1957 - Births

1957 - January. January 6 - Nancy Lopez, American golfer January 7 - Nicholson Baker, American novelist January 7 - Katie Couric, American television host January 7 - Julian Solis, Puerto Rican boxer January 11 - Robert Earl Keen, American musician and singer January 15 - Mario Van Peebles, Mexican actor and director January 19 - Katey Sagal, American actress, singer, and writer January 22 - Mike Bossy, Canadian hockey player January 23 - Princess Caroline of Monaco January 30 - Payne Stewart, A ...

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1957, 1957 - Events, 1957 - January, 1957 - February, 1957 - March, 1957 - April, 1957 - May, 1957 - June, 1957 - July, 1957 - August, 1957 - September, 1957 - October, 1957 - November, 1957 - December, 1957 - Undated, 1957 - Environmental change, 1957 - Births, 1957 - January, 1957 - February, 1957 - March, 1957 - April, 1957 - May, 1957 - June, 1957 - July, 1957 - August, 1957 - September, 1957 - October, 1957 - November, 1957 - December, 1957 - Unknown date, 1957 - Deaths, 1957 - January, 1957 - February, 1957 - March, 1957 - April-May, 1957 - June, 1957 - July, 1957 - August, 1957 - September, 1957 - October, 1957 - November, 1957 - December, 1957 - Nobel Prizes

Read more here: » 1957: Encyclopedia II - 1957 - Births

1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. 1957 - Events. January 1 - Saarland joins West Germany January 2 - San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merge to form Pacific Coast Stock Exchange. January 3 - Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch January 4 - After 69 years the last issue of Collier's Weekly magazine is published January 5 - Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to ...

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• 1957 - Events
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Read more here: » 1957: Encyclopedia - 1957

May 18 - 1048 to 1899. 1048 - Omar Khayyám, Persian poet (d. 1123) 1186 - Konstantin of Rostov, Prince of Novgorod (d. 1218) 1474 - Isabella d'Este, Marquise of Mantua (d. 1539) 1610 - Stefano della Bella, Italian printmaker (d. 1664) 1616 - Johann Jakob Froberger, German composer (d. 1667) 1662 O.S. - George Smalridge, English Bishop of Bristol (d. 1719) 1692 O.S. - Joseph Butler, English bishop and philosopher (d. 1752) 1711 - Ruđer Josip Bo ...

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May 18, May 18 - Events, May 18 - Births, May 18 - 1048 to 1899, May 18 - 1900 to 1999, May 18 - Deaths, May 18 - 1450 to 1899, May 18 - 1900 to 1999, May 18 - 2000 onwards, May 18 - Holidays and Observances

Read more here: » May 18: Encyclopedia II - May 18 - Births

April 12 - 599 BC to 1899. 599 BC - Mahavira, Indian founder of Jainism (d. 527 BC) 812 - Muhammad at-Taqi, Arabian Shia Imam (d. 835) 1484 - Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Italian architect (d. 1546) 1500 - Joachim Camerarius, German classical scholar (d. 1574) 1526 - Muretus, French humanist (d. 1585) 1550 - Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, English politician (d. 1604) 1577 - King Christian IV of Denmark (d. 1648) 1713 - Guillaume Thomas ...

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April 12, April 12 - Events, April 12 - Births, April 12 - 599 BC to 1899, April 12 - 1900 to 1999, April 12 - Deaths, April 12 - 65 to 1899, April 12 - 1900 to 1999, April 12 - 2000 onwards, April 12 - Holidays and observances

Read more here: » April 12: Encyclopedia II - April 12 - Births

reincarnation: "Re-entering the flesh." Punarjanma; metempsychosis. The process wherein souls take on a physical body through the birth process.

Reincarnation is one of the fundamental principles of Hindu spiritual insight, shared by the mystical schools of nearly all religions, including Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism (and even by Christianity until it was cast out by the Nicene Council in 787). It is against the backdrop of this principle of the soul's enjoying many lives that other aspects of Hinduism can be understood. It is a repetitive cycle, known as punarjanma, which originates in the subtle plane (Antarloka), the realm in which souls live between births and return to after death. Here they are assisted in readjusting to the "in-between" world and eventually prepared for yet another birth.

The quality and nature of the birth depends on the merit or demerit of their past actions (karma) and on the needs of their unique pattern of development and experience (dharma). The mother, the father and the soul together create a new body for the soul. At the moment of conception, the soul connects with and is irrevocably bound to the embryo. As soon as the egg is fertilized, the process of human life begins. It is during the mid-term of pregnancy that the full humanness of the fetus is achieved and the soul fully inhabits the new body, a stage which is acknowledged when the child begins to move and kick within the mother's womb. (Tirumantiram, 460: "There in the pregnant womb, the soul lay in primordial quiescence [turiya] state. From that state, Maya [or Prakriti] and Her tribe aroused it and conferred consciousness and maya's evolutes eight- desires and the rest. Thus say scriptures holy and true.")

