Search Results

This is a short memory about Srila Prabhupada by Hayagriva Dasa. You may also hear it in a documentary about Srila Prabhupada of the name Happiness on the 21st Second Avenue by CBS. After the last kirtana, I went up to Srila Prabhupada and began to question him. "Have you ever heard of LSD?" I asked. "No," he said. "It's a psychedelic drug that comes like a pill, and if you take it you can get religious ecstasies. Do you think that that can help my spiritual life?" "You don't need to take anything for your spiritual life," he told me. "Your spiritual life is already here." I agreed with him immediately, though I would have never agreed with anyone else who would have said such a thing. I agreed mainly because he seemed so absolutely positive that there was no question of not agreeing. "Yes, my spiritual life is here," I thought to myself. I knew that he was in a state of exalted consciousness, and I was hoping that somehow he could teach the process to me.

This is an article by Subaldas as published in the BTG magazine in 1968 issue #22 on the topic of drugs and their influence on spiritual life. Nature and scientific laboratories alike produce a vast supply of chemicals which are capable of altering man's consciousness. The average "straight" American adult consumes three to five of these mind-altering drugs in the course of each day, and they therefore play an important part in determining the structure of contemporary society. Some social groups, for example, function in coffee consciousness, others in beer consciousness, and still others in psychedelic consciousness. Basically, contemporary society is divided into two. One group, comprised mainly of the middle-aged, uses such drugs as alcohol, cigarettes and tranquilizers, while the younger generation has more generally adopted marijuana, LSD, mescaline, and various other psychedelics. The older drug users generally prefer "depressants," drugs which tend to limit and decrease consciousness; and, according to their standard of morality, the use of such drugs is perfectly acceptable. Doctors, lawyers, clergymen, politicians, teachers -- all the supposedly respectable leaders of society set the example, and the masses follow along with them. Until recently, this social group seemed to be so firmly established, along with its social mores, that it represented the only "sane," "realistic" and "respectable" members in our modern civilization. However, during the past few years a psychedelic revolution has been taking place. The world's youth has turned to a group of drugs which tend to expand consciousness rather than limit it, and which produce a stimulating rather than sedative effect. As may be expected, this new type of drug produces a whole new social outlook, which is directly challenging the established social order. The establishment, in turn, is fighting back in an effort to keep from being toppled over. In a lecture before the American Psychological Symposium, one of the foremost spokesmen for the new drug movements, William S. Burroughs, said: "Alcohol is a sedative drug similar in action to barbiturates. Yet because of purely verbal associations we do not think of alcohol as being a drug because it is our national drug." This statement is supported by the fact that 93 million adult American citizens drink, and six million of them are confirmed alcoholics. The per capita consumption of alcoholic beverages in the U. S. today is approximately 24 gallons per year. Establishment people are quick to point out the dangers, real or imagined, of drugs like LSD and marijuana, while at the same time ignoring the dangers of alcohol. Yet every year drinking takes a toll of 25 thousand lives on the American highway and causes a million injuries. What's more, the most common example of psychosis in connection with drugs is not caused by LSD or marijuana, but is the permanent breakdown caused by excessive use of alcohol, which accounts for no fewer than 20% of the patients in U. S. mental hospitals. Furthermore, facts show that 50% of our prison population committed its crimes while drunk. Thus, while there is a direct connection between alcohol and crime, there is so far no evidence that psychedelic drugs have similar effects. Smoke From The Bottomless Pit In 1604, James I, King of England, tagged smoking, "a custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fumes thereof nearest resembling the horrible stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless." Today some 60 million Americans smoke millions of pounds of tobacco every year at a cost of about $9 billion. Tobacco is taken primarily, of course, in the form of cigarettes (528 billion consumed each year), which are supplemented by pipe tobacco, cigars, snuff and chewing tobacco. In spite of an anti-smoking campaign in the U. S. in recent years -- a result of quite conclusive evidence linking cigarette smoking to a variety of diseases -- there has been little progress made in stopping the habit. This is largely due to the fact that all of $232 million were spent on television advertisements alone last year, not to mention various other media, in order to promote smoking. Caffeine is another very popular intoxicant. Americans consume coffee at the rate of seventeen pounds per year for every man, woman and child in the nation. This amounts to millions of pounds of pure caffeine. In addition, sedatives, stimulants and tranquilizers are used by about 20 million Americans, most of whom are members of the upper and middle classes, and most over thirty. The Nature Of Narcotic Drugs In order to see this subject more clearly, we should consider anything which is more than the basic requirement for maintaining a healthy body to be a narcotic drug. Of course, this would include baseball, television, chewing gum, and quite a good deal more that we tend to think of as harmless if not actually beneficial. But our radical definition of narcotics must be evaluated from the spiritual rather than the material point of view. Generally speaking, Americans have been trained to think of "narcotic" as meaning "addictive." The dictionary definition, however, classifies as narcotic anything which, in small doses, causes relief or stimulation, but which in excess results in stupefaction, indolence, lethargy, coma or convulsions. Narcotic drugs are therefore necessarily associated with the abnormal and unhealthy condition of the body. They are used either to relieve pain, which is itself abnormal, or to create an abnormal state of consciousness in an otherwise healthy organism. But the very meanings of such terms as "normal" and "healthy" must now come into question. For, according to the scriptural sources which offer the science of spiritual self realization to us, our true and original identity is that of pure spirit soul. It is the spiritual platform of awareness that is, therefore, the "normal" and "healthy" state for the living being. By the terms