Devas Dictionary

samskara: (Sanskrit) "Impression, activator; sanctification, preparation."

1)    The imprints left on the subconscious mind by experience (from this or previous lives), which then color all of life, one's nature, responses, states of mind, etc.

2)    A sacrament or rite done to mark a significant transition of life.

These make deep and positive impressions on the mind of the recipient, inform the family and community of changes in the lives of its members and secure inner-world blessings. The numerous samskaras are outlined in the Grihya Shastras. Most are accompanied by specific mantras from the Vedas.

-       samskaras of birth

-       samskaras of childhood

-       samskaras of adulthood

-       samskaras of later life

See: mind (five states of mind), sacrament, samskaras.

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

Sukshma Sarira (Sanskrit). The dream-like, illusive body akin to Manasarupa or "thought-body ". It is the vesture of the gods, or the Dhyanis and the Devas. Written also Sukshama Sharira and called Sukshmopadhi by the Taraka Raja Yogis. (Secret Doctrine, I.,157)

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

Andarah (possibly Sanskrit andhakara darkness, blindness from andha blind, dark, turbid from the verbal root andh to make blind + kara making from the verbal root kri to do, make; or possibly Sanskrit antarala midway, intermediate space from antar internal, intermediate + ala probably for alaya dwelling, asylum)

Possibly darkness or intermediate space; used in The Mahatma Letters: "(remember the Hindu allegory of the Fallen Devas hurled by Siva into Andarah who are allowed by Parabrahm to consider it as an intermediate state where they may prepare themselves by a series of rebirths in that sphere for a higher state -- a new regeneration) . . ." (p. 87).

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

kala: (Sanskrit) "Part, segment; art or skill." 1) Cultural arts. (See: kala64). 2) A five-fold division of the cosmos based on the 36 tattvas, as explained in the Saiva Agamas.

The five kalas- spheres, or dimensions of consciousness- are:

1)    Shantyatitakala, "sphere beyond peace," the extremely rarified level of shuddha maya (actinic energy) in which superconsciousness is expanded into endless inner space, the realm of God Siva and the Gods;

2)    Shantikala, "sphere of peace," the level within shuddha maya where forms are made of inner sounds and colors, where reside great devas and rishis who are beyond the reincarnation cycles;

3)    Vidyakala, "sphere of knowing," the level within shuddhashuddha maya (actinodic energy) of subsuperconscious awareness of forms in their totality in progressive states of manifestation, and of the interrelated forces of the actinodic energies;

4)    Pratishtakala, "sphere of resting, tranquility," the level within ashuddha maya (odic energy) of intellect and instinct;

5)    Nivrittikala, "sphere of perdition, destruction; returning," the level within ashuddha maya of physical and near-physical existence, conscious, subconscious and sub-subconscious mind.

See: tattva.

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

Ajita (Sanskrit) (from a not + the verbal root ji to conquer, triumph)

The invisible, unsurpassed; in the Vayu-Purana, the highest of twelve gods, named jayas, who were created by Brahma to aid him at the beginning of the manvantara. But because they neglected his directives, Brahma "cursed" them to be born in each succeeding manvantara until the seventh, the Vaivasvata-manvantara (cf VP 1:15; n2, p. 26). These twelve jayas are the Hindu equivalent of the twelve great gods of Greco-Roman mythology. Because of their all-permeant character, on a lower scale these divinities are identical with the manasa, the jnana-devas, the rudras, and other classes of manifested deities. In these lower manifestations of their functions, they are identical with those dhyani-chohanic groups which "refuse to incarnate," spoken of in The Secret Doctrine.

Also the name of the second of the 24 Tirthankaras or Jain teachers.

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

kuttuvilaku: (Tamil) A standing lamp found in the temple, shrine room or home. It is made of metal, with several wicks fed by ghee or special oils. Used to light the home and used in puja. Part of temple and shrine altars, the standing lamp is sometimes worshiped as the divine light, Parashakti or Parajyoti. Returning from the temple and lighting one's kuttuvilaku courts the accompanying devas to remain in the home and channels the vibration of the temple sanctum sanctorum into the home shrine. Called dipastambha in Sanskrit.

