Why drugs or entheogens awake siddhis?

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#10

It could remove mental obstructions or blocks.But on it’s own it’s unllikely to do much. It’s not reaaally something that happens by accident i.e a spontaneous awakening.More work to do.

Combine it with kundalini yoga and then yes you will probably have more success.

I did hear some anecdotal evidence of a guru prescribing psychedlics to one of his students who he felt might benefit.Probably to remove mental obstructions.

Some have used psychedelics to help awaken K (but probably not on it’s own* it does sound quite esoteric though).It is documented in the literature.But i would have thought they may have merely used it to do some housecleaning on their mind before taking on other more formal practices.I’m guessing here btw.

I probably would’nt recommend it though for the reasons Siva stated.I guess it could work or have some benefits.

#11

You might find this interesting. One perspective.

The message of oneness and unity, and those types of feelings that psychdelics could facilitate, is relevant.

Spiritual knowledge or knowing.Notice she talks about being or feeling less attached to sensory input (while on it at least), perhaps dropping identification with…Like an Out-of-Mind/body experience, you might say.

#12

we can get temporary siddhis through drugs as they do in shaman-ism. thats it.
we have already discussed a lot about it here.
This post I did may help to understand why its not good for yogis
http://www.yogaforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=30035&postcount=112

#13

[QUOTE=siva;35100]
With drugs, there’s only one mountain, one valley and no plateau, no assimilation. You just go up and down, up and down, and that’s all.

peace,
siva[/QUOTE]

Cool;)

#14

Hi Shivoham,

I tend to agree with what you wrote there.I think with psychdelics because it tends to heighten sensory experience it couldd prove more of a distraction.I just have’nt figured out how it might fit into an over-all sadhana yet.There are books and prominent figures out there that talk about it.Maybe they will come to me if i dig around.

#15

Many sadhus and Yoguis specially in India use drugs as a tool to enrich a meditation state easyer. My opinion is that if you do it without drugs you enter this space through the front door, and if you choose with drugs you enter maybe through the back door. If you want to enter somewhere is always better you do it using the front door and being the lord of your own mind.

#16

I’ve heard an indian say that the ganga that the sadhus smoke is more of a culture thing and possibly just an addiction. I.e I have heard ,at least the way some of them smoke it ,that they gain little spiritual benefits and it is thus just recreational smoking. I’m not totally sure though. I know that Siva is the lord of ganga or whatever.

Open ,the doors of perception…

Many sadhus and Yoguis specially in India use drugs as a tool to enrich a meditation state easyer
I’ve never tried t it to enrich a meditation state. But then i don’t smoke it. Used to. I honestly cannot imagine using as an aid. Although i think it could be. I think though it could remove some blocks but also by the same token create new other ones.

I often do feel relaxed or “chilled” after smoking it But i think it’s psychologically addictive.When i gave it up after about ten years of buying it it took me a lonog time to come to the conclusion, again a long time ago before i got into smack whcih i kicked 5 years ago btw after discovering yoga(infact yoga took away the cravings after quitting a methodone script in jan06-taking up yoga and quiitting the script,i.e opiates(10yrs), co-incided at the same time).I eventually arrived at this conclusion that it was psychologically addictive for me at least. .

#17

[QUOTE=Deicide;33771]“The Siddhis are born of birth, [B]drugs[/B], mantras, penance or Smadhi. (IV-1)” (Yoga sutras)

I had a frind who told me that is possible awake siddhis or raise kundalini or samadhi using drugs like DMT, Lsd, Marihuana, Ayahuasca and others. You can get it almost instantaneously but is too dangerous if you are not ready.

So, why’s that?

Namaste.[/QUOTE]

aha… it is like force one’s way through the keyhole in to paradise…

#18

[QUOTE=CityMonk;35174]aha… it is like force one’s way through the keyhole in to paradise…[/QUOTE]

How is that?

#19

Hey OP, what part of Bolivia are you located in? Are you from Bolivia or just living there? I have family in Cochabamba!

