Self-born Parentless, in Sanskrit aupapaduka or aja -- terms used of the head of a hierarchy, such as the Logos, corresponding to the Son, the second person of the Christian Trinity. From another aspect, it is the cosmic dragon in the highest of its septenary meanings.

All gods and beings born through and from will, whether of deity or adept, are said to be self-born, e.g., the pitris, who issued from Brahma's body of twilight; or Daksha, a self-born power who sprang from his father's body. Each cosmic monad is svayambhuva (the self-become or self-born) and in its turn becomes a center of force from within which emerges a planetary chain.

The first root-race is called self-born, for the individuals of this race were the astral shadows of their progenitors, and their method of reproduction was by fission. Seven self-born primordial gods emanated from the triadic One. The self-born were the primary creation of seven creations, otherwise emanations of self-born gods, or 'elohim, as the Hebrews call them.

Theosophic philosophy postulates four methods of reproduction (chatur-yoni) in the manifested realms which run from the divine through many intermediate degrees to the physical: 1) the highest or self-born (aupapaduka), such as the inner birth at will of gods and bodhisattvas; 2) birth from the seeds of life of various kinds on the different planes, whether they be monads or physical seminal germs; 3) egg-born (andaja), such as reptiles and birds; and finally 4) womb-born (yonija), such as man and other mammalia. These four modes of birth are not given here in the order of their importance or spirituality, for human beings, who are womb-born, at a later stage through initiation and inner development finally attain the aupapaduka birth again.

(See also: Self-born, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Mammals The highest class of animals produced from man, himself a mammal, in this fourth round. The evolutionary plan, as regards the passing of life-waves around the planetary chain entails that so far as the human and animal kingdoms are concerned, in the fourth round man shall appear before the mammals on globe D of the earth-chain. The other stocks of the animal kingdom were at the beginning of this round represented by their various sishtas, as in fact man himself was. In each round after the first, each one of the kingdoms or life-waves on entering a globe of the chain, does so in its regular serial order.

The man of the second and early third root-race, though distinctly belonging to the human kingdom, was different from the truly human man of today, as much in his inner psychical apparatus as in his astral-vital-physical body. This body was then much more astral or tenuous than that of today, composed of life-atoms of all kinds, seeking manifestation and finding a temporary habitat in the human body, which thus becomes their host. These atoms were continuously entering and leaving the body, just as happens in the human body today, but with this difference -- that the atoms which the human body throws off today are far more stamped with the person's own svabhava (individual, personal characteristics) than formerly, and they are in consequence strongly and continuously attracted back to their human host, who is often their source.

But in those early races the various monadic entities, which in their evolution were far inferior to the human monad, and each of which expressed itself through a life-atom, were in consequence far more free from the human dominating, almost tyrannical control, for then man had not yet acquired his present power of strongly impressing his own stamp on these life-atoms. The result was that in these early times each of these evolving monads with its life-atom vehicle on this plane could, when thrown off from the human entity, become the origin of a line of an animal stock, according to its own innate characteristics and potentialities. Thus were from time to time through the geologic ages generated the various mammalian stocks or phyla, each different according to the nature of the monad-germ thus thrown off, many of which were then able to pursue a course of evolutionary differentiation and specialization along its own particular line -- each one unfolding from within its characteristics, expressing themselves in form and shape.

Thus it is seen how man precedes the mammals in the fourth round; but this does not apply to the non-mammalian animals, which were nevertheless evolved from the human stock in more or less the same manner during the preceding third and second rounds.

Occult biology also teaches that every monad which now has unfolded itself into the human stage, did at some remote cosmic period pass through all the lower kingdoms of nature as they then existed; even as the monads now finding expression in the elemental, mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms are undergoing the same process of evolutionary unfolding from within outwards and therefore are on their way upwards to a state equivalent in characteristic powers to what the human now has reached.

"The mammalia, whose first traces are discovered in the marsupials of the Triassic rocks of the Secondary Period, were evolved from purely astral progenitors contemporary with the Second Race. They are thus post-Human, and, consequently, it is easy to account for the general resemblance between their embryonic stages and those of Man, who necessarily embraces in himself and epitomizes in his development the features of the group he originated" (SD 2:684; cf MIE ch 12).

(See also: Mammals, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Force Used in two senses: an effect produced in matter, and the unknown cause of that effect. In the former sense it is a definite measurable quantity, usable in calculating the quantitative relation between phenomena, and of practical service in mechanics. But in the latter sense, force remains for science a mystery. If it is an inherent property of matter, then matter becomes a self-moving entity, a divine thing in its essence; if it acts on matter from outside, then where does it inhere? Is it an independent existence? The whole question is thus left hanging in the air.

According to theosophy the forces of science are effects produced on the physical plane by elementals or nature forces, which are themselves secondary causes and the effects of primary causes, ultimately of divine origin, behind the veil of terrestrial phenomena. Descending through the planes of cosmos there is a chain of effects. Theosophy sees no fundamental difference between force and motion: eternal motion gives rise on every plane to the dual manifestation of force and matter, twin aspects of the same substance.

In the universe force may be generalized as a unity, just as substance or consciousness may; but nevertheless just as there are consciousnesses and substances, so likewise cosmic force is to be understood as a generalizing phrase for cosmic forces essentially intelligent, and therefore that these cosmic forces are essentially divinities -- these divinities existing on different planes of the invisible worlds of the universe in hierarchical structure or degrees.

We have therefore the picture of inner and invisible conscious and likewise self-conscious forces, which are really divinities of many kinds, which by their interconnections and interwoven activities, produce the differentiated and marvelously varied manifested world in which we live.

