Ganja denied.

[LuisDantas]

I fail to see why avoiding ganja would be a mistake for Hindus, much less a sign of "imperialism".

Societies change, and they also learn. Sometimes they learn better.

 

[Aupmanyav]

but even then the Vedas are said to list bhang as one of the five sacred plants.

Never heard of Vedas mentioning cannabis. Their favorite and that of their Gods was 'Soma' (probably Ephedra).

Ganja is not looked on in a medicinal or spiritual light.

You mean use of opiates in painful conditions. Yes, doctors may prescribe it. Only the Westerners get spiritual kicks out of ganja. Hindus and Buddhists (leaving aside the riff-raff only-in-name sadhus, who are just escapees from life) want super awareness for spirituality.

 

[Jaskaran Singh]

Never heard of Vedas mentioning cannabis. Their favorite and that of their Gods was 'Soma' (probably Ephedra).You mean use of opiates in painful conditions. Yes, doctors may prescribe it. Only the Westerners get spiritual kicks out of ganja. Hindus and Buddhists (leaving aside the riff-raff only-in-name sadhus, who are just escapees from life) want super awareness for spirituality.

I thought I responded to this before? (although I agree that smoking ga~njA doesn't lead to spiritual awareness, that's just nonsense):

They also talk about marijuana, although only in one verse of the atharvaveda saMhitA:
pá~ncha rAjyÁni vIrúdhAM sómashreShThAni brUmaH|
darbhóbha~Ngó yávaH sáhasténo mu~nchantváMhasaH||11.6.15||
Also, we grind padmA~Nkura to extract liquid, not ephedra, when making soma, although I agree that no one knows what the plant actually was, as the method of producing it varies by shAkhA.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Oh! Normally when I talk about Vedas, I mean RigVeda. Yes, you mentioned it earlier.