of such a transcendental definition of self, we who exist in the material world, under the material conception of life, are conditioned spirit souls, drugged by the body itself, and thus made to forget who we are. At some point we start identifying with the body and its desires, and thus we become more and more intoxicated by material Nature as we try satisfying the demands of the senses. So, quite factually; we are all drugged. People of advanced intelligence ordinarily try regaining their original unconditioned consciousness, and, according to those who have succeeded, this is a state of unalloyed ecstasy, in which there is no need for any kind of intoxication. The great mystics, incarnations, sages and religious leaders throughout the ages have never used drugs in their spiritual undertakings, nor advocated their adherents taking them. However, today's young have turned to such chemicals for spiritual awakening. They have grown up in a materially prosperous and secure society, which has been unable all the same to satisfy them. The young have looked upon the pleasures of their parents' generation and its whole social structure as dry and empty, and have searched elsewhere for fulfillment. And they have discovered psychedelic drugs. Psychedelics (literally, "mind-manifesting") are not new. They have been known for centuries. Peyote and "magic" mushrooms were used by the American Indians since before the time of Columbus, and there is even mention of a beverage called soma in the ancient Vedic civilization of India, whose antiquity can hardly be calculated. Both young and old are now, as they have been always, looking for pleasure. They are going about it in different ways, with varying means, varying outlooks, and varying results -- but the basic principle of pleasure beyond the ordinary or "normal" confines of bodily material existence remains constant. What's more, this constant pleasure principle holds true not only for humanity. In Robert S. de Ropp's famous book, "Drugs and the Mind," he describes some experiments which have been conducted using rats with electrodes embedded in the pleasure and pain areas of the brain. This involves the use of an arrangement called a Skinner box, and Dr. James Olds has described the results of these experiments as follows: Electrical stimulation in some of the regions of the hypothalamus actually appeared to be far more rewarding to the animals than an ordinary satisfier such as food. For example, hungry rats ran faster to reach an electric stimulator than they did to reach the food. Indeed, a hungry animal often ignored available food in favor of the pleasure of stimulating itself electrically. Some rats with electrodes in these places stimulated their brains more than 2,000 times per hour for 24 consecutive hours! Transcendent Ecstasy According to the great Vedic writings, human life is meant not simply to find mechanical ways of stimulating various areas of the brain (which is itself only an instrument of consciousness), but is meant for reaching the ultimate spiritual ecstasy, which is transcendental to all material conditions. An example of such spiritual ecstasy and its transcendence over material conditions is found in the life of the great saint, Haridas Thakur. Haridas was sentenced by the governor of his province to be whipped in all 24 streets of the town until dead. He was given this cruel punishment because he was himself a Moslem, but had taken up the practice of chanting the Holy Names of the Lord: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare. Both the Moslem priests and the caste brahmins were jealous of him, and looked upon him as a renegade from his own sect. Two brutelike men were given the job of whipping him, and they beat him severely in all the ordained 24 streets. Haridas, during all this, went on with his chanting, and experienced great ecstasy. He was completely oblivious to any physical suffering because his consciousness was fixed on the spiritual platform, which is far beyond the physical, and is unaffected by it. In the end, he went on to continue his work of chanting in devotional service, and the attempt to destroy him failed. According to great saints such as Haridas Thakur, real pleasure is not to be found in the whole of this material creation. In comparison with spiritual bliss, all that we know here is suffering. Our situation is compared to that of a man stranded in the middle of the ocean, swimming very hard to keep from being dragged under by the big waves. He naturally thinks of how much he is suffering. Then, when the waves calm down and he doesn't have to struggle so hard, he may think he's enjoying. Actually, of course, this is not enjoyment . It is simply a less intense form of suffering, since he is still stranded in the middle of the ocean. The Quest For Ecstasy Many users of psychedelic drugs are, without question, sincerely looking for a way to get out of this ocean of material misery. They want to make a permanent solution to all their problems. And this, after all, is the primary occupation of the human being, as is declared in all the great scriptures of the world. Human life is not meant for working hard in factories, going to meaningless baseball games, or dumbly watching a television screen. It is meant for finding out such things as who you are, what the purpose of your life is, what God is, and what your relationahip with God is. Human life begins to reach fulfillment only when this stage of inquiry is attained. Few enough know what questions to ask in order to get the ultimate answers. According to the Vedic sources, until a person starts looking for the answers which will make a final solution to all the problems of life such as birth, death, disease and old age -- he is actually no better than an animal. Man and the animals have four principles in common -- eating, sleeping, mating and defending. The thing that is uniquely man's, however, and which differentiates him from the animals, is his highly developed consciousness. Before attaining the human form of life, the spirit soul passes through birth in eight million other species. As it progresses through the stages of evolution, its consciousness and intelligence grow. And, in the civilized human form of life the final stage of evolution is arrived at. This great achievement should surely not be wasted on mere animalistic sense enjoyment, but should be used for final and ecstatic spiritual realization. The modern forms of Judaeo-Christian faith in the West have failed to satisfy youth's desire for direct communion with God. Therefore, many of the young have turned to drugs as the key to spiritual awareness. Most members of the psychedelic movement do consider it religious, and a number of groups have incorporated as churches. One thing is certain -- the movement is large and ever-growing . There is no lack of people looking for pleasure through drugs and willing to experiment in their