The Source of Happiness
The Vadas (sanskrit for knowledge) is among mankind’s oldest writings to survive antiquity. Here in this early writing we find gods, demons, the origin of the world and oh ya, Cannabis…
Lets start by going back to the Vedic origin story of the “churning of the sea”.
Before this world both Gods and Demons were living on earth. The Gods powers were superior and kept the Demons at bay. But when Indra, king of all the gods in all of the three worlds, was a dick to Rishi Duravas things changed…
In return for Indra’s behavior, Duravas cursed the Gods and they all began to weaken in strength letting the Demons gain equal power as gods on earth…
Seeking a cure, the weakening Gods with the help of Brahma travel to see Vishnu hoping he can help on the edge of the Ocean of Milk. Vishnu answers…
“Do now as I command: cast into the Milky Sea potent herbs, then take Mount Mandara for churning-stick, the serpent Vasuki for rope, and churn the Ocean for the dew of life [amrita]”
Vishnu tells the Gods to make ‘amrita’, a sacred substance that bestows immortality and vigor, out of ‘potent herbs’ made in the ocean, but the workload exceeded the weakened strength of the Gods… They Reluctantly partner with the Daityas (the demons) promising them equal share in the amrita…
1760s illustration of The Churning of the Milky Ocean – Depicted are the devas (gods, upholders of cosmic order; light) and the asuras (demons, disrupters of cosmic order; darkness) churning the Cosmic Ocean in a “tug-of-war” in order to obtain Amrita, the nectar of immortality.
As the Gods and Demons churn the Ocean of Milk together, things start to appear out of the mixture…
First to rise out was Surabhi, the wish-giving cow… They continued to churn… More curiosities continued to rise out of the churned ‘Ocean of Milk’ until…
Poison rose out… Wanting to save the world, Shiva grabbed the poison and drank it…
Choking Shiva turned blue!…
At the dimmest of times for Shiva, choking on poison, Dhanwantari appears holding the vessel of amrita, saving Shiva…
Upon the appearance of the amrita, the Demons wanted their promised cut, but Vishnu denies their request for the fair share starting a 12 day battle (or the 12 year war) between the Gods and the Demons…
Wanting to protect the Amrita the gods take it to hide it in the mountains. On their rush they spilled a single drop of the Amrita upon the ground of the mountain. From this single drop upon the earth, a cannabis plant grows… The birth of Cannabis on this planet…
Shiva making Bhang
Much later in the Vadas, after a family argument, Shiva retreats to the Himalayas. Exhausted he finds relief in a field laying in the shade under a cannabis plant…
Awakening under the plant and taken by it’s beauty of the leaves Shiva crushes and eats it, making the first Bhang…
Taken by this, Shiva brings Bhang down from the mountain for all of mankind to use…
Holi festival
With these kind of origins its no wonder the Vedas believe Cannabis to be one of the 5 sacred plants on earth! To them, only Cannabis is said to ‘have guardian angels in its leaves’…
Cannabis is referred to in the Vadas as the “source of happiness”, being a “joy-giver” and a “liberator” that was given to mankind to help “attain delight and lose fear”…
In this one of mankind’s earliest writings, we find Cannabis holds high reverence even with the gods…