Finally, at birth the soul emerges into earth consciousness, veiled of all memory of past lives and the inner worlds. The cycle of reincarnation ends when karma has been resolved and the Self God (Parasiva) has been realized. This condition of release is called moksha. Then the soul continues to evolve and mature, but without the need to return to physical existence. How many earthly births must one have to attain the unattainable? Many thousands to be sure, hastened by righteous living, tapas, austerities on all levels, penance and good deeds in abundance.

See: reincarnation, evolution of the soul, karma, moksha, nonhuman birth, samsara, soul.

(See also: Reincarnation , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

sexuality: Hinduism has a healthy, unrepressed outlook on human sexuality, and sexual pleasure is part of kama, one of the four goals of life.

On matters such as birth control, sterilization, masturbation, homosexuality, bisexuality, petting and polygamy, Hindu scripture is tolerantly silent, neither calling them sins nor encouraging their practice, neither condemning nor condoning.

The two important exceptions to this understanding view of sexual experience are adultery and abortion, both of which are considered to carry heavy karmic implications for this and future births.

See: abortion, bisexuality, homosexuality.

(See also: Sexuality , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Sahir Ludhianvi, whose real name was Abdul Hayee (October 25, 1921-1980) was a popular Indian poet of Urdu ghazals and nazms but mostly known for being one of the most important Bollywood lyricists. Sahir Ludhianvi - Early Years. Sahir was born in Ludhiana, in the present day Indian Punjab. He belonged to a wealthy family but when his father married for the second time, Sahir and his mother left his father, both living a life of poverty. Sahir went to Khalsa High School in Ludhiana and later to Gover ...

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• Sahir Ludhianvi - Early Years
• Sahir Ludhianvi - Poetry lyrics and Bollywood
• Sahir Ludhianvi - Famous works
• Sahir Ludhianvi - Bollywood songs
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Read more here: » Sahir Ludhianvi: Encyclopedia - Sahir Ludhianvi

“I came giving you what you wanted, so that you would want what I came to give.” “Only fools duck when the truth is thrown at them!” “When I breathe out I forget, when I breathe in I remember.” “Mine your mind for the jewels of your soul.” “White people are the devil. They say the Nuwaubians are not racist – bullcrap! I am. He might not be; that’s his prerogative. I am. White people are devils — always was, always will be.” — from the Egipt and the Mask of God lecture “You can't get here standing there.” “Don't believe me or not ...

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Dwight York, Dwight York - Background, Dwight York - Origins and genealogy, Dwight York - Early life and ministry, Dwight York - A musical career, Dwight York - Religious & philosophical doctrine & practice, Dwight York - The Tama-Re compound, Dwight York - Convicted of child molestation, Dwight York - York as a Liberian Diplomat, Dwight York - Quotes, Dwight York - Additional information

Read more here: » Dwight York: Encyclopedia II - Dwight York - Quotes

Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) (Rear Admiral, USN, Ret.) was the first U.S. astronaut in space, though his first flight was only sub-orbital. He attended the East Derry primary and secondary schools in his birthplace of Derry, New Hampshire; received a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1944, an Honorary Master of Arts degree from Dartmouth College in 1962, and Honorary Doctorate of Science from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) in 1971, and an Honorar ...

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• Alan Shepard - Naval career
• Alan Shepard - Astronaut career
• Alan Shepard - Awards and honors
• Alan Shepard - Later years
• Alan Shepard - Media
• Alan Shepard - External link

Read more here: » Alan Shepard: Encyclopedia - Alan Shepard

Maha Thray Sithu U Thant (January 22, 1909 – November 25, 1974) was a Burmese diplomat and the third Secretary-General of the United Nations, from 1961 to 1971. He was chosen for the post when the then Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld was killed in an air crash in September 1961. To date, he is the only Asian to have served as UN Secretary-General. 'U' is an honorific in Burmese, roughly equal to 'Mister'. Thant was his only name. In Burmese he was known as Pantanaw U Thant, Pantanaw being the name of his home town. "Maha Thray Sithu" is a title, similar to a ...

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• U Thant - Secretary General
• U Thant - Death

Read more here: » U Thant: Encyclopedia - U Thant

Dreams play a very important part of our subconscious guidance and will often bring messages even important warnings to us.
- You should give a particular attention to dreams offering incredible images, Dr Turi explains in this article.

Read more here: » Meaning of Dreams: Astrological perspective on Dreams

heaven: The celestial spheres, including the causal plane and the higher realms of the subtle plane, where souls rest and learn between births, and mature souls continue to evolve after moksha.

Heaven is often used by translators as an equivalent to the Sanskrit Svarga.

See: loka, Svarga.