quest. Authorities estimate that over ten million Americans have used marijuana, peyote, and LSD. Most of these are in the high school and college age groups. According to United Nations statistics, in 1951 there were 200 million marijuana users throughout the world -- a number equal to the entire population of the U.S.A. Yet marijuana has only really become popular in the 'Sixties, and what astronomical figures represent the 1969 usage can only at this point be guessed. The great souls whose teachings form the basis of the world's authoritative religions have always maintained that the body is a source of pain and suffering. The Bhagavad Gita, one of the most important books on the science of ecstasy, describes the soul as Sat-chit-ananda, a form which is eternal, full of knowledge, and full of bliss. Somehow or other we in the material world have fallen into Maya, illusion, and are accepting something which is false in place of reality The body is not the true identity of the living being, but we foolishly accept it as ourselves. Therefore, when the body is hungry we think we are hungry, and when the body is in pain we think we are in pain. This is the material concept of life. When we break with the false ego, the interknitting junction between spirit and matter, then we are liberated from the threefold miseries -- miseries caused by the body and the mind, by other living entities, and by natural phenomena. Drugs such as LSD may sometimes help to break this false identification with the body, but the chemically-induced state of "ego loss" does not last for very long. Such at least is the program for a "trip" outlined in "The Psychedelic Experience," a classic "manual based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead" by Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, and Richard Alpert, three of the early leaders of the psychedelic movement. Furthermore, the process of ego loss does not necessarily lead one to positive knowledge of who or what he really is. Some therefore identify with the mind, which is the subtle material body, and others think they are God, while still others think that they are nothing -- Void. Most cannot see beyond the interplay of cells, molecules, atoms, DNA, and the nervous system, because it is precisely the material senses, and not the spiritual, which are affected by drugs. It is a popular theory in the psychedelic movement that everything is merely an extension of the body, mind, or nervous system. "It's all one" is the common phrase. Actually, this is true. Everything is one in the sense that everything emanates from one source, Krishna, and it is His energy which is acting in various ways, according to His direction. However, although everything is one, we find within this one infinite amounts of variegatedness and individuality. We are all individual spiritual living entities, scattered throughout the material creation. Constitutionally we are parts and parcels of Krishna, the Supreme Whole. We therefore have the same qualities as Krishna, but we possess them in very minute quantities, while He possesses them in full. Now, complete bliss is one of Krishna's qualities. He is known as the Reservoirof all pleasure, and by establishing contact with Him through service the living entity can regain his own natural state of bliss. This ecstasy is eternal. When achieved, there is no coming down again to the material platform of existence. Such a state of supreme consciousness is not available through artificial means. In The Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says that He can only be reached through devotion. The recommended method for reviving this natural, forgotten attitude of devotion to Krishna is to chant His Names: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. This mantra, when properly chanted, immediately raises one to the spiritual plafform, and puts the living entity in direct touch with the Supreme Lord. Krishna is a Person, but He is present everywhere. Just as there is fire potentially present in wood, so Krishna is suffused throughout His creation. We simply have to know how to find Him. It's really very simple. When we call His Name, He comes. Psychedelic Leadership On a successful LSD trip a person may think he has reached the Godhead. Sometimes, as is detailed in the Book of the Dead, a person will reach the "Clear Light," which is described in the Vedic texts as Krishna's glowing bodily effulgence, called the "Brahmajyoti." This effulgence permeates the whole spiritual sky, just as the sunshine permeates this whole universe. Realization -- that is, direct perceptual experience -- of the Clear Light is devoid of all variegatedness, however, and such a state of consciousness is therefore very unnatural for a living being who is eternally individual and who is accustomed to varieties for enjoyment. A person can remain in the Clear Light for short periods of time, but then he must come down again to the material platform in order to experience the varieties required for full enjoyment. In this sense, of course, the Clear Light itself becomes no more than a "variety," a change from ordinary consciousness. It is a "high," but not a final, unending or supreme state of ecstasy. The only way to remain permanently fixed on the spiritual plane is through realization of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Through this realization we can experience spiritual variegatedness, which is said to be far beyond any impersonal realization of the Godhead. In order to achieve this topmost realization, it is necessary to have the guidance of a spiritual master who is a bona fide representative of Krishna. The psychedelic movement does not have such leaders qualified in the devotional line. Quite the contrary, these members of the psychedelic movement have, in the final analysis, practically nothing to offer mankind. They themselves have to continue taking drugs in order to feel any ecstasy. Their state of bliss is, after all, a temporary intoxication which one has to pay money for. How spiritual can it be? True spiritual ecstasy is both eternal and free to everyone. Dr. Sidney Cohen, another major figure in the drug movement, has suggested that religious experience may one day be redefined as "a dyssynchromy of the reticular formation of the brain." This is the rather peculiar direction in which scientists are heading. They conduct experiments involving psychedelic drugs, and then they try fitting the results to suit their needs. Because a drug may allow someone to experience something different from "normal" consciousness, the scientists conclude that the experience is, in the first place, due entirely to the drug, and, in the second, that it is equivalent to the religious ecstasies of the mystics and saints. In his book, "The Varieties of Religious Experience," William James took note of exactly this point when he wrote: "Medical materialism finishes up Saint Paul by calling his