Soma and 5-MeO-DMT with Indian yogis

Did soma (elixir containing a secret psychedelic mushroom or plant) give rise to "Hinduism"?

(dakota 2 earth) I gave [Indian wandering ascetic shaman] Aghori Yogis sapo (bufo), 5-MeO-DMT. They laughed at it, not rejecting the mind-expanding experience but seemingly accustomed to it by their own sadhana or daily spiritual practices.

• Hinduism (aka Sanātana Dharma)

Hinduism's secret mushroom theory

(dakota of earth) July 10, 2025: INDIA: The information presented here is purely for historical and cultural exploration and should not be interpreted as encouragement or promotion of any substance use. Some content may be sensitive or challenging to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised!

DISCLAIMER: This educational documentary investigates a theory about the entheogenic origins of Hinduism [what the British dubbed Indus-ism to describe all the varied practices and belief around the Indus River Valley, melding them all under one rubric when they never saw themselves as "religions" or anything apart from regular life].

LINKS: dakotaofearth / dakotawint http://www.kick.com/earthie In this documentary, I travel across India exploring temple carvings, sacred rituals, and hidden clues that point toward a secret mushroom cult at the roots of Hinduism. Is it possible that psychedelic mushrooms were the true Soma of the Rig Veda? Join me as I uncover evidence, interview scholars, and search sacred sites to reveal a story that’s been hiding in plain sight. ➤ Subscribe for more documentaries on spirituality, ancient history, and hidden truths. Watch the full story and decide.

Saintly Himalayan Yogi's Eightfold Path

The Dhammapada: mind - Ajahn Brahm: God vs. Bodhi

An 85-year-old Himalayan yogi, rumored to leave no trace in the snow, says true happiness comes from...

The Wise Man on the Mountain - Existential Comics

• What is the "Yoga" (system, tapas, austerity, program) he follows? It is surely Integral Yoga also generally known as Ashtanga or "Eight Limbs." He does not merely do poses or keep a vegetarian diet. He goes much further to include all aspects of the path:

The definition of "yoga"

The Sage Pātañjali (author of the Yoga Sutras or "Yoga Aphorisms") begins his treatise on yoga (1st–3rd century CE) by stating the purpose of writing his book in the first sutra, followed by defining the word "yoga" in his second sutra of Book 1:[2].

योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः ॥२॥

yogaś-citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ

— Yoga Sutras 1.2

This terse definition hinges on the meaning of three Sanskrit terms:

I. K. Taimni translates it as, "Yoga is the inhibition (nirodhaḥ [usually translated as "cessation"]) of the modifications (vṛtti) of the mind (citta)" [3].

Swami Vivekananda translates this aphorism as, "Yoga is restraining (nirodhah) the mind-stuff (citta) from taking various forms (vrittis)" [4].

When the mind is stilled, the seer or real Self is revealed: 1.3. Then the Seer is established in his [or her] own essential and fundamental nature. 1.4.

In other states there is assimilation (of the Seer) with the modifications (of the mind) [5].

Sadhguru's no guru but tell jokes to Westerners

Eight limbs

Pātañjali's Eight Limbs of Yoga

Patanjali compiled the yoga aphorisms

Pātañjali set out his definition of "yoga" in the Yoga Sūtras as having eight limbs [following the popularity of the historical Buddha's Dharma being condensed into a Noble Eightfold Path] (अष्टाङ्ग, āṅga, "eight limbs") as follows. These are the Eight Limbs of Yoga:

1. yama (abstinences),
2. niyama (observances),
3. āsana (postures),
4. prāṇā-yāma (breath control),
5. pratyāhāra (withdrawal of the senses),
6. dhāraṇā (concentration),
7. dhyāna (meditation), and
8. samādhi (absorption)" [6].

The eightfold path of Pātañjali's yoga consists of a set of prescriptions for a morally disciplined and purposeful life, of which the āsana (yoga postures) form only one limb [7]. More

Buddhism has a different set of Eight Limbs to Enlightenment

What is the path to supreme liberation?

