THEOSOPHY

CARDIFF

Theosophical Society, Cardiff Lodge

206 Newport Road, Cardiff,

Wales, UK, CF24 1DL.

 

 

H P Blavatsky

 

 

Glossary of Theosophical Terms

 

 

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Ab-e-Hyat, Water of Life, supposed to give eternal youth.

 

Abhava, negation or non-being of individual objects; the

substance, the abstract objectivity.

 

Adam Kadmon, the bi-sexual Sephira of the Kabalists.

 

Adept, one who, through the development of his spirit, has

attained to transcendental knowledge and powers.

 

Adhibhautika, arising from external objects.

 

Adhidaivika, arising from the gods, or accidents.

 

Adhikamasansas, extra months.

 

Adhishthanum, basis a principle in which some other

principle inheres.

 

Adhyatmika, arising out of the inner-self.

 

Advaiti, a follower of the school of Philosophy established

 

Ahankara, personality;  egoism;  self identity;  the fifth principle.

 

Ahriman, the Evil Principle of the Universe;  so called by the Zoroastrians.

 

Ahum, the first three principles of septenary human constitution;  the gross living body of man according to the Avesta.

 

A’kasa, the subtle supersensuous matter which pervades all space.

 

Amulam Mulam (lit. “the rootless root”);  Prakriti;  the material of the universe.

 

Anahatachakram, the heart, the seat of life.

 

A’nanda, bliss.

 

A’nanda-maya-kosha, the blissful;  the fifth sheath of the

soul in the Vedantic system;  the sixth principle.

 

Anastasis, the continued existence of the soul.

 

Anima Mundi, the soul of the world.

 

Annamaya Kosha, the gross body;  the first sheath of the

divine monad (Vedantic).

 

Antahkarana, the internal instrument, the soul, formed by the thinking principle and egoism.

 

Anumiti, inference.

 

Aparoksha, direct perception.

 

Apavarya, emancipation from repeated births.

 

Apporrheta, secret discourses in Egyptian and Grecian

mysteries.

 

Arahats (lit.”the worthy ones”), the initiated holy men of the Buddhist and Jain faiths.

 

Aranyakas, holy sages dwelling in forests.

 

Ardhanariswara, (lit. “the bisexual Lord”);  the unpolarized

state of cosmic energy;  the bi-sexual Sephira, Adam Kadmon.

 

Arka, sun.

 

Aryavarta, the ancient name of Northern India where the

Brahmanical invaders first settled.

 

A’sana, the third stage of Hatha Yoga;  the posture for meditation.

 

Asat, the unreal, Prakriti.

 

A’shab and Laughan, ceremonies for casting out evil spirits,

so called among the Kolarian tribes.

 

Ashta Siddhis, the eight consummations of Hatha Yoga.

 

Asoka (King), a celebrated conqueror, monarch of a largeportion of India, who is called “the Constantine of Buddhism,” temp. circa 250 B.C.

 

Astral Light, subtle form of existence forming the basis of our material universe.

 

Asuramaya, an Atlantean astronomer, well known in Sanskrit writings.

 

Asuras, a class of elementals considered maleficent; demons.

 

Aswini, the divine charioteers mystically they correspond to Hermes, who is looked upon as his equal.  They represent the internal organ by which knowledge is conveyed from the soul to the body.

 

Atharva Veda, one of the four most ancient and revered books of the ancient Brahmans.

 

Atlantis, the continent that was submerged in the Southern and Pacific Oceans.

 

Atmabodha (lit. “self-knowledge”), the title of a Vedantic treatise by Sankaracharya.

 

Atman, &c Atma.

 

A’tma, the spirit;  the divine monad;  the seventh principle of the septenary human constitution.

 

A’ttavada, the sin of personality (Pali).

 

Aum, the sacred syllable in Sanskrit representing theTrinity

 

Avalokitesvara, manifested wisdom, or the Divine Spirit in man.

 

Avasthas, states, conditions, positions.

 

Avatar, the incarnation of an exalted being, so called among

the Hindus.

 

Avesta, the sacred books of the Zoroastrians.

 

Avyakta, the unrevealed cause.

