Flying

Without assistance

Flying in a dream is a fairly common, but very powerful event. Flying events seem to be divided among those who fly spontaneously in their dreams and those who have a lucid dreaming event and choose to fly. In either case, the dreamers report powerful feelings of freedom during the flight.

Flying as a spontaneous event often includes some special effort, like flapping one's arms, to get going. However, many people experience flight as soaring by a mysterious, jet-like power. These events are precipitated by a strong desire to travel or an imminent danger that requires escape.

Flying as a lucid dreaming choice is often of the levitation variety. These dreamers simply choose to fly because, in the reality of their dream, they know they may. This may be related to astral projection or an out-of-body experience that some people undergo.

These flights allow dreamers to transcend circumstances and acquire a more favourable or safer perspective. What prompted the will to fly ? was it danger or euphoria - and where did the flight lead?

Nonsensical means

In addition to flying independently, dreamers may fly on bikes, cars, boats, or other non-airborne equipment. These flights are generally brought about by circumstances where the current means of travel suddenly became inadequate or endangers the dreamer. A good example of this type of flight would be a bicycle that becomes airborne rather than be struck by a car. This dream may reveal a dreamer that sees dangers as inconsequential. It may also be a hero dream.

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Flying , Meaning of Dreams about Flying , Dream Interpretation Flying )

Dream Interpretation Night

Night stands for a period of transition with the promise that the morning will follow. To dream about wandering at night promises invisible dangers. The night might also stand for an uncertain future.

Source: Dream-Land, http://www.dream-land.info

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Night , Meaning of Dreams about Night , Dream Interpretation Night )

Animals

Carl Jung said that all wild animals indicate latent affects (feelings and emotions that we do not readily deal with). They are also symbolic of dangers (hurtful and negative things) being "swallowed" by the unconscious. The interpretation of the animal in your dream depends on your relationship with it in daily life. Animals represent the qualities in our character or specific aspects of our personalities. They could symbolize our more intuitive and instinctive parts, or they could serve as messengers for the unconscious. Please look up each animal individually by name.

Source: Dream Lover Incorporated, http://www.dreamloverinc.com

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Animals , Meaning of Dreams about Animals , Dream Interpretation Animals )

Dictionary on Dreams Meaning including the meaning of dreams about: Ditch, Dividend, Diving, Divining Rods, Divorce, Docks, Doctor, Dogs, Dolphin, Dome, Dominoes, Donkey, Doomsday, Door, Door Bell, Doves, Dowry, Dragon, Drama, Dram-drinking, Draw-knife, Dressing, Drinking, Driving, Dromedary.

Dream Dictionary Index including links to 10.000 dream interpretations: Dream Dictionary Index

For more dream interpretation, see: Meaning of Dreams or Dream Dictionary

For articles about dreams, see: Dreams

Water

Water is central to the human story. Whether it is the deep, fresh lake, the river that brings life, or the ocean that must claim her dead, water is both friend and enemy at once. When dreams contain this powerful image in any of its forms, understanding the role of the water is essential.

Water is a strong symbol in dreams because so often it is the exclamation point of the feelings in the dream. If other objects in a dream are relaxing, a bubbling brook through a meadow is more relaxing. If some symbols generate feelings of fear or anxiety, the tumultuous ocean creates the most anxiety. Water has symbolic, archetypal meaning in that it either provides life, or harbours mystery and danger. This is a reflection of our human experiences with water.

In early human history, the hunter-gatherers quickly learned that water was the central ingredient of life. (We die of thirst much more quickly than we starve.) More importantly, knowing where the water was meant knowing where the food was.

However, as commerce expanded, water became a necessary evil that harboured unknown dangers. Water travel was dangerous and uncertain as sea creatures, storms and rough seas claimed numerous voyagers. Polluted water affected livestock and spread disease.

On the positive side, water is often a symbol of new life, refreshment and vigour.

Water in manageable amounts or controlled settings almost always conveys this sentiment to the dreamer. Controlled water is the key.

If a dream contains a lake, is the entire shoreline visible and likely attainable? If a river or creek is dreamed of, is it within its banks and apparently traversable by usual means? These are all examples of controlled water.

Water presented in this way is often indicative of renewal. For example, while travelling and growing weary, the dreamer suddenly happens upon a creek.

Refreshment for the journey is close at hand. Perhaps a dreamer is out on a boat, moving over the water gently. One should anticipate a season of respite or sabbatical in life, or perhaps you should create an opportunity for this.

