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Interesting link between Rastafari and India

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Messenger: Nick1234 Sent: 3/8/2008 9:39:40 PM
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Cannabis and Religion - Hindus and Rastas
By Shivapk1

Shiva Shankar
Shiva is the oldest known godhead figure in the world. Devotees of Shiva sometimes meditate by drinking a milk and cannabis mixture prepared by priests (Bhang). Sadhus and other devotees endlessly walk around India searching for the spiritual oneness with Shiva. These Sadhus also smoke 'Charas' and 'ganja' from chillums.

It is widely accepted amongst Hindus that Shiva takes Bhang. What's disputed is the consumption of it by ordinary mortals. Most Hindus do not know their ancestors used to take cannabis whenever they saw fit. Consumption of Bhang wasn't always reserved for the Gods and holy days. In fact, not so long ago it was considered an insult to refuse Bhang. I believe this change occurred no earlier than 1900, after the Indian Hemp Commission's report was released in the late 1800s.

Bhang is also considered a sister of the Mother Ganges (a holy river and a Goddess in India). There are many songs which start off: "Gang Bhang Dono Bhen Hai, Rehti Shivji Ki Sang. Charan Karne KI Gang Hai, Bhajan Karne Ki Bhang." Roughly translated this means the Ganges and Bhang (cannabis) are sisters and both live in Shiva's head. The water from the Ganges is poured over a Shivalingam (a form of Shiva in the guise of a phallus shaped black stone) at a Temple and Bhang is consumed by the devotee so they can mediate, be better able to sing hymns, achieve a blissful state and be like Shiva.

Another often forgotten subject is Soma. This is the Nectar of the Gods mentioned in one of the oldest Hindu scriptures, 'The Rig Veda'. Soma is said to be cannabis in some writings but some people dismiss this idea. I think that Soma is just an ancient name for Bhang. Bhang is made using cannabis leaves and milk, almonds, rose water and various other items. Bhang is also used as a word to describe the actual cannabis plant in some parts of India. In short it appears that the ancient Vedic Hindus knew how to extract THC from the cannabis plant using milk. Soma is one of the oldest intoxicants known to man.

Many Hindus are unaware of the significance of cannabis to Shiva. They seem to know that Bhang was Holy and relevant to Shiva but a lot of people did not know that Bhang contained cannabis. Cannabis use is stigmatised by Hindu's the world over but if you ask real priests in India about its position compared to alcohol they will tell you that cannabis and only cannabis is acceptable to a Hindu, and priests are only allowed Bhang and Ganja but not allowed alcohol.

Rastafarianism
The reason true Rastafarians have dreadlocks, are vegetarians and smoke 'Ganja' (a Hindi word for compressed male buds) in 'Chillums' (another Hindi word for a small clay pipe) is partly because of the British. When the British abolished slavery they shipped over hundreds of thousands of Indian labourers to work on sugar plantations. These immigrants brought the religion of cannabis to a new continent.

Cannabis appeared and started growing in many places where the British took Indians. The Caribbean is just one place where local people quickly acclimatised to the plant and claimed it as their own. There are stories about Rangoon in Burma being another of those places as well as Bangkok, Philippines and even Lebanon.

One of the most important things that Rastas call the best female weed is Kali. This is a Hindu term for 'Kali Mata' a dark form of Shiva's wife Parvati. In addition, Kali means Bud in Hindi (pronounced Kuli). I think Rasta's probably got the term from Kali Mata when the Poddkar priest named them after sexing.

Another thing that relates the two religions is Shiva and Rasta's dreadlocks. Most of the ancient Rishi's mentioned in the Hindu scriptures had grown their 'Jata' knotted hair when they renounced normal living and became Spiritual Sadhus; these are some of the most respected people from the religion. It is also noted that in the famous epic 'The Ramayana', both Ram and Lakshman grow their hair into Jata's when they went into the jungle for 14 years.

