Brahmana period (Sanskrit) One of the four periods into which Vedic literature has been divided by Orientalists.

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

Sudama Brahmana

A school classmate of Krishna’s who later, being impoverished, visited Krishna in Dvaraka to ask for aid but asked Him for nothing and yet returned home and found his poor hut transformed into a palace.

(See also: Sudama Brahmana, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Aswa-Brahmana:

Aswa-Brahmana (Ashva-Braahmana). Brahmana relating to horse sacrifice.

(See also: Aswa-Brahmana, Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Sathapatha Brahmana:

Sathapatha Brahmana (Shathapatha Braahmana). One of the Brahmana texts of the Veda.

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

Taithiriya Brahmana:

Taithiriya Brahmana (Thaitthireeya Braahmana). One of the Brahmana texts of the Yajur-veda.

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

Jaiminiya Brahmana Upanishad: (Sanskrit) A philosophical discourse of the Sama Veda dealing with death, passage to other worlds and reincarnation.

See: Upanishad.

(See also: Jaiminiya Brahmana Upanishad, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Sakalya-brahmana:

Sakalya-brahmana (Shakalya-braahmana). Part of collection systematized by sage Sakalya.

(See also: Sakalya-brahmana, Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

keyword

Descriptive term in astrology for a planet or sign

(See also: Keyword, Body Mind and Soul)

Brahmin (Brahmana): A knower of Brahman; a member of the highest Hindu caste consisting of priests, pandits, philosophers, and religious leaders.

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

Aitareya (Sanskrit)) (from itara other; also from itara mother of Aitareya)

Name of a Brahmana or literary work attached to the Rig-Veda; also of Mahidasa, author of a Brahmana and an Aranyaka. The Aitareya-Brahmana (or Aitareyaka) contains forty adhyayas (sections) in which the duties of a hotri (priest) are enumerated. The Aitareya-Aranyaka consists of five books or aranyakas, the second and third of which are called the Aitareya-Upanishad (although sometimes the last four sections of the second book alone are so designated).

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

Aitareya (Sanskrit). The name of an Aranyaka (Brahmana) and a Upanishad of the Rig Veda. Some of its portions are purely Vedantic.

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

Upanishad:

Upanishad ("sitting near"): a type of scripture representing the concluding portion of the revealed literature of Hinduism, hence the designation Vedanta for the teachings of these sacred works; cf. Aranyaka, Brahmana, Veda

(See also: Upanishad, Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

Vedas: 1. The four Vedas of the earliest Sanskrit hymns and verses: Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda. 2. Equivalent to shruti, "revelation," comprising the Vedas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads as the eternal and unauthored source of Hinduism.

(See also: Vedas, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Vedas: the most ancient sacred literature of the Hindus. Most ancient texts revealed to the sages and saints of India which explain and regulate every aspect of life from supreme reality to worldly affairs. Four in number: Rig, Yajur, Sama, Atharava which are further divided into Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka and Upanishads.

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

Veda: (Sanskrit) "Wisdom." Sagely revelations which

comprise Hinduism's most authoritative scripture. They, along with the Agamas, are shruti, "that which is heard."

The Vedas are a body of dozens of holy texts known

collectively as the Veda, or as the four Vedas: Rig, Yajur,

Sama and Atharva. In all they include over 100,000

verses, as well as additional prose. The knowledge

imparted by the Vedas is highly mystical or

superconscious rather than intellectual. Each Veda has

four sections: Samhitas (hymn collections), Brahmanas

(priestly manuals), Aranyakas (forest treatises) and

Upanishads (enlightened discourses). The Samhitas and

Brahmanas (together known as the karmakanda, "ritual

section") detail a transcendent-immanent Supreme-Being

cosmology and a system of worship through fire ceremony

and chanting to establish communication with the Gods.

The Aranyakas and Upanishads (the jnanakanda,

"knowledge section") outline the soul's evolutionary

journey, providing yogic-philosophic training and

propounding a lofty, nondual realization as the destiny of

all souls. The oldest portions of the Vedas are thought to

date back as far as 6,000 bce, written down in Sanskrit in

the last few millennia, making them the world's most

ancient scriptures.

See: Aranyaka, Brahmana, shruti,

Upanishad, Vedanga.

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