#20

Im from Bolivia. I live in Cochabamba as well.

#21

“I had a frind who told me that is possible awake siddhis or raise kundalini or samadhi using drugs like DMT, Lsd, Marihuana, Ayahuasca and others.”

Deicide,

It is possible to awaken siddhis through drugs. As far as Kundalini is concerned, it is not something that can be triggered through a mere drug, but specific processes of yoga. Even in practicing the methods, it is very rare that one actually manages it. So, if one manages to awaken Kundalini without even the techniques, then it is even more rare than the rare. But it is possible to awaken siddhis through drugs. Because all that these siddhis are, are certain aspects of your own unconscious. Or in terms of the brain, higher potentialities of the brain which become active. Man does not use even near half of the potential capable of both his mind and brain. And in the unconscious and beyond the unconscious, there is a vast reservoir of energy which is simply lying there dormant. Everybody has them, but it is just a matter of whether they are triggered or untriggered.
There are various ways to trigger them. One of them is through certain drugs.

But it should be remembered that when a man like Patanjali spoke of awakening siddhis through drugs, he was not speaking to the ordinary person, but for the yogi. And the chances of the yogi awakening the siddhis through drugs are far higher than that of the average person. The yogi has already gone through certain physical and mental discipline, and his inner space is now absolutely receptive for it. Neither is Patanjali recommending that you become a frequent drug user. On the contrary, in the yogic sciences before any methods which involve drugs are ever prescribed, the yogi has to demonstrate that he has already attained to a certain amount of mindfulness and balance before one ever attempts such a thing. Otherwise, one is bound to become entangled in the senses while under the influence.

As far as samadhi is concerned, only very light levels of samadhi are capable. Because the very nature of drugs is to stimulate the mind rather than bring the mind to a stillness, it cannot take you to the deeper depths of samadhi where the activity of the mind has or almost become absolutely silent.

#22

[QUOTE=AmirMourad;49536]“I had a frind who told me that is possible awake siddhis or raise kundalini or samadhi using drugs like DMT, Lsd, Marihuana, Ayahuasca and others.”

Deicide,

It is possible to awaken siddhis through drugs. As far as Kundalini is concerned, it is not something that can be triggered through a mere drug, but specific processes of yoga. Even in practicing the methods, it is very rare that one actually manages it. So, if one manages to awaken Kundalini without even the techniques, then it is even more rare than the rare. But it is possible to awaken siddhis through drugs. Because all that these siddhis are, are certain aspects of your own unconscious. Or in terms of the brain, higher potentialities of the brain which become active. Man does not use even near half of the potential capable of both his mind and brain. And in the unconscious and beyond the unconscious, there is a vast reservoir of energy which is simply lying there dormant. Everybody has them, but it is just a matter of whether they are triggered or untriggered.
There are various ways to trigger them. One of them is through certain drugs.

But it should be remembered that when a man like Patanjali spoke of awakening siddhis through drugs, he was not speaking to the ordinary person, but for the yogi. And the chances of the yogi awakening the siddhis through drugs are far higher than that of the average person. The yogi has already gone through certain physical and mental discipline, and his inner space is now absolutely receptive for it. Neither is Patanjali recommending that you become a frequent drug user. On the contrary, in the yogic sciences before any methods which involve drugs are ever prescribed, the yogi has to demonstrate that he has already attained to a certain amount of mindfulness and balance before one ever attempts such a thing. Otherwise, one is bound to become entangled in the senses while under the influence.

As far as samadhi is concerned, only very light levels of samadhi are capable. Because the very nature of drugs is to stimulate the mind rather than bring the mind to a stillness, it cannot take you to the deeper depths of samadhi where the activity of the mind has or almost become absolutely silent.[/QUOTE]

Well said…

#23

You know this…how? It sounds like you are saying you have personal experience of traditional yoga practices in which drugs were “prescribed”, but only after certain requirements were met.

Would you please tell us what are some of the siddhis you’re referring to that are aspects of the unconscious?

