bhashya:

bhashya (bhaashya). Commentary on spiritual texts by great sages.

(See also: bhashya , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

bhashya: n (Sanskrit) "Speech, discussion." Commentary on a text. Hindu philosophies are largely founded upon the interpretations, or bhashyas, of primary scripture. Other types of commentaries include: vritti, a brief commentary on aphorisms; tippani, like a vritti but less formal, explains difficult words or phrases; varttika, a critical study and elaboration of a bhashya; and tika or vyakhyana, an explanation of a bhashya or shastra in simpler language.

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

Bhashya bhashya (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root bhash to speak)

Speaking, talking; an explanatory work or commentary, especially on technical Sutras; particularly Patanjali's Commentary of the Sutras of Panini, also called the Mahabhashya (great commentary).

(See also: Bhashya , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Arya Bhashya arya bhasya (Sanskrit) (BCW 5:208)

(See also: Arya Bhashya , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Panchartha Bhashya: (Sanskrit) Commentary by Kaundinya (ca 100) on Lakulisha's Pashupata Sutras, one of the few extant philosophical texts of Pashupata Saivism. It was rediscovered in 1930.

See: Pashupata Saivism.

(See also: Panchartha Bhashya , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

sutra: (Sanskrit) "Thread."

An aphoristic verse; the literary style consisting of such maxims. From 500 bce, this style was widely adopted by Indian philosophical systems and eventually employed in works on law, grammar, medicine, poetry, crafts, etc. Each sutra is often accompanied by a commentary called bhashya and sometimes subcommentary called tika, vyakhyana or tippani.

Through the media of short, concise, easily memorized sutras, vast amounts of knowledge were preserved. Reciting relevant sutra texts from memory is a daily sadhana in various Hindu arts and sciences.

Sutra also names the wife's wedding pendant (mangala sutra).

See: bhashya, wedding pendant.

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

Pingala (Sanskrit) A rishi said to be a great authority on the chhandas, the meter of the Vedas. His date is unknown, but he is sometimes rather arbitrarily identified with Patanjali, the author of the famous Maha-Bhashya, or commentary on the great grammarian Panini. Also an attendant of the sun, or even the sun itself; epithet of Siva; the name of a rudra, of a danava, and of a number of archaic sages.

As an adjective, it signifies brown or yellowish-brown, a tawny color.

See also PINGALA

(See also: Pingala , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Bhashya (Sanskrit) A commentary.

(See also: Bhashya , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Zend, Zand (Pahlavi) Zantay (Avestan) [from the verbal root zan cognition, knowledge cf Old Persian dan]

Commentary, interpretation, explanation; in the Occident, Zend refers to a language in which the Avesta is written, but modern Parsi scholars and older Pahlavi books speak of the language and writing as Avesta. Blavatsky links Zend with Zensar or Senzar, the mystery-language of the initiates.

Zend also means "The 'rendering of the esoteric into exoteric sentences,' the veil used to conceal the correct meaning of the Zen-(d)-zar texts, the sacerdotal language in use among the initiates of archaic India. Found now in several undecipherable inscriptions, it is still used and studied unto this day in the secret communities of the Eastern adepts, and called by them -- according to the locality -- Zend-zar and Brahma- or Deva-Bhashya" (BCW 4:517-8n).

See also ZEND-AVESTA; AVESTA; SENZAR

(See also: Zend, Zand , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Mahabhashya mahabhasya (Sanskrit) (from maha great + bhashya commentary on technical sutras, usually in the vernacular)

Great commentary; Patanjali's Commentary on the Sutras (Grammar) of Panini and the Varttikas of Katyayana (Katyayana's critical annotations of Panini's Sutras). Sometimes referred to simply as the Bhashya, it is one of the three known writings of Patanjali.

(See also: Mahabhashya, mahabhasya , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Ramanuja: (Sanskrit) Philosopher (1017-1137), saint, great bhakta, founder of one of five major Vaishnava schools, and considered the greatest critic of advaita. In his famous Sri Bhashya on the Brahma Sutras, he countered Shankara's absolute monism point-by-point with his qualified monism, called Vishishtadvaita Vedanta.

See: shad darshana, Vedanta.

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

shloka: (Sanskrit) "Verse," from the verbal root, shlok,"to compose."

A verse, phrase, proverb or hymn of praise, usually in a specified meter. Especially a verse of two lines, each of sixteen syllables. Shloka is the primary verse form of the Mahabharata and Ramayana.

See: bhashya, sutra.

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

bhashya: n (Sanskrit) "Speech, discussion." Commentary on a text.

Hindu philosophies are largely founded upon the interpretations, or bhashyas, of primary scripture. Other types of commentaries include: vritti, a brief commentary on aphorisms; tippani, like a vritti but less formal, explains difficult words or phrases; varttika, a critical study and elaboration of a bhashya; and tika or vyakhyana, an explanation of a bhashya or shastra in simpler language.

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

Brahma-bhashya. See SENZAR

(See also: Brahma-bhashya , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Brahma Sutra Bhashya: (Sanskrit) A lengthy 13thcentury commentary on the Brahma Sutras by Srikantha to establish a Vedic base for the Saivite qualified nondualism called Siva Advaita. See: Siva Advaita, Vedanta.

(See also: Brahma Sutra Bhashya , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Hinduism Lexicon on B

From backbiting to buddhi chitta.

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A Bhashya is an elaborate exposition, a commentary on the Sutras, with word by word meaning of the aphoristic precepts, their running translation, together with the individual views of the commentator or the Bhashyakara. The best and the exemplary Bhashya in Sanskrit literature is the one written by Patanjali on the Vyakarana Sutras of Panini.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Bhashya : Bhashya in the Hindu Scriptures

Purva Mimamsa or Karma-Mimamsa is an enquiry into the earlier portion of the Vedas, an enquiry into the ritual of the Vedas or that portion of the Vedas which is concerned with the Mantras and the Brahmanas only. The Purva Mimamsa is so called, because it is earlier (Purva) than the Uttara Mimamsa, not so much in the chronological as in the logical sense.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

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A Vyakhyana is a running explanation in an easier language of what is said in the original, with little elucidations here and there. A Vyakhyana, particularly of a Kavya, deals with eight different modes of dissection of the Sloka, like Pada-Chheda, Vigraha, Sandhi, Alankara, Anuvada, etc. This forms an important aspect in the study of Sanskrit Sahitya Sastra. An Anu-Vyakhyana - like the one written by Sri Madhva - is a repetition of what is already written, but in greater detail. An Anuvada is merely a running translation or statement of an abstruse text of the original. Tika is only another name for Vyakhyana. The best Vyakhyanas are of Vachaspati Misra on the Darsanas, especially on Sankaras Brahmasutra-Bhashya.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Vyakhyana or Tika : Vyakhyana or Tika in the Hindu Scriptures

The teachings of Sankara can be summed up in half a verse: Brahman (the Absolute) is alone real; this world is unreal; and the Jiva or the individual soul is non-different from Brahman.

The Advaita taught by Sri Sankara is a rigorous, absolute one. According to Sri Sankara, whatever is, is Brahman. Brahman Itself is absolutely homogeneous. All difference and plurality are illusory.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Vedanta Schools: The Advaita Philosophy Of Sri Sankara