India Psychedelic

India Psychedelic
Author: Sidharth Bhatia
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2014-02-05
Genre: Music
ISBN: 9350298384

The never-before-told story of the rock music scene in India of the 1960s and '70sIndia in the 1960s and early 1970s: a nation of perennial shortages. Into the staid and conservative landscape come floating in the sounds of 'Love, love me do'. Four young boys from Liverpool in 1962 set off a storm that swept teenagers in every remote corner of the world. In socialistic India, too, youngsters put on their dancing shoes to groove to this new sound, so different from anything they had heard till then. Some grew their hair, put on their bell-bottoms and picked up their guitars and the Indian pop and rock revolution was born. But it was not just the music that was important.As Sidharth Bhatia's colourful and incisive book tells us, it was an attempt by a new, post-independence generation - midnight's children - to assert their own voice. Theirs was a voyage of self-discovery, as they set out to seek freedom and liberation from older attitudes and values. At the end of this era, nothing - politics, society and fashion - would ever be the same again.

Psychedelic White

Psychedelic White
Author: Arun Saldanha
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages: 253
Release:
Genre:
ISBN: 1452913072

"Psychedelic White is one of the most innovative, refreshingly different analyses of race I have read in the last decade." —Elizabeth Grosz, author of The Nick of Time: Politics, Evolution and the Untimely The village of Anjuna, located in the coastal Indian state of Goa, has been one of the premier destinations on the global rave scene for nearly two decades. The birthplace of Goa trance, the most psychedelic variety of electronic dance music, Anjuna first attracted adventurous Westerners in the 1970s who were drawn there by its tropical beaches, tolerant locals, and readily available drugs. Today, rave tourists travel to Goa to take part in round-the-clock dance parties and lose themselves in the crowds, the music, and the drugs. But do they really escape where they come from and who they are? A rich and theoretically sophisticated ethnography, Psychedelic White explains how race plays out in Goa’s white counterculture and grapples with how to make sense of racism when it is not supposed to be there. Goa is a site of particularly revealing forms of interracial collision, and contrary to author Arun Saldanha’s expectations that the nature of rave would create an inclusive atmosphere, he repeatedly witnessed stark segregation between white and Indian tourists. He came to understand race in its creative dimension as a shifting and fuzzy assemblage of practices, environments, sounds, and substances—dance skills, sunlight, conversation, cannabis, and tea. In doing so, his work shows how the rave scene in Goa harbors conflicting tendencies regarding race. The complicated intersection of cultures and phenotypes, Saldanha asserts, helps to consolidate whiteness. Race emerges not through rigid boundaries but rather through what he terms viscosity, the degree to which bodies gather together for pleasure and self-transformation. Challenging the prevailing conception of racial difference as a purely social construction and offering building on the works of Gilles Deleuze and Flix Guattari, Psychedelic White presents nothing less than a new materialist approach to race. Arun Saldanha is assistant professor of geography at the University of Minnesota.

High in the Himalayas

High in the Himalayas
Author: Marilyn Stablein
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2001-06
Genre: Himalaya Mountains
ISBN: 9781570271298

In the heyday of the sixties, during a seven-year stay in the Himalayas, Marilyn Stablein taught herself not only how to cook a curry on a cow-dung patty fire, but to master sadhu rituals like preparing chillums. Whether describing Mishra's bhang lassi shop, the government hash store, her meeting with cannabis guru Ganesh Baba, or a trek to a cave in Kashmir to view Lord Shiva's miraculous ice lingham, Stablein is an intrepid adventurer and humorous chronicler. Pamphlet.

Secret Drugs of Buddhism

Secret Drugs of Buddhism
Author: Michael Crowley
Publisher:
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2019-10-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780907791744

Secret Drugs of Buddhism explores the historical evidence for the use of entheogenic plants within the Buddhist tradition and calls attention to the central role which psychedelics played in Indian religions.

