The Psychological Meaning of Soma

BOOK 9 of the Rig Veda contains 114 hymns to Soma. Soma is presented variously as a god, an ambrosia of immortality drunk by gods, and a ritual elixir with spiritual powers consumed by human beings. Our main interest here is what Soma means in terms of archetypal psychology, and especially what it symbolizes at the level of spiritual consciousness, meditation, contemplation and the like.

In the Vedas, Soma — the drink and the god — is associated with a vivifying, quickening and strengthening of consciousness.  Because consciousness itself may be directed in many ways (e.g., sensation, thought, contemplation) so too the gifts of Soma are manifold.  Here the reader is encouraged simply to read a few of the Hymns of Book 9.  Good examples include Hymns 1, 4, 28, 36, 81, 86 and 100.

My own conjecture is that what’s being described is a dramatic change from the ordinary, fallen consciousness of daily life to a transformed, vitalized, sacred and transcendent experience of the world (outer and inner).  It corresponds to what mystics call unitive life.  In terms both of Platonism and Maslow’s humanistic psychology, it is to achieve the cognitive state of Being, as opposed to merely Seeming;  cf. jivana mukti state, Asrani (2012).  Stated in the most exalted terms, we might call this temporarily living as an incarnate god, breaking down the boundaries of time and Eternity.

The Soma principle evidently adds to human Consciousness an affective dimension of intoxication, delight, joy and pleasure. As a god, Soma is associated with the Moon (which beautifies objects by reflecting the Sun’s light). Soma also has parallels with the Greek god, Dionysius.

Two important myths are associated with Soma.  In one, the powerful deity Indra (a sky god and counterpart of Zeus) drinks hefty amounts of Soma in order to gain sufficient strength and resources to defeat the primal serpent, Vrtra. Vrtra is the source of the evils that afflict humanity (or, symbolically, that which oppose the integrity of the human psyche).

In another myth, the Asuras (good divinities) defeat the Devas (demonic powers) in a war to see who will have access to Soma, the elixir of immortality. This myth resembles the war between the Olympians and the Titans in Greek mythology: psychologically, the Asuras symbolize the more virtuous elements of the psyche, and the Devas our powerful natural appetites in their unregulated condition.

Because the descriptions for the preparation of Soma are so detailed in Rig Veda 9, it’s generally been assumed that the drink was actually consumed in ancient religious practices.  This view is supported by the fact that the Persian equivalent, called haoma, described in the Avesta, is still drunk by certain Zoroastrians.  There has been much speculation as to what this ancient drink might have contained. One widely spread (but scarcely credible) theory is that ancient Soma was based on hallucinogenic mushrooms (either psilocybin, or Amanita muscaria).  A more popular view today is that the ancient Aryans brought to India a drink based on some combination of cannabis, ephedra and opium.  This view is supported by (1) ancient and continued use of cannabis as an entheogen by some Hindu sects, (2) use of ephedra in the above-mentioned contemporary Zoroastrian drink, and (3) most intriguingly, recent discoveries of 4000 year-old temple complexes in Turkmenistan that contain many vats, sieves and so on evidently used for food or drink preparation that contain residues of these three substances.

Even if there was historically a drink, Soma, made of psychedelic substances, our greater concern is not what went into it, but what positive alterations of consciousness are described. The Soma hymns were likely composed over many centuries. While initially they may have been used in connection with actual drinking rituals, over time the genre might have been adapted to instead convey allegorical and psychological teachings.  Nevertheless if ancient people did drink a beverage made of cannabis and ephedra, it must have packed quite a wallop! Throughout the hymns we find images of powerful steeds, chariots and bulls.

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References

Asrani, U. A. The Psychology of Mysticism. In: John White (ed.), The Highest State of Consciousness 2nd ed., White Crow, 2012. (Article originially appeared in Main Currents in Modern Thought, 25, 68–73, 1969.)

Choudhury, Raja. Soma: The Psychedelic Origins of Religious Experience. Video. 27 August 2015.

Frawley, David. The Flow of Soma. American Institute of Vedic Studies. 25 November 2020.

Frawley, David. Soma, the Bliss Principle in Vedic Knowledge. American Institute of Vedic Studies. 4 November 2020.

Griffith, Ralph T. H. The Hymns of the Rigveda. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. Benares, 1897. (web version)

Maslow, Abraham H. The Farther Reaches of Human Nature. New York: Viking, 1971 (republished: Arkana, 1993). Ch. 9. Notes on Being-Psychology. pp. 121−142.

Muthukumaraswamy, M. D. Churning of the Ocean: The Myth and its Yogic Interpretations. Sahapedia (website). 19 June 2019

Sarianidi, Victor. Margiana and Soma-Haoma. Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies, Vol. 9, 2003.