit, the word “yoga” means “union” or “connection,” reflecting its goal of uniting the individual self with universal consciousness or divine essence. It includes various paths, such as Hatha Yoga (emphasizing physical postures or āsanas and breath control or prāṇāyāma), Bhakti Yoga (devotion), Jnana Yoga (knowledge), Karma Yoga (selfless action), and Raja Yoga (meditation and mental discipline), as outlined in texts like Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Through practices like meditation, breathing exercises, ethical living, and physical postures, yoga promotes physical health, mental clarity, emotional balance, and spiritual growth, fostering self-awareness and inner peace. Today, yoga is practiced globally, adapting to modern contexts while retaining its core aim of holistic well-being and self-realization.
Recently, in an episode of the Nature of Things, ‘Cannabis: cure-all or snake oil? David Suzuki examines the science‘ closed with a segment on the growing trend of cannabis infused yoga classes. The combination has become increasingly popular in North America under the name ‘Ganja Yoga’ through the work Dee Dussault, and others, such as Christopher Kilham. But this combination is rejected by many mainstream practitioners, such as Kerry Ogden, who sees it as a new phenomena and claims “Marijuana has specific, adverse effects on your aura and soul that affects spiritual development…. It creates a dissociated state that interferes with spiritual growth and well-being”. A view Ogden bases on her own claimed ‘subtle sensing’ abilities, but this view stands against the long tradition cannabis has held in various spiritual practices around the World over the millennia.
Image from the 2018 Newsweek article – The Heated Debate About Combining Yoga With Marijuana.
Shiva, the First Yogi
The reality here is cannabis can be found at the very beginning of the Yogic tradition. As the Times of India has noted, “Yoga originated from Shiva‘. Shiva is also, ‘The Lord of Bhang [Cannabis].’ “According to the old Hindu poems, God Shiva brought down the hemp plant from the Himalayas and gave it to mankind” (Chopra, 1939). As a result, many followers of Shiva use cannabis, and this has been a source of criticism as well. “The votaries of Eudra-Siva are addicted to Cannabis sativa” (Chakbraberty, 1944).
As Professor Theodore M Godlaski, notes in his essay Shiva, Lord of Bhang:
In India, Cannabis Indica has been used for literally thousands of years in the worship of the god Shiva… a practice generally reserved for holy men who dedicate their lives to ascetic practice and the worship of Shiva. This practice is codified in the Vedas as well as in legends about the origin of cannabis and its relationship to Shiva. (Godlaski 2012)
Indian painting depicting Shiva being served the cannabis drink ‘bhang’ by his wife Pavarti.
Numbers of prominent figures in the Yogic tradition, have either embraced or rejected this combination, and the history here parallels the controversy around the combination in our own time.
Patanjali, 2nd century BCE
What is generally considered the oldest Yogic text, also gives some indication of this practice. Patanjali’s Yogasutras, dated sometime between the 2nd century BCE and the 5th century, tells us: “The subtler attainments come with birth or are attained through herbs, mantra, austerities or concentration” (Patanjali’s Yogasutras CE4.1). Cannabis is often inferred here due to its log history of spiritual use in India. “The hoary Indian tradition of use of Vedic soma, and opium, bhang, and wine by ascetics, to induce trance and extra- psychical visions, originates from the theory of this aphorism. That drugs are capable of inducing such trances and visions is neither fanciful nor confined to Hindu practices” (Singh, 1959).