 

Baddha, bound or conditioned;  the state of an ordinary human being who has not attained Nirvana.

 

Bahihpragna, the present state of consciousness.

 

Baodhas, consciousness;  the fifth principle of man.

 

Barhaspatyamanam, a method of calculating time prevalent

during the later Hindu period in North-eastern India.

 

Bhadrasena, a Buddhist king of Magadha.

 

Bhagats (or called Sokha and Sivnath by the Hindus), one who

exorcises an evil spirit.

 

Bhagavad Gita (lit, the “Lord’s Song”), an episode of the Maha-Bharata, the great epic poem of India.  It contains a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna on Spiritual Philosophy.

 

Bhao, ceremony of divination among the Kolarian tribes of Central India.

 

Bhashya, commentary.

 

Bhon, religion of the aborigines of Tibet.

 

Bikshu, a religious mendicant and ascetic who suppresses all

desire and is constantly occupied in devotion;  a Buddhist monk.

 

Boddhisatwas, Egos evolving towards Buddhahood.

 

Brahma, the Hindu Deity which personifies the active cosmic

energy.

 

Brahmachari, a Bushman ascetic.

 

Brahmagnani, one possessed of complete illumination.

 

Brahman, the highest caste in India;  Brahman, the absolute

of the Vedantins.

 

Brahmana period, one of the four periods into which the Vedic literature has been divided.

 

Brihadranyaka Upanishad, one of the sacred books of the Brahmins;  an Aranyaka is a treatise appended to the Vedas, and considered the subject of special study by those who have retired to the forest for purposes of religious meditation.

 

Buddha, the founder of Buddhism;  he was a royal prince, by name Siddhartha, son of Suddhodhana, king of the Sakyas, an Aryan tribe.

Buddhi, the spiritual Ego.

 

Buru Bonga, spirit of the hills worshiped by the Kolarian

tribes of Central India.

 

Canarese, one of the Dravidian tongues, spoken in Southern India.

 

Chandragupta, one of the kings of Magadha, an ancient province of India.

 

Chandramanam, the method of calculating time by the movements of the moon.

 

Charaka, the most celebrated writer on medicine among the Hindus.

 

Chaturdasa Bhuvanam, the fourteen lokas or states.

 

Chela, a pupil of an adept in occultism;  a disciple.

 

Chichakti, the power which generates thought.

 

Chidagnikundum (lit. “the fireplace in the heart”), the seat

of the force which extinguishes all individual desires.

 

Chidakasam, the field of consciousness.

 

Chinmatra, the germ of consciousness, abstract consciousness.

 

Chit, the abstract consciousness.

 

Chitta suddhi (Chitta, mind, and Suddi, purification),

purification of the mind.

 

Chutuktu, the five chief Lamas of Tibet.

 

Daemon, the incorruptible part of man;  nous;  rational soul.

 

Daenam (lit. “knowledge”), the fourth principle in man, according to the Avesta.

 

Daimonlouphote, spiritual illumination.

 

Daityas, demons, Titans.

 

Dama, restraint of the senses.

 

Darasta, ceremonial magic practised among the Kolarian

tribes of Central India.

 

Darha, ancestral spirits of the Kolarian tribes of Central India.

 

Deona or Mati, one who exercises evil spirits (Kolarian).

 

Deva, God;  beings of the subjective side of Nature.

 

Devachan, a blissful condition in the after-life;  heavenly

existence.

 

Devanagari, the current Sanskrit alphabet.

 

Dharmasoka, one of the kings of Magadha.

 

Dhatu, the seven principal substances of the human body

·        chyle, flesh, blood, fat, bones, marrow, semen.

 

Dhyan, contemplation.  There are six stages of Dhyan, varying in the degrees of abstraction of the Ego from sensuous life.

 

Dhyan Chohans, Devas or Gods planetary spirits.

 

Dik, space.

 

Diksha, initiation.

 

Dosha, fault.

 

Dravidians, a group of tribes inhabiting Southern India.

 

Dravya, substance.

 

Dugpas, the “Red Caps,” evil magicians, belonging to the

left-hand path of occultism, so called in Tibet.

