Cannabis (Ganja) first appeared in historical and fossil records about 12,000 years ago. It has no known evolutionary predecessor, meaning the DNA structure of cannabis is unique to any other plant on Earth, leading some to believe it did not evolve on this planet. Cannabis is a Greek word that combines “canna,” which is the root of “canine” or “dog,” with “bis” or “bi,” which represents the number two. The word Cannabis means the “two-dog star.” Sirius. The plant of the Dog Star.
In Mali, West Africa the Dogon Tribe, the oldest recorded users of Ganja, claim that cannabis, the “two-dog plant” , was brought to Earth from Sirius (the two-dog star), when Earth was visited by beings called the Nommo. According to the Dogon legend, the “two-dog plant” Ganja was brought to earth by the Nommo and for thousands of years, The Dogon Tribe has celebrated this event every 50 years. Though Sirius the Dog Star star is not visible from earth without a telescope, the Greek historian Herodotus recorded that the Dogan Tribe knew the location of this hidden star long before Sirius B was visible or photographed with modern telescopes and that the celebration had been going on for many years when he witnessed it.
The word Ganja comes from the Sanskrit Ganga who is the Goddess of the river Ganges. Ganja (cannabis) grew wild along the banks of the Ganges River in India and the plant gets its name from this sacred river. Ganja has been used for thousands of years as a sacrament by Indian Saddus (holy men) in their daily practice. It is used to clear the mind of distractions, calm the senses and to invoke Shiva the God of dance and destruction and the Goddess Durga the divine mother, protector and deliverer.
For 25 years I have been telling people that I was an American History teacher, a football coach and a writer and a filmmaker but I have also been a Ganja-Walla. The illegal Ganja trade generates tremendous profits and therefore draws the unwanted attention of thieves, murderers, robbers, swindlers, cocaine friends, gold diggers, kidnappers, and crooked cops. The legal Ganja trade has proven to be even more difficult to navigate for those old school cowboys with a predisposition toward decency. The floodgates have been opened to bankers, vulture capitalists, tech boys, crypto douchebags, celebrity wanna-bees and the carpet bagging politicians and tenaciously inept bureaucracies that tool for them.
I first became a Ganja Walla at the age of 14. I was living with my father in a two-bedroom cabin just outside the village of New Vrindavan, in the backwoods of Marshall County, West Virginia. My mother had left my father who by then had become a bitter, abusive and violent alcoholic. My mother had finally had enough and she had taken my 8 brothers and sisters and moved into the Hare Krishna Temple in Pittsburgh. I remained behind as a sort of caretaker/hostage. I was there to make sure that my dad stayed away from my mom as the Judge had ordered him, and to make sure he didn’t commit suicide like he threatened to do if my mom ever left him. I ended up being his lookout and his mule. By then he was so paranoid he couldn’t trust anyone else.
DAD
My father Gregory Wayne Detamore was born along the Eastern shore in Cambridge, Maryland and shared a birthday with President Donald J. Trump. Cambridge, Maryland had served as a major port for the transatlantic slave trade the 18th century and was also the the birthplace of the Underground Railroad Conductor Harriet Tubman. My father came from a long line of Scotch-Irish corn farmers and fishermen who had turned to bootlegging whiskey and rum during Prohibition. By the time my dad was growing up his family had moved into the antique business, something my dad could not stand. He couldn’t be bothered with anything conventional or old fashioned, except for baseball. Growing up, the one thing my dad loved more than anything was baseball. As a freshman he stole more bases than any player in Dorchester County but by the end of his sophomore year he had dropped out of high school and left home soon after that. He took to smoking grass, taking LSD and supported the anti-war movement, especially because his number could come up in the draft anytime. He had just come back from Woodstock when he met my mother walking with her two sisters on the Boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland.
