Ascetic Practices

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Ascetic Practices

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ARTICLES RELATED TO Ascetic Practices

Ascetic Practices: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Yogi, yogin

Yogi yogin (Sanskrit) Feminine yogini. A devotee who practices a full yoga system; the yogi state is that which, "when reached, makes the practitioner thereof absolute master of his six 'principles,' he now being merged in the seventh. It gives him full control, owing to his knowledge of Self and Self, over his bodily, intellectual and mental states, which, unable any longer to interfere with, or act upon, his Higher Ego, leave it free to exist in its original, pure, and divine state" (TG 381).

More commonly, a practitioner of one or more various subordinate branches of yoga. There are many grades and kinds of yogis, and the term has become in India a generic name for every kind of ascetic. "In some cases, yogins are men who strive in various ways to conquer the body and physical temptations, for instance by torture of the body.

They also study more or less some of the magnificent philosophical teachings of India coming down from far-distant ages of the past; but mere mental study will not make a man a Mahatma, nor will any torture of the body bring about the spiritual vision -- the Vision Sublime" (OG 183).

Ascetic Practices: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Zipporah, tsipporah

Zipporah tsipporah (Hebrew) A circling, revolving, hence song or singing as a circling of sound; in the Bible, one of the seven daughters of Jethro, the Midianite priest, given in marriage to Moses after the latter had assisted her at the well (Ex 2). In one interpretation, "Jethro is called the 'father-in-law' of Moses; not because Moses was really married to one of his seven daughters. Moses was an Initiate, if he ever existed, and as such an ascetic, a nazar, and could never be married. It is an allegory like everything else. Zipporah (the shining) is one of the personified Occult Sciences given by Revel-Jethro, the Midian priest Initiator, to Moses, his Egyptian pupil. The 'well' by which Moses sat down in his fight from the Pharaoh symbolizes the 'well of Knowledge' " (SD 2:466n).

Zipporah is similar to the City Sippara -- situated on the Euphrates River north of Babylon -- where the casting of the infant Sargon occurred, which is practically identical with the story of Moses, only said to have happened about 1100 years earlier. Blavatsky concludes that Ezra applied this story to that of the prophet Moses when he compiled his history in Exodus.

Ascetic Practices: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Nazar

Nazar [from Hebrew nazar to consecrate, devote, set apart] Also nazir, nezer.

A Nazarite, or one consecrated; the specific name for Nazarite is nazir, a body or companionship of ascetics among the ancient Hebrews who set themselves apart, or consecrated themselves, to holiness and divine things. They belong to the school of ancient Chaldean initiates and "the nazars or prophets, as well as the Nazarenes, were an anti-Bacchus caste, in so far that, in common with all the initiated prophets, they held to the spirit of the symbolical religions and offered a strong opposition to the idolatrous and exoteric practices of the dead letter.

Hence, the frequent stoning of the prophets by the populace and under the leadership of those priests who made a profitable living out of the popular superstition" (IU 2:129). Joseph, Sampson, and Samuel are described as Nazars. Likewise "Paul must have belonged to this class of Initiates, for he himself tells the Galatians (i, 15) that he was separated or 'set apart' from the moment of his birth; and that he had his hair cut at Cenchrea, because 'he had a vow' (Acts xviii, 18) i.e., had been initiated as a Nazar; after which he became a 'master-builder' (1 Corinth. iii, 10)" (TG 226).

(See also: Nazar, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Ascetic Practices: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Yoga

Yoga (Sanskrit) Union; one of the six Darsanas or schools of philosophy of India, founded by Patanjali, but said to have existed as a distinct teaching and system of life before that sage. Yajnavalkya, a famous and very ancient sage of pre-Mahabharatan times, to whom the White Yajur-Veda, the Satapatha-Brahmana, and the Brihadaranyaka are attributed, is credited with inculcating the positive duty of religious meditation and retirement into the forests, and therefore is believed to have originated the yoga doctrine. Patanjali's yoga, however, is more definite and precise as a philosophy, and imbodies more of the occult sciences than any of the extant works attributed to Yajnavalkya.

The objective of the Yoga school is attaining union or at-one-ness with the divine-spiritual essence within which is virtually identical with the spiritual essence or Logos of the universe. True yoga is genuine psychology based on a complete philosophical understanding of the entire inner human constitution.

There are several states leading to spiritual powers and perception. The eight stages of yoga usually enumerated are:

1) yama (restraint, forbearance);

2) niyama, religious observances such as fastings, prayer, penances;

3) asana, postures of various kinds;

4) pranayama, methods of regulating the breath;

5) pratyahara (withdrawal), withdrawal of the consciousness from external objects;

6) dharana (firmness, steadiness, resolution) mental concentration, holding the mind on an object of thought;

7) dhyana, abstract contemplation or meditation freed from exterior distractions; and

8) samadhi, complete collection of the consciousness and its faculties into union with the monadic essence.