As in Buddhism's Noble Eightfold Path, all of these terms are loaded. They are full of meaning, leaving many aspects to each term or heading. They are not the same path and do NOT lead to the same goal. The goal of yoga is "union," whereas the goal of the Buddha-Dharma is enlightenment and nirvana.

1. Right View: various summaries of "right view" can be found in Buddhist texts. A stock phrase is the opening of the dhamma-eye, in which knowledge arises: "All that has the nature of arising has the nature of ending" [33, Note 2]; showing the futility of striving after worldly fulfillment. More extensive treatments state that our karma (actions) have consequences, death is not the end, and our words, actions, and beliefs have consequences after death. The Buddha himself followed and taught a successful path out of this world and the other world (heaven and underworld/hells),[36, 37, 38, Web 2] and his example can be followed to the same successful result. Later on, right view came to explicitly include karma and rebirth and the importance of the Four Noble Truths, when "insight" (vipassana) became central to Buddhist soteriology, especially in Theravada Buddhism [39, 40].
2. Right Intention (samyaka-saṃkalpa/sammā-saṅkappa) can also be known as "right thought," "right aspiration," "right resolve," or "right motivation" [41]. In this factor, one aspires to let go, renounce (stop clinging to) the worldly life and follow the Buddhist path [42] of purification and freedom. The practitioner is full of thoughts of and intends to strive toward non-violence (ahimsa) and avoid violent and hateful/aversive conduct [40].
3. Right Speech: avoiding lying, abuse, division, and idle chatter [43, 44].
4. Right Conduct: to avoid killing or injuring, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct, intoxication.
5. Right Livelihood: avoiding trading in weapons, living beings, meat, intoxicants/poisons.
6. Right Effort: preventing the arising of unwholesome mental states that not arisen, deposing ones that have, generating wholesome states, and maintaining them to their consummation. What are the profitable mental states? The Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhaṅgā). This includes "guarding the sense-doors" (indriya-samvara), restraint of the sense faculties [45, 46].
7. Right Mindfulness (sati; satipatthana; sampajañña): a quality that guards the heart/mind as it dispassionately watches over [47] and looks on. The stronger mindfulness becomes, the weaker unwholesome states of mind become, weakening their power "to take over and dominate thought, word, and deed" [48, Note 3]. In the insight meditation (vipassana) movement, mindfulness is interpreted as dispassionate "bare attention," watching, vigilance, remaining present and aware with whatever arises in this moment: not being absent minded, but rather being conscientious and conscious of what one is doing; this encourages the awareness of the impermanence of body, feelings, and mind, as well as to dispassionately examine the Five Aggregates clung to as self (skandhas), the Five Hindrances, the Four Noble Truths, and the Seven Factors of Enlightenment [46].
8. Right Samadhi (passaddhi; ekaggata; sampasadana): practicing the Four Stages of Jhana (Sanskrit dhyāna or "meditation"), which includes samadhi/absorption proper in the second stage and reinforces the development of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, culminating in equanimity (upekkhā) and mindfulness (sati) [50]. In the Theravada tradition and the insight meditation movement, this is interpreted as singlepointedness of mind (ekaggata), stillness, focus, concentration, one-pointedness of the mind, fulfilled through the Four Foundations of Mindfulness as vipassana meditation, which aims at liberating insight from all illusion. More

Living with Tibetan monks in Himalayas

Definition of monastery? #SangayNyinparinpocohe

Is it like the Sanskrit word ashram, "a place of effort" for sramanas?

Jain or Shiva Temple, Tamil Nadu, India

Jain holy site or unseen cave temple of Shiva? Sathrumalleswaram, India

(PraveenMohan) Sept. 26, 2024: There is an ancient cave temple in a remote village called Dalavanur, India. The name of this megalithic site is Sathrumalleswaram and was built in 6th or 7th century AD. Inside there is a giant lingam, which is usually a symbol of [the extraterrestrial being] Shiva. But how could ancient builders have created such a marvel?

