Thursday, December 20, 2007
Soma and offerings in Hindu and Buddhist Tantra
In certain plates of the secret visions of the fifth Dalai-Lama (the “great fifth”), a skull is used to contain the burnt parts of the lingam, the modelled or paper figure accused of evil, which is ritually burnt, and the skull hidden in the ground.
Soma itself is a sacred drink, which sometimes becomes the god Soma. Its composition has given rise to many interpretations. It is sometimes sarcostemma viminale or asclepias acida, and can lead to divine exhilaration, perhaps with added hallucinogenic substances such as hemp. The composition varies according to the type and place of the ritual. Some rituals require plants to be ground up during the ceremony, indicating that they were collected locally.
Certain Siva traditions consider sperm as soma. A fair number of hymn texts describe Siva or Indra ejaculating into the mouth of Agni, the god of fire. Representations of this episode are to be found, notably, on bas relief of the 8th century at the temple of Bhubanesvar in Orissa. In hymn no. VI of the Rig Veda, section eight, are the lines:
"O Agni, the burnt offering has been hurled into your mouth, as the ghrita is poured into the spoon and the soma into the sacred vase. Give us great and glorious opulence, to assure us of abundance, renown and power."
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In certain plates of the secret visions of the fifth Dalai-Lama (the “great fifth”), a skull is used to contain the burnt parts of the lingam, the modelled or paper figure accused of evil, which is ritually burnt, and the skull hidden in the ground.
Soma itself is a sacred drink, which sometimes becomes the god Soma. Its composition has given rise to many interpretations. It is sometimes sarcostemma viminale or asclepias acida, and can lead to divine exhilaration, perhaps with added hallucinogenic substances such as hemp. The composition varies according to the type and place of the ritual. Some rituals require plants to be ground up during the ceremony, indicating that they were collected locally.
Certain Siva traditions consider sperm as soma. A fair number of hymn texts describe Siva or Indra ejaculating into the mouth of Agni, the god of fire. Representations of this episode are to be found, notably, on bas relief of the 8th century at the temple of Bhubanesvar in Orissa. In hymn no. VI of the Rig Veda, section eight, are the lines:
"O Agni, the burnt offering has been hurled into your mouth, as the ghrita is poured into the spoon and the soma into the sacred vase. Give us great and glorious opulence, to assure us of abundance, renown and power."
[Read More »]
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