Uncontrolled water will often create a sense of unease for a dreamer. Raging rivers, rapids and lakes without borders often reflect being out of control of one's circumstances. Still deep water, while sometimes refreshing, may also create unease. This is because of the murkiness or uncertainty of what lies below the surface.

One exception to the generalities listed above is water taps. In a dream, it is important to recognise if the dreamer or another is controlling the tap and whether this is done to effect the comfort or discomfort of the dreamer. If the dreamer is controlling the tap ineffectively, the assumption may be made that the dreamer feels out of control or unable to master what should be apparently simple circumstances (or, what's worse, perhaps there is no water to be had). If another controls the tap, one may conclude that the dreamer feels his circumstances, for good or ill, are dependent on the whim of another. This whim may reflect either greater discomfort or comfort, whether it is an unpredictable boss, lover, or other significant relationship.

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Water , Meaning of Dreams about Water , Dream Interpretation Water )

Aeroplane, Airplane

Being a passenger in a plane

 This dream can be mundane or remarkable, since some people hold an irrational fear of flying, while others are indifferent. A plane appearing in the dreams of those nervous of flying is an attempt by one part of the psyche to quell perceived irrationality in another part. Dreams about flying as a passenger may hold a great sense of adventure for the dreamer. This can be due to the journey, the speed, or the destinations available through air travel. Also, it may be due to potential dangers, such as hijacking, which the dreamer may heroically overcome.

Piloting a plane

 Dreams about flying in a plane as the pilot vary tremendously. Is the dreamer a competent person either in sleep or waking? This may indicate a sense of control over circumstances. Does the plane crash? This may reveal a sense of inadequacy or incompetence. Who are the passengers on the plane? This may reveal who you feel responsible for in life, with your flight skills revealing your sense of how well you are fulfilling those responsibilities. If you are piloting the plane, are you competent to do so or are you overwhelmed by the responsibility? Do the other passengers accept or ignore your presence?

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Aeroplane, Airplane , Meaning of Dreams about Aeroplane, Airplane , Dream Interpretation Aeroplane, Airplane )

Alligator

This cold-blooded animal could hold several different meanings in your dream. It could symbolically represent something from your memory, emotions, or a current situation or individual in your life. Some think that the alligator represents verbal power used in a destructive way (angry and hurtful words). Others believe that it represents an enemy. Consider the details in your dream and your level of fear. This dream symbol should encourage you to look at some of your more "dangerous" emotions, memories, and experiences. The alligators in your dreams will begin to lose the power to frighten you as your understanding increases. Carl Jung said that all wild animals indicate latent affects (feelings and emotions that we do not readily deal with). They are also symbolic of dangers (hurtful and negative things) being "swallowed" by the unconscious.

Source: Dream Lover Incorporated, http://www.dreamloverinc.com

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Alligator , Meaning of Dreams about Alligator , Dream Interpretation Alligator )

Dark rooms/rooms without exits

The room without exit may be a womb image. As such it represents either mother-nurture or mother-power conflicts as you discern whether you are satisfied and safe to be in the room, or unreasonably restrained from your other objectives. Do you want to get out of the room, or is the room a haven against potential dangers in the world? Is the room pleasant or painful as a space in its own right?

Does the darkness of the room inspire peace and rest or fear and disorientation? Peace and rest may indicate sanctuary or maternal reassurance. Fear and disorientation may show mother-power, personal loss or a threatening shift in roles.

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Dark rooms, rooms without exits , Meaning of Dreams about Dark rooms, rooms without exits , Dream Interpretation Dark rooms, rooms without exits )

Kabbalah

(Also spelled Kabbala, Kabalah, Kabala, Cabala, Cabbala, Cabalah, Cabbalah, Qabala, Qabbala, Qabalah and Qabbalah - there are potentially 36 ways of spelling it. )

Generically, Jewish mysticism in all its forms.

The Kabbalah is an ancient esoteric Jewish mystic system as it appeared in the 12th and following centuries. Kabbalah has always been essentially an oral tradition in that initiation into its doctrines and practices is conducted by a personal guide to avoid the dangers inherent in mystical experiences.

Esoteric Kabbala is also "tradition" inasmuch as it lays claim to secret knowledge of the unwritten Torah (divine revelation) that was communicated by God to Moses and Adam. Though observance of the Law of Moses remained the basic tenet of Judaism, Kabbalah provided a means of approaching God directly.