Join the channel to get access to perks: @realpraveenmohan. Hugh Newman's Megalithomania Channel: ‪@MegalithomaniaUK‬. Whatsapp channel: whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va9U... Instagram: praveenet. Facebook: praveenmohanfans. Twitter: iampraveenmohan. Email ID: info.praveenmohan@gmail.com. Patreon account to support: praveenmohan. #praveenmohan #hughnewman #harharmahadev

Does the world still have ritual magic?

Shamanism: The Taino Sacred Dances | SLICE

Some see things directly with the spirits

(SLICE) Before an important trip, men of the Enawéné Tribe invoke the unseen spirits by performing a traditional dance and song, asking them to watch over their village. This is an extract from the documentary: Amazon Games. Direction: Sandrine Leonardelli. Production: ZED & ARTE France – Manuel Catteau.

SLICE wants to fill curiosity. Accessible to anyone from anywhere at any time, this channel is a weekly dose of short docs about curious facts, discoveries, astounding info, unusual stories, weird, fun, and instructive. Be smart, have a slice. Subscribe now ► @slicedocumentary

• SLICE, 2/4/20; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Is it Druid Genocide Day or St. Patrick's Day?

Matt Anderson (valknutmeadery.com.au); Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

This Day in History: Druid Remembrance Day

Celtic Druid, shaman, seer

On March 17th, we will not be celebrating someone greatly responsible for the cultural genocide of the Celtic pagans and Druids.

Instead, it's more appropriate to celebrate the life and culture of the Druids who were wiped out during Saint Patrick's missionary days.

Make sure to note that this was a "cultural genocide." So it doesn't mean Padraig went around killing all the Druids. Instead, he convinced the kings and leaders of the time to convert to a foreign religion, which meant no one needed Druids anymore.

WHO WERE THE DRUIDS?

Knowledge keeper

Ever since the Indo-European days, Druids were the keepers of the traditional laws, storytellers, wandering poets, priests, the philosophers of the time, astronomers, and king makers.

The name Druid means something like the Sanskrit rishi, "to see" (a "seer," "visionary"). They were the intermediaries connecting the people and the gods.

The word shaman (Buddhist Sanskrit shramana) is related to seer, meaning "one who sees in the dark."

They were the most important people of their time, roughly between 4500 BCE (before common era) to 400 CE.

Secret architecture of the Druids

The Celts, along with their Druids or seers, emigrated from Central Europe west to the British Isles and Ireland, taking their rich culture, art, and traditions with them. The ancient tales of their ancestors and their gods helped the Celts remain a fearless people.

Fearless people are hard to control. Thankfully, the Romans did not occupy Ireland, but their new imperial faith [and their worship of Ceasar's Messiah] did. It was an imposed faith that was used to bring all nations and cultures under the rule of one God.

WHO WAS "SAINT" PATRICK?

Rome's Gay Mafia the Vatican, with its cardinals, bishops and pope, rule the Catholic world.

Newgrange green, Ireland (Getty/Irish Central)

Here are two fun facts about St. Paddy. He wasn't Irish but rather a Roman Brit. He is mostly known for driving the snakes out of Ireland, never mind that there have never been any snakes in Ireland.

"Snakes" seems to have been a metaphor for pagans, because he wanted everyone to view them as evil for their refusal to following the new faith.

The conversions made the old Celtic faith irrelevant. The Romans eventually got rid of the Druids along with the culture of the people. Over time Druids ceased to exist. Written records were uncommon back then. The Druids were not allowed to write down their knowledge.

So all of that cultural history was lost. It had been recorded in the minds of the Druids, so once they were eradicated, their history was too.

Becoming a Druid involved a lifetime of study and dedication. So celebrating the Druids and their rich history is a much better way to celebrate Celtic pride than worshiping St. Patrick. Skål. Source

KARMA: three "Articles of (Heretical) Belief"

Ven. Nyanatiloka (Buddhist Dictionary, palikanon.com; Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

This is not the historical Buddha Gautama but a nude Mahavira, founder of Jainism.

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The great wandering ascetic Mahavira

These Three "Articles of (Heretical) Belief" (titthāyatana) are (in A.III.61) declared as leading to inactivity/inaction:

1. (1) the belief that all happiness and suffering are produced through previous karma (prenatal deeds, actions in past lives);
2. (2) that everything is uncaused;
3. (3) that everything is created by God.