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

Deva (Sanskrit). A god, a "resplendent" deity. Deva-Deus, from the root div "to shine". A Deva is a celestial being - whether good, bad, or indifferent. Devas inhabit "the three worlds", which are the three planes above us. There are 33 groups or 330 millions of them.

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

Demigods One of the orders of semi-divine instructors, spiritual beings in human form. Herodotus, among other Greek writers, speaks of humanity being ruled successively by gods, demigods, heroes, and men. The Lemuro-Atlanteans were among the first who had a dynasty of spirit-kings, highly evolved living devas or demigods.

There are the Chinese demigods, Chin-nanga and Chan-gy, the Peruvian Manco-Capac, the Hindu rishis, and the demigods popularized among the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians. In the Golden Age of Saturnus all people were said to have been demigods, and many of the figures in mythology who seem at one moment historical characters and at another gods or symbols, were actually demigods who once dwelt among mankind, founding new cultures, instructing and guiding humanity, and revealing all the arts and sciences.

As examples of demigods who actually descended and taught the human race in historic and prehistoric times, one may cite Osiris, the first Zoroaster, Krishna, and Moses.

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

Zeus (Greek) Chief of the manifested gods of the Greek pantheon, represented in poetic and mythologic story as throned in the heavens, gathering the clouds and refreshing the earth with rains and winds, also sending storms and lightning, his chief weapon being the thunderbolt with which he strikes those who work against his will.

Zeus, in the conception of the ancient Greek philosophers who nearly all were initiate-thinkers, was not the highest god. It was because all public mention of the cosmic hierarch was forbidden that Homer omitted to mention this first principle, and even the secondary, the Chaos and Aether of Orpheus and Hesiod, commencing his cosmogony with Night, which Zeus reverences -- Night here being equivalent to the Hindu pradhana-prakriti.

Zeus was not always portrayed as the ineffable cosmic principle, as in the dramas of Aeschylus, especially in his trilogy on Prometheus. "In the case of Prometheus, Zeus represents the Host of the primeval progenitors, of the pitar, the 'Fathers' who created man senseless and without any mind; while the divine Titan stands for the Spiritual creators, the devas who 'fell' into generation. The former are spiritually lower, but physically stronger, than the 'Prometheans': therefore, the latter are shown conquered. 'The lower Host, whose work the Titan spoiled and thus defeated the plans of Zeus,' was on this earth in its own sphere and plane of action; whereas, the superior Host was an exile from Heaven, who had got entangled in the meshes of matter. They (the inferior 'Host') were masters of all the Cosmic and lower titanic forces; the higher Titan possessed only the intellectual and spiritual fire. This drama of the struggle of Prometheus with the Olympic tyrant and despot, sensual Zeus, one sees enacted daily within our actual mankind: the lower passions chain the higher aspirations to the rock of matter, to generate in many a case the vulture of sorrow, pain, and repentance" (SD 2:421-2). This inferior host is the various classes of the lunar pitris; whereas the higher host, collectively represented by Prometheus, is the aggregate of the agnishvatta-pitris or agni-dhyanis.

Again, "between Zeus, the abstract deity of Grecian thought, and the Olympic Zeus, there was an abyss. . . . Zeus was the human soul and nothing more, whenever shown yielding to his lower passions, -- the jealous God, revengeful and cruel in its egotism or I-am-ness" (SD 2:419). In another aspect Zeus is the deity of the fourth root-race, while his father, Kronos, represents the third root-race.

Some of the deities in the Greek pantheon were often represented in a hermaphrodite aspect, thus Zeus is occasionally depicted with female breasts; while one of the Orphic hymns, which was sung during the Mysteries, says: "Zeus is a male, Zeus is an immortal maid."

The Latin Jupiter was equivalent to the Greek Zeus, so that the following citation refers to both deities: "The four-fold Jupiter, as the four-faced Brahma -- the aerial, the fulgurant, the terrestrial, and the marine god -- the lord and master of the four elements, may stand as a representative for the great cosmic gods of every nation. While passing power over the fire to Hephaistos-Vulcan, over the sea, to Poseidon-Neptune, and over the Earth, to Pluto-Aidoneus -- the aerial Jove was all these; for AEther, from the first, had pre-eminence over, and was the synthesis of, all the elements" (SD 1:464).