The word Kabbalah is derived from the root 'to receive, to accept', and in many cases is used synonymously with 'tradition'. or 'secret oral tradition' The principle at the root of the Kabbalahis the teaching that the Torah was written in code whcih deciphered will reveal great spiritual teachings.

The word was coined by an eleventh century Spanish philosopher, Ibn Gabirol. Kabbalistic interest, at first confined to a select few, became the preoccupation of large numbers of Jews following their expulsion from Spain (1492) and Portugal (1495). The philosophy was developed in Babylon during the middle ages from earlier Hebrew speculation and numerology. The classic document of the Kabbalistic tradition, The Zohar, was compiled by Moses de Leon about 1290. The doctrine of creation was built on a theory of emanations and asserted that the world derived from the transcendent and unknowable God through a series of increasingly material manifestations (sephirot).

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

Lion

Carl Jung said that all wild animals indicate latent affects (feelings and emotions that we do not readily deal with). They are also symbolic of dangers (hurtful and negative things) being "swallowed" by the unconscious. The lion is a symbol of social distinction and leadership. The interpretation depends on the circumstances and the interactions with the lion.

See also: Meaning of Dreams about Animals, Cat.

Source: Dream Lover Incorporated, http://www.dreamloverinc.com

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Lion , Meaning of Dreams about Lion , Dream Interpretation Lion )

Abhyasa-yoga (Sanskrit) (from abhi towards + the verbal root as to be, exist + yoga union from the verbal root yuj to join, yoke)

Sometimes erroneously abhyasana. Repeated practice and application of yoga, meditation, or recollection; the effort of the mind to attain an unmodified condition of perfect serenity and quiet. One of the eight disciplines or requirements of yoga: persistent concentration of attention. When accompanied with physical postures, it is a form of hatha yoga, and practiced without the spiritual training of raja yoga, it has its dangers. As a system of mental concentration directed to impersonal, altruistic ends, it is beneficial.

Krishna (BG 12:9-10) points out that abhyasa-yoga is not only useful for training in one life but, if performed for the sake of the Supreme, is likely to leave permanent helpful impulses in the soul which will aid it in future incarnations and lead it ultimately to union (yoga) with the divine.

(See also: Abhyasa-yoga , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

A Theosophical definition of Ethics :

Ethics

The theosophical teachings are essentially and wholly ethical. It is impossible to understand the sublime wisdom of the gods, the archaic wisdom-religion of the ancients, without the keenest realization of the fact that ethics run like golden threads throughout the entire system or fabric of doctrine and thought of the esoteric philosophy. Genuine occultism, divorced from ethics, is simply unthinkable because impossible. There is no genuine occultism which does not include the loftiest ethics that the moral sense of mankind can comprehend, and one cannot weigh with too strong an emphasis upon this great fact.

Ethics in the theosophical philosophy are not merely the products of human thought existing as a formulation of conventional rules proper for human conduct. They are founded on the very structure and character of the universe itself. The heart of the universe is wisdom-love, and these are intrinsically ethical, for there can be no wisdom without ethics, nor can love be without ethics, nor can there be ethics deprived of either love or wisdom.

The philosophic reason why the ancients set so much store by what was commonly known as virtus among the Latins, from which we have our modern word "virtue," is because by means of the teaching originating in the great Mystery schools, they knew that virtues, ethics, were the offspring of the moral instinct in human beings, who derived them in their turn from the heart of the universe  - from the kosmic harmony. It is high time that the Occidental world should cast forever into the limbo of exploded superstitions the idea that ethics is merely conventional morality, a convenience invented by man to smooth the asperities and dangers of human intercourse.

Of course every scholar knows that the words morals and ethics come from the Latin and Greek respectively, as signifying the customs or habits which it is proper to follow in civilized communities. But this fact itself, which is unquestionable, is in a sense disgraceful, for it would almost seem that we had not yet brought forth a word adequately describing the instinct for right and truth and troth and justice and honor and wisdom and love which we today so feebly express by the words ethics or morals. "Theosophist is who Theosophy does," wrote H. P. Blavatsky, and wiser and nobler words she never wrote. No one can be a theosophist who does not feel ethic-ally and think ethically and live ethically in the real sense that is hereinbefore described. (See also Morals)

