Soma

Soma

In Vedic India, the world was seen as being the constant ritual of sacrifice, the transformation of life into life. Eating other living things is to continue living. This is the strange destiny of living in this world. All living things are part of the food chain, and are either eating or being eaten. This process of devouring and being devoured was considered the essential nature of creation.

Thus the ritual of the universe was seen as consisting of two elements, fire and offering.

Fire (Agni), the mouth of the gods, is the enjoyer, that which eats, consumes, digests, lusts, heats
Soma, the sacrificial offering, the ambrosia of the gods, is that which is enjoyed. It is the food, the fuel, the victim, the desired, that which cools or slakes the heat of desire

Fire is the sun, golden red
Soma is the moon, midnight blue, the color of night.

Fire expands
Soma contracts

When something expands to its limit, it must contract again. Therefore fire becomes soma, and soma, upon being sacrificed, becomes fire.

Fire was captured and tamed, and men became partners with the gods. It brought wealth and good fortune - it cooked their food, brought light to the darkness and kept them warm. It could be brought into the home and kept alive through careful feeding. It had to be properly propitiated with offerings or it would die. It protected men from the hostilities of the wilderness. Through fire, men could communicate with the gods and the higher spiritual realms.
Soma is the substance of life. All things are born from food, live from food and in the end become food. Without it there is no life, no seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling or touch, and no thinking. More specifically, soma as a ritual offering was considered to be the wine that fuels the fire. The Brahmanic priests prepared an offering that was probably made from an extract of the wild rhubarb plant (Aclepius Acida or Sarcostemma viminale), mixed with ghee (clarified butter) and fermented into a wine. This wine was used in sacrificial rituals (Yajna) to represent Soma.

Parallels abound in other spiritual traditions. The ritual sacrifices of the Israelites and of virtually all ancient cultures was based on the same principle. The sacrifice of the 'lamb of God' was meant to reflect this symbolism as well, but here the spiritual body was shown to have eternal life as opposed to a mere mortal one. The ritual of mass or communion is eating the (spiritual) body and drinking the (spiritual) blood. In Islam a ritual is performed prior to killing animals for meat. Saying 'grace' before a meal also originates from this most ancient practice. Even the horrific human sacrifices of the Aztecs, the Thuggees, etc., as crude and barbaric as they were, were based on the same principle of ritual sacrifice.

The fire worship and rituals were the preserve of the Brahmanic caste, who monopolized religious ceremony at the time of Sakyamuni. The rise of Buddhism was a challenge to that monopoly.

From a spiritual context, the fire & soma rituals were ceremonies of the threefold realm of life & death (samsara) and Sakyamuni's teaching was about spiritual progress beyond the threefold realm - hence his teaching transcended that of the Vedic rituals. The Buddha taught that salvation/enlightenment was not to be achieved through such rituals.

Instead he taught that morality, concentration, insight, and the eightfold path was the way to arise from the threefold realm. It was a revolutionary act for him to teach that individuals outside of the Brahman caste could pursue a spiritual quest that was superior to the Vedic rituals. It was the first time in India that a morality-based religion seriously challenged the nature-based religion of India.

Later Buddhist movements including the Tantric and Shingon movements re-adopted various Brahmanic Indian rituals, including the Fire/Soma rituals, giving them a Buddhist interpretation. In these fire offerings (S. Homa), fire represents the wisdom that extinguishes all that is impermanent and transient in the threefold realm, including emotional desire & distress (klesas), false views, etc.

The burning of incense and offering of flowers, fruits, etc. are also gestures along these lines, but it is offering the bounty of the threefold realm to the Three Treasures, not the fire-breathing mouth of the gods of nature. Incense here represents the sacrifice of embracing of the precepts of morality, and flowers and fruits symbolize the causes and effects made on the path of enlightenment, all in service to the purpose of the Buddha. Meat is not offered up in Buddhist ritual due to the prohibitions about taking the life of sentient beings.

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