#24

Asuri,

“You know this…how?”

If you do a little bit of research, you can come to know that many traditions in the yogic sciences have used herbs and drugs as a means to enter into altered states, not unlike shamans.

“It sounds like you are saying you have personal experience of traditional yoga practices in which drugs were “prescribed””

During a few months when I was an ascetic, there was a period when I explored into this area after I had come to a certain depth of meditation.

“Would you please tell us what are some of the siddhis you’re referring to that are aspects of the unconscious?”

Reading other peoples mind or being able to see or hear things from afar, are things which are largely of the intuition. Much of intuition is just certain information in the unconscious which becomes accessible to the conscious. That is why, for example, in dreams it is possible to have certain insight or foresight into things - it is just the unconscious communicating certain information to the conscious mind. And because the language of the unconscious is all of symbolism, it communicates through means of symbols.

Or for example, psychologists are familiar with it, that in certain states of hypnosis, people may possess physical strengthen which is otherwise absolutely outside of their abilities in their normal waking state. Or, just like in yoga, they have been able to hypnotize the mind into recalling “past lives” from the depths of the unconscious. To be able to remember so called past lives is one of the siddhis. Or, similarly, you can hypnotize a person to a point where his whole mind and body can become anesthesized, he becomes immune to pain. This is not different than the process which many yogis do in the East, where they can walk on burning hot coals for hours without feeling any pain. There is nothing magical about it, pain is controlled in certain areas of the brain - and if you can consciously control those areas, you can control pain. But the method for walking on burning hot coals is a certain technique involving awakening of the manipura chakra which awakens certain energies in the subtle body.

#25

There are some things I believe worth pointing out on the topic. I personally have made my position clear in other threads, specifically the one David mentions. But additional food for thought is often fruitful.

  1. The yoga sutras are only one of several texts which I’ll loosely refer to as “yoga philosophy” (though it is more a science than a philosophy but that is another topic entirely).

  2. The sutras are sutras not a full discourse and therefore while they are incredibly concise, well though out, and rational (as Samkhya is) they are also grossly susceptible to misinterpretation.

  3. The sutras themselves build upon each other and so the text is not meant as a reference book to flip open and read without context. Each sutra is reliant on that which has come before it.

  4. The context of what “drugs” might mean in the period of the Sutras may not be the same context in which the term is used currently.

  5. The reference in the sutra mentions five ways of acquiring siddhis however it should be noted that a) this is not a recommendation for drug use AND b) all of the siddis mentioned previously were the result of performing samyama - the last three stages of the eight-limbed path.

#26

[QUOTE=AmirMourad;49587]Asuri,

“You know this…how?”

If you do a little bit of research, you can come to know that many traditions in the yogic sciences have used herbs and drugs as a means to enter into altered states, not unlike shamans.

“It sounds like you are saying you have personal experience of traditional yoga practices in which drugs were “prescribed””

During a few months when I was an ascetic, there was a period when I explored into this area after I had come to a certain depth of meditation.

“Would you please tell us what are some of the siddhis you’re referring to that are aspects of the unconscious?”

Reading other peoples mind or being able to see or hear things from afar, are things which are largely of the intuition. Much of intuition is just certain information in the unconscious which becomes accessible to the conscious. That is why, for example, in dreams it is possible to have certain insight or foresight into things - it is just the unconscious communicating certain information to the conscious mind. And because the language of the unconscious is all of symbolism, it communicates through means of symbols.

Regarding the above last sentence…,it is possible to clearly hear a distant event that is happening in real time through meditation. I know because I have experienced this myself…its holding it steady that requires skill, if you want to do this.

#27

[QUOTE=kareng;49550]Well said…[/QUOTE]

I agree. Amir has raised B.S. to the level of an art form.

#28

Asuri,

Then you need not be concerned.

#29

Quote:
Originally Posted by kareng View Post
Well said…
I agree. Amir has raised B.S. to the level of an art form.

Stop it Asuri.