See also: Ethics , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Grave

• To dream that you see a newly made grave, you will have to suffer for the wrongdoings of others.
• If you visit a newly made grave, dangers of a serious nature is hanging over you. Grave is an unfortunate dream. Ill luck in business transactions will follow, also sickness is threatened.
• To dream of walking on graves, predicts an early death or an unfortunate marriage.
• If you look into an empty grave, it denotes disappointment and loss of friends.
• If you see a person in a grave with the earth covering him, except the head, some distressing situation will take hold of that person and loss of property is indicated to the dreamer.
• To see your own grave, foretells that enemies are warily seeking to engulf you in disaster, and if you fail to be watchful they will succeed.
• To dream of digging a grave, denotes some uneasiness over some undertaking, as enemies will seek to thwart you, but if you finish the grave you will overcome opposition. If the sun is shining, good will come out of seeming embarrassments.
• If you return for a corpse, to bury it, and it has disappeared, trouble will come to you from obscure quarters.
• For a woman to dream that night overtakes her in a graveyard, and she can find no place to sleep but in an open grave, foreshows she will have much sorrow and disappointment through death or false friends. She may lose in love, and many things seek to work her harm.
• To see a graveyard barren, except on top of the graves, signifies much sorrow and despondency for a time, but greater benefits and pleasure await you if you properly shoulder your burden.
• To see your own corpse in a grave, foreshadows hopeless and despairing oppression.

Source: 10 000 Dream Interpretations, by Gustavus Hindman Miller

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Grave , Meaning of Dreams about Grave , Dream Interpretation Grave )

Seer In its highest sense, one who discerns truths clearly by the use of the real inner vision, the Eye of Siva; who can see throughout the ranges of space and time belonging to a universe -- not barring intuitions of the spaces and times of other surrounding universes. But it is also used for a number of varying degrees of ability to see clairvoyantly in the astral light.

Swedenborg is sometimes called a seer, which he was in small degree, but because he was untrained, what he saw was mainly peculiar to himself, as is the case with seers of the same class. Instructions for aspirants to wisdom are replete with warnings as to the manifold dangers and deceptions of the astral light, and the obstacles thrown up by the unpurified and undisciplined nature of the disciple.

The ability to become a true spiritual seer using the inner eye, means the fruits of many lives of aspiration and training, involving the successful passing of many trials and initiations. The science called gutpa-vidya is due to the collaboration and teaching of real seers, whose trained faculties enable them to have direct vision of actualities.

(See also: Seer , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Manvantara (Sanskrit) [from manu + antara between]

Between two manus; a period of activity or manifestation. Manu is the entities collectively aggregated into a unity which appear first at the beginning of manifestation and from which, like a cosmic tree, everything is derived or born. A manvantara, therefore, is the period of activity between any two manus, on any plane, since in any such period there is a root-manu at the beginning of evolution and a seed-manu at its close, preceding a pralaya.

One has to gather from context what the meaning of the manvantara referred to is, remembering that what is applicable to a lesser period applied also to a greater, and conversely. When speaking of a manvantara of our planet, a period of one round of the planetary chain is usually meant. There is also the manvantara of any globe of the planetary chain. Seven rounds of the planetary chain make a mahamanvantara of a planet, a Day of Brahma. A solar manvantara is a period of seven Days of Brahma. The Life of Brahma is a mahamanvantara or mahakalpa of the solar system. A minor or globe manvantara is the duration of the seven root-races on any particular globe of the planetary chain. Even a root-race is sometimes called a manvantara because there is a root-manu and seed-manu to each race. The period of a human life is sometimes called a paurusha manvantara; the period of a planet's life, a bhaumika manvantara; the life period of the solar system, a saurya manvantara, the life period of the universe, a prakritika manvantara, which last can become synonymous with the saurya manvantara.

When the time arrives for the re-opening of a planetary manvantara, the planet

"descends again into manifestation through the inner divine planetary thirst for active life and is directed to the same solar system, and to the same spot, relatively speaking, that its predecessor (its former self) had, attracted thither by magnetic and other forces on the lower planes. It forms, in the beginning of its course or journey downwards, a planetary nebula; after many aeons it becomes a comet, following ultimately an elliptical orbit around the sun of our solar system, thus being 'captured,' as our scientists wrongly say, by the sun; and finally condenses into a planet in its earliest physical condition. The comets of short periodic time are on their way to rebecoming planets in our solar system, provided they successfully elude the many dangers that beset such ethereal bodies before condensation and hardening of their matter shield them from destruction" (Fund 63).