vision on the road to Damascus a discharging lesion of the occipital cortex, he being an epileptic." In this way scientists with an atheistic bias have tried to rule out the existence of a transcendent God Who exists beyond all material concepts, by holding the very evidence of direct confrontation with God to be no more than a chemical aberration within the body -- in other words, an hallucination. Even the argument against the validity of drug experiences can be questioned. As one thinker has pointed out, simply because we see something through a window doesn't mean the window caused the view. Similarly, psychedelic drugs may often open a window in the mind to let us see what is already there. However, it is only through Krishna's Grace that one can actually have full knowledge of what lies outside that window. And He may choose to reveal Himself or not, without reference to drugs or the laws of Nahure. Timothy Leary, self-styled "high priest" of the psychedelic movement, has written: "a final comment about the disciplined yoga of psychedelic drugs. They are not shortcuts: they do not simplify. They answer no questions; they solve no problems." What value they can have, then, aside from the pleasure-giving potency present in such other narcotics as tobacco and alcohol, must come into question. On the other hand, the standard system of devotional service is the shortest and simplest method for reaching God. It does answer all questions and solve all problems. Ecstasy And The Law Legislation will never be successful in stopping people from using drugs, because there is a basic human need for pleasure. The pleasure derived from drugs, quite apparently, is greater than most people's fear of the law. Whether people are running to or from reality is not important for the law to consider. The important thing is that people are looking for pleasure. Whether it be through beer, pot, coffee, LSD, baseball or television, the basic need is the same. To condemn one form of intoxication and not another is mere hypocrisy. Millions of dollars are spent every year to induce people to drink liquor and smoke cigarettes, while millions are spent elsewhere to stop people from using psychedelics. Both pursuits could well be abandoned for the general benefit of mankind. With the insight which transcendental devotional service to God provides, it is possible to create a far wiser and more effective system of law than now exists -- one which could actually solve (imagine it!) the problems of our day. Such laws should be designed to curb the desire within the people for using drugs, rather than simply to repress and prohibit their actions. Instead of legislating negatively, there should be positive legislation to encourage the propagation of Krishna or God consciousness. Krishna Consciousness, devotional service, burns out the desire to use any kind of drug because it provides everyone with the natural and unbounded ecstasy of love of God. Everything and anything that falls short of this endeavor may be found lumped together in the teachings of the Vedas under a single heading: ignorance.

Srila Prabhupada answers a question about LSD supposedly being the means to attain liberation from all material attachments in a conversation with an American poet Allen Ginsberg. Allen Ginsberg: Do you remember a man named Richard Alpert? Prabhupada: Huh? Allen Ginsberg: Do you remember of a man named Richard Alpert? He used to work with Timothy Leary... Prabhupada: Ah. Allen Ginsberg: ...in Harvard many years ago. And then he went to India and found a teacher, and is now a disciple of Hanumanji, or a devotee of Hanuman. And he said that... We were talking about maya and the present condition of America... Prabhupada: Have some fruits? Allen Ginsberg: In a while. Well, we can talk as... Prabhupada: Accha. Allen Ginsberg: Bite your food. I have that question I wanted to asked. Are you tired? Prabhupada: No, no. I can talk with you whole night. [laughs] Allen Ginsberg: So he said that his teacher in India told him that LSD was a Christ of the Kali-yuga for Westerners. Prabhupada: Christ? Allen Ginsberg: ...of the Kali-yuga for Westerners, in that, as the Kali-yuga got more intense, as attachment got thicker and thicker, that also salvation would have to be easier and easier, and that... Prabhupada: [aside:] [Bengali] Allen Ginsberg: Namaste. [to Indian lady] Prabhupada: She is a Bengali lady recently come from London. Allen Ginsberg: Ah! Prabhupada: Lekha. [Bengali] Indian lady: [Bengali] Prabhupada: [Bengali] Allen Ginsberg: So, as the Kali-yuga became more intense and as attachment became deeper and more confusing... Prabhupada: Attachment for? Allen Ginsberg: ...that salvation would also have to become easier and easier in the Kali-yuga. Prabhupada: That is very nice statement that in the Kali-yuga salvation is very easier. That is the version of Srimad-Bhagavatam also. But that process is this kirtana, not LSD. Allen Ginsberg: Well, it was... The reasoning there was that for those who would only accept salvation in purely material form, in chemical form finally, and completely material form... Prabhupada: Hmm. So where is the salvation when there is... Allen Ginsberg: ...that Krsna had the humor to emerge as a pill. Prabhupada: No, the thing is that when it is material form... Allen Ginsberg: Yes? Prabhupada: ...then where it is salvation? It is illusion. Allen Ginsberg: Well, the subjective effect is to cut... Prabhupada: No. Allen Ginsberg: ...attachment during the... Prabhupada: Well, if you have got attachments for something material, then where is the cut-off of attachment? LSD is a material chemical. Allen Ginsberg: Yeah. Prabhupada: So if you have to take shelter of LSD, then you take, I mean to say, help from the matters. So that is... How you can... How you are free from matter? Allen Ginsberg: Well, the subjective experience is, while in the state of intoxication of LSD, also realizing that LSD is a material pill, and that it does not really matter... Prabhupada: So that is risky. That is risky. Allen Ginsberg: Yeah. Now so, if LSD is a material attachment, which it is, I think, then is not the sound, sabda, also a material attachment? Prabhupada: No, sabda is spiritual. Originally, just like in Bible there is "Let there be creation," this sound, this spiritual sound. Creation. Creation was not there. The sound produced the creation. Therefore, sound is originally spiritual, and through the sound... Sound -- from sound, sky develops; from sky, air develop; from air, fire develop; fire, water develop; from water, land develop. (Room Conversation with Allen Ginsberg – May 11, 1969, Columbus)