There are several types of yoga such as karma yoga, hatha yoga, bhakti yoga, raja yoga, and jnana yoga. "Similar religious aspirations or practices likewise exist in Occidental countries, as, for instance, what is called 'Salvation by Works,' somewhat equivalent to the Hindu Karma-Yoga, or, again, 'Salvation by Faith -- or Love,' somewhat similar to the Hindu Bhakti-Yoga; while both Orient and Occident have, each one, its various forms of ascetic practices which may be grouped under the term Hatha-Yoga.

"No system of Yoga should ever be practiced unless under the direct teaching of one who knows the dangers of meddling with the psycho-mental apparatus of the human constitution, for dangers lurk at every step, and the meddler in these things is likely to bring disaster upon himself, both in matters of health and as regards sane mental equilibrium. The higher branches of Yoga, however, such as the Raja-Yoga and Jnana-Yoga, implying strict spiritual and intellectual discipline combined with a fervid love for all beings, are perfectly safe. It is, however, the ascetic practices, etc., and the teachings that go with them, wherein lies the danger to the unwary, and they should be carefully avoided" (OG 183).

The various forms of yoga from the standpoint of theosophy when properly understood are not distinct, separable means of attaining union with the god within; and it is a divergence of the attention into one or several of these forms to the exclusion of others that has brought about so much mental confusion and lack of success even in those who are more or less skilled. Every one of these forms of yoga, with the probable exception of the lower forms of hatha yoga, should be practiced concurrently by the one who has set his heart and mind upon spiritual success.

Thus one should carefully watch and control his acts, acting and working unselfishly; he should live so that his daily customs distract attention as little as possible away from the spiritual purpose; his heart coincidentally should be filled with devotion and love for all things; and he should cultivate, all at the same time, his will, his capacity for self-sacrifice and self-devotion to a noble cause, and his ability to stand firm and undaunted in the face of difficulties whatever they may be; and, finally, in addition and perhaps most importantly, he should do everything in his power to cultivate his intuition and intellectual faculties, exercising not merely his ratiocinative mind, but the higher intuitive and nobly intellectual parts.

Combining all these he is following the chela path and is using all the forms of yoga in the proper way. Yet the chela will never obtain his objective if his practice of yoga is followed for his own individual advancement. He will never reach higher than the superior planes of the astral world even in consciousness; but when his whole being follows this yoga as thus outlined with a desire to lay his life and all he is on the altar of service to the world, he is then indeed on the path.

Ascetic Practices: Mysticism Magick Dictionary on CATHARI

CATHARI

In 12th Century France, the Cathars were also known as the Albigensians, elsewhere sometimes equated only slightly less accurately with chiliastic Manichæanism (the belief in a dualistic universe ruled by Good and Evil) and early Gnosticism. They held that the world was created by a blind demiurge and is under the dominion of Evil. The Albigenses (from the town of Albi), believed that Lucifer was God's first son and Christ his second son, whose role was to bring spiritual order to Lucifer's evil domain. Most historians persist in describing the Cathari as sexual "puritans" but it was actually reproduction that they condemned. Their priests did not eat eggs or milk because they are the by-products of reproduction.

It is most curious that contemporary mention of this sect almost always ignores this most important aspect, viz. their insistence that human reproduction or procreation is the only unforgivable sin. Since this world is hell, to foist existence on innocent beings is a crime. Hence, they were the first practitioners of compulsory birth-control.

Some of the Cathari were quite ascetic frequently fasting, always chaste and were called Parfaits or "Perfects", hence the modern French dessert. Others believed that sodomy was a logical way of avoiding procreation. In Bulgaria, where Cathari were equated with the Bogomils, sodomy was routinely practiced as an alternative to reproduction hence the origin of the word "bugger" from Bulgar.

The Cathari (and other Gnostics) understood what our postmodern world has forgotten. A society that puts all of its meaning, purpose, faith and future into its children, is a society that has lost touch not only with the present and with its sense of responsibility it has lost touch with life itself. Those least qualified to teach are those who are most fertile. Those who grind out children like links of sausage cease to take the slightest interest in the very things that their children value the most and those things that most ought to concern society, what most needs to be preserved. People who have had children no longer demand of themselves the time, energy, courage or inclination to attempt the rigorous, perilous and unpredictable experimentation essential to authentic personal, social and racial growth.

As the Catholic Church was considered by the Cathari to be strictly "the work of the Devil" and the Cross an affront to God, the Cathari were universally despised. The Church opposed this heresy vigorously through pogroms and massacres, so that by 1330 there were no more of them left to persecute.

(See also: CATHARI, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Ascetic Practices: Encyclopedia II - Shamanism - Etymology

The word "shaman" probably originated among the Siberian Tungus (Evenks) and literally means "he (or she) who knows"; the belief that the word may be derived from Sanskrit is perhaps due to the relation between the words "shamanism" and "shramanism", from the sanskrit "shramana", Pali and Prakrit "samana"; the samanas were ascetics, not shamans, however. However, in Sanskrit, the word "shamana" also exists, and it means the act of calming, tranquilizing, soothing or destroying - this, through Buddhism, could have led to the formation of the modern word Shamanism. ( ...

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