 

Dukkhu, pain.

 

Dwija Brahman, twice born;  the investiture with the sacred

thread constitutes the second birth.

 

Elementals, generic name for all subjective beings other than disembodied human creatures.

 

Epopta, Greek for seer.

 

Fakir, a Mahomedan recluse or Yogi.

 

Fan, Bar-nang, space, eternal law.

 

Fohat, Tibetan for Sakti;  cosmic force or energizing power

of the universe.

 

Fravashem, absolute spirit.

 

Gaudapada, a celebrated Brahmanical teacher, the author of commentaries on the Sankhya Karika, Mundukya Upanishad, &c.

 

 

Gayatri, the holiest verse of the Vedas.

 

Gehs, Parsi prayers.

 

Gelugpas, “Yellow Caps,” the true Magi and their school, so

called in Tibet.

 

Gnansaki, the power of true knowledge, one of the six forces.

 

Gujarathi, the vernacular dialect of Gujrat, a province of Western India.

 

Gunas, qualities, properties.

 

Gunava, endowed with qualities.

 

Guru, spiritual preceptor.

 

Ha, a magic syllable used in sacred formula;  represents the power of Akasa Sakti.

 

Hangsa, a mystic syllable standing for evolution, it literally means “I am he.”

 

Hatha Yog, a system of physical training to obtain psychic powers, the chief feature of this system being the regulation of breath.

 

Hierophants, the High Priests.

 

Hina-yana, lowest form of transmigration of the Buddhist.

 

Hiong-Thsang, the celebrated chinese traveler whose writings

contain the most interesting account of India of the period.

 

Hwun, spirit;  the seventh principle in man (Chinese).

 

Ikhir Bongo, spirit of the deep of the Kolarian tribes.

 

Indriya, or Deha Sanyama, control over the senses.

 

“Isis” (“Isis Unveiled”), book written by Madame Blavatsky

on the Esoteric Doctrine.

 

Iswara, Personal God, Lord, the Spirit in man, the Divine principle in its active nature or condition, one of the four states of Brahma.

 

Itchasakti, will power;  force of desire;  one of the six forces of Nature.

 

Itchcha, will.

 

Ivabhavat, the one substance.

 

Jagrata, waking.

 

Jagrata Avasta, the waking state;  one of the four aspects

of Pranava.

 

Jains, a religious sect in India closely related to the Buddhists.

 

Jambudvipa, one of the main divisions of the world, including India, according to the ancient Brahminical system.

 

Janaka, King of Videha, a celebrated character in the Indian epic of Ramayana.  He was a great royal sage.

 

Janwas, gross form of matter.

 

Japa, mystical practice of the Yogi, consisting of the

repetition of certain formula.

 

Jevishis, will;  Karma Rupa;  fourth principle.

 

Jiva or Karana Sarira, the second principle of man;  life.

 

Jivatma, the human spirit, seventh principle in theMicrocosm.

 

Jnanam, knowledge.

 

Jnanendrayas, the five channels of knowledge.

 

Jyotisham Jyotih, the light of lights, the supreme spirit,

so called in the Upanishads.

 

Kabala, ancient mystical Jewish books.

 

Kaliyuga, the last of the four ages in which the

evolutionary period of man is divided.  It began 3,000 years B.C.

 

Kalpa, the period of cosmic activity;  a day of Brahma, 4,320 million years.

 

Kama Loka, abode of desire, the first condition through which a human entity passes in its passage, after death, to Devachan.  It corresponds to purgatory.

Kama, lust, desire, volition;  the Hindu Cupid.

 

 

Kamarupa, the principle of desire in man;  the fourth

principle.

 

Kapila, the founder of one of the six principal systems of Indian philosophy—viz., the Sankhya.

 

Karans, great festival of the Kolarian tribes in honour of the sun spirit.

 

Karana Sarira, the causal body;  Avidya;  ignorance;  that which is the cause of the evolution of a human ego.

 

Karma, the law of ethical causation;  the effect of an act for the attainment of an object of personal desire, merit and demerit.

 

Karman, action;  attributes of Linga Sarira.

