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the slogan of which is 'here and now,' whatever has to come. so the hippies comprise an alternate society. Therefore, those who get bored, perturbed and frustrated with the existing society seek refuge with them. The hippie is happy 'here and now.' He is always in bliss, he enjoys the blissful moment at hand and does not bother for tomorrow.
The first view which I hold regarding the hippie revolt is -- let me catch the thread from the foregoing, that is, from psychedelic drugs -- that certainly a glimpse of samadhi can be had by the use of chemical drugs, but only a glimpse and not the state. Let us be very clear about this. What Mahavir, Kabir and Buddha attained was a state and not the glimpse. But even a glimpse is of no small value. However to take the glimpse as the state is a mistake. On this point I strongly differ from the hippies because they are mistaking the glimpse as the state. A glimpse is only a glimpse, and the glimpse which is dependent upon a tablet cannot transform a person. A person reverts to his former state after the effect of the tablet wears out. But it is not so with Buddha. Even though the ecstatic state passes away, yet he continues to be a changed person. The man he used to be before the realization of Truth, Brahman, Self, Liberation or Nirvana, dies, so to speak, and a changed man is born out of the ashes. This constitutes his second birth, and the Vedic scriptures give such a person the name DWIJ (twice born). He is a new man; the old one is dead and gone. But the drugs give only a glimpse and no the state.
The hippies are correct to this extent, that this glimpse is valuable; and if those who have no experience of it, get it, they may be inspired to attain the state of samadhi. For instance, I am sitting here, and though I have not been to London or New York, yet I can have a glimpse of these cities by seeing a film depicting them. However, this would not mean my being in London or New York, though I may get an idea to visit these cities on seeing the film. It may inspire the undertaking of a journey. Drugs can be beneficial for the first step of the flight to the unknown. I am quite in agreement on this point with
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