Psychedelic Drugs and Krishna Consciousness This is an article on the topic of psychedelic drugs we have found in the old edition of the Back To Godhead magazine (1967 #7) written by Hayagriva Dasa. Enjoy! The following is a letter received by the editors which pretty well speaks for itself: Dear Editors, In your December 1st issue of Back to Godhead, you ask for comments by your readers when they feel it necessary, and I would herewith like to offer a humble observation. Far too far often I find your philosophy hyper-critical of LSD and other psychedelic chemicals. Speaking personally, I would be much more likely to join in your celebration if it were not for the fact that I do not wish to be made to feel guilty about my past ingestions of these mysterious sacraments. Furthermore, in all honesty, I am sure you will admit that the majority of people now deeply interested in Krishna Consciousness would never have been so were it not for the spark of spiritual curiosity ignited in them by their LSD sessions. This is an age of machine misery and computerized death, and any avenue of spiritual seeking which the American people seek to trod is far better than its alternative. Don't choke yourself off by participating in an undeclared war against acid and grass. People will come to you without this. No doubt more than you are presently receiving. Let the beauty of your quest speak eloquently for itself, and let all people you reach be proud of their own humble search. Too many of us have been guilty for too long, and we are tired of it. I hope I have made my point. I think it is an important one. Peace and love, San Francisco, California. First of all, we would like to express our gratitude and appreciation for this sincere and well-put comment. We've withheld the writer's name rather than chance hurting him in some way. In response to his questions, Hayagriva Das (Howard Wheeler) has written the following essay entitled, "Psychedelic Drugs and Krishna Consciousness," which will also be published as a separate pamphlet. We hope this question and answer will clarify our position for all who are in doubt of it. We will be glad to hear more and more from our readers on this subject. And now, Mr. Wheeler's essay: Due to the recent psychedelic drug movement in America, many people have come to us and asked about the Society's stand regarding LSD, gunga (marijuana), peyote, mescaline, psylocibin, yage, etc. in reply, we would like to say that as a society, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness has nothing to do with drugs or drug intoxication. We are neither for nor against the use or repression of such drugs. We are not qualified to judge positive or negative effects, and therefore our policy is one of non-interference, especially in regards to legalization, administration, etc. Believing that people naturally do what they like, we feel that it is not our mission to condemn the actions of others but to suggest, in a positive way, their adopting Krishna Consciousness and chanting the Maha (Hare Krishna) Mantra. Drugs and drug movements are not our concern. We are interested in the eternal Reality, which is Krishna, the Supreme Lord. However, members of the Society and those seriously pursuing Krishna Consciousness, following the Vedic Way and the injunctions of the Spiritual Master (guru) Swami A.C Bhaktivedanta, do not take intoxicants such as alcohol and drugs. Our authorities are the Spiritual Master, the Bhagavad Gita, and, of course, Lord Krishna -- and none of these recommend the use of drugs for spiritual development. There are a number of reasons we do not encourage psychedelic drugs for those who are interested in pursuing Krishna Consciousness. 1. We believe that our natural state of consciousness is one of ecstasy. Therefore it is not necessary to attempt to alter our consciousness by a chemical process. In actuality, we are eternally in samadhi, in union with God, being His eternal parts and parcels. This is our constitutional position-it is not a position brought about by fasting, vigils, drugs, self-mutilation, etc. the position is already there. If we do not see our position or understand it, it is due to our ignorance. They way our of ignorance is Krishna Consciousness, which helps us to attain our natural unconditional state of freedom and bliss (Sat-Chit-Ananda) in Krishna. To the best of our knowledge, drugs only construct a reliance on a material substance and lead to bondage to that substance -- therefore, for our purposes, they do not lead to unconditional freedom, but to spiritual regression. 2. Drugs, as an artificial means of exhilaration, are not new. Psychedelics in the form of peyote and "magic" mushrooms have been known to American Indians for hundreds of years, and thousands of years ago, "soma" and similar drugs are recorded to have been used in India. Over the centuries, psychedelics have been known to and rejected by great saints, mystics, sages, incarnations and spiritual leaders. 130 years ago, the American transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson was also aware of attempts to attain cosmic consciousness by abortive, artificial means: It is a secret which every intellectual man quickly learns, that beyond the energy of his possessed and conscious intellect he is capable of a new energy (as of an intellect doubled on itself) by abandonment to the nature of things; that beside his privacy of power as an individual man, there is a great public power on which he can draw, by unlocking his human doors, and suffering the ethereal tides to roll and circulate through him; then he is caught up into the life of the Universe....For if in any manner we can stimulate this instinct, new passages are opened for us into nature; the mind flows into and through things hardest and highest, and the metamorphosis is possible...This is the reason why bards love wine, mead, narcotics, coffee, tea, opium, the fumes of sandalwood and tobacco, or whatever other procurers of animal exhilaration. All men avail themselves of such means as they can, to add this extraordinary power to their normal powers. (From Essays, 2nd Series, "The Poet.") However, Emerson makes it clear that he does not condone such artificial means, which he considers to be used by an inferior type of man. He also deems the results to be imperfect and temporary, for in actuality deterioration and dissipation are provoked by reliance on external stimuli. Never can any advantage be taken of nature by a trick. The spirit of the world, the great calm presence of the Creator, comes not forth to the sorceries of opium or of wine. The sublime vision comes to the pure and simple soul in a clean and chaste body. That is not an inspiration, which we owe to narcotics, but some counterfeit excitement and fury. Milton says that the lyric poet may drink wine and live generously, but the epic poet, he who shall sing of the gods and their descent unto men, must drink water out of a wooden bowl...His cheerfulness should be the gift of the sunlight; the air should suffice for his inspiration, and he should be tipsy with water. (From "The Poet") 3. The great mystics, incarnations, sages, religious leaders, etc through the ages never used drugs in their spiritual