 

Kartika, the Indian god of war, son or Siva and Parvati;  he

is also the personification of the power of the Logos.

 

Kasi, another name for the sacred city of Benares.

 

Keherpas, aerial form;  third principle.

 

Khanda period, a period of Vedic literature.

 

Khi (lit, breath);  the spiritual ego;  the sixth principle

in man (Chinese).

 

Kiratarjuniya of Bkaravi, a Sanskrit epic, celebrating the encounters of Arjuna, one of this heroes of the Maha-bharata with the god Siva, disguised as a forester.

 

Kols, one of the tribes in Central India.

 

Kriyasakti, the power of thought;  one of the six forces in

Nature.

 

Kshatriya, the second of the four castes into which the Hindu nation was originally divided.

 

Kshetrajnesvara, embodied spirit, the conscious ego in its highest manifestation.

 

Kshetram, the great abyss of the Kabbala;  chaos;  Yoni, Prakriti;  space.

 

Kumbhaka, retention of breath, regulated according to the system of Hatha Yoga.

 

Kundalinisakti, the power of life;  one of the six forces of Nature.

 

Kwer Shans, Chinese for third principle;  the astral body.

 

Lama-gylongs, pupils of Lamas.

 

Lao-teze, a Chinese reformer.

 

Macrocosm, universe.

 

Magi, fire worshippers;  the great magicians or wisdom-

philosophers of old.

 

Maha-Bharata, the celebrated Indian epic poem.

 

Mahabhashya, a commentary on the Grammar of Panini by

Patanjali.

 

Mahabhautic, belonging to the macrocosmic principles.

 

Mahabhutas, gross elementary principles.

 

Mahaparinibbana Sutta, one of the most authoritative of the

Buddhist sacred writings.

 

Maha Sunyata, space or eternal law;  the great emptiness.

 

Mahat, Buddhi;  the first product of root-nature and

producer of Ahankara (egotism), and manas (thinking principle).

 

Mahatma, a great soul;  an adept in occultism of the highest order.

 

Mahavanso, a Buddhist historical work written by the Bhikshu Mohanama, the uncle of King Dhatusma.

 

Maha-Yug, the aggregate of four Yugas, or ages--4,320,000 years—in the Brahmanical system.

 

Manas, the mind, the thinking principle;  the fifth principle in the septenary division.

 

Manas Sanyama, perfect concentration of the mind;  control over the mind.

 

Manomaya Kosha, third sheath of the divine monad, Vedantic equivalent for fourth and fifth principles.

 

Mantra period, one of the four periods into which Vedic literature has been divided.

 

Mantra Sastra, Brahmanical writings on the occult science of incantations.

 

Mantra Tantra Shastras, works on incantation and Magic.

 

Manu, the great Indian legislator.

 

Manvantara, the outbreathing of the creative principle;  the

period of cosmic activity between two pralayas.

 

Maruts, the wind gods.

 

Mathadhipatis, heads of different religious institutions in

India.

 

Matras, the quantity of a Sanskrit syllable.

 

Matrikasakti, the power of speech, one of six forces in

Nature.

 

Matsya Puranas, one of the Puranas.

 

Maya, illusion, is the cosmic power which renders phenomenal

existence possible.

 

Mayavic Upadhi, the covering of illusion, phenomenal appearance.

 

Mayavirupa, the “double;”  “doppelganger;”  perisprit.”

 

Mazdiasnian, Zoroastrian (lit. “worshiping God”).

 

Microcosm, man.

 

Mobeds, Zoroastrian priests.

 

Monad, the spiritual soul, that which endures through all

changes of objective existence.

 

Moneghar, the headman of a village.

 

Morya, one of time royal houses of Magadha;  also the name

of a Rajpoot tribe.

 

Mukta, liberated;  released from conditional existence.

 

Mukti. See Mukta.

 

Mula-prakriti, undifferentiated cosmic matter;  the

unmanifested cause and substance of all being.

 

Mumukshatwa, desire for liberation.

 

Nabhichakram, the seat of the principle of desire, near the umbilicus.

Najo, witch.