The Sannyassins in India usually go to the mountains or jungles to meditate and they probably did the same when they went to the Caribbean. The slaves were freed and some went to work as paid labour in the fields or the big plantation houses, but a few freed slaves went up to the mountains and hinterlands where they learnt about spirituality and cannabis.

When Marcus Garvey came along with his 'Look to East for the Coming of the Black King Speech' the Rasta's (freed people of the mountains) had a real interest because of the religious stories they had heard from the Hindu priests about the Avatars (incarnations) of Vishnu and how he will appear on earth again.

Then Haile Selasse got crowned King Emperor of Ethiopia and the Lion of Juda. This was it for the Rasta, they saw it as the Saviour and the Avatar mentioned in the old stories as well as the man in question was claimed to be the direct descendant of Solomon and Sheba. And also of Moses.

Interesting how JAH works

Iman overstand now how Hindu philosophy can blend with Judeo-Christian overstanding

Iman use to be critical of some religions calling them satanic, but the truth is that JAH has revealed himself to all cultures throughout time from the beggining of Iration. Of course, mankind distorted JAH commandment and distorted their reLIEgion to make it satanic.

HAIL THE KING OF KINGS


Messenger: Nick1234 Sent: 3/8/2008 9:56:22 PM
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An example of satanic religion would be child sacrifice to Molech. Which Babylon carries on through Abortion.



Carthage

The ancient city of Carthage was the capital of the Phoenician empire. Their civilization was advanced culturally and highly educated. But recent archaeological expeditions have revealed its most notable feature the high incidence of child sacrifice. Archaeological relics have been uncovered, such as the altars on which children were sacrificed and stone markers, which marked the burial place of the remains. Stone carvings on the markers depict children who were sacrificed. Clay jars were used to hold the remains. Entire burial grounds full of these slaughtered children have been uncovered.

As barbaric as this sounds, we must remember that this is precisely what we do through abortion. With one obvious exception today we don't honor or bury the children we kill.

The Carthaginians were descendants of the ancient Canaanites and worshipped the same god, Baal or Molech. Archaeologists have established that the primary deity that they children were sacrificed to was the goddess Tanet, the name being a regional representation of the more universal Ashteroth. Archaeologists are horrified even today as they continue to unearth body after body of children who were sacrificed as part of this great holocaust. Written accounts tell us that the priests of Baal would beat drums during the ritual of sacrifice in order to drown out the cries of the crying mothers.

English historian G.K. Chesterton writes: "There was a tendency to call upon spirits of terror and compulsion. There is always a sort of dim idea that these darker powers will really do things, with no nonsense about it. In the interior psychology of the Punic peoples this strange sort of pessimistic practicality had grown to great proportions. In the New Town, which the Romans called Carthage, as in the parent cities of Phoenicia, the god who got things done bore the name Moloch, who was perhaps identical with the other deity whom we know as Baal, the Lord. The Romans did not at first know quite what to call him or what to make of him; they had to go back to the grossest myth of Greek or Roman origins and compare him to Saturn devouring his children. But the worshippers of Moloch were not gross or primitive. They were members of a mature and polished civilisation, abounding in refinements and luxuries; they were probably far more civilised than the Romans. And Moloch was not a myth. These highly civilised people really met together to invoke the blessing of heaven on their empire by throwing hundreds of their infants into a large furnace. We can only realise the combination by imagining a number of Manchester merchants with chimney-pot hats and mutton-chop whiskers, going to church every Sunday at eleven o'clock to see a baby roasted alive."

The typical rationalist would attribute the rites of Molech to superstition and would suggest that science and intellectual advancement would cause this type of unfortunate behavior to lessen and finally cease. But archaeologists have discovered that over Carthage's history, the incident of child sacrifice, even in the face of considerable intellectual advances, actually increased until it suddenly stopped.

And how did it stop? When God judged Carthage. Roman armies invaded and suddenly destroyed the entire civilization. The stark ruins of Carthage are a testimony that God is not mocked. We have to ask ourselves: How far are we from a judgment for our own abortion holocaust?


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