undertakings nor advocated their adherents taking them. This includes Lord Krishna, Brahma, Vasudeva, Narada Muni, Shakara, the great Indian Acharyas, Lord Chaitanya, Lord Buddha, Lao Tzu, Huang Po, Confucius, Mohammed, Socrates, Plato, Lord Jesus Christ, His apostles and disciples, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. John of the Cross, innumerable other Christian saints and mystics, the metaphysical poets, Milton, Dante, William Blake, the American transcendentalists, Emerson, Thoreau, Emily Dickinson and Whitman -- the list can extend indefinitely. And typically, the principle religions of the world -- Buddhism, Taoism, Mohammedism, Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism -- forbid the use of drugs by their adherents. Obviously, drugs are not necessary for spiritual realization, and they are not recent discoveries. Children feel no need for them; nor will adults if they only see things as they truly are. 4. Krishna Consciousness involves a firm belief in Krishna, the Supreme Lord, Who is the Absolute Controller and Proprietor of all things. He has not given any indication that drugs provide a legitimate means for reaching Him. He sets down the way by which man may reach His Supreme eternal Abode in the Bhagavad Gita, and no mention is made of drugs. Quite the contrary, He condemns those who follow their own way to the exclusion of Scriptures (Gita 9.3; 16.23-24). 5. From our personal observation of LSD-users who have come to the Society under the influence of or shortly after an LSD "trip," we have found them to been generally confused, disoriented, and badly in need of help. Their conversations have not indicated them to be enlightened beings. Many have had to resort to hospitalization, psychiatrics, etc. Not only are the drugs'results artificial and imaginary, but it they tend to make the user think himself to be further spiritually progressed than he actually is. Many young "avatars" have dropped by the Society to teach Swami Bhaktivedanta about God. In fact, some have claimed to be the Shining, Omnipotent One. 6. The effects of the drugs are only temporary; the drug user is "up" shortly after taking the drug, but after a few hours he "comes down." Krishna Consciousness teaches how to "stay high forever" without bringdowns, by chanting one's way into eternity. Nor do drugs free one from material hankerings such as food, sex desires, etc..,but sometimes rather provoke desires. 7. Some members of the Society experienced psychedelic drugs extensively before meeting Swami Bhaktivedanta, and they now no longer take them. Some consider their previous drug experiences as a kind of spiritual "undergraduate" study and now consider Krishna Consciousness to be graduate school study. Krishna Consciousness teaches one how to swim in the spiritual ocean without water-wings. In conclusion, we would like to encourage the positive and age-old method of Krishna Consciousness, approved by the great acharyas (spiritual masters) of India, as a true method of spiritual advancement and development. The results are eternal. Through sincere practice, one can come to know his relationship to God, to the world, God's relationship to the Universe and to the individual soul, and ultimately one can attain realization that one is not matter but spirit soul eternally related to the Supreme, and, through Krishna's grace, reach His supreme and eternal Abode. We encourage psychedelic drug users to finish their experimentation, graduate once and for all, and take up God realization under a qualified spiritual master such as Swami Bhaktivedanta. Then they can chant their way into eternity and face God independent of "sugarcubes."

Srila Prabhupada address the use of psychedelic drugs as a means to attain mystical experiences in the following quote: Hayagriva: Today, people claim to induce mystical states through psychedelic drugs. Prabhupada: These are artificial means, and they cannot be sustained. It is better to engage in the bona fide devotional process -- sravanam kirtanam visnohsmaranam pada-sevanam [SB. 7.5.23] -- always hearing about Krsna, talking about Him, remembering Him, serving Him in the temple, distributing His literatures, and so on. There are many services we can render in order to be fully absorbed in Krsna consciousness. (Dialectic Spiritualism)

On this episode of the BLISS Podcast!

Srila Prabhupada explains the difference between pure devotional service and tinged service in the following quote taken from a book “Renounciation Through Wisdom” Lord Krsna never accepts any offering bereft of love and devotion. A person who is not hungry cannot suddenly develop an appetite, even if he is given delectable food. Similarly, the Lord has no attraction for opulent offerings made without love and devotion. We have already discussed that unauthorized worship of the Supreme Lord stems from the absence of devotion and the presence of material desire. One who is full of devotion aims to satisfy the Supreme Lord's senses, while one who is full of material desire aims to gratify his own senses. Those who carry in their hearts the desire to gratify themselves but make a show of serving the Supreme Lord will never experience the joys of being a real devotee. The scriptures have aptly described them as mercenaries. Devotion's prime objective is the attainment of God. Therefore, one must offer the Lord everything in one's possession, including the results of karma-yoga, jnana-yoga, mystic yoga, austerity, meditation, and so on. This perfect process of surrender will lead to the attainment of God. Thus Lord Krsna openly proclaims in the Bhagavad-gita (9.27), yat karosi yad asnasi yaj juhosi dadasi yat yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurusva mad-arpanam “Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerity you perform-do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me.” If a person follows this injunction and with love offers the Lord everything he has-wife, house, family, intelligence, learning, business, religiosity, labor, food, water, whatever is required to maintain the body, and even lust, greed, and anger -- then the Lord accepts these offerings and completely satisfies the offerer. And at the time of death the Lord takes such a surrendered soul to His Supreme abode. The demigods are empowered to accept only certain types of offerings, whereas Lord Krsna can accept the karma-phala, or fruitive results, of everyone. The Supreme Lord alone is powerful enough to accept conflicting fruitive results and moods of worship. This indicates Krsna's supreme lordship and absolute position. It is unlikely that all of humanity will be able to understand the science of pure devotional service, yet everyone always has the ability to attain the Lord's lotus feet, even in the face of striking odds. Therefore the best course is to offer everything to the Supreme Lord. (RTW 2.11: Offering a Leaf, a Flower, a Fruit, or a Little Water.)