(1) The first is the teaching of Niggantha Nāthaputta [Mahavira, the Jina, the tirthankana or "ford-finder," the founder Jainism and leader of the Jains or Nigganthas].

The fault with this doctrine (dharma, "teaching") is that it does not account for that happiness and suffering which are either the result of the present life's skillful or unskillful deeds or are associated with the corresponding action.

(2) The second is the doctrine or teaching of Makkhali Gosāla (see view at ditthi).

According to these three doctrines, humans are not responsible for their actions (deeds, karma) so as to say that all moral exertions would be useless. Source

Brothers in India save birds of prey (Jainism)

All That Breathes, Goats & Soda, NPR; Crystal Q., CC Liu, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Like Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha, I came from Afghanistan to India.

Oscar-nominated film profiles two brothers who save fallen birds of prey

Kamala Thiagarajan (Goats and Soda: NPR), Feb. 5, 2023

Raptors (Javed Dar/Xinhua via Getty Images)

The story of two bird-saving brothers in India gets an Oscar nomination and an HBO premiere (Feb. 7th, 2023).

Wildlife Rescue is a clinic run by brothers Nadeem Shehzad and Muhammad Saud in Delhi, India, for injured black kites. Over the past 12 years, they've treated nearly 26,000 of the flying raptors. The brothers are featured in a new prize-winning documentary, All That Breathes, which was just nominated for an Oscar and is premiering on HBO on Feb. 7th.

Shaunak Sen was stuck in a traffic jam one evening in 2018 when he looked up at the hazy, polluted skies of Delhi and saw dozens of raptors, birds with brown feathers, gracefully circling overhead.

Then one bird just dropped to the ground in mid-flight. "After I went back home, I had to Google it," Sen says. "What happens to birds that fall out of the sky in Delhi?"

The answer led him to two Muslim brothers — Nadeem Shehzad and Muhammad Saud — who would soon become the subjects of his award-winning documentary, All That Breathes.

Shot over a period of three years from 2019, the documentary last year won both the Golden Eye Award for top documentary at Cannes and the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. And now it's been nominated for an Oscar for best documentary feature film — only the second Indian film nominated in that category after Writing with Fire in 2021.

The film tells of the brothers' lifelong struggle to save an unusual bird — the meat-eating black kites that have made the smog-ridden Delhi skies their home...

The capital of India is filthy

Ahimsa (nonharming) is key to Jainism.

"Birds are plummeting from the sky. Delhi is a gaping wound, and we're a tiny Band-Aid on it," says Nadeem, a wildlife rehabilitator and the elder of the brothers.

"The scraps from slaughterhouses and meat-processing plants are dumped in Delhi. This, and the huge amounts of garbage that pile up every day, attracts hundreds of these scavenging birds.

They come from Russia, the steppes of Afghanistan, and Mongolia." The brothers were particularly drawn to the black kite, Nadeem says, when they found an injured bird as kids but couldn't get treatment for it.

Compassionate Jains do not deal in meat

Compassionate Founder of Jainism: Mahavira

In 1995, a bird hospital run by the Jain community (see Jainism) nearby turned it away because it is "a non-vegetarian bird," says Saud, the younger brother.

Jains, whose central tenet is non-violence (ahimsa), are staunch vegetarians. Their vegetarian hospital didn't have the capacity to provide the birds with their primary diet of murdered animal flesh.

Most people tend to misunderstand raptors, Saud explains: They think of black kites as vicious hunters. But they are also scavengers — very helpful with cleaning the mountains of garbage that pile up in Delhi, he says. More

• Support what the Jain hospital could not

Definition: What is "yoga"?

Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Jen B. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

There are eight factors to yoga or "union" as described in the Patajali's Yoga Aphorisms.

.

The Buddha (3rd century, Yale)

Yoga (Sanskrit योग, lit. "yoke" or "union") is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices and daily disciplines, which originated in ancient proto-India.

The aim of yoga is to still the mind's disturbances (vrittis), recognizing a detached witness-consciousness untouched by mind or unease.