In a similar manner at the re-opening of a solar manvantara, a cosmic nebula is gradually formed of the principles of the former cosmos with its sun and planets, etc. Then

"this cosmic nebula drifts from the place where it first was evolved, the guiding impulse of karma directing here and directing there, this luminous nebulosity moving circularly, and contracting, passing through other phases of nebular evolution, such as the spiral stage and the annular, until it becomes spherical, or rather a nebular series of concentric spheres. The nebula in space, as just said, takes often a spiral form, and from the core, the center, there stream forth branches, spiral branches, and they look like whirling wheels within wheels, and they whirl during many ages. When the time has come -- when the whirling has developed pari passu with the indwelling lives and intelligences within the cosmic nebula -- then the annular form appears, a form like a ring or concentric rings, with a heart in the center, and after long aeons, the central heart becomes the sun or central body of the new solar system, and the rings the planets. These rings condense into other bodies, and these other bodies are the planets circulating around their elder brother, the sun; elder, because he was the first to condense into a sphere" (Fund 61-2).

In the first half of a manvantara (planetary as well as human) there is the descent of spirit into matter, and in the second half an ascent of spirit at the expense of matter. A manvantara or period of material manifestation is a temporary spiritual death, whereas the dawn of the succeeding pralaya is spiritual birth.

(See also: Manvantara , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Hatha Yoga (Sanskrit) A lower form of yoga practice which uses physical means for purposes of self-development, teaching that it is possible to attain to a certain grade of psychomental abstraction and to develop some of the lower vital-astral powers, by means of a set of physical exercises and postures, by the regulation of the breath, or by certain other psychophysical methods. These methods are to be neither recommended nor followed, for they are exceedingly dangerous except when practiced in minor degree under the supervision of a teacher, and above everything else in full coordination with the higher forms of yoga.

Hatha yoga practices can be exceedingly dangerous to sanity and health. Being of nonphysical nature on one side, they can adversely affect the mind, and in extreme cases even dislodge the mind from its normal and proper seat, producing insanity. Being of a physical nature also, they interfere with the proper pranic circulations in the body; the pranas when left alone are usually productive of health, and when disturbed by attempted meddling produce disease.

One phase of hatha yoga is the pranayama (suppression of the breath), interference with the normal and healthy respiration of the body; a practice which can readily produce tuberculosis of the lungs. It is breathing deeply, healthfully, and as often as common sense suggests, that brings benefits to the body because bringing about a better oxygenation of the blood and therefore a better physical tone. In very rare circumstances only, where a chela has advanced relatively far mentally and spiritually, but has still an unfortunate and heavy physical karma as yet not worked out, it may possibly be proper, under the guidance of a genuine teacher, to use the hatha yoga methods in a limited degree, but only under the teacher's own eye. For this reason hatha yoga books are occasionally mentioned in theosophical literature -- the Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali, for example, is a hatha yoga scripture, but one of the highest type. But generally, hatha yoga practices are injurious and therefore unwise, for they distract the attention from things of the spirit and direct it to the lower parts of the constitution.

Unfortunately, however, physical practices of various kinds seem to be particularly attractive to the average person because apparently within the sphere of easy performance. One does not know the dangers lurking there; but actually, to achieve even the minor results that come from perfect performance, greater effort and larger difficulties have to be encountered than in raising one's eyes to the nobler forms of yoga. It is always safe and indeed requisite for a disciple to practice the higher branches of yoga: jnana yoga, raja yoga, bhakti yoga, and karma yoga, which means the yoga of unselfish action in daily life. Consequently, when considered apart from the nobler forms of yoga there is not a particle of spirituality in all these hatha yoga practices.

(See also: Hatha Yoga , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Faith Healing, Drugless Healing Apart from the regular medical and surgical practice, widespread forms of drugless healing are employed today. Public opinion generally is either frankly skeptical about the whole matter, or believes that such afford safe and easy means of relief and escape from suffering and disease.

As a whole, these forms of faith or magnetic healing depend on the "inborn or inherent, ability of the 'healer' or practitioner to convey healthy life-force from himself to the diseased person. This is the key to success, or the lack of success, in all cases, and in all kinds of healing of whatever so-called 'school'" (SOPh 622). If the practitioner succeeds in conveying the vitality of the pranic fluids from his own healthy body to the diseased body or organ of another person, that healthy life-force "expels" or changes the inharmonious vibrations in the afflicted part and, by restoring harmony there, brings about health. Such cures can be permanent; usually they are temporary, lasting from a few days to a few years.

