A verse-by-verse examination of Arjuna’s soma experience and Krishna’s psychedelic guidance in the Bhagavad Gita • Explains how the Bhagavad Gita provides complete guidelines for the spiritual use of entheogens--from prior mental preparations to the integration of profound visionary insights into everyday consciousness • Examines Chapter XI of the Gita in detail to illuminate Arjuna’s hallucinogenic experience and expose Krishna as the ultimate psychedelic guide • Shows psychedelic experience to be an essential and ancient part of the path to spiritual transformation Known as a text of liberation and enlightenment and praised not only by Indians but also by prominent modern thinkers such as Aldous Huxley and Albert Einstein, the Bhagavad Gita is one of the most commented-upon books of all time, yet one aspect has never before been examined: Arjuna’s psychedelic soma experience with his guru Krishna. Drawing upon his many years as a student of Nitya Chaitanya Yati, whose teacher was Gita scholar Nataraja Guru, preeminent disciple of Narayana Guru, Scott Teitsworth explains how the Bhagavad Gita, through the story of the hero Arjuna and his guru Krishna, provides complete guidelines for the spiritual use of entheogens, from prior mental preparations to the integration of profound visionary insights into everyday consciousness. Examining Chapter XI of the Bhagavad Gita verse by verse, he illuminates Arjuna’s complex revelatory experience and exposes Krishna’s role as the ultimate spiritual guide--facets of the Gita evident to anyone with psychedelic experience yet long suppressed in favor of paths to enlightenment through service or meditation. He shows that psychedelics are indeed “gateway drugs” in that they stimulate open exploration of the mind and the meaning of life. Uncovering new depths to this revered manual of spiritual instruction, Teitsworth reveals psychedelic experience to be an essential and ancient path to ignite realization in the prepared student, turn theory into direct experience, and bring the written teachings to life.

It has been twenty-four hours since Layla last had cocaine. The blonde American now on a flight to New Delhi with her one white child and one brown child is struggling to keep it together. As she departs the airplane, all she can focus on is how quickly she can hook up with her friend and drug baron Leonardo so he can provide her with her next fix. Layla, a flower child of the 1960s, has travelled around the world in search of a utopian land. Her life story begins with her wild rock and roll years in New York and continues on to tell of her hippie days in San Francisco and Goa where hippies of the world converged to partake in a bohemian lifestyle. Here, her heady ways were combined with a few unfortunate incidents and wrong choices, ultimately leading her to her spiritual awakening, but not before paying a dear price. This compelling story line weaves 1960s and 70s style hedonism, Indian culture, drugs, family, devastation, passion, spirituality, and endearing characters into an engaging tale. The author takes you on a journey of vivid impressions, bringing to life the spirit of a lost era.

Naturally occurring DMT may produce prophecy-like states of consciousness and thus represent a bridge between biology and religious experience • Reveals the striking similarities between the visions of the Hebrew prophets and the DMT state described by Strassman’s research volunteers • Explains how prophetic and psychedelic states may share biological mechanisms • Presents a new top-down “theoneurological” model of spiritual experience After completing his groundbreaking research chronicled in DMT: The Spirit Molecule, Rick Strassman was left with one fundamental question: What does it mean that DMT, a simple chemical naturally found in all of our bodies, instantaneously opens us to an interactive spirit world that feels more real than our own world? When his decades of clinical psychiatric research and Buddhist practice were unable to provide answers to this question, Strassman began searching for a more resonant spiritual model. He found that the visions of the Hebrew prophets--such as Ezekiel, Moses, Adam, and Daniel--were strikingly similar to those of the volunteers in his DMT studies. Carefully examining the concept of prophecy in the Hebrew Bible, he characterizes a “prophetic state of consciousness” and explains how it may share biological and metaphysical mechanisms with the DMT effect. Examining medieval commentaries on the Hebrew Bible, Strassman reveals how Jewish metaphysics provides a top-down model for both the prophetic and DMT states, a model he calls “theoneurology.” Theoneurology bridges biology and spirituality by proposing that the Divine communicates with us using the brain, and DMT--whether naturally produced or ingested--is a critical factor in such visionary experience. This model provides a counterpoint to “neurotheology,” which proposes that altered brain function simply generates the impression of a Divine-human encounter. Theoneurology addresses issues critical to the full flowering of the psychedelic drug experience. Perhaps even more important, it points the way to a renewal of classical prophetic consciousness, the soul of Hebrew Bible prophecy, as well as unexpected directions for the evolution of contemporary spiritual practice.