How does love between humans differ or relate to love for Krishna? Is there a sense of ‘oneness’ underlying pure love? Claudia (Canada.) Response by His Grace Purujit Dasa: Dear Claudia. Thank you for asking these nice questions. How does love between humans differ from love for Krishna? Well, first of all we must understand who loves. It is the soul. My body changes from childhood, to youth to old age, but I, the person in that body remain the same. That person is the eternal soul. I am the eternal soul in the body. I am not the body. In its original state the soul is eternal, full of knowledge and full of blissfulness, but when illusioned by the attitude of overlordship or controlship (the opposite of love) we loose our eternal spiritual consciousness and we identify with the body which is temporary, full of ignorance and full of misery. We assume temporary bodily designations such as man, woman etc., while in reality we are all one in the sense of being of the same spiritual nature. Theoretically, this seems simple, but actually the full realization of our spiritual identity requires that we take up the process of bhakti yoga (primarily chanting of the holy name of Krsna: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare) in order to have an actual experience of pure unconditioned consciousness. Being conditioned by the material body, mind and material identity we try to love people in this world but we end only loving their body or utmost their mind and this makes our love conditional and therefore not real love. Love by definition must be unconditional. In other words, real love cannot be invested only in one person of this material world at the expense of others. In our experience, we see people love their lovers, family, societies, nations and thus they necessarily must discriminate against other people, families, societies and nations. In order to express our love to someone we sometimes harm someone else. A boy invites his girlfriend to a restaurant where a steak is served from a cow who has been brutally killed. A soldier in order to show love for his country bombs people of other countries. A thief in order to provide for his family steals and creates misery for another family. Also, our family circumstance, marital or sexual status might change and then we give our love to someone else completely rejecting the persons we so-called love just a while ago. The main motivation in this material love is that we always hanker for reciprocation of our love. The girl loves a boy because he has money. A boy loves a girl because she is beautiful. A charitable man helps poor children in Africa for the feeling of doing good deeds. So this is not real love. The real love means that by loving we give our love not only to all humans, but all living entities without expecting any return. This is possible to accomplish very easily by loving Krsna. Just like by pouring water on the root of a tree, all the branches and leaves are nourished, similarly by loving Krsna through the process of bhakti-yoga, we can satisfy our lover, country, society, animals, etc. It is not necessary to directly give love to all living entities, just like it is not necessary to water all the branches and leaves of the tree separately. By intelligently applying the water on the root, the branches and leaves are automatically nourished. Similarly by developing pure and unconditional love for Krishna, all living entities are loved. By foolishly trying to water the branches and leaves of the tree, the water actually does not reach the inside of the branches but stays on the surface, nor will we be able to water all the branches since the tree is so big. Similarly, by trying to love humans, animals, society etc without Krsna, our love stays on the surface and only serves their bodies, which are mere coverings on their souls. Imagine a man who is drowning in a river and another man jumping into the water to save him. However, when he reaches the man, he only pulls his clothes and lets the man drown and he comes out of the water with clothes only. Administering service and love to the bodies of others while neglecting their souls is like that. Since the soul is eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss, it does not need any sort of bodily love as experienced in this material world. The soul is satisfied when it connects with Krsna, who is the eternal reservoir of bliss. Therefore our love for one another in this world is to give each other enlightment about Krishna. Even if others do not appreciate such love, simply by loving Krishna, the very act benefits all living entities even without their knowledge. When they become awakened to their spiritual nature, they are able to see how the devotees are serving and loving everyone by the simple act of serving Krsna. A good example of unconditional love of Krsna is given by Lord Caitanya. In his famous poem He says: aslisya va pada-ratam pinastu mam adarsanan marma-hatam karotu va. This means: “I know no one but Krsna as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if He handles me roughly by His embrace or makes me broken-hearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord, unconditionally." The culmination of all love is to love Krsna and love Him without expecting anything material or spiritual from Him. A real devotee never asks anything from Krishna. He simply loves Him and in His love, He praises Him in the ecstasy of love. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.

Srila Prabhupada explain why the Buddhist definition of compassion remains incomplete in his commentary on the Caitanya Caritamrta. It is stated that mercy is one of the qualities of a Buddhist, but mercy is a relative thing. We show our mercy to a subordinate or to one who is suffering more than ourselves. However, if there is a superior person present, the superior person cannot be the object of our mercy. Rather, we are objects for the mercy of the superior person. Therefore showing compassion and mercy is a relative activity. It is not the Absolute Truth. Apart from this, we also must know what actual mercy is. To give a sick man something forbidden for him to eat is not mercy. Rather, it is cruelty. Unless we know what mercy really is, we may create an undesirable situation. If we wish to show real mercy, we will preach Krsna consciousness in order to revive the lost consciousness of human beings, the living entity's original consciousness. Since the Buddhist philosophy does not admit the existence of the spirit soul, the so-called mercy of the Buddhists is defective. (Madhya 9.50 purport)

The essential questions of life.

