Soma-rasa: a spiritual perspective

Dr Satish K Kapoor

It is commonly believed that Soma-rasa is an alcoholic beverage that was used by the Aryans in ancient times. But there is much more to it, in a spiritual sense.

Soma is a key concept in the Vedic literature. It has a number of connotations, sometime based on analogies, as one may discern in the 9th book of the Rigveda and in the Samaveda. Soma is likened to the Supreme Lord. It stands for all the deities (somah sarva devata) viz. Agni, Apah, Indra, Brihaspati, Pushan, Aditi, Rudra, Varuna and Prajapati. The word ‘soma’ is also equated with friend, fame, ecstasy and affluence. In the sense of moon, it nurtures plants and herbs. 

As a plant par excellence, Soma is classified into 24 species, and is said to grow on the Mujavat, Arbuda, Sahya, Mahendra, the Himalaya and other mountains. According to the Shatapatha Brahmana (VI. 1.3.10), Soma is ‘the conceptual beverage of gods.’  It is a vehicle of immortality, a drop of life, a supreme medicine, and so on. For use in sacrificial rites, Soma is pounded with stones or in a mortar, and then cleaned and processed. As an oblation (havih) in yajna it goes to Indra who, in the metaphysical sense, is the resplendent Self, ‘the soul who drinks Soma’ shooting forth from anandamaya and vijnanmaya sheaths, in the subtle human body. The ambrosia of Soma is fermented and distilled in the inner consciousness of one’s self. Says the Samaveda  (purvarchika : prapathaka IV : ardha II, khanda XII dashati 6 :347) :  asavi  soma  indra  te  shavishtha  dhrishnava  gahia  tva  prinaktvindriyam rajah suryo na  rashmibhih.

‘Come O strong and courageous resplendent self, spiritual elixir has been pressed out for you. May you be filled with spiritual vigour as the sun fills the sky with its rays.’

Swami Satya Prakasha Saraswati and Satyakam Vidyalankaar observe in the Introduction to the Samaveda that Soma and Sura cannot be equated. ‘While both are exhilarating at the first experience, the former is vitalizing, the latter is stupefying – alcohol or Sura weakens the man physically, morally and intellectually. The Soma is truth (satya), prosperity (shri) and light (jyotih). The Sura is untruth (anrita), misery (papma) and darkness (tamas). 

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, a 15th century Sanskrit manual on Hatha Yoga by Yogi Swatmarama, does not regard Soma-rasa (juice of soma) as a man-made, intoxicating beverage but as the exudation of nectar which a yogi partakes after mastering the khechari mudra in which the tongue is turned backwards into the hollow of the skull and the mind focused on ajna cakra, between the eyebrows. 

All this goes to prove that Soma-rasa, in its metaphysical aspect, is not an alcoholic drink, but the divine elixir, which a yogi or a highly evolved soul, can savour  by surrendering his mind and ego to the divine self,  conquering his lower nature and conserving his energy by undergoing specific hatha-yoga practices.    

(Dr Satish K Kapoor, a former British Council Scholar, is a noted educationist, historian and spiritualist based in Jalandhar City.)