Making fun of the Mahamantra

[Guest guest]

I don't think that Dev Anandji was trying to poke fun at Krishna at all. He simply tries to tell the story of dissaffected indian youths getting mixed up with the messed up free sex and drugs world of the European HIPPIES.

If you watch the film carefully Dev Anandji follows the Dum Maro Dum song with his Ram Ka Naam Badnaam Na Karo and he sing this to the EUROPEAN HIPPIES that are tripping on LSD ACID, and other drugs. This film was set in the 60s and there where a lot of EUROPEAN HIPPIES coming into Nepal and India to find themselves. Along with them came their HARD DRUGS. Cannabis has always been used by Indians, but these NEW EAROPEAN DRUGS messed up some Indina youths along with these HIPPIES.

Dev Anandji should be celebrated for making such a film that highlighted these things not known by the average Indian person living in a village.

Hare Krishna HAre Rama is not a Mantra owned by anybody,especially not the ISKON. Anybody can chant it if they so wish. Krishna is available to anybody just the same as any other Avatar of Vihnu or any other god. You dont have to be a Hare Krishna follower of ISKON in order to chant the MahaMantra. I even know of prostitutes who take Heroin chant the mantra everyday, it is universal and availabe for anybody to chant.

[Guest guest]

ok looking from your point of view i must agree with you.i grew up in india in the sixties and the movie with dev anand opened my eyes to these wrong practises of hippy.i will never ever be tempted to take lsd or drugs although bhang is ok.

[Guest guest]

I dont think you should be upset at the film. It only shows that all types of people belive in Maha Prabhu Kalia Thakur Krishna.

[Guest guest]

 

I dont think you should be upset at the film. It only shows that all types of people belive in Maha Prabhu Kalia Thakur Krishna.

 

 

Srila Prabhupada used to tell us that ANY publicity was good publicity. When it comes to the Maha-mantra, any exposure is benefial for everyone involved. Let's leave karmic judgements up to higher powers.

[Guest guest]

"i will never ever be tempted to take lsd or drugs although bhang is ok."

 

You don't get much of a bhang for your buck, but an otherwise wise decision nonetheless.

[Guest guest]

good choice with bhang but don't indulge too much only holy occasions like shivratri or holi. no lsd very bad for the mind control.

[Guest guest]

hindustaan mai gunja aur bhang dawaai hai.hum lok sharab ko bhura maan ta hai aur bhang ganja ko sachi.

[Avinash]

hindustaan mai gunja aur bhang dawaai hai.hum lok sharab ko bhura maan ta hai aur bhang ganja ko sachi.

 

May be that some people consider bhang and ganja as medicine. (I am not sure). But it is wrong to talk as if it is a common belief in India.

[Guest guest]

Sri Lanka: Cannabis cultivation: Relaxing the strong arm of the law

 

Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka

 

Sunday 23 May 2004

 

The recent media reports of the Ministry of Indigenous Medicine moving to legalise limited cultivation of cannabis for the usage of Ayurvedic practitioners were of considerable interest to those in the practice.

 

And to the public - who had been aware that cannabis is categorised as a

"dangerous drug" in Sri Lanka and that its cultivation, production,

possession, sale and trafficking amounted to a criminal offence.

 

How much do we know about Cannabis? Or, Kansa, as it is locally known. Or,

ganja, the narcotic made from this plant. Or, Cannabis sativa l., the name

by which the researchers recognise it. Cannabis had been known to have

narcotic and also medicinal and pain-relieving properties in ancient Hindu

literature and in the local Ayurvedic practice.

 

Names such as "virapati" (hero-leaved), "capta" (light-hearted), "ananda"

(joy), "trilok kamaya" (desired in three worlds) and "harshini" (the

rejoicers) indicate its mild halucinogen properties and aphrodisiac

qualities for stimulating sexual energy. But less known has been its

therapuetic claims for overcoming asthma, phlegmatic conditions, neuralgia,

muscular and joint pains, flatulence, dyspepsia and sub-terminal illnesses.

 

"There is no Bill as yet. The Minister of Indigenous Medicine has only made

certain suggestions," said W.E. Karunasena, Secretary to the newly

established Ministry of Indigenous Medicine, in an attempt to squash wild

surmises. "Our first step is to formulate a National Policy document for

the indigenous medicine sector which will become part of the National

Health Policy.

 

We are estimated to have 16,000 Ayurvedic practitioners in the country and

it is important that herbal medicines acquire some standardisation." The

current method by which the locally registered Ayurvedic practitioners

obtained cannabis was by applying to the Ayurvedic Drugs Corporation, with

the submissiion of their medicinal recipes.

 

The Corporation, in turn, obtained cannabis at no cost, when the Police

brought in stocks seized from raided illicit cultivations to courts, and

the Magistrate ordered such seized plants to be handed over to the

Corporation. "The Corporation sells cannabis to the Ayurvedic practitioners

in powdered form, but they say that it needs to be stirred in burning oil

to extract the real medicinal value," said Karunasena, explaining that this

uniform method of receiving cannabis might not conform to the "secret

recipes" brought down by traditional Ayurveda practitioners through

generations.

 

Going by the opinions of the Ayurvedic practitioners and officials of the

Ayurvedic Drug Corporation as well as the National Dangerous Drugs Control

Board, the effective way of dealing with cannabis seems to hang in the

balance between defining its value in Ayurvedic medicinal preparation and

its abuse as a "dangerous narcotic" in unauthorised productions.

 

Such products like Madana Modaka gulis (globlets), sold in "petti kades'

(vendor huts) near schools, are known to be purchased by school boys for

"kicks." On the other hand, Madana Modaka is a legitimate medicinal

preparation in Ayurvedic practice and is sold by the Ayurvedic Corporation

and other reputable Ayurvedic practitioners, while its preparation method

is clearly stated in the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of Sri Lanka - its

ingredients being cannabis leaves and seeds fried in ghee, among other

local herbs such as thipal, kottan, corriander, asamodagam and namal renu.

