Opinion

An invitation to the Gods to Sin

The Ayahuasca experience has been described as an extraordinary encounter with the supernatural

March 29, 2024

Ayahuasca: Sacred Amazonian plant medicine

Heaven is for luxuriating, Hell is for regretting and Earth is for sinning! Even the Gods when they desire to sin have to descend down to Earth. The denizens of Hell also need to relocate to Earth, as and when they have the urge to sin. It is only Earthlings who have the unique privilege of enjoying sinning, on an everyday basis, multiple times, and in innumerable ways! Even the Gods envy the humans, as well as the beings living in Hell. They crave for an invitation to spend quality time on Earth in the august company of human beings. And how do the humans invite the Gods and the denizens of Hell? Humans alone possess the hallucinogenic plant Ayahuasca or the Vine of the Dead. A whiff of the Ayahuasca smoke is all that is needed to invite the Gods, denizens of Hell, and even extra-terrestrial beings, to enjoy the earthly privilege of sinning.

Ayahuasca (pronounced eye-ah-wah-ska) is a plant-based psychedelic drug, found in Peru, Ecuador, and other countries along the Amazon basin. The word Ayahuasca translates to “vine of the soul” in the Quechua language. Since time immemorial the tribes residing in the vicinity of the Amazon basin have used it for esoteric spiritual, and ceremonial purposes. It’s usually brewed into a tea or a concentrated liquid to drink or is smoked, and known by different names like Huasca, Yagé, Kamarampi, and Huni.

It’s a mixture of two plants and contains chemicals that can affect the senses and make the person get a quick “high.” When it is drunk, it alters the thought process, blurs the senses, and causes distortions in time perception. Strange hallucinations of unseen Gods, conversing with strange beings, about life and death, and even the secrets of the Universe, any weird thing can happen.

A huge South American tourism industry has been built around the magic of Ayahuasca. There is a 5-day trek to Machu Picchu through the classic Inca Trail, that gives the tourist an astounding Ayahuasca experience in the Peruvian Amazon jungle of Cusco.

Preparing Ayahuasca is quite difficult, and is similar to the manufacturing process of many Ayurvedic medicines. Ayahuasca is made by shamans using the Ayahuasca vine (Which contains natural chemical compounds that resemble DMT) and the Chacruno leaves (which enable Ayahuasca metabolization within the human body). These two plants are to be collected on a full moon or early in the morning, by the person, who should also observe fasting. Around ten kilos of Ayahuasca are needed to prepare the infusion. For this, the Ayahuasca vine is crushed to enable easier cooking. Then a kilo of Chacruno is added. Sometimes tobacco and coca leaves are also added. The preparation is boiled for 12 hours in about 50 litres of water. While it is being prepared, there are continuous chants by shamanic chants known in the Amazon as Icaros. Continuous boiling for several hours results in the 50 litres of the initial preparation getting reduced to around 2 litres of Ayahuasca, which is a liquid with a viscous texture and a reddish-ochre colour. When this liquid is consumed, it opens up communication channels with a more than 5000-year-old ancient Amazonian deity, named Ayahuasca, which is believed to surround all living beings of this world and the eternal world. The communication with the ancient spirit, done at night, opens up a great introspection trip, replete with hallucinations, visions, the out-of-the-world sensations, as the Shaman keeps chanting prayers, invocations, songs, and blessings. There is an intermingling of energies from plants, divine beings, and human participants, opening up deep spiritual insights, insight into relationships, and unknown connections to nature, the universe, and one’s own psyche. Different states of enlightenment are transcended, opening up dimensions of sentimental and material aspects of life.

The Ayahuasca experience has been described as an extraordinary encounter with the supernatural. The scariest part of the Ayahuasca experience is the possibility of seeing ourselves, an unparalleled experience, a terrifying interaction, that defies all logic and science, as it unravels who you are, and invites you to learn deeper about yourself. It is often described as a journey of self-discovery.

Then there is another experience of delving into past lives, not just of humankind, but past births that took the form of various flora and fauna, life in all its manifestations and intriguing relationships. The ‘God encounter’ experience, or tryst with God as known to the individual is a commonly reported experience. There are visions and terrors reported as Ayahuasca-ingested individuals skim through various supernatural domains, including canals of rebirth.

Many who have taken Ayahuasca say it is like an instantaneous and accelerated session of psychoanalysis. Encountering Gods can be illuminating a bigger picture, that of a spiraling journey, uncovering layers of ancestry, Karmic bonds, and the bonds between humans and Gods, and the denizens of Hell.

Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.

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