A verse-by-verse examination of the guide to self-transformation presented in the Bhagavad Gita • Reveals the scientific approach to personal development and spiritual enlightenment laid out in Krishna’s advice to Arjuna • Shows how the Gita prepares you to work with a guru, advocating authenticity and skepticism rather than blind devotion and obedience • Explores Krishna’s advice on which societal limitations to reject to overcome your fears and reconnect with the suppressed parts of your inner being Drawing on his more than 40 years of in-depth study of Indian Philosophy under the tutelage of his guru, Nitya Chaitanya Yati, author Scott Teitsworth explores the scientific approach to self-transformation and spiritual enlightenment encoded in Krishna’s advice to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita. Providing a verse-by-verse examination of the first two chapters, he reveals the Gita’s lessons to prepare the seeker to meet and successfully work with a guru--whether an outside teacher or the intuitive knowledge that arises from overcoming the psyche’s learned limitations. The author shows that the Gita does not advocate blind devotion to a guru or god but rather personal development, victory over your fears, and liberation of the psyche. He demonstrates how Krishna’s advice provides tools to guide us out of our fear-based experiences to reconnect with the suppressed parts of our inner being. He explains how Arjuna’s doubts and confusions represent the plight of every person--we are born free but gradually become bogged down by the demands of our society, continuously dependent on outside authority for answers and disconnected from our true inner nature. He reveals how Krishna’s advice offers guidance for dealing with life’s conflicts, which societal limitations to reject, and how to see through the polarizing notion of good versus evil to form a balanced state of mind superior to both. Restoring the fearless vision of the ancient rishis, who, like today’s scientists, prized skepticism as an important technique for accessing truth, Teitsworth reveals the Gita as a guide to an authentic guru-disciple relationship as well as to constructing a life of significance, freedom, and true sovereign adulthood.

KRISHNA'S COUNSEL sweeps you back to sleepy south India in the 1960s, right into the tumultuous life of Pia, a brilliant and defiant teenager whose world disintegrates under the brutal sword-thrust of an eerie death. It is the loving gift of a magnificent view of eastern philosophy - particularly a poignant scene in the Bhagavad Gita, when Lord Krishna advises the quailing warrior Prince Arjuna to pick up his great bow Gandiva and forever rout the corrupt foe, regardless of the consequences - that saves her from certain self-annihilation. Many years later, now a gorgeous woman living in frenetic New York City, Pia is tracked down and coaxed to return to India to deal with an insistent throng of old ghosts. But horror strikes yet again - and she is compelled by supernatural agents to heed Lord Krishna’s timeless advice as she finds herself on the trail of a charming psychopath who will stop at nothing to kill her.

Unity is about transformational changes on the horizon that could bring about a "Golden Age" of peace and prosperity, an idea that unites the prophecies of ancient civilizations. Beginning with the new vegan healthcare standard recommended by the largest health insurance company, Unity describes the levels of food consciousness and comprehensive healthcare policy reform. Unity then defines the development of higher consciousness and the art, science, and technology of Enlightenment. Next, the application of these contemplative studies is critical to solving the crisis of civilization: for preventing catastrophic superstorms and implementing the idea of "spiritual geoengineering" to bring about environmental harmony. The final chapter is on the application of higher consciousness to political and social revolution for the renewal of democracy, equality, justice, and peace.

Winner of the Randolph Caldecott Medal and the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award! Jean-Michel Basquiat and his unique, collage-style paintings rocketed to fame in the 1980s as a cultural phenomenon unlike anything the art world had ever seen. But before that, he was a little boy who saw art everywhere: in poetry books and museums, in games and in the words that we speak, and in the pulsing energy of New York City. Now, award-winning illustrator Javaka Steptoe's vivid text and bold artwork echoing Basquiat's own introduce young readers to the powerful message that art doesn't always have to be neat or clean—and definitely not inside the lines!—to be beautiful.