Madana Modaka is usually recommended as a sexual stimulant and for

flatulence and loss of appetite, among other things.

 

Among over 20 medicinal preparations mentioned in the Ayurvedic

Pharmacopoeia that contain cannabis, are Buddharaja kalka, Jathipalaadi

choornaya, Hinguladhi rasaya (watee), Kameswara modakaya and Ranahansa

rasayanaya (pindi).

 

"Cannabis is an essential ingredient in Ayurvedic treatment and we use it

as a stimulant for patients recovering from paralysis and nerve-related

illnesses, and as a sexual energiser for impotency," explains Vidya Nidhi

Dr. K. Sayakkara, Secretary, All Ceylon Ayurvedic Practitioners' Congress.

 

"And such cannabis needs to be fresh." The practitioners are required to

come in person to the Corporation, bringing their entire stocks of

medicinal powders, to have them mixed with required "mathras" (measures) of

the cannabis choorna (powder), made from dried cannabis by the Corporation

personnel.

 

"If this choorna is not fresh, the medicinal value is reduced. Cannabis

used in our medicines must measure upto certain standards."

 

Cannabis choorna is sold to the practitioners at Rs.2,300 a kilo, said Dr.

Ramya Tennakoon, Chief Pharmacist, Ayurvedic Corporation. In 2004, the

production of the Corporation Madana Modaka alone will require 300 kilos of

cannabis with a supply of over 1,500 kilos being needed for purchase by

practitioners outside the Corporation. For ageing practitioners, mobility

was difficult and a decentralised method of distributing cannabis was

preferable.

 

K. Ratnayake, Executive Director, National Dangerous Drugs Control Board,

under which purview cannabis falls as a "dangerous drug," says the Board's

concerns have been about the abuses of cannabis, consumed by smoking and

other ways.

 

"There is a considerable number of people in Sri Lanka, producing products

containing cannabis," says Ratnayake. "Years ago, Ayurvedic preparations

were in use mainly among the rural peasants and low-income people in urban

areas.

 

Now their use is gradually being adopted by upper urban classes and

becoming a trend among specially the young people." Citing Madana Modaka as

an example of a medicinal product that is being misused, he said, "Since

there are campaigns against abuses of drugs such as heroin, the young seem

to be under the impression that using an Ayurvedic product like Madana

Modaka could be less harmful to health."

 

He explains that the purpose of the proposed legislation is to allow only

the Commissioner of Ayurveda of the Ayurvedic Department to grow cannabis

in one central location, after estimating how many kilos would be needed by

the country's Ayurvedic practitioners per year and how many acres could

produce that amount, with due protection being accorded to the area. A

parallel can be drawn with opium, which is imported by the Ministry of

Health and issued to medical practitioners. He feels that another solution

could be to find an alternative to cannabis.

 

The Bill to legalise the controlled cultivation of cannabis is now at draft

legislation stage, the Sunday Observer learns. Tobacco, however, which is

proven to be harmful to health, continues to be cultivated, manufactured

and sold legally in Sri Lanka. Medical practitioners contacted by the

Sunday Observer declined to comment on the comparative health risks

associated with the two plants. One evaded the issue arguing that they were

regarded in different contexts.

 

Cannabis is not categorised as a drug in the UK. Dr. A. R. L. Wijesekera,

Former Government Analyst, Chairman Sri Lanka Standards Institution, and

Consultant to the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board, says that

although cannabis is a Schedule 1 drug with no medicinal use, in UK under

the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, relating to dangerous drugs, the

cultivation of cannabis is permitted under licence issued by the Secretary

of State for purposes such as research. "In fact, premises may also be

granted licences for smoking of cannabis for purposes of research."

 

California decriminalised medical marijuana (as it is referred to in the

US) in 1996 according to an Inter Press Service report of December 5, 2003.

Eight other U.S. states have followed suit. Thirty five states were

reported to have passed laws recognising marijuana's medicinal values,

while Jamaica's Ganja Commission recognised possible negative effects of

use and abuse of ganja.

 

"It is the flowering tops of the cannabis plant which contain the highest

amount of the active ingredient Tetra Hydro Cannabinol (THC) and is made

into the brown coloured narcotic, hashish, explained Dr. Wijesekera. "Local

Ayurvedic preparations only use the leaves and seeds which have very little

THC. The controlling mechnism would be controlling the quantity of THC."

 

According to the Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Act No.13 of 1984,

penalties for possessing cannabis depend on the quantity possessed, he

said. "Legislation for Ayurvedic practitioners concerns the preparation

quantities stated in the Ayurveda Pharmacopoeia and they are hardly

detectable."

 

A_Shiva_Dass

[Guest guest]

MARIJUANA IS MEDICINE,

by S. Heumann. Hereby released to Public Domain.

 

How sick do you have to be to find compassion in society?

Marijuana is medicine for anorexics getting way too thin.

If I have asthma, must I choke while you forbid my therapeutic toke?

 

Glaucoma can make you blind while drug-war hypocrites suppress the Kind.

 

How sick do you have to be to get compassion from society?

Cancer patients' chronic pain can be dissociated in the brain;

 

They can keep medications down if they can smoke the safest drug around And even tolerate radiation with a little tolerance from this great nation.

 

Governor Wilson, with your veto pen, you know where to stick it and we'll tell you when. If sending messages is your concern, here's one that you've been much too slow to learn:

 

Marijuana is medicine, the jails are fat and the schools are thin.

 

Forcing patients to break your laws serves no political or moral cause.

 

Marijuana's Medicine!