(See also: Heaven , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). It also had the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasn't had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. See 1696. 1903 - Events. January 1 - Edward VII of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Emperor of India January 6 - Mileva Maric married Albert Einstein. February 11 - The Oxnard Strike of 1903 represents the first time in U.S. h ...

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• 1903 - Month/Day unknown
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moksha: (Sanskrit) "Liberation."

Release from transmigration, samsara, the round of births and deaths, which occurs after karma has been resolved and nirvikalpa samadhi - realization of the Self, Parasiva - has been attained. Same as mukti.

See: jivanmukta, kaivalya, kundalini, nirvikalpa samadhi, Parasiva, raja yoga, videhamukti.

(See also: Moksha , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

liberation: Moksha, release from the bonds of pasha, after which the soul is liberated from samsara (the round of births and deaths). In Saiva Siddhanta, pasha is the threefold bondage of anava, karma and maya, which limit and confine the soul to the reincarnational cycle so that it may evolve. Moksha is freedom from the fettering power of these bonds, which do not cease to exist, but no longer have the power to fetter or bind the soul.

See: mala, jivanmukti, moksha, pasha, reincarnation, satguru, Self Realization, soul.

(See also: Liberation , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

birth chart: Janmapatrika. An astrological map of the sky drawn for a person's moment and place of birth. Also known as rashi chakra or zodiac wheel, it is the basis for interpreting the traits of individuals and the experiences, prarabdha karmas, they will go through in life.

See: jyotisha, karma.

(See also: Birth chart , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

 - varna: The four varnas are as follows. - brahmin

(brahmana): "Mature, evolved soul." Scholarly,

pious souls of exceptional learning. Hindu scriptures

traditionally invest the brahmin class with the

responsibility of religious leadership, including

teaching and priestly duties. - kshatriya:

"Governing; endowed with sovereignty." Lawmakers

and law enforcers and military, also known as

rajanya. - vaishya: "Landowner, merchant."

Businessmen, financiers, industrialists; employers.

Those engaged in business, commerce and

agriculture. - shudra: (Sanskrit) "Worker, servant."

Skilled artisans and laborers. It is in keeping with

varna dharma that sons are expected to follow the

occupation of their father, as that is the occupation

that was chosen prior to birth.

 - jati: "Birth; position assigned by birth; rank, caste,

family, race, lineage." Jati, more than varna, is the

specific determinant of one's social community.

Traditionally, because of rules of purity each jati is

excluded from social interaction with the others,

especially from interdining and intermarriage. In

modern times there is also a large group (oneseventh

of India's population in 1981) outside the

four varnas. These are called scheduled classes,

untouchables, jatihita ("outcaste"), chandalas (specifically those who handle corpses) and harijan, a

name given by Mahatma Gandhi, meaning "children

of God." "Untouchable" jatis included the nishada

(hunter), kaivarta (fisherman) and karavara (leather

worker).

The varna dharma system - despite its widespread

discrimination against harijans, and the abuse of

social status by higher castes - ensures a high

standard of craftsmanship, a sense of community

belonging, family integrity and religio-cultural

continuity. Caste is not unique to Hinduism and

India. By other names it is found in every society.

The four varnas, or classes, and myriad jatis,

occupational castes, or guilds, form the basic

elements of human interaction.

See: dharma, Dharma

Shastras, jati.

(See also: Varna , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

evolution of the soul: Adhyatma prasara.

In Saiva Siddhanta, the soul's evolution is a progressive unfoldment, growth and maturing toward its inherent, divine destiny, which is complete merger with Siva. In its essence, each soul is ever perfect. But as an individual soul body emanated by God Siva, it is like a small seed yet to develop. As an acorn needs to be planted in the dark underground to grow into a mighty oak tree, so must the soul unfold out of the darkness of the malas to full maturity and realization of its innate oneness with God.

The soul is not created at the moment of conception of a physical body. Rather, it is created in the Sivaloka. It evolves by taking on denser and denser sheaths-cognitive, instinctive-intellectual and pranic-until finally it takes birth in physical form in the Bhuloka. Then it experiences many lives, maturing through the reincarnation process. Thus, from birth to birth, souls learn and mature. Evolution is the result of experience and the lessons derived from it. There are young souls just beginning to evolve, and old souls nearing the end of their earthly sojourn. In Saiva Siddhanta, evolution is understood as the removal of fetters which comes as a natural unfoldment, realization and expression of one's true, self-effulgent nature. This ripening or dropping away of the soul's bonds (mala) is called malaparipaka.

The realization of the soul nature is termed svanubhuti (experience of the Self). Self Realization leads to moksha, liberation from the three malas and the reincarnation cycles. Then evolution continues in the celestial worlds until the soul finally merges fully and indistinguishably into Supreme God Siva, the Primal Soul, Parameshvara. In his Tirumantiram, Rishi Tirumular calls this merger vishvagrasa, "total absorption. The evolution of the soul is not a linear progression, but an intricate, circular, many-faceted mystery. Nor is it at all encompassed in the Darwinian theory of evolution, which explains the origins of the human form as descended from earlier primates.

