Bliss, Region of. See SUKHAVATA

(See also: Bliss, Region of , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

A Theosophical definition of Devachan :

Devachan

[Tibetan, bde-ba-can, pronounced de-wa-chen] A translation of the Sanskrit sukhavati, the "happy place" or god-land. It is the state between earth-lives into which the human entity, the human monad, enters and there rests in bliss and repose.

When the second death after that of the physical body takes place  - and there are many deaths, that is to say many changes of the vehicles of the ego  - the higher part of the human entity withdraws into itself all that aspires towards it, and takes that "all" with it into the devachan; and the atman, with the buddhi and with the higher part of the manas, become thereupon the spiritual monad of man. Devachan as a state applies not to the highest or heavenly or divine monad, but only to the middle principles of man, to the personal ego or the personal soul in man, overshadowed by atma-buddhi. There are many degrees in devachan: the highest, the intermediate, and the lowest. Yet devachan is not a locality, it is a state, a state of the beings in that spiritual condition.

Devachan is the fulfilling of all the unfulfilled spiritual hopes of the past incarnation, and an efflorescence of all the spiritual and intellectual yearnings of the past incarnation which in that past incarnation have not had an opportunity for fulfillment. It is a period of unspeakable bliss and peace for the human soul, until it has finished its rest time and stage of recuperation of its own energies.

In the devachanic state, the reincarnating ego remains in the bosom of the monad (or of the monadic essence) in a state of the most perfect and utter bliss and peace, reviewing and constantly reviewing, and improving upon in its own blissful imagination, all the unfulfilled spiritual and intellectual possibilities of the life just closed that its naturally creative faculties automatically suggest to the devachanic entity.

Man here is no longer a quaternary of substance-principles (for the second death has taken place), but is now reduced to the monad with the reincarnating ego sleeping in its bosom, and is therefore a spiritual triad. (See also Death, Reincarnating Ego)

See also: Devachan , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Amesha-Spentas (Avestan) (from a not + mesha, mara mortal, mutable + spenta benefactor, holy, soul-healing; cf Sanskrit svanta)

Immortal benefactors; six in number: Vohu-Manah, Asha-Vahishta, Khshathra-Vayria, Spenta-Armaiti (love), Haurvatat (perfection), and Ameretat (immortality). The first three are attributes of Ahura Mazda, abstractions without form. These male positive creative forces leave their impressions in the mental world and give birth to the second trinity, who lead man to freedom. "The Amshaspends, (are)

our Dhyan-Chohans or the 'Serpents of Wisdom.' They are identical with, and yet separate from Ormazd (Ahura-Mazda). They are also the Angels of the Stars of the Christians -- the Star-yazatas of the Zoroastrians -- or again the seven planets (including the sun) of every religion. The epithet -- 'the shining having efficacious eyes' -- proves it. This on the physical and sidereal planes. On the spiritual, they are the divine powers of Ahura-Mazda; but on the astral or psychic plane again, they are the 'Builders,' the 'watchers,' the Pitar (fathers), and the first Preceptors of mankind" (SD 2:358).

"Zarathushtra is the Divine Universal Force that directs everything within the universe towards perfection. This force is known as Amesha-Spenta" (Shahrestani, Al-Melal Va Al-Nehal). This force is equivalent to the Gnostic primeval ruler or governor, the closest being to the creator; the active mind or intellect which is the source of divine bliss and providence, with the Manichaen pure or holy spirits; the Hebrew elohim, the Arabic Malaeka (angels); the Koranic soul within the angels; and the theosophic dhyani-chohans or dhyani-buddhas. They are the rulers of the seven globes of the earth-chain.

A verse in the Ormazd Yasht (prayer to Ahura Mazda) hints at another aspect of the Amesha-Spentas connected with the afterdeath state. Each one is named, and the verse ends: these "are the reward of the holy ones, when freed from their bodies, my creatures" (v 25).

Some consider Ahura Mazda as the chief of the six Amesha-Spentas, but this is valid only when Ahura Mazda is taken for the pure, unmanifested light and not as the father of all creation.

See also AMSHASPANDS

(See also: Amesha-Spentas , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Sanskrit dictionary. From Advaita to Yoga.

Please note that all words in grey, like "enlightenment" or "kundalini" are hyperlinked to archives further explaining the term. At the corresponding archive you will also find articles related to the term.

Psychophysiological Integration (bliss technique; formerly called the Maharishi Ayurveda Psychophysiological Integration technique): access to pure joy. its design is to reestablish contact between the mind and vibrations of bliss that subtly pervade all bodily cells.