A statue depicting Patanjali in India
Tirumalar, 8th century CE
Tirumular, was a revered Tamil saint and Siddha yogi who is believed to have lived in the 8th century CE. He was Shaivite mystic and writer, the Tirumantiram, consisting of over 3000 verses, forms a part of the key text of the Tamil Shaiva Siddhanta compilation called the Tirumurai, a twelve-volume compendium of songs or hymns in praise of Shiva in the Tamil language from the 6th to the 11th century. This text is considered the earliest and most significant Tamil treatise on yoga. It extensively elaborates on aṣṭāṅga yoga (the eight-limbed path), aligning closely with Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras while framing it within the Śaiva Siddhānta context. Unlike other Tamil Siddha texts that focus on alchemy or medicine, the Tirumantiram emphasizes yoga as a path to supreme consciousness, blending practical techniques with philosophical insights. Tirumular stresses the importance of preserving the body as a temple for spiritual practice, famously stating that the body houses the divine and must be maintained for self-realization. His teachings integrate yoga with Śaiva Siddhānta philosophy, emphasizing aṣṭāṅga yoga, akin to Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, while uniquely framing it as Śivayoga, where the ultimate goal is oneness with Śiva through devotion (bhakti). Tirumular elaborates on practices like āsanas, prāṇāyāma, dhyāna (meditation), and samādhi, with a particular focus on prāṇāyāma to control the mind and achieve spiritual liberation. His approach intertwines physical, mental, and spiritual disciplines, viewing yoga as a path to divine union, underscored by love and devotion, and his verses highlight the social and spiritual unity of humankind, making his contribution a cornerstone of Tamil yoga traditions. Indologist David Gordon White states that “The 7th c. south Indian Tirumular sings the praises of marijuana in his Tirumantiram” (White, 2012). Unfortunately White does not give the specific verses here, or by what name ganja, bhang, vijaya etc. that cannabis was listed under, and I could not find anything specific in modern translations, although references to “sacred herbs” or “soma-like” substances could imply cannabis, I am not clear as to wether this is what White was referring to.
The Nath Tradition: Matsyendranatha (10th Century CE) and his student Gorakhnath (10th-11th Century CE)
The Nāth Siddhas are a North Indian Shiva tradition of yogis with tantric associations, known for their practice of Hatha Yoga and alchemy, and their pursuit of immortality through a perfected body. They are considered followers of Lord Shiva, and their lineage is traced back to the legendary figures Matsyendranath and Gorakshanath. Matsyendranatha (10th Century CE) and his student Gorakhnath (10th-11th Century CE), represent a time period of medieval resurgence in the Hindu yogic tradition, after a long period of Buddhist domination in India.
“The Naths… to whom we owe the basic practice of Hatha Yoga, were ‘rough looking’… iconoclasts who rejected the mores of their society, including the notion of caste, grew their hair and nails long without pruning, and occasionally smoked ganja” (Singleton & Byrne, 2008).
Nath Yoga, also known as Natha Sampradaya, emphasizes a unique blend of Yogic, Tantrick, Buddhist and Vedic philosophies. It is rooted in the teachings of the Siddha (Guru) tradition, seeing Shiva as its first Guru of a lineage of Gurus, the 9th or 10th century Matsyendranatha and the ideas and organization mainly developed by Gorakhnath are particularly important. Gorakhnath is considered the originator of the Nath Panth. Matsyendranatha (10th Century CE) and Gorakhnath (10th-11th) are also often credited with the development of Hatha Yoga practices, including asanas (postures), pranayama (breath control), and mudras (gestures), to purify and transform the body.
Matsyendranatha
In the Matsyendrasaṃhitā, a thirteenth-century Shakta–Shaiva compilation of ritual and meditation techniques attributed to the first human guru of the Nāth Siddhas, Matsyendranāth, we find Cannabis equated with manonmanī(मनोन्मनी) which refers to the state of “mind beyond mind” or “transcendental mind”. It signifies a state of mental tranquility achieved through yogic practices, where the mind is liberated from thoughts and transcends the limitations of the ordinary thinking process, it implies a level of awareness that transcends ordinary perception of cause and effect, space and time, and the distinction between subject and object. The epithet accorded here is siddhimūlikā – the ‘root of success’ or ‘root of realization,’ indicating this is clearly ‘sacramental’.