MOM
Olive Marguerite Moore was the daughter of the Reverend Allen George Moore and Jane Elizabeth Lang of Baltimore, Maryland. The Reverend Moore attended Marysville College in Tennessee and then went on to Princeton Seminary. At Princeton he served as Albert Einstein’s assistant, serving him his meals and keeping his house clean. During World War 2 the Rev. Alan Moore was a Chaplain in the US Navy in the Pacific Fleet. He met my grandmother Jane Elizabeth Lang who was also from Baltimore at a USO dance in Los Angeles. In 1953 the Reverend Moore founded Hope Presbyterian Church in Baltimore. The city of Baltimore was still segregated in those days and the Reverend Moore was an active supporter of the civil rights movement. Dr. King once came to my grandparents' house for dinner and was actually the first black person that my mother Olive Marguerite Moore ever met.
Olive’s brother Robert had been accepted to the United States Naval Academy and graduated from Annapolis with a degree in Computer Science. At the time he was one of the few people at the Academy who knew anything about computers or they would have no doubt kicked him out on account of his abysmal fitness reports. He once told me that he held the record for graduating from the Naval Academy with the most demerits. Uncle Bob was a voracious eater and loved to drink, and though he was in the best shape of his life at that time he still managed to pack on the pounds during his time in Annapolis. Ensign Moore’s first assignment after graduating from the United States Naval Academy was assembling an IBM computer system for His Majesty the Emperor Haile Selassie Ethiopia. My Uncle Bob once told me there were lions roaming free all over the palace of King Salassie Jah Ras Tafari. They seemed to be well fed and it was a good thing too. He told me that if the lions had wanted to eat him they could have. No one would have stopped them.
My mother was the youngest daughter in a family of 9 children. She and her sisters Susan, Chris and Deborah sang in the choir and my mother played the piano at the Rev. Moore’s church. My mother’s Aunt, Olive Tuttle Sullivan was a wealthy widow and her godmother. She dreamed that my mother would enroll in the Peabody Conservatory at John Hopkins University. My mother attended Arbutus Junior High School in Baltimore, Maryland. David Byrne, the lead singer of the Talking Heads was her classmate. No doubt everyone thought he was the weirdest kid in school at least until the little blond girl who played piano dropped out of high school to marry my dad and join the Hare Krishnas.
“Don't you know her
When you see her?
She grew up
In your back yard
Come back to us
Barbara Lewis
Hare Krishna
Beauregard”
John Prine
It was 1970 and my mother was 15 when she told her parents that she was pregnant with me and that she was in love with my father. Her family immediately demanded that she have an abortion and have nothing to do with my dad. My mother’s Aunt Olive who professed to be a devout Catholic, threatened to dis-inherit her if she refused and married my father but my mother would not be persuaded. She refused to have an abortion. Olive Tuttle Sullivan was related somehow to Dr. Arnold Tuttle who had written the US Army Field Surgeon’s Manual “Handbook For The Medical Soldier” and the widow of John Sullivan, a well-known builder in Baltimore who some said had mob connections. John Sullivan had died and had left Aunt Olive a very wealthy woman. Aunt Olive did disown my mother when she married my father, depriving my mother of what would have been a substantial inheritance. Aunt Olive eventually left her entire estate to the Archdiocese of Baltimore. These properties were later sold and used to pay off the victims Catholic priests sexual abuse.
“And she’s buying the
Stairway to heaven.”
Robert Plant
Eventually the Reverend Moore relented and married my parents in his church and soon after that I was born. My parents moved out of their little apartment on High Street in Cambridge, Maryland and moved to Boulder Colorado. My dad got a construction job working on the new housing developments that were going up for IBM employees. My mom got a job at the A&P as a checkout girl. Then one fateful day I would do something that would change my parent’s lives forever.
I was 1 year old and was sitting in the stroller playing with my dad’s wallet as my parents walked through the Aurora Mall in Boulder. A young blond Hare Krishna girl with a red dot on her forehead, wearing a nose ring and dressed in a colorful sari approached my parents. The woman asked them if they liked the Beatles. It was 1972 and George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” was the number one single in the US that year. “ Did they lke the Beatles?” Of course my parents answered yes. In her hand the Hare Krishna woman held a beautiful silver framed hard backed book. On the cover was a picture of an Indian deity and the words “Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead. She opened the book and there written in George Harrison’s handwriting were the words.