 

Nanda (King), one of the kings of Magadha.

 

Narayana, in mystic symbology it stands for the life

principle.

 

Nava nidhi, the nine jewels, or consummation of spiritual development.

 

Neophyte, a candidate for initiation into the mysteries of adeptship.

 

Nephesh, one of the three souls, according to the Kabala; first three principles in the human septenary.

 

Neschamah, one of the three souls, according to the Kabala; seventh principle in the human septenary.

 

Nirguna, unbound;  without gunas or attributes;  the soul in its state of essential purity is so called.

 

Nirvana, beautitude, abstract spiritual existence, absorption into all.

 

Niyashes, Parsi prayers.

 

Noumena, the true essential nature of being, as

distinguished from the illusive objects of sense.

 

Nous, spirit, mind;  Platonic term, reason.

 

Nyaya Philosophy, a system of Hindu logic founded by

Gautuma.

 

Occultism, the study of the mysteries of Nature and the development of the psychic powers latent in man.

 

Okhema, vehicle;  Platonic term for body.

 

Padarthas, predicates of existing things, so called in the “Vaiseshikha,” or atomic system of philosophy, founded by Kanad (Sanskrit).

 

Padma sana, a posture practised by some Indian mystics it consists in sitting with the legs crossed one over the other and the body straight.

 

Pahans, village priests.

 

Panchakosha, the five sheaths in which is enclosed the

divine monad.

 

Panchikrita, developed into the five gross elements.

 

Parabrahm, the supreme principle in Nature;  the universal

spirit.

 

Paramarthika, one of the three states of existence according to Vedanta;  the true, the only real one.

 

Paramatma, time Supreme Spirit, one of the six forces of Nature;  the great force.

 

Parasakti, intellectual apprehension of a truth.

 

Pataliputra, the ancient capital of the kingdom Magadha, in

Eastern India, a city identified with the modern Patna.

 

Patanjali, the author of “Yoga Philosophy,” one of the six orthodox systems of India and of the Mahabhashya.

 

Peling, the name given to Europeans in Tibet.

 

Phala, retribution;  fruit or results of causes.

 

Pho, animal soul.

 

Pisacham, fading remnants of human beings in the state of

 

Kama Loka;  shells or elementaries.

 

Piyadasi, another name for Asoka (q.v.)

 

Plaster or Plantal,  Platonic term for the power which

moulds the substances of the universe into suitable forms.

 

Popol-Vuh, the sacred book of the Guatemalans.

 

Poseidonis, the last island submerged of the continent of

Atlantis.

 

Pracheta, the principle of water.

 

Pragna, consciousness.

 

Prajapatis, the constructors of the material universe.

 

Prakriti, undifferentiated matter;  the supreme principle

regarded as the substance of the universe.

 

Pralaya, the period of cosmic rest.

 

Prameyas, things to be proved, objects of Pramana or proof.

 

Prana, the one life.

 

Pranamaya Kosha, the principle of life and its vehicle;  the

second sheath of the Divine monad (Vedantic).

 

Pranatman, the eternal or germ thread on which are strung, like beads, the personal lives.  The same as Sutratma.

 

Pratibhasika, the apparent or illusory life.

 

Pratyaksha, perception.

 

Pretya-bhava, the state of an ego under the necessity of

repeated births.

 

Punarjanmam, power of evolving objective manifestation; rebirth.

 

Puraka, in-breathing, regulated according to the system of Hatha Yoga.

 

Puranas (lit. “old writings”).  A collection of symbolical Brahmanical writings.  They are eighteen in number, and are supposed to have been composed by Vyasa, the author of the Mahabharata.

 

Purusha, spirit.

 

Rajas, the quality of foulness;  passionate activity.

 

Rajarshi, a king-adept.

 

Raj Yoga, the true science of the development of psychic

powers and union with the Supreme Spirit.

 

Rakshasas, evil spirits;  literally, raw-eaters.

 

Ramayana, an epic poem describing the life of Rama, a

deified Indian hero.

 

Ram Mohun Roy, the well-known Indian Reformer, died 1833.

 

Rechaka, out-breathing, regulated according to the system of

Hatha Yoga.