The Kaulajñānanirṇaya is a significant Sanskrit Tantric text attributed to Matsyendranātha, and also refers to cannabis for ritual purposes. Georg Feuerstein (1947 – 2012) a German Indologist specializing in the philosophy and practice of Yoga, in Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy noted that cannabis was shared with female initiates [yoginis] and the Kaula-Avali- Nimaya (2:110-2:111) …speaks of four classes of hemp and their respective purificatory mantras” (Feuerstein, 1998).
Matsyendranāth also appears in a text that is important to Cannabis history, the Ānandakanda (आनन्दकन्द) or ‘Root of Bliss’., “a vast alchemical compilation which first sets out the ‘sinsemilla technique’ for producing seedless bud (i.e., ganja).”
Gorakshanath
Gorakhnath, was the main disciple of Matsyendranāth, and is considered a Maha-yogi (or “great yogi”) in Hindu tradition. Gorakhnath is considered by some to be an incarnation or aspect of Lord Shiva. He used cannabis in his medicinal preparations for certain ailments; as a result, it gained the name Korakkar Mooligai (Korakkar’s Herb). “Gorakhnath is also occasionally identified with Shiv himself. The ganja is favoured by Nath supporters ; it is also believed to be a favourite of Shiv” (Dasgupta, 2005)
A statue of Goraknath in a temple in Laxmangarh, India.
Although, it should be noted some sources translate passages from the Gorakhbani, attributed to Goraknath concerning cannabis in yoga in a negative light. However, some scholars suggest that parts of the Gorakhbani may have been compiled or expanded by his disciples or later followers, as Goraknath appears as a legendary figure. This is not uncommon with oral traditions. The exact authorship and dating remain debated due to the historical and oral nature of the texts, as with many ancient documents. In regards to the Gorakbani, the earliest extant manuscript is believed to have been composed between 1615 CE and 1621 CE, this is centuries after Gorakhnath was believed to have lived (Marrewa-Karwoski, 2023). As the Gorakbani states:
The one who criticizes others being a yogi and drinks and partakes of intoxicants [bhang]as well as eats flesh ,7100 generations of his go to hell, Gorakhnath says this is the truth.
…The one who use the alternative intoxicants, like cannabis, bhang… their concentration between knowledge and principle breaks in the middle it gets lost. Such living beings become capable of going to the court of the God of death, Yama. (Gorakhbani – translation by Singh, 2022)
In regards to these passages Gordan Djurdjevic noted that “In general, cannabis (ganja) is associated with, and sacred to Siva, and it is not uncommon that Saiva ascetics and devotees partake in eating, drinking or smoking substances that contain it. While its use is quite common among the Nath Yogis, the practice is condemned on several occasions in Gorak Bani… the ‘prohibition against cannabis has little effect, at least on roaming sadhus, and contradicts Siva’s tastes’ [(Bouillier, 2017]” (Djurdjevic, 2019).
1842 illustration by W. Taylor, ‘The Sunyasees’, depicting two sadhus, one smoking a ritual chillum, also with a traditional ‘nargila’, coconut water-pipe at his feet. “The Sivites… are strict vegetarians. There are some ganja-smokers and bhang-eaters among them… but very few that would even touch any kind of spirituous liquor….Wherever seated they usually kindle a fire before them, and pass their time in the continual smoking of ganja. (Bhattacharya & Jogendra Nath, 1896)
For more on the Nath tradition, with reference to cannabis, see The alchemical body : Siddha traditions in medieval India (1996) by the Indologist David Gordon White.
