The Mahabharata is to me what LSD was to Timothy Leary…
…..what the mushroom was to Terence McKenna.
These advanced intellectuals were psychedelic activists, philosophers who used special chemical compounds, or plants, as mediums to experience other dimensions. During a ‘good’ trip, profound insight into oneself might be gained, glimpses into the wondrous mechanics of nature and into consciousness, revealed.
Leary and McKenna encouraged use of psychedelics because they offer dependable, non-addictive, and often therapeutic astral experiences. They felt the plant offered a merciful bypass around difficult austerities and the trickiness of yogic meditation.
They felt it was part of the development of the human consciousness.
I am like them – but in this lifetime my magic mushroom is the Mahabharata – and I encourage all students of Yoga to take it!
The experience of not just reading, but thinking about and processing the stories in the Mahabharata has enhanced greatly my inner spiritual feelings and caused insights to come about within my awareness.
I know what life was before Mahabharata and what life is after. I know what my understanding of Yoga was before Mahabharata and after - as well as my understanding of Lord Krishna.
It is my opinion that without study and assimilation of the Mahabharata, one may never understand the beautiful reality of Yoga.
What is that reality?
It is that all the roads of Yoga lead to Lord Krishna. One also begins to sort the fact that many of these roads to Krishna are laid by the author of of the most important of Hindu texts, Vyasa, a great yogi scribe who wrote the Mahabharata, Srimad Bhagavatam and many of the Puranas.
Books, especially scripture, are not mere words on paper. All books are filled with energy, and of course some books are filled with special energies. As yoga students we seek to find those special energies, some of which come to us only through time with the books. Ask any happy, devoted Christian, or Muslim or Jew. Any Hindu, Sufi or Buddhist - without the books, we are lost. Existence is too complex and too much work has been done and documented to take seriously anyone who dismisses the fundamental importance of scripture.
The Bhagavad Gita portion of Mahabharata is life altering on its own, yes. But the rest of the story opens up endless avenues of understanding. Energies from the characters themselves can penetrate your psyche, clear your vision, inspire your faith and motivate your practice.
According to those who know, drug trips can be quite difficult.
So can Mahabharata, but it’s worth it…..just like that Ayahuasca diarrhea I hear everyone gets.
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