“All you need is Love (Krishna) “
George Harrison
The Hare Krishna woman in the sari tried to explain about yoga and reincarnation and that chanting was the ultimate form of yoga but my dad wasn’t having it. He handed the lady her book back and told her thanks but no thanks. They didn’t want to join a cult today. A few minutes later the Hare Krishna woman in the sari came running up behind them holding my dad’s wallet in her hand. “Your son must have dropped this,” she said, handing the wallet to my dad. After looking inside to see if the money was still there my dad felt bad and bought the book.
Soon after reading “Krishna The Supreme Personality of Godhead”, my parents packed everything they owned into their car and moved into the Hare Krishna Temple on Cherry Street just off Colfax Avenue. My father shaved my head bald and my mother made saffron robes for me. My dad was a carpenter and he was recruited to help finish construction of the Los Angeles New Dwarka Temple. From there we moved to New Vrindavan, West Virginia. It was there that my parents met Kirtananda Swami, the founder of New Vrindaban who they would serve with absolute devotion as God’s representative on earth until he was exposed as a fraud and eventually sent to federal prison.
Keith Gordon Ham AKA Kirtananada Swami was born September 6, 1937, the son of a Baptist minister in Peekskill, New York. He had contracted polio as a child and walked with a cane even as a young man. In spite of his physical ailment Keith was a charismatic orator and a brilliant student. He attended Marysville College in Tennessee, like my grandfather the Rev. Alan Moore, and earned the Woodrow Wilson fellowship to study American History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
It was there that Keith Ham met Howard Wheeler who was to be the love of his life and his partner in crime in this world and probably the next.
Howard Morton Wheeler who later took the name Hayagriva Das was the scion of a prestigious Pensacola family with the distinction of being both Daughters of the American Revolution and United Daughters of the Confederacy. While he was a student in Chapel Hill Keith who considered himself a modern-day prophet began to promote LSD to his tiny flock on campus. Howard was his chief apostle, a brilliant aristocratic hedonist who was perfectly at ease with his divine right to his own hypocrisy. Keith and Howard withdrew from the University of North Carolina in 1961 after being threatened with expulsion when their homosexual relationship was discovered.
Keith and Howard moved to New York where they enrolled in Columbia University. In 1965 Keith and Howard travelled to India in search of a Guru. They returned disillusioned by the experience convinced that the gurus of India were no better than carnival barkers selling snake oil, cut from the same cloth as American television evangelists. Keith, who imagined himself as a guru already had a small band of followers at Columbia University when he met Abhay Charan De Bhaktivedanta Swami, the founder of the Hare Krishna Movement.
Abhay Charan De Bhaktivedanta Bhaktivedanta Swami was born September 1, 1896 in Calcutta, India into a Vaishnava family. He completed his classes from Scottish Church’s College in Calcutta but refused to accept his degree in solidarity with Gandhi's protest against British rule. As a young man Abhay Charan De desperately wanted to overthrow British rule. While Gandhi advocated the path of satyagraha, non-violent protest, Abhay Charan was a supporter of Subhas Chandra Bose who aligned himself with Adolf Hitler and advocated the violent overthrow of the English colonists.
Abhay’s guru Bhaktisidhana Swami told Abhay Charan De to give up on his political ambitions, as there was no material solution to a spiritual problem. Whether the Persians, the Afghans or the British ruled India, life did not change much for the common man who was suffering all around the world. At the age of 50 Abhay Charan left his family and took the renounced order of a Sanyasi,donning the saffron robes of a monk and taking the name Bhaktivedanta Swami. At the age of 69 Abhay Charan Bhaktivedanta Swami sailed to America to spread the Benediction Moon of Lord Chaitanya’s Sankirtan Movement. His early days were marked by profound disappointments. He was ridiculed by his peers in India who thought his mission would end in failure. He had written to his god-brothers asking for help but received none. After his apartment was robbed and his typewriter was stolen, Bhaktivedanta Swami was on his way to inquire about return passage to India when he met Howard Wheeler walking down the street.