Kriya Yoga
Kriya yoga master Ganesh Baba (1890-1987) known for his own love of Ganja, gave instructions on its use in yoga. Ganesh Baba “descends from the same Kriya Yoga lineage as Paramahansa Yogananda. He became a swami under his guru Sivananda and later went on to run the Anandamayi Ma ashram. Drawn to the life of the Naga Babas, he became the head of the Ananda Akhara, Naga followers of Lord Shiva who consider cannabis and other entheogens to be the gift of the gods” (Neuhaus, 2010). “Kriya-practice is the only appropriate process for a proper ‘tuning-in.’ Biochemical boosting by psychedelic drugs such as L.S.D., mescaline, cannabis and the entire rest… may, in certain extreme cases, be diagnostically indicated as additives to proper ‘turning on’ or ‘tuning in.’ Kriya technique is the only scientific, automatic auto ‘tuning in’ device open to the common average man aspiring after Self-realization” (Ganesh Baba, 1974)
(Video) Keith Lowenstein MD, who has over 40 years of experience teaching and practicing Kriya yoga, and 35 years of clinical experience in integrative medicine, psychiatry, and nutrition, discusses Ganesh Baba in relation to cannabis and other psychoactive substances in the practice of Kriya yoga.
In regards to the state of mental oneness, known variously as samahdi, manonmanī, nirvana, etc and cannabis, as Kriya Yoga master Swami Satyananda Saraswati noted in his Kundalini Tantra (1984):
“You know what happens if you take a dose of ganja (marijuana)? Take a few puffs and see what happens to your mind. It slows down and the brain waves change from theta to beta, from alpha to delta. Suddenly you feel calm and quiet. What happened to your mind? You didn’t fight with it. I’m not advocating the use of ganja, I’m just giving you a very gross example of how Kriya Yoga works on your mind. By infusing ganja or some hallucinogenic drug, the chemical properties of the gross body change. The heart slows down, the breathing rate changes, the brain waves alter and the mind becomes calm and still. Is it not possible to arrive at the same point through Kriya Yoga? Yes, this is exactly what is accomplished through Kriya Yoga.”
Studies have shown that cannabis use can be associated with decreased theta wave activity and conversely, cannabis use is often linked to increased beta wave activity. Likewise, some reports indicate that cannabis can take brain waves from alpha to delta, however, depending on the individual’s use, strains, dosage, and other factors, studies here vary,
Judith Hooper and Dick Teresi’s stellar book on the human brain, The Three Pound Universe, gives us some scientific insights into why cannabis came to play such an important role in traditions where this state was directed at achieving:
One can look at some religious aphorisms as a form of psychological noise reduction,” says Charles (“Chuck”) Honorton who directs the Princeton Psychophysical Research Laboratories in New Jersey. Purity, poverty, contemplation, and so on aren’t just for the sake of pi- ety. These are methods of removing sensory distraction and increasing mental concentration. A good example is Patanjalis Yogasutras, composed in the second century B.C. in India. All the practices can be seen as systematic noise reduction, which eventually culminates in samahdi, a transcendental state in which normal boundaries be- tween the self and others disappears. It may not be dissimilar to what people experience on marijuana when they find themselves staring at the wallpaper for twenty minutes. (Hooper & Teresi 1986)
The song of the Bhangar’s (a person who consumes bhang) express this effect “Bhangana kushrangana Filhal chuppam chuppa: Clothed in green fair Cannabis, Leads to realms of silent bliss” (Dymock, 1890)
A similar goal was sought by fakirs and yogis, who sought to obliterate their egos through the ingestion if hashish. As noted in The Dervishes, Or, Oriental Spiritualism: “The first intention of Hasheesh was evidently not as a stimulant. It was intended as a ‘spiritual’ soporific, producing that quiescence of soul so dear to Orientals, and known throughout all the regions under Arabian influence by the name of ‘Kaif.’ …this stolid annihilation of ideas …” (Brown, 1868). The sense of ego-obliteration, or what one medieval hashish using poet saw as the “removal from existence in existence,” possible with potent cannabis preparations, was likened to a mortal death in medieval literature. This was also true of the use of hashish itself, which had to be sacrificed, i.e. eaten, to have an effect, “puns on the term ‘to kill’ [were]used in connection with the preparation and use of hashish… {A] play upon the ‘killing’ of hashish… is apparently the case in a verse stating that ‘the green one’ is ‘a hashishah that makes every man a hashishi (assassin) unbeknown to himself’” (Rosenthal, 1971).