Its theory posits:

(a)   a quantum mechanical human body (quantum mechanical body), the basis of the self; and

(b)  channels of inner intelligence, through which bliss can flow.

(See also: Psychophysiological Integration , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Svarupa-sakti - Sri Bhagavan’s divine potency. It is called svarupasakti because it is situated in His form. This potency is cinmaya, fully conscious, and thus it is the counterpart and antithesis of matter. Consequently it is also known as cit-sakti, potency which embodies the principle of consciousness.

Because this potency is intimately connected with the Lord, being situated in His form, it is further known as antaranga-sakti, the internal potency. Because it is superior to His marginal and external potencies both in form and glory, it is known as para-sakti, the superior potency. Thus, by its qualities, this potency is known by different names - svarupa-sakti, citsakti, antaranga-sakti, and para-sakti.

The svarupa-sakti has three divisions:

(1) sandhini, the potency which accommodates the spiritual existence of Krsna and all of His associates;

(2) samvit, the potency which bestows transcendental knowledge of Him; and

(3) hladini, the potency by which Krsna enjoys transcendental bliss and bestows such bliss upon His bhaktas (see sandhini, samvit, and hladini). The supreme entity known as Parabrahma is composed of saccid- ananda. These features (eternal existence, full-cognizance, and supreme bliss) can never be separated from each other. Similarly sandhini, samvit, and hladini are always found together. No one of these potencies can ever be separated from the other two. However, they are not always manifest in the same proportion. When sandhini is prominent in visuddha-sattva, it is known as svarupa-sakti predominated by sandhini. When samvit is prominent, it is known as svarupa-sakti predominated by samvit. And when hladini is prominent, it is known as svarupa-sakti predominated by hladini.

(See also: Svarupa-sakti , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Paradise [from Greek paradeisos from Old Persian pairidaeza from Sanskrit paradesa region beyond]

Applied in Persian and Greek to a pleasure park or royal domain. A Hebrew version (pardes) is found in the Bible, translated "orchard" (Eccl 2:5, Cant 4:3) and "forest" (Neh 2:8). An equivalent is the Hebrew eden (delight). Stories of a Paradise or Eden are universal; and while the general idea is simple, its applications are complex. It is the state of innocence and bliss from which there is departure, and to which there is eventual return. This may apply to the human race as a whole, to particular races, to the lands they inhabit, or to the pilgrimage of the individual human soul.

Persian tradition places a Garden of Delight far to the north of Caucasus in the Arctic regions, where was the Imperishable Sacred Land whence issued a stream from the earth's fount of life. Adi-varsha was the Eden of the first races and specifically of the primeval third root-race; the Eden of the fifth root-race is but its faint reminiscence. The Garden of Eden or of God (Ezek 31:3-9) was a home of initiates of Atlantis, now submerged.

The Eden in Genesis is a marvelous fusion of many meanings into one narrative, where the Adams of the various root-races are made into one. Eden was an ancient name for Mesopotamia and adjacent regions; and under that one name are comprised the meanings of an abode of initiates, a sacred land from which races emerged, and a goal of bliss in the future. The Eden of the Hebrew books, which Judaism, Christianity, and Islam alike have located in Mesopotamia and in the now sandy lands of Persia and Afghanistan, refers also to what was in prehistoric times a great and highly developed center of culture and the civilization which there had its seat, including a number of Mystery schools. When the changing cycles brought about a degeneration and final breakup of this seat of archaic wisdom, it was represented as the loss by the then human Adam -- the then race -- of the Paradise in which he had dwelt. Edens and Paradises always contain trees; and these, by one interpretation, signify the initiates in the sacred land, and by another they are the Tree of Life and the Tree of Wisdom for man himself. In the Qabbalah, Eden is a place of initiation.

In later times, the symbol of Paradise has come to mean a bliss of sensual pleasure, like the Moslem Paradise of the Houris, the Olympus of the Greeks, or Indra's Heaven (svarga).

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

Ananda:

Bliss.

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

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V X Y Z

Nirmanakaya (Sanskrit). Something entirely different in esoteric philosophy from the popular meaning attached to it, and from the fancies of the Orientalists.

Some call the Nirmanakaya body "Nirvana with remains" (Schlagintweit, etc.) on the supposition, probably, that it is a kind of Nirvanic condition during which consciousness and form are retained. Others say that it is one of the Trikaya (three bodies), with the "power of assuming any form of appearance in order to propagate Buddhism" (Eitel’s idea); again, that "it is the incarnate avatara of a deity" (ibid.), and so on.