There is a wide variety of yogic schools, practices, and goals in Brahmanism/Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism [3, 4, 5] and traditional and modern yoga is practiced worldwide [6].

Jesus Christ was a yogi? Yes.

Two general theories exist on the origins of yoga. The linear model holds that yoga originated in the Vedic period (Indus Valley Civilization before "India" existed), as reflected in the Vedic texts and was influenced by Buddhism.

According to author Edward Fitzpatrick Crangle, this model is mainly supported by today's Hindu scholars.

According to the synthesis model, yoga is a synthesis of non-Vedic (i.e., shramanic) and Vedic elements, a model favored in Western scholarship [7, 8]. More

Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali

(1953) Swami Prabhavananda, Christopher Isherwood, the Sage Patanjali (4.7 out of 5 stars with 394 ratings) Routledge Library Editions: Yoga. This is a major work on the practice of yoga and meditation. Through these ancient aphorisms (one-line Sanskrit sayings), readers learn how to control the mind and achieve inner peace. Although these methods were taught over 2,000 years ago, they are as alive and effective as they have ever been. This translation draws from the inspired commentary of both Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood. [*"God" here refers to Brahman, the Ultimate Reality behind the Illusion (Maya).] How to Know God: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali

Alan Watts: The Buddhist Secret (audio)

Alan Watts (alanwatts.org) via What do you desire?; A. Larson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

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The Buddhist Secret

Zen's circle or ensō (faena.com)

Over time as fewer people realized enlightenment, Mahayana (Maya-yana?) came up with newer and more creative ways to trick oneself into realization, with the paradoxes of Zen, and stories of not trying, skillful means (upayas) and methods (yanas). Alan Watts explains them in the context of what this latter day form of Buddhism, which takes itself back by patriarchs to 200 years after the passing of the now little regarded historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, the "Sage of the Shakyas [Saka/Scythians]" Shakyamuni.

.

What Mahayana set up in place of what the historical Buddha taught was falling back on Brahminical teaching based on the Vedas that today are generally referred to as Hinduism when in fact Buddhism, like Jainism, began as a revolutionary, anti-establishment wandering ascetic (shramana vs. brahmana) movement school. Buddhism in Japan, famous for Zen which it imported from China, came upon the conception of jah-riki vs. tah-riki: If self cannot become enlightened, then it must be done by other (likened to the Protestant Christian concept of "grace" over "works").

"We don't think our way into right action, but we can act our way into right thinking" is a good recovery-based summary of two of the factors of the Noble Eightfold Path. Support the WDYD channel to promote the great work of Alan Watts at patreon.com/whatdoyoudesire.

• Part 1: How Can You be Enlightened?
• Part 2: You are the Whole Cosmos
• Part 3: Why the World Depends on You
• Part 4: Be Comfortable Under Any Circumstances
• Part 5: The Buddhist Secret (this video)
• Part 6: Waking Up from the Illusion

Buddha at the Gas Pump: Shaman (video)

Sandra Ingerman, Rick Archer, BuddhaAtTheGasPump (BatGap), 11/27/18; Wisdom Quarterly

Buddha at the Gas Pump interview: Sandra Ingerman

Shaman Sandra Ingerman, MA, is an award-winning author of 12 books, including Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self, Medicine for the Earth: How to Transform Personal and Environmental Toxins, Walking in Light: The Everyday Empowerment of a Shamanic Life (CD and eBook), and The Book of Ceremony: Shamanic Wisdom for Invoking the Sacred into Everyday Life.

She is the presenter of eight audio programs produced by SoundsTrue.com, and she is the creator of the Transmutation App. Ingerman is a world-renowned teacher of shamanism, who has been teaching for more than 30 years.

She has taught workshops internationally on shamanic journeying, healing, and reversing environmental pollution using spiritual methods. She is recognized for bridging ancient cross-cultural healing methods into our modern culture to address the needs of our times.

Ingerman is known for gathering the global spiritual community together to perform powerful transformative ceremonies and inspire us to stand strong in unity so we can do our own spiritual and social activism while keeping a vision of hope and being a light in the world.

