Why Lord Shiva Smokes Marijuana?

Question: Why Lord Shiva Smokes Marijuana?

My dear Gurudeva,

I beg to clarify a doubt. A Muslim friend of mine argued that Lord Shiva is considered as the greatest Vaishnava, but yet he contradicts Vaishnava principles by smoking marijuana. Why does Lord Shiva smoke marijuana, even though he is considered to be the greatest Vaishnava?

Surender K.

Answer: He Can Smoke It, While We Cannot.

Just as the sun is so powerful it can extract water from urine without being polluted, Lord Shiva is so powerful that he can swallow an ocean of poison without being harmed. Similarly, he can smoke marijuana without losing his stature as the greatest of Vaishnavas. Those who want to smoke marijuana, justifying this by Shiva's smoking it, will first have to prove their prowess by drinking an ocean of poison without being harmed.

I have not read anywhere where our acharyas have explained why he smokes marijuana. To know why he smokes it is not very important. The important thing to know is that he can smoke it, while we cannot.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Lord Shiva Drinks an Ocean of Poison

http://www.backtohome.com/images/shiva_drinks_poison.jpg

Śrīla Prabhupāda: We cannot imitate a powerful man. That is wrong. In our Vedic literature, there was a poison ocean, so people could not find out what to do with it. Then Lord Śiva said, "All right, I'll drink it." So he drank the whole poison ocean and kept it in his throat. Can you drink poison? Not the ocean—just one cup? So how can we imitate Lord Śiva? Lord Śiva never advised that we drink poison. So you have to abide by the advice, not imitate. These LSD and marijuana people say that Lord Śiva used to smoke gañja. But Lord Śiva drank the whole poisoned ocean. Can you do that? Lord Śiva's instructions should be taken. He says that the best worship is worship of Viṣṇu. Viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param. When he was asked by Pārvatī what method of worship is best, then he said, "The best worship is worship of Lord Viṣṇu [Kṛṣṇa]."
PQPA 8

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Comments

Shiva Shankar January 28, 2018 at 1:32pm

Śrīla Prabhupāda: We cannot imitate a powerful man. That is wrong. In our Vedic literature, there was a poison ocean, so people could not find out what to do with it. Then Lord Śiva said, "All right, I'll drink it." So he drank the whole poison ocean and kept it in his throat. Can you drink poison? Not the ocean—just one cup? So how can we imitate Lord Śiva? Lord Śiva never advised that we drink poison. So you have to abide by the advice, not imitate. These LSD and marijuana people say that Lord Śiva used to smoke gañja. But Lord Śiva drank the whole poisoned ocean. Can you do that? Lord Śiva's instructions should be taken. He says that the best worship is worship of Viṣṇu. Viṣṇor ārādhanaṁ param. When he was asked by Pārvatī what method of worship is best, then he said, "The best worship is worship of Lord Viṣṇu [Kṛṣṇa]."
PQPA 8
John H. Oleksy February 26, 2013 at 8:58am

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
M J March 12, 2012 at 9:23pm

My dear fellows Lord Shiva does not smoke Marijuana , he like taking Bhang and there is a scientific reason for that. Lord Shiva is a great Yogi and he is always in the mountains for the meditation. Mountains are really cold and in order to survive in these extreme weather he needs some medication so he uses Bhang as a substitute to calm his nerves to survive the extreme weather. This is also advised to those ascetics who wish to Meditate and chose to be in those extreme conditions. People are so good in picking things what they really want so those wanna be who want to find GOD but can not do anything about it misinterpret things and do whatever they wanna do. Like those hippies.

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