Zeus, as the Father of the Gods, was Aether itself, and hence by the Greeks was sometimes called Zeus-Zen, precisely as the Latin races called Jupiter Pater Aether (father ether).

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

Spark A scintilla or atom of fire. Fire in its septenary or denary forms exists on all planes, so that we hear of sparks in various senses. Atman is the homogeneous divine spark which radiates in millions of rays, in their aggregate producing the primeval seven. The same idea in more mechanical form is found in Lucretius, who says that all fires come from the one scintilla.

Sparks may be worlds, monads, or even atoms, though the word usually means the jiva within the atom. The divine spark hangs from the flame by the finest thread of fohat and journeys through the seven worlds of maya, passing upwards in its evolutionary course through the animate kingdoms. In man it is the monad in conjunction with the aroma of manas, and is called a jiva; it is that which remains from each personality and hangs by a thread from atman. The personalities are like the sparks that dance on moonlit waves -- fleeting reflections of their spiritual prototype.

With the Hebrews, the 'elohim, sparks, and cherubs are the devas, and fires and flames, and the rishis, the rudras and the 49 agnis or fires. In the Chaldean Book of Numbers, the Worker's Hammer strikes sparks from the flint (space), which become worlds. The sparks are the seven wicks of the divine flame. Terrestrial creative and generative fire are created by friction, and this is the analog of the celestial fire latent in, the union of buddhi and manas.

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

Meru (Sanskrit). The name of an alleged mountain in the centre (or "navel") of the earth where Swarga, the Olympus of the indians, is placed. It contains the "cities" of the greatest gods and the abodes of various Devas. Geographically accepted, it is an unknown mountain north of the Himalayas. In tradition, Meru was the " Land of Bliss" of the earliest Vedic times. It is also referred to as Hemadri "the golden mountain", Ratnasanu, "jewel peak", Karnikachala, "lotus- mountain", and Amaradri and Deva-parvata, "the mountain of the gods" The Occult teachings place it in the very centre of the North Pole, pointing it out as the site of the first continent on our earth, after the solidification of the globe.

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

Anumati (Sanskrit) (from anu-man to approve, grant)

Assent, permission, approbation; personified frequently as a goddess. The fifteenth day of the moon's age "when one digit is deficient" (VP 2:8), a time said to be propitious for the offering of oblations to devas and pitris.

It is therefore the moon at full: "when from a god -- Soma -- she becomes a goddess" (TG 25). Mythologically the first fortnight of the moon or waxing period is often regarded as being masculine, and its second fortnight or waning period as feminine. The moon in some cultures is looked upon as masculine, in others as feminine. In Latin the moon was both lunus (masculine) and luna (feminine), but in most other languages the moon is almost consistently either masculine or feminine.

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

Asura (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root as to breathe)

A title frequently given to the hierarch or supreme spirit of our universe, as being the primal "Breather"; also a class of spiritual-intellectual beings. In Hinduism it commonly signifies elemental and evil gods or demons. "Primarily in the Rig-Veda, the 'Asuras' are shown as spiritual divine beings; their etymology is derived from asu (breath), the 'Breath of God,' and they mean the same as the Supreme Spirit or the Zoroastrian Ahura. It is later on, for purposes of theology and dogma, that they are shown issuing from Brahma's thigh, and that their name began to be derived from a privative, and sura, god (solar deities), or not-a-god, and that they became the enemies of the gods" (SD 2:59).

Further, the asuras "are the sons of the primeval Creative Breath at the beginning of every new Maha Kalpa, or Manvantara; in the same rank as the Angels who had remained 'faithful.' These were the allies of Soma (the parent of the Esoteric Wisdom) as against Brishaspati (representing ritualistic or ceremonial worship). Evidently they have been degraded in Space and Time into opposing powers or demons by the ceremonialists, on account of their rebellion against hypocrisy, sham-worship, and the dead-letter form" (SD 2:500).

