paramaguru: (Sanskrit) "Senior preceptor."

The guru of a disciple's guru.

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parama: (Sanskrit) "Highest; supreme."

See: para.

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paradox: "Side-by-side opinion or thought."

An apparent contradiction according to conventional logic and reason.

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Parakhya Agama: (Sanskrit) A subsidiary Saiva Agamic text (Upagama).

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Parameshvara: (Sanskrit) "Supreme Lord or Ruler." God Siva in the third perfection as Supreme Mahadeva, Siva- Shakti, mother of the universe. In this perfection as Personal, father-mother God, Siva is a person - who has a body, with head, arms and legs, etc. - who acts, wills, blesses, gives darshana, guides, creates, preserves, reabsorbs, obscures and enlightens. In Truth, it is Siva- Shakti who does all. The term Primal Soul, Paramapurusha, designates Parameshvara as the original, uncreated soul, the creator of all other souls. Parameshvara has many other names and epithets, including those denoting the five divine actions - Sadasiva, the revealer; Maheshvara, the obscurer; Brahma, the creator; Vishnu the preserver; and Rudra the destroyer.

See: Nataraja, Sadasiva.

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parampara: (Sanskrit) "Uninterrupted succession." A lineage.

See: guru parampara, gurus, guru.

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pasha: (Sanskrit) "Tether; noose."

The whole of existence, manifest and unmanifest. That which binds or limits the soul and keeps it (for a time) from manifesting its full potential. Pasha refers to the soul's three-fold bondage of anava, karma and maya.

See: liberation, mala, Pati-pashu-pasha.

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pashu: (Sanskrit) "Cow, cattle, kine; fettered individual."

Refers to animals or beasts, including man. In philosophy, the soul. Siva as lord of creatures is called Pashupati.

See: pasha, Pati-pashu-pasha.

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Parasiva: (Sanskrit) "Transcendent Siva."

The Self God, Siva in His first perfection, Absolute Reality. God Siva as That which is beyond the grasp of consciousness, transcends time, form and space and defies description. To merge with Him in mystic union is the goal of all incarnated souls, the reason for their living on this planet, and the deepest meaning of their experiences. Attainment of this is called Self Realization or nirvikalpa samadhi.

See: samadhi, Siva.

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Parasamvid: (Sanskrit) In Siddha Siddhanta the highest, transcendental state of Siva. A synonym of Parasiva.

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parartha puja: (Sanskrit) "Public liturgy and worship."

See: puja.

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Parashakti: (Sanskrit) "Supreme power; primal energy."

God Siva's second perfection, which is impersonal, immanent, and with form - the all-pervasive, Pure Consciousness and Primal Substance of all that exists. There are many other descriptive names for Parashakti - Satchidananda ("existence-consciousness-bliss"), light, silence, divine mind, superconsciousness and more. Parashakti can be experienced by the diligent yogi or meditator as a merging in, or identification with, the underlying oneness flowing through all form. The experience is called savikalpa samadhi.

See: raja yoga, Shakti, Satchidananda, tattva.

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Parabrahman: (Sanskrit) "Supreme (or transcendent) God."

A synonym for Nirguna Brahman, Absolute Reality, beyond time, form and space. Same as Parasiva.

See: Brahman, Parasiva.

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parable: A short, simple story illustrating a moral or religious principle.

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pancha shraddha: (Sanskrit) "Five faiths."

A concise summary of Hindu belief exactly correlated to the "five constant practices," pancha nitya karmas. The pancha shraddha are 1) sarva Brahman: God is All in all, soul is divine; 2) mandira: belief in temples and divine beings; 3) karma: cosmic justice; 4) samsaramoksha: rebirth brings enlightenment and liberation; 5) Vedas and satguru: the necessity of scripture and preceptor.

See: pancha nitya karma.

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Panchatantra: (Sanskrit) The collection of animal stories used by sage Vishnu Sharma to teach the king's sons the "art of practical life." They were written down in Sanskrit in about 200 bce, but existed previously as part of oral tradition. The engaging stories have migrated all over the world to reappear in Aesop's Fables, Arabian Nights, Canterbury Tales and in ancient Chinese and Japanese works.

See: folk-narratives, mythology.

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

See: Pashupata Saivism.

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Pancharatra Agama (Agamas): (Sanskrit) The most popular of the two major groups of Vaishnava Agamas (the other being the Vaikasana Agamas).

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pancha nitya karma (karmas): (Sanskrit) "Five constant duties." A traditional regimen of religious practice for Hindus:

1)   dharma (virtuous living),

2)    upasana (worship),

3)    utsava (holy days),

4)    tirthayatra (pilgrimage) and

5)    samskaras (sacraments.)

See: dharma, festival, samskara, tirthayatra.

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Pancharatra: (Sanskrit) An ancient name of Vaishnavism. The term literally means "five nights," but may be a corruption of pancharatha ("five vehicles, ways or paths"), thought to indicate five ancient sects in the vicinity of Mathura that eventually merged into one with the worship of Krishna.

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panchayatana puja: (Sanskrit) "Five-shrine worship."

A system of personal worship, thought to have developed after the 7th century, in the Smarta brahminical tradition, and which is now part of orthodox daily practice for Smartas. The ritual involves the worship of five Deities: Vishnu, Siva, Surya, Ganesha and Shakti.

The five are represented by small murtis, or by five kinds of stones, or by five marks drawn on the floor. One is placed in the center as the devotee's preferred God, Ishta Devata, and the other four in a square around it. Kumara, often added as a sixth Deity, is generally situated behind the Ishta Devata. Philosophically, all are seen by Smartas as equal reflections of the one Saguna Brahman, rather than as distinct beings. This arrangement is also represented in Smarta temples, with one in a central sanctum, and the others installed in smaller shrines. Each God may be worshiped in any of His/Her traditional aspects or incarnations, allowing for much variety (e.g., Shakti as Lakshmi, Vishnu as Rama, and Siva as Bhairava).

With the addition of the sixth Deity, Kumara, the system is known as shanmata, "six-fold path." This system has laid the foundation for the modern secular or neo-Indian religion, in which Hindus freely add Jesus, mother Mary, Mohammed, Buddha or any other holy personage to their altars. This modern approach has no basis in traditional scripture of any kind.

See: Ishta Devata, neo-Indian religion, shanmata sthapanacharya, Smartism.

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pandit (pandita): (Sanskrit) "Learned one."

Hindu religious scholar or theologian, a man well versed in philosophy, liturgy, religious law and sacred science.

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