All these methods were known to the ancients. Unfortunately, the Western lack of any true psychology leaves unexplained the rationale of these healing systems -- whether by hypnotism, magnetism, mesmerism, or healing by faith as practiced by the Christian Scientists and faith-healers -- and gives no hint of their end results. The potential dangers incurred, both physical and superphysical, are unsuspected. The magnetic healer's emanation of his vitality and will-force inevitably carries and implants in the person it affects something of his own quality of mind, heart, and body. The germs of any latent disease, hidden vice, or mental bias will complicate any supposed cure.

Moreover, the subtle infection on inner lines karmically links for the future both healer and patient in the outcome. Even diseased or evil-minded persons of strong will and animal vitality can displace a disease and, by driving it back onto some inner level of the sufferer's constitution, can make a seeming cure. Howsoever it is displaced out of sight, it cannot be denied out of existence, and sooner or later it will reappear in a more untimely, unnatural, and probably a more dangerous form because of its suppression at the moment of its endeavor to exhaust itself in physical expression. Physical disease, originating in wrong thought in this or a former life, becomes visible on the most material level in working its way out of the system for good. It is positively pernicious for a healer to act upon the will, conscience, or moral integrity of the sick person by hypnotizing his mind, will, and conscience into believing that sickness does not exist, or that he is a victim of fate instead of suffering from his own past actions. Any such control of another's conscious life is a form of suggestion or hypnotism, and falls under what was formerly called black magic.

On the other hand, we are morally obligated to help the sick and suffering in the right ways of treating the body, mind, and soul; right because involving the arousing of the patient's own inner powers of spiritual, moral, and intellectual resistance against the weaknesses in himself. The wrong ways consist in the overpowering -- however good the motive of the practitioner may be -- of the moral instincts, will, and conscience of the sufferer, thereby rendering him weaker than before. In genuine mesmerism the vital emanation from a pure-minded, unselfish, healthy operator arouses the inert or disordered forces of the diseased organ or body, causing them to vibrate harmoniously and naturally. Thus the sufferer makes himself whole or healthy, and has no bad reaction. The best of all drugless healing methods is where the sufferer is brought into a state of hope, self-confidence, and the higher kind of resignation bringing peace and inner quiet, all of which works in harmony with the body's natural resources of health and healing. This is the kind of faith-cure used by Jesus and others of similar spiritual and intellectual stature.

(See also: Faith Healing, Drugless Healing , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Hatha Yoga (Sanskrit) A lower form of yoga practice which uses physical means for purposes of self-development, teaching that it is possible to attain to a certain grade of psychomental abstraction and to develop some of the lower vital-astral powers, by means of a set of physical exercises and postures, by the regulation of the breath, or by certain other psychophysical methods. These methods are to be neither recommended nor followed, for they are exceedingly dangerous except when practiced in minor degree under the supervision of a teacher, and above everything else in full coordination with the higher forms of yoga.

Hatha yoga practices can be exceedingly dangerous to sanity and health. Being of nonphysical nature on one side, they can adversely affect the mind, and in extreme cases even dislodge the mind from its normal and proper seat, producing insanity. Being of a physical nature also, they interfere with the proper pranic circulations in the body; the pranas when left alone are usually productive of health, and when disturbed by attempted meddling produce disease.

One phase of hatha yoga is the pranayama (suppression of the breath), interference with the normal and healthy respiration of the body; a practice which can readily produce tuberculosis of the lungs. It is breathing deeply, healthfully, and as often as common sense suggests, that brings benefits to the body because bringing about a better oxygenation of the blood and therefore a better physical tone. In very rare circumstances only, where a chela has advanced relatively far mentally and spiritually, but has still an unfortunate and heavy physical karma as yet not worked out, it may possibly be proper, under the guidance of a genuine teacher, to use the hatha yoga methods in a limited degree, but only under the teacher's own eye. For this reason hatha yoga books are occasionally mentioned in theosophical literature -- the Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali, for example, is a hatha yoga scripture, but one of the highest type. But generally, hatha yoga practices are injurious and therefore unwise, for they distract the attention from things of the spirit and direct it to the lower parts of the constitution.