 

Rig Veda, the first of the Vedas.

 

Rishabham, the Zodiacal sign Taurus, the sacred syllable

Aum.

 

Rishis (lit. “revealers”), holy sages.

 

Ruach, one of the souls, according to the Kabala;  second

three principles in the human septenary.

 

Sabda, the Logos or Word.

 

Saketa, the capital of the ancient Indian kingdom of

Ayodhya.

 

Sukshma sariram, the subtile body.

 

Sakti, the crown of the astral light;  the power of Nature.

 

Sakuntala, a Sanskrit drama by Kalidasa.

 

Samadhana, incapacity to diverge from the path of spiritual

progress.

 

Sama, repression of mental perturbations.

 

Samadhi, state of ecstatic trance.

 

Samanya, community or commingling of qualities.

 

Samma-Sambuddha, perfect illumination.

 

Samvat, an Indian era which, is usually supposed to have

commenced 57 B.C.

 

Sankaracharya, the great expositor of the monistic Vedanta Philosophy, which denies the personality of the Divine Principle, and affirms its unity with the spirit of man.

 

Sankhya Karika, a treatise containing the aphorisms of Kapila, the founder of the

 

Sankhya system, one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy.

 

Sankhya Yog, the system of Yog as set forth by Sankhya philosophers.

 

Sannyasi, a Hindu, ascetic whose mind is steadfastly fixed upon the Supreme Truth.

 

Sarira, body.

 

Sat, the real, Purusha.

 

Sattwa, purity.

 

Satva, goodness.

 

Satya Loka, the abode of Truth, one of the subjective

spheres in our solar system.

 

Shamanism, spirit worship;  the oldest religion of Mongolia.

 

Siddhasana, one of the postures enjoined by the system of

Hatha Yoga.

 

Siddhi, abnormal power obtained by spiritual development.

 

Sing Bonga, sun spirit of the Kolarian tribes.

 

Siva, one of the Hindu gods, with Brahma and Vishnu, forming

the Trimurti or Trinity;  the principle of destruction.

 

Sivite, a worshipper of Siva, the name of a sect among the Hindus.

 

Skandhas, the impermanent elements which constitute a man.

 

Slokas, stanzas (Sanskrit).

 

Smriti, legal and ceremonial writings of the Hindus.

 

Soham, mystic syllable representing involution;  lit. “that

am I.”

 

Soonium, a magical ceremony for the purpose of removing a sickness from one person to another.

 

Soorya, the sun.

 

Souramanam, a method of calculating time.

 

Space, Akasa;  Swabhavat (q.v.)

 

Sraddha, faith.

 

Sravana, receptivity, listening.

 

Sthula-Sariram, the gross physical body.

 

Sukshmopadhi,  fourth and fifth principles (Raja Yoga.)

 

Sunyata, space;  nothingness.

 

Suras, elementals of a beneficent order;  gods.

 

Surpa, winnower.

 

Suryasiddhanta, a Sanskrit treatise on astronomy.

 

Sushupti Avastha, deep sleep;  one of the four aspects of

Pranava.

 

Sutra period, one of the periods into which Vedic literature has been divided.

Sutratman, (lit. “the thread spirit,”) the immortal individuality upon which are strung our countless personalities.

 

Svabhavat, Akasa; undifferentiated primary matter;

Prakriti.

 

Svapna, dreamy condition, clairvoyance.

 

Swami (lit. “a master”), the family idol.

 

Swapna Avastha, dreaming state;  one of the four aspects of

Pranava.

 

Tama, indifference, dullness.

 

Tamas, ignorance, or darkness.

 

Tanha, thirst;  desire for life, that which produces re-birth.

 

Tanmatras, the subtile elements, the abstract counterpart of

the five elements, earth, water, fire, air and ether, consisting of smell, taste, feeling, sight and sound.

 

Tantras, works on Magic.

 

Tantrika, ceremonies connected with the worship of the

goddess Sakti, who typifies Force.

 

Taraka Yog, one of the Brahmanical systems for the development of psychic powers and attainment of spiritual knowledge.