Howard Wheeler had just returned from India with Keith Ham. They had travelled to India on the Jaladutta, the same freighter that brought the Bhaktivedanta Swami to America. Howard approached Bhaktivedanta Swami and began to question him, puzzled by the sudden appearance of an Indian swami on the bank of the East River. Bhaktivedanta Swami told Howard that he was giving classes on the Bhagavad Gita, the Song of God and invited Howard to come. Howard couldn’t wait to tell the others. Imagine after going all the way to India to find a guru now finding a Swami living on the Lower East Side. Keith and the others were skeptical. They had seen their share of “Swamis” and up till that time they were not impressed.
The next Monday Howard, Keith and the others arrived at a small storefront on 26 Second Avenue. A neon sign left behind by the previous owners flashed the words “Matchless Gifts.” Sandalwood incense burned reminding them of the temples in India they had visited. At the front of the room was a small altar with pictures of Indian gods they did not recognize. Someone had placed straw mats on the floor for people to sit on. A half dozen other people were also sitting and waiting. As they waited for the Swami, others came in. Bhaktivedanta Swami entered through the hall door, sat on one of the straw mats and faced his congregation. His attire was simple: a saffron dhoti worn in the style of a Sanyasi monk, and a saffron chadar over his shoulders. He sat erect and cross-legged, his face was serene, meditative, and radiated with joy and compassion. Picking up a pair of kartals, (brass hand cymbals), he plays them and begins to chant. After chanting for a few minutes the Swami stops and explains.
“Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Hare, Krishna, and Rama. These names of God are the transcendental seeds of the maha- mantra, the great mantra.” he tells them.
“Krishna means all attractive. In Bhagavad-gita, Krishna declares Himself to be the Absolute Truth, Bhagavan, the possessor of all opulence. Atma, the Self, is subordinate to Paramatma, the Supersoul,” Bhaktivedanta Swami tells them.
“This Paramatma, the Supersoul is Krishna, is manifested in the hearts of every living entity. Everything is subordinate to the personality Krishna. The demigods, Brahman, time, space, the spiritual and material universes, and all incarnations and avatars are all subordinate to Krishna. Krishna is the sum total of everything; and yet He is beyond everything. To realize the supreme ultimate truth is to realize Krishna, and realizing Krishna means becoming His devotee. Every living entity is an eternal servant of Krishna. This is our svarupa, our eternal identity. Mantra means mind control. All of us see things not as they are but as our minds conceive them. “ Bhaktivedanta Swami tells them.
“This chanting will cleanse the dust from the mirror of your mind allowing you to perceive things, as they truly are, part and parcel of Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead”.
Bhaktivedanta Swami ’s conviction is absolute and it was contagious. Keith and Howard who had arrived with the intention of discrediting the Swami decide immediately accept Bhaktivedanta Swami as their guru and join his mission. Keith’s LSD flock from Columbia join next and they bring their friends, many of whom begin to attend the Swami’s lectures, decorating the temple, passing out fliers at Columbia University and organizing the first public kirtan at Tomkins Square Park.
The poet Allen Ginsburg has been chanting ‘Hare Krishna” at anti-war marches and Howard Wheeler sends him an invitation. Allen Ginsburg was considered by many to be the poet laureate of the beat generation. His poem “Howl” was an ode to the wasted youth of postwar America and cry against materialism, military oppression, and sexual repression. He is a fierce anti-authoritarian and vocal anti-war protestor. Ginsburg comes to visit the Swami with his lover Peter Orlovsky. He brought a harmonium from Calcutta as a gift for Bhaktivedanta Swami . Prabhupada tells Allen Ginsburg that it was Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the chanting of the Hare Krishna Mantra that inaugurated civil disobedience in India. Bhaktivedanta Swami tells Ginsberg.