Occultism, on the other hand, says:that Nirmanakaya, although meaning literally a transformed "body", is a state. The form is that of the adept or yogi who enters, or chooses, that post mortem condition in preference to the Dharmakaya or absolute Nirvanic state. He does this because the latter kaya separates him for ever from the world of form, conferring upon him a state of selfish bliss, in which no other living being can participate, the adept being thus precluded from the possibility of helping humanity, or even devas.

As a Nirmanakaya, however, the man leaves behind him only his physical body, and retains every other "principle" save the Kamic - for he has crushed this out for ever from his nature, during life, and it can never resurrect in his post mortem state. Thus, instead of going into selfish bliss, he chooses a life of self-sacrifice, an existence which ends only with the life-cycle, in order to be enabled to help mankind in an invisible yet most effective manner. (See The Voice of the Silence, third treatise, "The Seven Portals".) Thus a Nirmanakaya is not, as popularly believed, the body "in which a Buddha or a Bodhisattva appears on earth", but verily one, who whether a Chutuktu or a Khubilkhan, an adept or a yogi during life, has since become a member of that invisible Host which ever protects and watches over Humanity within Karmic limits.

 Mistaken often for a "Spirit", a Deva, God himself, &c., a Nirmanakaya is ever a protecting, compassionate, verily a guardian angel, to him who becomes worthy of his help. Whatever objection may be brought forward against this doctrine; however much it is denied, because, forsooth, it has never been hitherto made public in Europe and therefore since it is unknown to Orientalists, it must needs be "a myth of modern invention" - no one will be bold enough to say that this idea of helping suffering mankind at the price of one’s own almost interminable self-sacrifice, is not one of the grandest and noblest that was ever evolved from human brain.

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

pancha-kosas:

pancha-kosas (-koshas). Five sheaths of the individual: food, air, mind, intellect, bliss.

(See also: pancha-kosas , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Buddhism

World religion based on the spiritual teachings of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. There are a number of versions or sects of Buddhism generally teaching paths to Nirvana (enlightenment or bliss) though the four noble truths (recognizing existence and source of suffering) and the eightfold path (correct understanding, behavior and meditation).

Some variations of Buddhism include traditional Theravada schools of India, Mahayana Buddhism, which became very popular in China and Japan, and Tibetan Buddhism (Lamaism) in Tibet.

Two more recent forms that have had great influence in America are Zen and Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism.

(See also: Buddhism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

ananda: (Sanskrit) "Bliss." The pure joy - ecstasy or enstasy - of God-consciousness or spiritual experience. In its highest sense, ananda is expressed in the famous Vedic description of God: sat-chit-ananda, "existenceconsciousness- bliss" - the divine or superconscious mind of all souls. See: God Realization, Satchidananda.

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

 Ananda:

bliss

(See also:  Ananda , Body Mind and Soul)

satchidananda:

satchidananda (sath-chith-aanandha). Existence-knowledge-bliss, or being-awareness-bliss.

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

Ananda: Bliss or joy. In Indian philosophy of the Upanishads, Ananda was an important attribute of the supreme being, Brahman. "Bliss" was used to define Brahman and was also considered to be the highest state of the individual self.

(See also: Ananda ,Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

Satchidananda (Sachchidananda): (Sanskrit) "Existence-consciousness-bliss."

A synonym for Parashakti. Lord Siva's Divine Mind and simultaneously the pure superconscious mind of each individual soul. It is perfect love and omniscient, omnipotent consciousness, the fountainhead of all existence, yet containing and permeating all existence.

It is also called pure consciousness, pure form, substratum of existence, and more. One of the goals of the meditator or yogi is to experience the natural state of the mind, Satchidananda, holding back the vrittis through yogic practices.

In Advaita Vedanta, Satchidananda is considered a description of the Absolute (Brahman). Whereas in monistic, or shuddha, Saiva Siddhanta it is understood as divine form - pure, amorphous matter or energy - not as an equivalent of the Absolute, formless, "atattva," Parasiva. In this latter school, Parasiva is radically transcendent, and Satchidananda is known as the primal and most perfectly divine form to emerge from the formless Parasiva.

See: atattva, Parashakti, tattva.

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

Kundalini Dictionary

Dictionary over terms related to kundalini and kundalini awakening. Please note that words in grey like " Kundalini " are links to archives with related articles.

