BaulOlogy Moner Manush (The Man of My Heart) Revisited

BaulOlogy

Moner Manush

(The Man of My Heart)

Revisited

The elusive ‘Moner Manush’ (‘The Man of My Heart’) has been the target of a certain segment of the artistic human society everywhere. Even the 2016 Nobel Laureate poet-songwriter-singer Bob Dylan, the unparalleled Beatles, the energetic Sir Mick Jagger lead vocalist & founder member of the rock band Rolling Stones have not been exceptions, not to speak of our own Fakir Lalon Shah and a few other creative geniuses who have contributed to the world of music, poetry, drama, and performing arts.

All of them did apprehend that this ‘Man of the Heart’ was within one’s own ‘Self’. And, they realised that it is that part of the ‘Self’ which you can TRUST, which gives you CONFIDENCE to take up a challenge, which tells you ‘YOU CAN DO’. But, in order for that part of your ‘Self’ to come out of its hard protective shell, it needed a trigger, and that trigger had to be acquired from outside – it was nothing but a ‘Phyto-cannabinoid’ like ‘Cannabis’ – which is known by many names like marijuana, pot, grass, hemp, and ‘ganja’ (in Bengali/Hindi). (Reference 1).

‘Cannabinoids’ are a group of compounds found in the plant ‘Cannabis’, also known as ‘marijuana’. (Reference 2). Similar to ‘opioids’, ‘cannabinoids’, produce their effects by interacting with specific receptors, located within different parts of the ‘Central Nervous System’ (‘CNS’). ‘Opioids’ are substances that act on opioid-receptors to produce morphine-like effects – medically used for pain relief, including anaesthesia.

‘Cannabis’ belongs to the group of ‘Narcotic Drugs’ which are banned in most places. Although not legal, Cannabis has been cultivated in Afghanistan for centuries and in 2010, the United Nations reported that Afghanistan was the world’s top Cannabis producer. Cannabis is put under the group of ‘Drugs’ because it has medicinal value, but the use in the artistic circle that I’m talking about is for pleasure, motivation and recreation only. In order to get a kick of confidence, the drug-user becomes dependent on it as it is highly addictive like nicotine and alcohol. There are nasty withdrawal symptoms also.

The habituated ganja-smoking people do not know that there are ‘cannabinoids’ inside our brains also which are known as ‘Endo-cannabinoids’. ‘Anandamide’, a fatty acid neurotransmitter, was the first endocannabinoid to be discovered. It binds on the same cannabinoid receptors that the phyto-cannabinoid ‘cannabis’ (‘ganja’) acts in. (Reference 3). The brain chemical gets its tongue-twisting name from ‘ananda’, the Sanskrit word for ‘happiness, joy, contentment and delight. After the discovery of ‘Anandamide’ (also known as the ‘Bliss Molecule’), scientists began searching for cannabinoid receptors and found that the human body is brimming with them. They are in the lungs, liver, kidneys, white blood cells, reproductive organs, and in the gastro-intestinal and urinary tracts. The effects of ‘Anandamide’ are thus much more widespread than ‘ganja’. Suboptimal levels of ‘Anandamide’ can drain you of happiness, make you feel insecure & diffident, increase fear & anxiety, and rob you of the ability to cope with stress – the circumstances which make a habituated ‘cannabis’ (‘ganja’)-smoker to go for a ‘pot’. So, if your ‘Anandamide’ level in the body & brain is OK, then you do not need any phyto-cannabinoid to make up the deficiency.

Here comes the importance of ‘Neuro-management’ (‘NM’) – the new & novel multi-disciplinary domain that I’m trying to develop for the last 6-7 years. You have to discover your TRUE PASSION (one & only one) by using my 3D (Dream-Drive-Domain) approach which I’ve discussed in detail in my 2021 book (Reference 4). Once you have discovered your ‘True Passion’ and pursue it whole hog by utilising all your personal resources, you will remain in the ‘FLOW Brain State’ (‘FBS’) which will help you to access the ‘Bliss Molecule’ sources in your brain and different parts of your body. (Reference 5)

I am grateful to Professor Raphael Mechoulam of the Medicinal Chemistry Dept. at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who is considered the father of medical cannabis research. He discovered the ‘Endocannabinoid System’ (‘ECS’) in the 1980s and collaborated with his students and post-docs to identify & isolate the vital endogenous cannabinoids of the ECS including the ‘Anandamide’. (Reference 6). ‘Anandamide’ was first described (and named in 1992) by Prof. Mechoulam and his lab members W A Devanne & Lumir Hanus. I’ve learnt a lot from their work and also from the work of other medical cannabis researchers in Europe & USA with whom I’ve been in regular touch. ‘Anandamide’ plays a role in hunger, sleep, pain modulation, working memory, identification of novelty and interpretation of environment. In the pre-historic days, when health & medical sciences were totally unknown, ‘Anandamide’ was Mother Nature’s gift for safe & secure survival and growth. (References 6 & 7)

‘Endocannabinoids’ are released from the brain cells or ‘neurons’ wherever they are present in the head brain (between the ears in the cranium), the heart brain, and the gut brain. Levels are especially high in certain brain regions, including the ‘striatum’ (in the subcortical Basal Ganglia of the Forebrain) & the ‘brain stem’ (lower part of the brain connected to the spinal cord) that regulates most of the body’s automatic functions that are essential for life, including breathing & heartbeats. (Reference 8)

The Bauls & Fakirs have the practice of smoking hemp (the unreal ‘Moner Manush’) because, they possibly haven’t got the faintest idea as to how to awaken the real ‘Moner Manush’ (‘Man of the Heart’) – the ‘Bliss Molecule’ – ‘Anandamide’, which is present not only in the brain but spread all over the body in different organs and biological systems to facilitate overall well-being and homeostasis. I emphasize, that most Baul rituals and practices ought to be reviewed in modern times from scientific angles.

Link is provided to: (i) ‘Ache Moner Manush nirjonete’ by Sadhan Bairagya; and, (ii) ‘Ache jar Moner Manush mone tola’ by Shirin Sultana.

https://youtu.be/ZhSQJwx8UJo

https://youtu.be/PnBvGQ4XFCU

Those of you who are very keen to know about our natural endocannabinoid ‘Anandamide’, may watch these videos on YouTube: (a) The Discovery of Anandamide; (b) Cannabis/Marijuana:THC/Anandamide; and, (c) “Demystifying the endocannabinoid system” Talk by Ruth Ross, TEDxMississauga.

[References:

1. A. Douglas Kinghorn, Heinz Falk, Simon Gibbons, Junichi Kobayashi, Editors, “103 Phytocannabinoids: Unravelling the Complex Chemistry & Pharmacology of Cannabis sativa”, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, 2017.

2. Loralie J. Langman, Paul J. Jannetto “Toxicology and the clinical laboratory: Cannabinoid” In: Contemporary Practice in Clinical Chemistry (Fourth Edition), 2020, ScienceDirect.

3. Deane Alban, “Anandamide: Bliss Molecule for Happiness & Mental Balance”, Be Brain Fit, 16th January 2023.

4. Siddhartha Ganguli, “SMART Leading & Parenting of Teenage Kids in the Digital Era: A Neuro-managed Way”, New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 2021.

5. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “FLOW: The Psychology of Optimal Experience”, New York: Harper Perennial, 2008.

6. “Medical Cannabis Research: The Man Who Started It All -Raphael Mechoulam”, hempstreet, 6th September 2021.

7. “Anandamide” – Wikipedia.

8. David A. Greenberg, “Endocannabinoids”, Encyclopaedia of the Neurological Sciences, 2003.]