“When the government officers broke the sankirtan drums, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu personally led thousands of people to the Chan Kazi’s palace. Finding nothing in the Koran prohibiting the chanting the Quazi then agreed to lift his ban on the chanting and promised that his descendants would do the same after him. A peaceful revolution had taken place in the heart of Mughal India and the Hindus were now allowed to practice their faith after 500 years of oppression. The principle of Satya-Graha or non-violent protest had been established. So, you are a very influential man. I request that you chant this Hare Krishna at your poetry readings and other public functions. So this is a great opportunity for you to introduce this Krishna consciousness. Hare Krishna can purify everyone.”
Ginsberg listens and promises to chant Hare Krishna every day but tells Howard that he does not think Prabhupada’s message will be well received. Giving up eating meat was one thing, but asking hippies to give up taking drugs and having sex in the middle of the sexual revolution was a tough sell. It turned out Ginsberg was wrong. In fact there were thousands of people who were disenchanted with sex, drugs and hedonism of the hippies. A great many of them were Catholics or Jews like Ginsberg disenchanted with their own parents' materialistic lifestyles and trying to one up them in austerity and piety. When an old Jewish mom asked Bhaktivedanta Swami.
“Why do so many Jews join the Hare Krishna's?" she asked the Swami.
“Because they are intelligent.” Bhaktivedanta Swami answered.
The old bubby couldn’t have been happier. Bhaktivedanta Swami always knew exactly what to say to anyone.
Allen Ginsberg and Bhaktivedanta Swami have their differences but Ginsberg invites Prabhupada to chant with him at every opportunity. In January of 1969 they organized the Mantra Rock Dance at the AvalonBallroom in San Francisco.
The Grateful Dead opened the show followed by Moby Grape. Then Big Brother and the Holding Company took the stage. After Janis finished her set Bhaktivedanta Swami took the stage. Allen Ginsburg introduces the Swami and tells the crowd how he found the Hare Krishna Mantra in India. “Now the Krishna consciousness has come to the West, to the Haight-Ashbury. I especially recommend the early morning kirtans,” Ginsburg adds, “for those who want to stabilize their consciousness on LSD re-entry.“
Within the next 5 years the International Society for Krishna Consciousness [ISKCON] spread across North America establishing temples in 20 cities in the US, Canada and Mexico. After Bhaktivedanta Swami meets the Beatles in London, George Harrison records “My Sweet Lord “with Phil Spector, Billy Preston, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Bobby Whitlock, Carl Raddle, and Jim Gordon who would in the future form Derek and the Dominos. In 1970, the song topped the charts at number 1 in the United Kingdom and in the US.
At first and especially in public, Bhaktivedanta Swami would cooperate with anyone who was receptive to chanting Hare Krishna. To his disciples he mocks the “uptown gurus” in their elaborate yogic poses.
“Om. I am moving the sun. I am moving the moon,” He rolls his eyes. Everyone laughs.
“Just see what nonsense,” he says.
As for the anti-war movement Prabhupada considered it as a waste of time. “We are against war, of course. We are not causing harm to any living entity. “People are eating meat,” and we will have wars as long as people eat meat. But in this material world death is staring at us every moment. Just as college students prepare for their final examination, we must prepare for the examination at death. Whatever we do for perfection will be tested at the time of death. If we pass that exam, we are transferred to the spiritual world.”
Commenting on the civil rights marches, Bhaktivedanta Swami preaches, “What is this nonsense? People are thinking, ‘I am black, white, red, yellow.’ All this is skin disease. False designations. I am not this body. What am I? Aham Brahmasmi: I am Brahman, spirit soul. Since this knowledge is lacking, they are fighting like cats and dogs, and they will continue until they transcend their skin disease and understand that they are spiritual sons of Krishna, eternally part and parcel of Him.
Prabhupada dismisses the NASA moon landing as a hoax. “They are trying to reach the moon and other higher planets by material means. Impossible. They will not be permitted entry. You must qualify spiritually to go there. Just as you require a visa to enter another country, a spiritual visa is required there. According to the Vedas, the moon is a higher planet where demigods live in advanced civilizations.”
“The last snare of maya is to think, ‘I am God. I control everything.’ But these rascal yogis claim this, and so cheat the innocent public. Give me some money. I will teach you yoga.”