A Theosophical definition of Heaven and Hell :

Heaven and Hell

Every ancient exoteric religion taught that the so-called heavens are divided into steps or grades of ascending bliss and purity; and the so-called hells into steps or grades of increasing purgation or suffering. Now the esoteric doctrine or occultism teaches that the one is not a punishment, nor is the other strictly speaking a reward.

The teaching is, simply, that each entity after physical death is drawn to the appropriate sphere to which the karmic destiny of the entity and the entity's own character and impulses magnetically attract it. As a man works, as a man sows, in his life, that and that only shall he reap after death. Good seed produces good fruit; bad seed, tares  - and perhaps even nothing of value or of spiritual use follows a negative and colorless life.

After the second death, the human monad "goes" to devachan  - often called in theosophical literature the heaven-world. There are many degrees in devachan: the highest, the intermediate, and the lowest.

What becomes of the entity, on the other hand, the lower human soul, that is so befouled and weighted with earth thought and the lower instincts that it cannot rise? There may be enough in it of the spirit nature to hold it together as an entity and enable it to become a reincarnating being, but it is foul, it is heavy; its tendency is consequently downwards. Can it therefore rise into a heavenly felicity? Can it go even into the lower realms of devachan and there enjoy its modicum of the beatitude, bliss, of everything that is noble and beautiful? No. There is an appropriate sphere for every degree of development of the ego-soul, and it gravitates to that sphere and remains there until it is thoroughly purged, until the sin has been washed out, so to say.

These are the so-called hells, beneath even the lowest ranges of devachan; whereas the arupa heavens are the highest parts of the devachan. Nirvana is a very different thing from the heavens. (See also Kama-Loka, Avichi, Devachan, Nirvana)

See also: Heaven and Hell , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Airyanmen Vaeja, Airyena-Vaegah, Airyana-Vaeja (Avestan) Airyam-Veg (Pahlavi) "The Aryans (the noble ones) are said in the Avesta to have had their original home in the far land of Airyana Vaeja (the cradle land of the Aryans), the first among the lands created by Mazda. It was at the center of the earth and in its very center stood the mountain Harabareza. This corresponds with the Hindu descriptions of the Land of the Gods with Mount Meru at its center" (Taraporewala, The Religion of Zarathushtra).

The Aryans divided the universe into seven regions or keshvars: 1) Arzah or Arzahe; 2) Shabah, Sava-Cavahe; 3) Fradadafsh, Fradadhfsha; 4) Vidadafsh, Vidadahfshu; 5) Vorubarst, Vourubaresti; 6) Vorugarst, Vourujaresti, Vouruzaresti; and 7) Khvanuras, Ganiratha, Hvaniratha. The seventh land is situated in the middle of the other six. According to the introduction of Abu-Mansouri's Shah-Nameh (the older Shah-Nameh), the seventh land, which the kings named Iran-Shahr (Airya-Vaeja) is also in the middle of the other six.

Airyanem Vaejo is the primeval land of innocence and bliss of the Vendidad, similar to the Sveta-dvipa (white island) of Puranic literature or to Mount Meru. In this "beautiful land," by the river Daitya, "the stars, the moon, and the sun are only once (a year) seen to rise and set" (Vendidad). Blavatsky equates it with the cradleland of physical humanity, and locates it in Central Asia. It is identical to Sambhala and to Arghya Varsha from which the Kalki avatara is expected (SD 2:416; BCW 4:526-7).

In Persian legend, the serpent appeared in Airyanem Vaejo and by his venom transformed the beautiful, eternal spring into winter, generating disease and death. Interpreting this geologically and astronomically, "every occultist knows that the Serpent alluded to is the north pole, as also the pole of the heavens. The latter produces the seasons according to the angle at which it penetrates the centre of this earth.

The two axes were no more parallel; hence the eternal spring of Airyana-Vaego by the good river Daitya had disappeared, and 'the Aryan magi had to emigrate to Sagdiani' -- say exoteric accounts. But the esoteric teaching states that the pole had passed through the equator, and that the 'land of bliss' of the Fourth Race, its inheritance from the Third, had now become the region of desolation and woe. This alone ought to be an incontrovertible proof of the great antiquity of the Zoroastrian Scriptures" (SD 2:356).

(See also: Airyanmen Vaeja, Airyena-Vaegah, Airyana-Vaeja , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Ananda:

Ananda: Bliss; blissful nature (BV-38). Perpetual state of supreme bliss (SSS-III)

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