Krishna in the Sky with Diamonds

Krishna in the Sky with Diamonds
Author: Scott Teitsworth
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2012-01-25
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 159477711X

A verse-by-verse examination of Arjuna’s soma experience and Krishna’s psychedelic guidance in the Bhagavad Gita • Explains how the Bhagavad Gita provides complete guidelines for the spiritual use of entheogens--from prior mental preparations to the integration of profound visionary insights into everyday consciousness • Examines Chapter XI of the Gita in detail to illuminate Arjuna’s hallucinogenic experience and expose Krishna as the ultimate psychedelic guide • Shows psychedelic experience to be an essential and ancient part of the path to spiritual transformation Known as a text of liberation and enlightenment and praised not only by Indians but also by prominent modern thinkers such as Aldous Huxley and Albert Einstein, the Bhagavad Gita is one of the most commented-upon books of all time, yet one aspect has never before been examined: Arjuna’s psychedelic soma experience with his guru Krishna. Drawing upon his many years as a student of Nitya Chaitanya Yati, whose teacher was Gita scholar Nataraja Guru, preeminent disciple of Narayana Guru, Scott Teitsworth explains how the Bhagavad Gita, through the story of the hero Arjuna and his guru Krishna, provides complete guidelines for the spiritual use of entheogens, from prior mental preparations to the integration of profound visionary insights into everyday consciousness. Examining Chapter XI of the Bhagavad Gita verse by verse, he illuminates Arjuna’s complex revelatory experience and exposes Krishna’s role as the ultimate spiritual guide--facets of the Gita evident to anyone with psychedelic experience yet long suppressed in favor of paths to enlightenment through service or meditation. He shows that psychedelics are indeed “gateway drugs” in that they stimulate open exploration of the mind and the meaning of life. Uncovering new depths to this revered manual of spiritual instruction, Teitsworth reveals psychedelic experience to be an essential and ancient path to ignite realization in the prepared student, turn theory into direct experience, and bring the written teachings to life.

Sacred Knowledge

Sacred Knowledge
Author: William A. Richards
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2015-12-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0231540914

Sacred Knowledge is the first well-documented, sophisticated account of the effect of psychedelics on biological processes, human consciousness, and revelatory religious experiences. Based on nearly three decades of legal research with volunteers, William A. Richards argues that, if used responsibly and legally, psychedelics have the potential to assuage suffering and constructively affect the quality of human life. Richards's analysis contributes to social and political debates over the responsible integration of psychedelic substances into modern society. His book serves as an invaluable resource for readers who, whether spontaneously or with the facilitation of psychedelics, have encountered meaningful, inspiring, or even disturbing states of consciousness and seek clarity about their experiences. Testing the limits of language and conceptual frameworks, Richards makes the most of experiential phenomena that stretch our understanding of reality, advancing new frontiers in the study of belief, spiritual awakening, psychiatric treatment, and social well-being. His findings enrich humanities and scientific scholarship, expanding work in philosophy, anthropology, theology, and religious studies and bringing depth to research in mental health, psychotherapy, and psychopharmacology.

The Psychedelic Gospels

The Psychedelic Gospels
Author: Jerry B. Brown
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2016-09-15
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1620555034