In relation to this, medieval Nath Yogis were known to wander in groups with Qalandar Dervishes and it has been suggested that the Nath traditions use of cannabis, may have brought it to the Qalandar sufis:
A female Nath yogini and two dervishes circa 1870
According to Nathpanthis: “The contacts and conflicts between Sufis and Yogis became more frequent and meaningful. The various branches of Qalandars and Sufis of the Rifa’iyya order, confined mainly to Turkey, Syria and Egypt, were significantly influenced by wandering yogis… al-Beruini, unquestionably a profound authority on comparative religions who notes Sufi parallels, in the Yoga of Patanjali, which he himself translated into Arabic. He also mentions similarities with Samkhya, one of the six schools of classical Hindu philosophy and the Bhagavad Gita.” (Asghar Ali Engineer, 2011)
A Hindu Sadhu, and Muslim Faquir in Harmony. We can be sure that sharing ganja contributed to this cross-cultural connection. “In both of these traditions, the consumption of hashish or other forms of cannabis enjoys religious approval” (Khalid, 2018).
See- Voices from the Margins: Early Modern Nāth Yogī Teachings for Muslim Publics and Nāth Yogīs’ Encounters with Islam for more on this cultural exchange and the origins of ‘Muslim Yogīs’.
The British Raj and the decline of ganja infused Yoga
Sri Aurobindo (1872 – 1950) an Indian yogi, maharishi, discussed both the effectiveness of cannabis in achieving trance, but warned of the reliance for it in achieving it “These intoxicants [ganja, bhang] put one in relation with a vital world in which such things (music, song, etc.) exist… My own experience in the matter, is that wine and narcotics generally inhibit the action of the most Tamasic centers in the physical brain, and the other centres in the brain get stimulated. This helps one to escape from the limitations of the physical consciousness and one may get into other planes of consciousness” (Aurobindo Ghose, 1958). Aurobindo had personal experience with this method: “At one time–in Sadhana–I used to try all sorts of experiments to see what happens and how far they are related to the truth. I took Bhang-Ganja-hemp-and other intoxicants as I wanted to know what happens and why Sanyasis and Sadhus take these things. It made me go into trance, and sometimes sent me to a superior plane of consciousness. (But reliance on these outer stimulants was found to be the greatest drawback of this method.)” (Putani, 1959)
Maharshi Swami Dayanand Saraswati, (1824-1883) known as ‘The Luther of India’, and founder of the Arya Samaj, a reform movement of Hinduism, condemned those who “cover their private parts’ with a strip of cloth and squat at a fire constantly fed with fuel, They keep matted hair and assume the form of pious men. They feign to meditate like a heron which remains in a fixed position to catch fish. They smoke ganja & opium, & drink bhang or hemp leaf decoction. Their eyes are consequently red. They ask for a handful or a pinch of flour, food, shells and copper coins, and entice the sons of family men to become their disciples. They are recruited from labourers. If anybody tries to study they prevent him from doing so” (Saraswati,1908). He also experimented himself with it. Max Müller (1823-1900) one of the founders of the Western academic disciplines of Indology and religious studies, and who also referred to Shiva’s consumption of bhang, noted of Saraswati:
….[H]e indulged for a time in the use of bhang, hemp, which put him into a state of reverie from which he found it difficult to rouse himself…. ‘ One day,’ he writes, ‘ when recovering from such a day-dream, I took shelter on the verandah opposite the chief entrance to the temple, where stood the huge statue of the Bullgod, Nandi [Shiva’s Bull companion]. Placing my clothes and books on its back I sat and meditated, when suddenly, happening to throw a look inside the statue, which was empty, I saw a man concealed inside. I extended my hand towards him, and must have terrified him, as, jumping out of his hiding-place, he took to his heels in the direction of the village. Then I crept into the statue in my turn and slept there for the rest of the night. In the morning an old woman came and worshipped the Bull-god with myself inside. Later on she returned with offerings of Gur (molasses) and a pot of Dahi (curd milk), which, making obeisance to me, whom she evidently mistook for the god himself, she offered and desired me to accept and eat. I did not disabuse her, but, being hungry, ate it all. The curd being very sour proved a good antidote for the bhang, and dispelled all signs of intoxication, which relieved me very much. (Müller, 1884)