She is passionate about helping people to reconnect with nature. Since the 1980s thousands of people have healed from past traumas through the classic cross-cultural shamanic healing method she teaches called "soul retrieval."

She is a licensed marriage and family therapist  (MFT) and professional mental health counselor. She is also a board-certified expert on traumatic stress. She was chosen as one of the Top 10 Spiritual Leaders of 2013 by Spirituality and Health Magazine.

Ingerman has two new books released in 2018. The Hidden Worlds was co-written with Katherine Wood and is a novel for young adults to help them navigate our changing world. And The Book of Ceremony: Shamanic Wisdom for Invoking the Sacred into Everyday Life was written for a shamanic and general audience on how to call on the sacred by performing shamanic ceremonies designed for our times and the challenges we are facing.

• Discussion (BatGap Community FB Group): facebook.com/groups/Batga...
  

Shamans of Siberia: healers chosen by spirits

RT Documentary, Oct. 2, 2017; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

In windswept Siberia (Russia's Far East, our west), shamans [from the Buddhist word shramans, "wandering ascetics," as distinct from "temple priests" called Brahmins] have for generations cured illnesses without touching their patients, sung with their diaphragms, and controlled the weather. Some can travel over long distances and even levitate, hovering above birch trees. They regularly communicate with good and harmful "spirits." One of them, Tyurgen, manages to balance shamanism with life in industrial Chelyabinsk. Apart from his spiritual activities, he practices a unique musical style: electronic music with folk instruments, throat singing, and folklore-inspired lyrics. Meet an anthropologist who explains what really goes on in a shaman's brain when s/he is in a trance state.

• RT Channel for documentaries 
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• dailymotion.com/rt_doc
• instagram.com/rtd_documen... 
• RTD Live rtd.rt.com/on-air

What's a "shaman"? Defining shamanism

Matt Toussaint (shamanicevolution.org) edited and expanded by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Shamanism is a worldwide spiritual impulse that arises spontaneously in some individuals.

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What is a "shaman"? This is a tricky question, to be certain. While there are many facets and nuances that will not be addressed here, the following article provides a basic framework for understanding what shamanism is...

• (Wisdom Quarterly) The Buddhist definition of a shaman is a "wandering ascetic," a shraman as distinct from a "temple priest" or Brahmin. When the Scythian/Sakyian Prince Siddhartha Gautama wanted to become a seeker or recluse or shaman it was because he was inspired by the sight of one.

Young samanera studying text in Burma

• Therefore, Buddhism did not invent the concept. There already existed in Central Asia (the area of the world from Northwest India up to North Asia, Ukraine, and Siberia) spiritual wanderers on quests of one kind or other, driven by spirit voices or other impulses, such as the quest for enlightenment (bodhi) and liberation (moksha). Vedic seers (rishis) and sadhvis/sadhus (holy persons), yogis and munis (ascetics, mendicants, sages). The Scythian Sage, Shakya-muni, is a popular title of the Buddha, who encouraged his monastic followers to adhere to a wandering lifestyle (Sramana Movement) and a forest tradition of meditation away from the maddening crowd.

Buddhist shaman, Yarchen Gar Monastery (F)

Because shamanism is based on experience and results, a clear definition will hold true regardless of beliefs.
 

This leaves room for multiple ways of understanding shamanism without any particular way being held as right or wrong.
 

Medicine men: often women

Shamanism is understood and experienced differently by different people and under different circumstances.
 

The common element is not the content of what is understood but the experience of the shamanism itself -- which makes it "authentic."

From that perspective, then, any attempt at a single definition is irrelevant. But there is value in bringing integrity and coherence to an understanding of shamanism, if only to operate with clarity and precision of definition.

Mexican shamans are curanderos ("healers") often confused with brujos ("witches")

DEFINITION

The common, classical definition runs: Shamanism is a system or practice of a practitioner, the shaman, who willfully changes her or his state of consciousness from normal to altered in order to enact something, communicate with something, or to perform some specific duty on the behalf of another person, community, or group.
 

Often this altered state of consciousness is framed as a movement from this world to the "spirit world." More