Orientalist and musicologist, Alain Daniélou studied (1935–1948) Sanskrit, philosophy, theology, and music in traditional Hindu schools in Benares.
By Alain Daniélou
A friend of the great Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, he penetrated Hindu mysticism through music, poetry, and theater. A professor at the Hindu University of Benares (1948–1954), he later took over the direction of the library of Sanskrit manuscripts and editions in Adyar, Madras (1953–1956). A member of the French Institute of Indology and the French School of the Far East (1956–1963), he later served as director of the International Institute for Comparative Music Studies in Berlin and Venice. Among his many publications, in Spanish we have a text written jointly with Jorge Luis Borges on the secrets of the Tantras. For Alain Daniélou, the West lost its own tradition and distanced man from nature and the divine. If it wants to survive, it will have to rediscover the Tradition of the multi-millennial religious and mystical experience that India has managed to preserve to this day.
Spirits, substances, and sacrifice
In the hierarchy of creation, the different aspects of matter and life correspond to codes—formulas that manifest primarily through subtle beings, spirits, geniuses, angels, or demons that govern the different aspects of creation and are embodied in substances, plants, animals, insects, and microorganisms in which the same codes are found.
There is, therefore, a kinship between certain plants, certain animals, certain bacteria, and certain types of humans, among whom affinities, forms of understanding, cooperation, mutual dependence, or, conversely, antinomies appear.
Life exists only by devouring life, and it is only by destroying and assimilating other living beings that the various species can subsist, reproduce, and exist as species.
According to their affinities, all species have indicated prey, whether they are carnivorous, fructivorous, herbivorous, or whether they feed on insects or plankton, but they are themselves prey to subtle entities that penetrate them, live in them, and eventually destroy them…
The rites of sacrifice, the consecration of the victim to a subtle entity, to a divinity, and its consumption allow for the establishment of a bond with the considered entity. This is the foundation of all religions. We thank the gods for the foods that are the support of our life. It is through ritualized communion that we invite a god, a spirit, to enter us in order to modify our behaviors, to allow us in some cases to come into contact with subtle beings, to develop our perceptions, and even to reach levels of consciousness that are normally out of our reach.
In the rite of sacrifice, we evoke the presence of a divinity, of a subtle being that penetrates us through communion, the consumption of the victim. This is the meaning of the Christian ritual in which the spirit of the wine becomes the blood of Christ, absorbed with respect by the parishioners in the Orthodox rite (in the Catholic rite, only the host, which is the flesh of Christ, is given to the parishioners; the wine, the blood of the sacrificed god, is consumed only by the officiating priest). Through repeated consumption, without this transmutation, it is only the spirit of the vine that enters us, takes possession of us, and we become alcoholics, possessed by the spirit of the vine which, little by little, controls our will and makes us dependent on it.
It is through rites that we can provoke its transmutation into a beneficial spirit of the vegetable kingdom.
The knowledge of shamans and the Bhang ceremony
The awareness of the continuity between the subtle world of spirits and their incarnation in living beings constitutes the basis of shamanic knowledge. Since the dawn of humanity, shamans observed that some substances coming from plants, fungi, and insects allowed for the development of ecstatic states through which the represented subtle beings penetrated human organisms, eventually incarnated in new forms of life, and took possession of individuals who, at times, became their slaves. It is essential to understand this relationship between certain substances and the subtle spirits whose structures they embody if we seek to analyze the functioning of substances we call hypnotic, which have always played an important role in all religions for the perception of extrasensory worlds and the development of certain forms of knowledge and spiritual realization, as well as the attainment of beatific states.
All religions used certain drugs to allow the individual to overcome their animality, even when this use became purely symbolic, like wine in the Christian ritual. In India, Bhang, a hemp drink that replaced the Vedic Soma, plays an important role in the development of the perceptions of Yogis and the visions of mystics.
The experiences that allow for contact with subtle beings and the development of certain faculties are part of the approach to the supernatural and must be strictly controlled through rites that determine their limits. The goal is to expand our possibilities of knowledge and not to transform ourselves into fields of influence for the interested spirits.
In India, the Bhang ceremony unfolds as follows: during a meeting of a few adepts, the leaf is crushed between two stones and rinsed with abundant water, which allows for the extraction of harmful elements. A drink is prepared with almond milk, mixing in the equivalent of a large olive of Bhang that each person ingests with respect. Then, the participants separate; they take a bath and dress in clean clothes. They meet again and, after approximately two hours, the spirit of Bhang manifests, creating a state of euphoria and heightened perceptions, followed by a drowsiness during which a long, luminous corridor with wonderful colors is perceived, leading to celestial visions. This vision is similar to that perceived by some at the moment of death. But Bhang never causes death and, little by little, the spirit gathers itself, satisfied with the welcome it has been given, leaving the vessel in a state of peace and happiness that can last for several days.
Yogis who take massive doses of Bhang come to perceive the structure of the Cosmos and of matter, as well as the splendor of the celestial worlds. But one must not disturb their lethargy, or they risk serious mental disturbances and difficulties in readaptation. The practice of smoking hemp is strongly discouraged in India. The toxic elements are not eliminated, and the spirit of hemp, invited while one continues with other activities, is bothered and outraged. It then tends to implant itself, creating an dissatisfaction that provokes addiction and corresponds to a possession from which one can only free oneself with a ritual of exorcism in which, by venerating the spirit of Bhang, one convinces it to abandon the person who became its victim.
Addiction as possession and the pharmacopoeia of spirits
The phenomenon of addiction to certain drugs is in reality a phenomenon of possession that can only be treated through procedures of exorcism. It is through the ritualized and controlled use of hypnotic drugs that one can appease the interested spirit and free the possessed living being after invitations and communions that did not take into account its sacred role.
The spirits of hemp, tobacco, poppy, and coca are divinities friendly to man that allow him to soften his sufferings and open the doors of the subtle worlds for him; their prohibition, like their irrational use, are equally erroneous and provoke the malevolence of the outraged divinities.
The entire pharmacopoeia is linked to the presence in some plants of vital formulas that correspond to certain spirits. Their use must therefore be prudent and cautious. Many times they are poisons that kill in high doses and cure when used with moderation. Datura, the sacred flower of the god Shiva, master of life and death, which provokes states of ecstasy, is also a deadly poison.
Epidemics are manifestations of subtle spirits that have the purpose of restoring the balance of species. The plague, cholera, typhus, tuberculosis, and today AIDS, must be considered as divinities that can be invoked through prayers and rituals. However, it is necessary that those invocations be directed to the interested spirit, and that is where one must know the effective rites.
I have seen cases of smallpox considered hopeless by modern doctors be cured through prayer ceremonies, using the repetition of magic formulas, offerings of incense, flowers, water, fruits, and the juice of certain sacred plants to the goddess of smallpox.
It is because of its misunderstanding of the reality of the subtle world that modern materialism has become its victim.