Asura is employed with frequency in theosophical writings to signify the class of spiritual-intellectual beings called manasaputras, kumaras, or angishvattas. As a matter of fact, asuras, maruts, rudras, and daityas are but various ways of describing the intellectual gods or manasas, as contrasted with the as yet incompleted devas or suras.

Asura is used in the earliest Vedic literature as a title of the cosmic hierarch or supreme spirit. The Vedic Asura is nothing other than the Great Breath of archaic occult literature -- the Great Breath coming and going as manvantara and pralaya. The other Vedic gods mentioned so much more frequently in the slokas, such as Agni, Indra, and Varuna, are all subordinate hierarchically and cosmogonically to the Vedic Asura, which is really Brahman-pradhana or the Second Logos, Father-Mother; Varuna is the acme or summit of akasa-tattva; Agni is the summit or hierarch of cosmic taijasa-tattva; and Indra is often identified with Vayu as the summit of cosmic Vayu-tattva.

See also MAHASURA

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

Amrita amrita (Sanskrit) (from a not + mrita dead from the verbal root mri to die)

Immortality; the water of life or immortality, the ambrosial drink or spiritual food of the gods. According to the Puranas, Ramayana, and Mahabharata, amrita is the elixir of life produced during the contest between the devas and asuras when churning the "milky sea" (the waters of life). It has been stolen many times, but as often recovered, and it "is still preserved carefully in devaloka" (Pur E 32).

In the Vedas, amrita is applied to the mystical soma juice, which makes a new man of the initiate and enables his spiritual nature to overcome and govern the lower elements of his nature. It is beyond any guna (quality), for it is unconditioned per se (cf SD 1:348). Mystically speaking, therefore, amrita is the "drinking" of the water of supernal wisdom and the spiritual bathing in its life-giving power. It means the rising above all the unawakened or prakritic elements of the constitution, and becoming at one with and thus living in the kosmic life-intelligence-substance.

(See also: Amrita amrita , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Adhidaivika (Sanskrit) (from adhi above, over + deva god)

Heavenly or shining one, relating to or proceeding from the devas; celestial or spiritual beings or gods, also divine influences. When combined with duhkha (pain) the third of the three kinds of klesa (afflictions) in Hinduism: that proceeding from "divine" agencies or from nature, such as wind, rain, or sunstrokes; also unexpected accidents such as the falling of houses (cf VP 6:5).

See also ADHIBHAUTIKA; ADHYATMIKA

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

G - Letter G - The seventh letter in the English alphabet. "In Greek, Chaldean, Syriac, Hebrew, Assyrian, Samaritan, Etrurian, Coptic, in the modern Romaic and Gothic, it occupies the third place in the alphabet, while in Cyrillic, Glagolitic, Croat, Russian, Servian and Wallachian, it stands fourth."

As the name of "god" begins with this letter (in Syriac, gad; Swedish, gud: German, gott; English, god; Persian, gada, etc., etc.), there is an occult reason for this which only the students of esoteric philosophy and of the Secret Doctrine, explained esoterically, will understand thoroughly; it refers to the three logoi - the last,the Elohim, and the emanation of the latter, the androgynous Adam Kadmon.

All these peoples have derived the name of "god" from their respective traditions, the more or less clear echoes of the esoteric tradition. Spoken and "Silent Speech" (writing) are a "gift of the gods", say all the national traditions, from the old Aryan Sanskrit-speaking people who claim that their alphabet, the Devanagari (lit., the language of the devas or gods) was given to them from heaven, down to the Jews, who speak of an alphabet, the parent of the one which has survived, as having been a celestial and mystical symbolism given by the angels to the patriarchs. Hence, every letter had its manifold meaning.

A symbol itself of a celestial being and objects, it was in its turn represented on earth by like corresponding objects whose form symbolised the shape of the letter.

The present letter, called in Hebrew gimel and symbolised by a long camel’s neck, or rather a serpent erect, is associated with the third sacred divine name, Ghadol or Magnus (great). Its numeral is four, the Tetragrammaton and the sacred Tetraktys; hence its sacredness. With other people it stood for 400 and with a dash over it, for 400,000.