See: Darwin's theory, mala, moksha, reincarnation, samsara, vishvagrasa.

(See also: Evolution of the soul , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

karma: (Sanskrit) "Action, deed."

One of the most important principles in Hindu thought, karma refers to

�      any act or deed;

�      the principle of cause and effect;

�      a consequence or "fruit of action" (karmaphala) or "after effect" (uttaraphala), which sooner or later returns upon the doer. What we sow, we shall reap in this or future lives. Selfish, hateful acts (papakarma or kukarma) will bring suffering. Benevolent actions (punyakarma or sukarma) will bring loving reactions.

Karma is a neutral, self-perpetuating law of the inner cosmos, much as gravity is an impersonal law of the outer cosmos. In fact, it has been said that gravity is a small, external expression of the greater law of karma. The impelling, unseen power of one's past actions is called adrishta.

The law of karma acts impersonally, yet we may meaningfully interpret its results as either positive (punya) or negative (papa)- terms describing actions leading the soul either toward or away from the spiritual goal. Karma is further graded as: white (shukla), black (krishna), mixed (shukla-krishna) or neither white nor black (ashukla-akrishna). The latter term describes the karma of the jnani, who, as Rishi Patanjali says, is established in kaivalya, freedom from prakriti through realization of the Self. Similarly, one's karma must be in a condition of ashukla-akrishna, quiescent balance, in order for liberation to be attained. This equivalence of karma is called karmasamya, and is a factor that brings malaparipaka, or maturity of anava mala. It is this state of resolution in preparation for samadhi at death that all Hindus seek through making amends and settling differences.

Karma is threefold: sanchita, prarabdha and kriyamana.

-       sanchita karma: "Accumulated actions." The sum of all karmas of this life and past lives.

-       prarabdha karma: "Actions begun; set in motion." That portion of sanchita karma that is bearing fruit and shaping the events and conditions of the current life, including the nature of one's bodies, personal tendencies and associations.

-       - kriyamana karma: "Being made." The karma being created and added to sanchita in this life by one's thoughts, words and actions, or in the inner worlds between lives. Kriyamana karma is also called agami, "coming, arriving," and vartamana, "living, set in motion." While some kriyamana karmas bear fruit in the current life, others are stored for future births.

-        

Each of these types can be divided into two categories: arabdha (literally, "begun, undertaken;" karma that is "sprouting"), and anarabdha ("not commenced; dormant"), or "seed karma."

In a famed analogy, karma is compared to rice in its various stages. Sanchita karma, the residue of one's total accumulated actions, is likened to rice that has been harvested and stored in a granary. From the stored rice, a small portion has been removed, husked and readied for cooking and eating. This is prarabdha karma, past actions that are shaping the events of the present. Meanwhile, new rice, mainly from the most recent harvest of prarabdha karma, is being planted in the field that will yield a future crop and be added to the store of rice. This is kriyamana karma, the consequences of current actions. In Saivism, karma is one of three principal bonds of the soul, along with anava and maya. Karma is the driving force that brings the soul back again and again into human birth in the evolutionary cycle of transmigration called samsara. When all earthly karmas are resolved and the Self has been realized, the soul is liberated from rebirth. This is the goal of all Hindus.

For each of the three kinds of karma there is a different method of resolution. Nonattachment to the fruits of action, along with daily rites of worship and strict adherence to the codes of dharma, stops the accumulation of kriyamana. Prarabdha karma is resolved only through being experienced and lived through. Sanchita karma, normally inaccessible, is burned away only through the grace and diksha of the satguru, who prescribes sadhana and tapas for the benefit of the shishya. Through the sustained kundalini heat of this extreme penance, the seeds of unsprouted karmas are fried, and therefore will never sprout in this or future lives.

See: diksha, grace.

Like the four-fold edict of dharma, the three-fold edict of karma has both individual and impersonal dimensions. Personal karma is thus influenced by broader contexts, sometimes known as family karma, community karma, national karma, global karma and universal karma.

See: karma, anava, fate, maya, moksha, papa, pasha, punya, sin, soul, karma yoga.

karmasamya: (Sanskrit) "Balance or equipoise of karma."

See: karma.

karmashaya: (Sanskrit) "Holder of karma." Describes the body of the soul,

(See also: Karma , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

nakshatra: (Sanskrit) "Star cluster."

Central to astrological determinations, the nakshatras are 27 starclusters, constellations, which lie along the ecliptic, or path of the sun. An individual's nakshatra, or birth star, is the constellation the moon was aligned with at the time of birth.

See: jyotisha, vedic astrology.

(See also: Nakshatra , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)