Wines and Spirituality

It all began with a thought during one of my wine drinking sojourns which I never miss even for a day. This thought was about the connection of spirituality with the consumption of wines, or for any other material that can move the mind. Let me make this extremely clear (to whomsoever it may concern) that I am not a drunkard. If I were the latter, I would not have been in a position to experience all that do experience at the time of my drinks. But I do drink to the extent that my mind moves away from the daily chores to dwell deep into the realms of the unknown. Due to a very basic spiritual inclination, I keep thinking about nothing but the Lord. In order to ensure that this connection is not impeded in any way, I prefer solitude over being with friends. To that extent it is a deliberate attempt to explore the existence, or rather the non-existence, of the Almighty.

My feelings, experience and understanding of the connection between wines and spirituality was further accentuated when I found an article written stating that it is the Vatican City that has the largest per capita consumption of wines in the world. For your benefit, this can be read here. The reason given is that the people, by virtue of their tradition, drink in communities. But, my reasoning is that this is a simplistic assumption. The tradition of wine drinking is age old, and it was present even at the time of Jesus. It is said that even Jesus loved wines. Consumption of wines was one of the most cherished things during those times as well and was a part of the daily routine. Wines were consumed to be joyful.

A little more research in the history of this subject took me to Lord Shiva and Lord Indra from the Hindu mythology both of whom are well known to consume some sort of substances that take them to a different realm of thought. Hindu mythical literature mentions ‘somras’ which is the drink of the lords and is consumed in heaven. Lord Shiva also used to consume ‘bhang’ a psychotropic substance which induces state of heightened focus. Similar references can also be had from mythological literature from around the world. Wines or other alcoholic beverages have been known to aid meditation, bring joyfulness and good health. The consumption might also have been aided due to climatic conditions since the weather was a lot cooler during those times.

So, at last, there was a relief with this realization that I am not the only one to experience this connect and that it has been continuing for ages. I am just a part of this age old tradition. This realization further motivates to continue to buy wines and consume these with delight. May be we turn into better human beings!!