(See also: G - Letter G , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Agnishvatta agnisvatta (Sanskrit) (from agni fire + the verbal root svad to sweeten, taste)

Tasted or sweetened by fire; one of the higher of the seven classes of pitris or progenitors spoken of in the Puranas as those "devoid of fire." They are thus popularly represented as grihasthas or householders who in previous births failed to keep up their domestic fires and to offer burnt sacrifices, etc. In contrast, the pitris "possessed" of fire are the barhishads, those who kept up their household fires (cf VP 1:10).

Mystically the agnishvattas are far higher beings than are the barhishads because they are devoid of the fire of creative passion. Being too divine and pure for this, they are devoid (i.e., freed) of the grosser creative fire, and thus unable to form physical man. They are, on the other hand, possessed of spiritual-intellectual fire and are the endowers of the human conscious, spiritually immortal ego or selfhood. Hence the agnishvatta-pitris are those who are "purified by fire" -- which may be interpreted as either 1) the fire of suffering and pain in material existence producing great fiber and strength of character or spirituality; or 2) from the esoteric standpoint as signifying those entities who have through evolution become one in essence with the aethery fire of spirit.

The agnishvattas signify our ancestral solar selves in contradistinction to the barhishads, our lunar ancestors. The agnishvattas are variously spoken of in The Secret Doctrine as the fashioners of the inner man, manasa-dhyanis (lords of mind), solar devas, sons of the flame of wisdom, givers of human intelligence and consciousness, and fire-dhyanis. In ancient Greece they were collectively personified by the epic figure of Prometheus, and in China by the Fiery Dragons of Wisdom.

The agnishvattas, our solar spiritual-intellectual parts, are those who in preceding manvantaras completed their evolution in the realms of matter; and when evolution had brought the nascent human stock to the state where they had only the physical creative fire, the agnishvattas came to their rescue by inspiring and enlightening these lower lunar pitris with spiritual and intellectual energies or fires (OG 14-15; SD 2:91-2).

In the Puranas, the agnishvattas are identified with the seasons, and are spoken of as one of the classes of deities presiding over the cyclic divisions of the year.

(See also: Agnishvatta, agnisvatta , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Chatur Maharaja (Sanskrit). The "four kings ", Devas, who guard the four quarters of the universe, and are connected with Karma.

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

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

Vimana (Sanskrit) A car or chariot of the gods, capable of traveling through the air. While Indian mythology speaks of the devas or gods as possessing rapid self-moving chariots or vehicles with which they traverse space, gods was often used by ancient Indians for their highly intellectual, extremely scientific forefathers of now forgotten antiquity. Thus, the vimanas which were used by the Atlanteans are spoken of as being self-moving and carrying their occupants through the air (cf SD 2:427-8).

In the Ramayana, aerial vehicles are also mentioned as being used by the rakshasas of Lanka (Ceylon); and Ravana's vimana was called Pushpaka.

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

Tarakajit (Sanskrit) Conqueror of Taraka, name given to the Hindu god of war, Karttikeya, because he conquered Taraka, a daitya whose austerities had made him formidable to the gods -- the daityas being those early beings or races who, because of their developing intellectual powers, were found to be identical with the asuras, who were opposed to the more or less passive spiritual forces -- devas or suras. In another sense, because of this developing intellectuality, the daityas, somewhat like the Greek titans or giants, were the opponents of the gods of mere ritualistic or scholastic theory, and hence the enemies of puja (ritualistic sacrifices).

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

Guardian Angel Christian term for the various classes of dhyanis which guard the worlds, races, nations, and mankind pertaining to them.

The five middle human principles are the essence of the sixfold dhyani-chohans and of the pitris. Equivalents are daimones, genii, theoi, devas, gods, Paracelsus' flagae, etc. The personal quality that pervades so much of Christianity represents them as special to each individual, which is true enough in a sense; and they may be anything from a ray of divine light from the core of our being, to the kind of karmic heirloom designated as one's lucky star.

As a matter of fact, there is for each human individual an ever watching, forever guiding and stimulating spiritual power within himself, his own spiritual ego which, when allowed by the brain-mind, infills the individual with its strength, wisdom, and peace.

(See also: Guardian Angel , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)