 

Tatwa, eternally existing “that;  the different principles in Nature.

 

Tatwams, the abstract principles of existence or categories, physical and metaphysical.

 

Telugu, a language spoken in Southern India.

 

Tesshu Lama, the head of the Tibetan Church.

 

The Laws of Upasanas, chapter in the Book iv. of Kui-te on

the rules for aspirants for chelaship.

 

Theodidaktos (lit. “God taught “), a school of philosophers in Egypt.

 

Theosophy, the Wisdom-Religion taught in all ages by the sages of the world.

 

Tikkun, Adam Kadmon, the ray from the Great Centre.

 

Titiksha, renunciation.

 

Toda, a mysterious tribe in India that practise black magic.

 

Tridandi, (tri, “three,” danda, “chastisement”), name of

BrahmanicaI thread.

 

Trimurti, the Indian Trinity—Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, Creator, Preserver and Destroyer.

 

Turiya Avastha, the state of Nirvana.

 

Tzong-ka-pa, celebrated Buddhist reformer of Tibet, who

instituted the order of Gelugpa Lamas.

 

Universal Monas, the universal spirit.

 

Upadana Karnam, the material cause of an effect.

 

Upadhis, bases.

 

Upamiti, analogy.

 

Upanayana, investiture with the Brahmanical thread.

 

Upanishads, Brahmanical Scriptures appended to the Vedas,

containing the esoteric doctrine of the Brahmans.

 

Upanita, one who is invested with the Brahmanical thread (lit. “brought to a spiritual teacher”).

 

Uparati, absence of out-going desires.

 

Urvanem, spiritual ego;  sixth principle.

 

Ushtanas, vital force;  second principle.

 

Vach, speech;  the Logos;  the mystic Word.

 

Vaishyas,  cattle breeders artisans;  the third caste among

the Hindus.

 

Vakya Sanyama, control over speech.

 

Varuna or Pracheta, the Neptune of India.

 

Vasishta, a great Indian sage, one of those to whom the Rig

 

Veda was revealed in part.

 

Vata, air.

 

Vayu, the wind.

 

Vayu  Puranas, one of the Puranas.

 

Vedantists, followers of the Vedanta School of Philosophy,

which is divided into two branches, monists and dualists.

 

Vedas, the most authoritative of the Hindu Scriptures.  The four oldest sacred books—Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva—revealed to the Rishis by Brahma.

 

Vedic, pertaining to the Vedas.

 

Vidya, secret knowledge.

 

Vija, the primitive germ which expands into the universe.

 

Vijnana-maya-kosha, the sheath of knowledge;  the fourth

sheath of the divine monad;  the fifth principle in man (Vedanta).

 

Viraj, the material universe.

 

Vishnu, the second member of the Hindu trinity;  the

principle of preservation.

 

Vishnuite or Vishuvite, a worshiper of Vishnu, the name of a sect among the Hindus.

 

Vrishalas, Outcasts.

 

Vyasa, the celebrated Rishi, who collected and arranged the

 

Vedas in their present form.

 

Vyavaharika, objective existence;  practical.

 

Yajna Sutra, the name of the Brahmanical thread.

 

Yama, law, the god of death.

 

Yashts, the Parsi prayer-books.

 

Yasna, religious book of the Parsis.

 

Yasodhara, the wife of Buddha.

 

Yavanacharya, the name given to Pythagoras in the Indian

books.

 

Yavanas, the generic name given by the Brahmanas to younger peoples.

 

Yoga Sutras, a treatise on Yoga philosophy by Patanjali.

 

Yog Vidya, the science of Yoga;  the practical method of

uniting one’s own spirit with the universal spirit.

 

Yogis, mystics, who develop themselves according to the system of Patanjali’s “Yoga Philosophy.”

 

Yudhishthira, the eldest of the five brothers, called Pandavas, whose exploits are celebrated in the great Sanskrit epic “Mahabharata.”

 

Zend, the sacred language of ancient Persia.

 

Zhing, subtle matter;  Kama Rupa, or fourth principle

(Chinese).

 

Zoroaster, the prophet of the Parsis.

 

 

 

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