Hell isn't such a far fetched thing when you look at it scientifically. Animals are beautiful creatures right? Beautiful, conscious creatures of almost innumerable varieties of colors, shapes and sizes. There's not so much difference between us and animals. It's actually only a question of the body. But we are not the body, we are the consciousness, the living force within the body. That consciousness is the same in every living thing, so how come one consciousness is in an animal body and another is in a human body? Although some animals may seem majestic, their life is actually rather hellish. The consciousness inside those beautiful bodies of animals is actually alarming. How can the consciousness be comfortable in such a condition of life? When human beings don't have access to clean facilities, or they begin to fight and hunt each other, or they are uneducated, these are considered distressful conditions of life. It naturally follows that the consciousness must undergo some kind of trans-formative process at death to be reincarnated in such a hellish body of an animal. For example, a tiger may seem at first glance like an attractive creature. It's powerful and beautifully designed with stripes unique abilities of strength and agility, it's mysterious and sly. But try to imagine if you yourself took it's position in your present level of awareness for one day. You'd be practically unable to handle such a disposition, as you'd find yourself running around on all fours naked, eating raw meat, licking yourself all day and killing opposing tigers for your mate. Would it be a very nice proposal if i forced you to enter into such a life from your present one? I don't think you could say with any confidence you'd be very eager. But this is actually our position. We are forced, at the end of this body, to enter into a new body based on our present activities. There are varieties of material enjoyments in this life, which are founded upon four principle facilities; eating, mating, sleeping and defending. depending on the ways in which we attempt to enjoy our present bodies and the world around us, nature arranges another material body just suitable for one's desire in the next life. The consciousness is eternal, it's lasting throughout all the changes of bodies in life, from childhood to youth-hood till old age, so what is the difficulty in understanding that at the end of the body, the consciousness will take yet another body. This is a very logical conclusion, and it is a plain truth. Even in this life, we are forced to enter a different body every day based on previous activities and desires. Besides the day-today process of foodstuffs replenishing the skin cells, the desires of a person create bodies for him to enjoy in the future. Let's say a young man wants to study and become a martial artist. When he first desires to become such a practitioner of the martial arts, he'll have the body of a young man. But as he grows and tries to fulfill that desire, his mind and body change through strict discipline. His strength will increase and his mind will become more agile as it becomes accustomed to the maneuvers and strikes. The mind carries the desire of the person like the wind carries the flavor of a flower. If we see that a desire carries one through changing bodies even within our present experience, it is undoubtable that a desire will carry a person to the next form of body. In the Bhagavad-Gita, the process of that transmigration is explained by Sri Krishna, the personality of Godhead, Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kunti, that state he will attain without fail. [BG 8.6] For example, one may have enjoyed surplus foodstuffs without discrimination, like meats, intoxicants and other abominable things, instead of the foodstuffs that were intended for mankind to eat, such as fruits, grains, vegetables and milk. Throughout his whole life, he was indulging in gluttonous activities, meditating about those activities, hankering for food, and molding his life in such a way that he could eat unlimitedly. Such a person would find his existence even easier and more fulfilling in the body of a hog, because a hog can eat even stool or rubber tires and be satisfied, and a pig enjoys eating large portions all day. Those desires and thoughts that the consciousness spent it's duration in a certain body meditating on will create another body by the arrangement of material nature just according to how that soul has earned and deserves. Yet a hog's body is full of suffering. It's practically forced by nature to live in an unclean place, eat unclean things, and be subject to the limited consciousness that is innate in any animal. It may have been the soul's desire, but that doesn't mean that such an existence is at all pleasant. How is it that the consciousness, which we can see presides at one point in a human form, is forced into such an animalistic and crude body? It takes a trip to hell. Hell is not some fairy-tale that is whimsically imagined for the purpose of scaring youngsters to accept some dogma or a place for people to send their enemies with a curse, but hell is a factual and unavoidable reality. Hell is the natural byproduct of the spirit soul's desire to enjoy material nature. When we want to enjoy material life, we must take a material body, which takes the form of a demigod all the way down to the lowest forms of germs and worms, according to one's respective karma. In hell, the advanced human consciousness is tortured, according to one's karma, in such a way that his consciousness will not mind being forced in the body of a lower creature like a dog or a hog. A dog is very happy with his condition of life, although we see that such a condition is deplorable. This is because that condition is far better than the hell he had just been in. We can see that consciousness is affected by the circumstances it finds itself in in this very life. The consciousness of a person can shrink if it is shocked or tortured. The law of conservation of energy is the final proof that the energy of consciousness is transferred to another body at the destruction of the present body. The question is, how can such an advanced consciousness become so animalisticly simple and limited? That same energy that was working in such a complex way, experiencing a palette of emotions, pains, pleasures and finer sentiments becomes so basic it communicates by simply barking or snorting. Hell becomes a natural explanation. The consciousness must undergo some kind of transformation in order to exist in such a low body like that of an animal. So when the Hare Krishna's warn you about hell, don't take it as fanaticism, take it as a scientific and logical fact.