Unfortunately, however, physical practices of various kinds seem to be particularly attractive to the average person because apparently within the sphere of easy performance. One does not know the dangers lurking there; but actually, to achieve even the minor results that come from perfect performance, greater effort and larger difficulties have to be encountered than in raising one's eyes to the nobler forms of yoga. It is always safe and indeed requisite for a disciple to practice the higher branches of yoga: jnana yoga, raja yoga, bhakti yoga, and karma yoga, which means the yoga of unselfish action in daily life. Consequently, when considered apart from the nobler forms of yoga there is not a particle of spirituality in all these hatha yoga practices.

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

Tulku sprul sku (Tibetan) [short for sprul pa'i sku (tul-pe-ku) from sprul pa phantom, disembodied spirit; cf Sanskrit nirmanakaya body of magical transformation]

Applied to a lama of high rank, often to the head abbot of a monastery; specifically, to those lamas who have proved their ability of remembering their office and standing in a former incarnation, e.g., by selecting articles belonging previously to themselves, describing details of a former life, surroundings, etc. The two most important tulkus in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy are the Tashi and Dalai Lamas. Tulku is often referred to as an incarnation but, outside of the many varieties of an incarnating or imbodying power or energy, incarnation in popular usage is the direct continuance of a previous imbodiment. These so-called living buddhas of Tibet are one kind of tulku -- the transmission of a spiritual power or energy from one Buddha-lama of a Tibetan monastery when he dies, to a child or adult successor. If the transmission is successful, the result is tulku.

Tulku is of many different kinds and very closely parallels the Hindu doctrine of avatara. Taking Jesus as an example: here was a life-long tulku, a ray from a divinity; a tulku of that divinity so far as that ray goes, a divine manifestation, and hence a true avatara in the Brahmanical sense. Again, Gautama Buddha was tulku of his own inner buddha or inner god. The average person, however, is merely overshadowed occasionally, if he really aspires, by a touch of the divine flame from within the higher parts of his own constitution, and yet even for these fugitive instants such person is tulku. But when Gautama attained buddhahood, he was relatively infilled with his own inner buddha, and therefore was that god's human tulku. That was for Siddhartha the man, nirvana; he then entered dharmakaya and this portion of him was then known of men no more: that portion of him was a man become divine.

Another kind of tulku is where a human mahatma will send a ray from himself, or a part of himself, to take imbodiment, perhaps only temporarily, perhaps almost for a lifetime, in a neophyte-messenger that this mahatma is sending out into the world to teach. The messenger in this instance acts as a transmitter of the spiritual and divine powers of the mahatma. Blavatsky was such a tulku, imbodying frequently the very life of, and hence guided by, her own teacher. While this incarnation of the teacher's higher essence lasted, she was tulku. When for one reason or another the influence or ray was withdrawn for a longer or shorter period, tulku then and there became nonexistent.

Still another aspect of the tulku doctrine is illustrated by the case of Blavatsky. Where is she now? Blavatsky has not yet again reincarnated -- she has not yet been born as a child -- but she has at certain times, and for one certain individual, with that individual's consent, organized as it were tulku for that individual. For the time being, therefore, we can say that Blavatsky has partially imbodied in that chosen individual for the purpose of special transmission. In all cases of tulku, they are incarnations or appearances. If Blavatsky, for instance, were to make tulku of a person for a month or a year, for the time being that person would be tulku, but when that particular work was done, the influence would be withdrawn and tulku would stop.

There is again another kind of avataric incarnation or tulku, a temporary physical appearance of an adept in the mayavi-rupa. Certain Tibetan lamas are known to be able to perform this feat, and thus they too have been properly called tulkus, which is the type of tulku that certain Orientalists have referred to as "an appearance."

Another type of tulku of an opposite and essentially evil character is that brought about by a hypnotist who temporarily displaces the psychological nature of his entranced subject through psychologization or even hypnosis plus mesmerism. This, however, is more often than not an act of black magic and fraught with grave dangers, both to the hypnotist and the one entranced. Every clever hypnotist actually makes a tulku of his victim in a black magic sense. When he puts an idea into the brain of his victim, that one week from now at three o'clock in the afternoon he is going to do some essentially foolish or undignified act -- for the time being that hypnotist is working a black magic tulku on that victim, and every psychologist and hypnotist knows the possibility of this fact, though the scientific explanation of the term may be strange to him. A key example of black magic tulku was what the medieval Europeans used to call werewolves. This doctrine of the tulku, however, is at heart beautiful and sublime, and hence highly reverenced by the Tibetans.

(See also: Tulku, sprul sku , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

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.

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