The French work,Yoga; science de l’homme intégral (1953) which contained works of a number of French mystics in the subject, like Mircea Eliade, Julius Evola, Alain Danielou and Renee Guenon, all of whom were known to have experimented with cannabis to varying degrees, contained a number of references to cannabis. The book likewise noted the effectiveness of cannabis infused Yoga, but with caveats:
It is known that special substances—for example, hemp extracts—can artificially “energize” the imagination for a limited time. But here again, passive disintegration prevails without special preparation and a combination of favorable circumstances. Tantrics use intoxicating drinks in their secret rituals, no doubt similar to traditional sacred beverages, but one must be very cautious on this point, especially when describing these practices to contemporary Westerners, for whom their systematic and rigorously ritualistic nature cannot be overemphasized. (Evola, 1953)
….In the Yoga of Divine Love, only the feeling, the desire, is transferred from the human object to the divine object. Here, it is the very act of love that is used as a rite, and it is the very object of human love that is deified and in which the true nature of the living being, which is divine, becomes perceptible. There is no being who in the act of love does not forget himself, his interest, his reason, his logic, his vanity. This force that tears him away from himself is used by an appropriate technique to transport the adept to another world. He then awakens on another shore like a man locked in a cave who plunges into a dark torrent and after a moment of struggle and anguish suddenly finds himself liberated on the sunny shore of the sea. Drunkenness and certain drugs like Bhang (Indian hemp) can be used for the same purposes. But these methods require the observance of very strict rules; otherwise, they are dangerous to mental balance. (Danielou, 1953)
Such concerns and prejudice has lasted into the modern day, It should be noted that that cannabis use is not condoned in most modern organized Yogic circles. The late Jagadananda Das, a significant figure in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, known for his scholarly contributions to Sanskrit literature translation, lamented about this in regards to his own practice, and the controversy it caused for his community:
…there is something that I must address, another elephant in the room of which that up to this moment I have avoided speaking. That is related to the use of marijuana. There is a strong prejudice against marijuana in orthodox Vaishnava circles, including the Gaudiya Math and ISKCON, so I have been careful to not advertise my use of it, even when it came out in various trickles and bits, that I was taking shelter of Vijaya [cannabis]. But over the course of time, it started to be used against me and the hypocrisy of doing so while accepting the social norm that it was a “bad” thing that had no redemptive or positive value.
For the orthodox, whether Brahmin or Vaishnava, marijuana usage is associated with the “deviant” cults like Bauls and Sahajiyas, both of whom are comparable to bohemian-type independent cultural identities within the straight culture of Vaishnava Brahminism, or Sanskritized Vaishnavism. Whatever the case, that fundamental distinction is true: the Bauls and Sahajiyas are rebels and romantics in a straight world. The problem is this: Religion is the “straight” response to “stoned” revelation.
In India I having been using bhang regularly for several years now. But this is not the first time in my life that I have done so. Most significantly was the use of psychedelics in my late teens, which directly or indirectly culminated in my becoming a Hare Krishna — a stoned act if there ever was one. The premise, put bluntly by the early ISKCON preachers, was to “stay high forever.” And that is what we wanted, an intelligent natural approach to fulfilling the insights that had come to us through psychedelics. Make no mistake, there would have been no Hare Krishna movement without psychedelics, but it was fundamentally a “straight” movement. It harnessed the energy released by psychedelics and channeled it into other ways of thinking and acting in relation to God.