Reveals evidence of visionary plants in Christianity and the life of Jesus found in medieval art and biblical scripture--hidden in plain sight for centuries • Follows the authors’ anthropological adventure discovering sacred mushroom images in European and Middle Eastern churches, including Roslyn Chapel and Chartres • Provides color photos showing how R. Gordon Wasson’s psychedelic theory of religion clearly extends to Christianity and reveals why Wasson suppressed this information due to his secret relationship with the Vatican • Examines the Bible and the Gnostic Gospels to show that visionary plants were the catalyst for Jesus’s awakening to his divinity and immortality Throughout medieval Christianity, religious works of art emerged to illustrate the teachings of the Bible for the largely illiterate population. What, then, is the significance of the psychoactive mushrooms hiding in plain sight in the artwork and icons of many European and Middle-Eastern churches? Does Christianity have a psychedelic history? Providing stunning visual evidence from their anthropological journey throughout Europe and the Middle East, including visits to Roslyn Chapel and Chartres Cathedral, authors Julie and Jerry Brown document the role of visionary plants in Christianity. They retrace the pioneering research of R. Gordon Wasson, the famous “sacred mushroom seeker,” on psychedelics in ancient Greece and India, and among the present-day reindeer herders of Siberia and the Mazatecs of Mexico. Challenging Wasson’s legacy, the authors reveal his secret relationship with the Vatican that led to Wasson’s refusal to pursue his hallucinogen theory into the hallowed halls of Christianity. Examining the Bible and the Gnostic Gospels, the authors provide scriptural support to show that sacred mushrooms were the inspiration for Jesus’ revelation of the Kingdom of Heaven and that he was initiated into these mystical practices in Egypt during the Missing Years. They contend that the Trees of Knowledge and of Immortality in Eden were sacred mushrooms. Uncovering the role played by visionary plants in the origins of Judeo-Christianity, the authors invite us to rethink what we know about the life of Jesus and to consider a controversial theory that challenges us to explore these sacred pathways to the divine.

The Harvard Psychedelic Club

The Harvard Psychedelic Club
Author: Don Lattin
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2011-01-04
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0061655945

This book is the story of how three brilliant scholars and one ambitious freshman crossed paths in the early sixties at a Harvard-sponsored psychedelic-drug research project, transforming their lives and American culture and launching the mind/body/spirit movement that inspired the explosion of yoga classes, organic produce, and alternative medicine. The four men came together in a time of upheaval and experimentation, and their exploration of an expanded consciousness set the stage for the social, spiritual, sexual, and psychological revolution of the 1960s. Timothy Leary would be the rebellious trickster, the premier proponent of the therapeutic and spiritual benefits of LSD, advising a generation to "turn on, tune in, and drop out." Richard Alpert would be the seeker, traveling to India and returning to America as Ram Dass, reborn as a spiritual leader with his "Be Here Now" mantra, inspiring a restless army of spiritual pilgrims. Huston Smith would be the teacher, practicing every world religion, introducing the Dalai Lama to the West, and educating generations of Americans to adopt a more tolerant, inclusive attitude toward other cultures' beliefs. And young Andrew Weil would be the healer, becoming the undisputed leader of alternative medicine, devoting his life to the holistic reformation of the American health care system. It was meant to be a time of joy, of peace, and of love, but behind the scenes lurked backstabbing, jealousy, and outright betrayal. In spite of their personal conflicts, the members of the Harvard Psychedelic Club would forever change the way Americans view religion and practice medicine, and the very way we look at body and soul.

Horn Please

Horn Please
Author: Dan Eckstein
Publisher: powerHouse Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre: India
ISBN: 9781576877067

One unmistakable feature of the Indian highway is the presence of these brightly decorated trucks that ply the country's roads. The men who drive these trucks spend long hours on the road and can be away from their families for weeks at a time, so their trucks act as a second home and they take great pride in them. In Horn Please photographer Dan Eckstein travelled across India's byzantine and burgeoning road network documenting these elaborate trucks - representing a blinding mash up of new and old India.

Shanti Bloody Shanti

Shanti Bloody Shanti
Author: Aaron Smith
Publisher: Roaring Forties Press
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2013-09-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1938901134

Journalist Aaron Smith never planned to go to India before he had a contract put on his life by a drug dealer, when suddenly India seemed like the perfect place to get lost. In the process, he ended up finding himself, as well as encountering a dead body or two, witnessing the tragic death of a friend, dodging terrorist attacks and a revolution, and befriending a colorful cast of characters. Pulling no punches, this Gonzo-styled, page-turning Indian adventure has pathos, self-deprecation, and a wicked sense of humor. It provides a raw, honest, and amusing appraisal of traveling through contemporary India.