The trouble is that one then starts to look at the products of the stoned perspective through straight lenses. Now I am not going to deny one or the other. These are opposed ways of looking at the world, one somewhat irrational, the other rational to the extreme; rational to the point of dessication. We Vaishnavas are rasikas, we want to taste the rasa. We believe in bliss, and in a way it is a science of bliss. And the essential element of bliss is love. That is a stoned perspective. The straight perspective is to say, “Yes, but there are rules!” It is the difference between raganuga and vaidhi bhakti.
Bhang made it possible for me to get a feeling for what it meant to be Brijbasi. Being a Brijbasi, for someone coming from the West, is a very stoned thing. Here is suppose by stoned I mean mad, for it is the very antithesis of the modern world.
A long time ago, in Rishikesh, where marijuana grew wild everywhere around the ashram, I started to hunger to taste it again. And after I did, it was not long before I came to believe that yoga itself was the discovery of marijuana intoxicated ascetics, who used it to enhance awareness of their internal functioning, both of the body and the mind. The body is, after all, the first sadhana.
Asana does not just mean being able to twist your body into strange shapes, It means to use an external object to go inward. The alambanas are the different points in the body, which one awakens through stretching and breath control. The mind follows the breath, that is one of the basic points of hatha yoga. Marijuana heightens awareness of the minutiae of sensations involved in holding certain positions, stretching muscles, the relation of the breath to movement and so on.
Another beneficial effect of marijuana that I got was stamina, stamina for yogic practices. With the use of bhang in particular
[I avoided smoking for the smell problem. I kept my use of marijuana as private as I could and preferred to keep it that way. It is only now that I have decided to just be honest about it and say why I use it.]
Bhang not only makes one more strongly aware of the need of the body to stretch or move or be activated in some way so that it remains enlivened. But one has to break against the tamasika elements in the body that impede practice. Bhang helped me overcome that and to sustain periods of proper yoga practice that were very valuable in deepening my understanding of the process.
It made me sing and hear my own singing, and more and more, to want to sing for others. This may well be a gross overestimation of my talent, but I know that my real talent does not lie in anything but my being.
It provokes thought in me. It makes me see things and relish things even in the ordinary. But in the matter of this bhakti sadhana, it fills me with a sense of wonder and deepening realization of what was being said, what was being discussed, what was the preoccupation in the work of the Goswamis. To understand the Braja mood is really only possible for the stoned mind. [Of course here I am not specifically to any herbal remedies, but of an insight and a perspective that is often recognized by those who have had some psychedelic experience or other.]
This morning I started to work out in the back yard, to clean the mess that a couple of rainfalls, a shedding spring tree and the birds that Madhuri feeds had done. I started to sing the morning tune of the maha mantra. Madhuri prefers silence, or Chopin. She does not seem to care much for my singing, but she cares less for the fact that I take marijuana.
So I am in a position of trying to justify my use of marijuana to her. She has taken a strong negative position. I have only asked her to put aside her prejudice and judge me on the basis of my behavior.
(Jagadananda Das 2022)
More recently, the popular figure Sadhguru, has chimed in on this, while making a pseudoscientific case against cannabis’ use in yoga, and endorsing the idea of developing and tapping into the natural endocannabinoids of the human body.
Regardless of it’s modern and in some cases historical rejection, the use of cannabis has become increasingly popular in the West, and has persisted in India as well, where modern yogis can be seen partaking of chillums of ganja (cannabis flowers) and charas (hashish) as well as drinking bhang, at festivals and during their ascetic yogic practices. It was even been reported, that some yogis were interned in lotus position, with cannabis accompanying their burial. Horace Arthur Rose, an administrator in the Indian Civil Service and also an author of works related to India in the time of the British Raj, referred to sadhus “buried in this posture, bhang and a hollowed out gourd placed by the side the body” (Rose, 1914).
In the West, where abandoning everything worldly to pursue the yogic path, or to sit in endless meditation in a cave, seems like less of an option, cannabis may serve as a potent tool, used in combination with yogic techniques, for reaching some of the higher states of consciousness sought after by yogis since the time of Patanjali, and it has clearly always been there as an option, despite the claims of critics.