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

Radiation Generally, the emission of life energies, or various kinds of energic outflowings or productions radially outward from a center. Thus it is a name for the entire cosmic process of formation of worlds; the production of many out of one, the passing from unity to measureless diversity and multiplicity.

The radiations of the ten or twelve solar logoi from the heart of the solar chain, streaming through and permeating the entire extent of the sun's kingdom and becoming focalized in the different planetary bodies, illustrate the modus of the general principle of radiation.

According to theosophic teachings physical matter is a condensation of light, as is being experimentally verified. It is evident that the subject of the emanation of innumerable forms of life energy on all the planes of the cosmos is a very wide one, and the words fohat, light, life, electricity, etc., are used in this connection. These radiations may be classified on a septenary, denary, or duodenary system, as when we speak of the seven, ten, or twelve rays of the solar logos.

See also RAY

(See also: Radiation, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Polytheism The doctrine of and belief in a plurality of gods, cosmic spirits, or celestial entities under whatever name they may be described. The word came into use as a correlative of monotheism -- the doctrine as of the Jews, Christians, and Moslems, of one and only one God.

The unphilosophical nature of monotheism, which in the Occident is quite different from the significance of divine unity, is shown by the subterfuges resorted to in order to supply its deficiencies. As divinity cannot be successfully imagined as individually concerned with every operation in the universe, the general term nature is used to denote a kind of secondary god; while the progress of science has analyzed this into various laws and forces, which paradoxically enough perform somewhat the same functions as the gods of polytheism, except in their wrongly supposed lack of intelligence.

Less sophisticated and more profound intellects have never ceased to believe in a whole range of cosmic hierarchies, running from divinity down to the so-called nature spirits, and traditional peoples have always looked upon these as powers which are often dreaded and can be propitiated. Even Christianity has its saints, and its theology speaks of Angels and Archangels, of Dominions and Thrones, etc. As soon as we depart from the simple primeval idea of a universe filled with intelligent beings -- and indeed formed of these beings themselves -- of numerous hierarchies, grades, and kinds, we land in a maze of abstractions and contradictions.

The ancient and oriental pantheons are in reality allegories or personifications of the hosts and hierarchies of cosmic powers, divine, intermediate, and terrestrial, in uninterrupted serial sequences. Where an ignorant devotee might address prayers to some of these personifications, the enlightened one, in invoking Jupiter or Siva, would merely seek to evoke in himself the human power corresponding with the cosmic power, and of which the human is a direct, albeit a feeble, reflection.

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

nonhuman birth: The phenomenon of the soul being born as nonhuman life forms, explained in various scriptures.

For example, Saint Manikkavasagar's famous hymn (Tiruvasagam 8.14):

"I became grass and herbs, worm and tree. I became many beasts, bird and snake. I became stone and man, goblins and sundry celestials. I became mighty demons, silent sages and the Gods. Taken form in life, moveable and immovable, born in all, I am weary of birth, my Great Lord."

The Upanishads, too, describe the soul's course after death and later taking a higher or lower birth according to its merit or demerit of the last life (Kaush. U. 1.2, ‚hand. U. 5.35.10, Brihad. U. 6.2).

These statements are sometimes misunderstood to mean that each soul must slowly, in sequential order incarnate as successively higher beings, beginning with the lowest organism, to finally obtain a human birth. In fact, as the Upanishads explain, after death the soul, reaching the inner worlds, reaps the harvest of its deeds, is tested and then takes on the appropriate incarnation - be it human or nonhuman - according to its merit or demerit.

Souls destined for human evolution are human-like from the moment of their creation in the Sivaloka. This is given outer expression in the Antarloka and Bhuloka, on earth or other similar planets, as the appropriate sheaths are developed. However, not all souls are human souls. There are many kinds of souls, such as genies, elementals and certain Gods, who evolve toward God through different patterns of evolution than do humans.

One cause of unclarity is to confuse the previously mentioned scriptural passages with the theory of biological evolution developed by Charles Darwin (1809 -1882), which states that plant and animal species develop or evolve from earlier forms due to hereditary transmission of variations that enhance the organism's adaptability and chances of survival. These principles are now considered the kernel of biology. Modern scientists thus argue that the human form is a development from earlier primates, including apes and monkeys.

The Darwinian theory is reasonable but incomplete as it is based in a materialistic conception of reality that does not encompass the existence of the soul. While the Upanishadic evolutionary vision speaks of the soul's development and progress through reincarnation, the Darwinian theory focuses on evolution of the biological organism, with no relation to a soul or individual being.

See: evolution of the soul, kosha, reincarnation, soul.

(See also: Nonhuman birth, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Fourfold Classification There are many different ways of dividing the constitution of the universe or of any integral entity within it, such as a human being. Several philosophical and religious systems employ a fourfold division, as is found in certain Hindu systems. Subba Row, a Vedantist as well as a theosophist, pointed out that the fourfold classification of the human principles in some Hindu systems is not only applicable to man, but likewise to the universe and solar system. The Taraka-Raja-Yoga system -- perhaps the most subtlety philosophical of the Brahmanical yoga schools -- divides the human constitution into three upadhis (bases) plus the atman or essential self, as follows: atman, karanopadhi, sukshmopadhi, and sthulopadhi.

Subba Row's fourfold classification follows:

Universe -- Solar System -- Man

Parabrahman -- Brahman, Paramatman -- Atman

Beyond Brahman -- Cosmic Monad -- Essential Self

Mulaprakriti -- Sutratman -- Karana-sarira

Primordial Thread-Self -- Causal Vehicle or Root-Substance -- Essential Egoity

Isvara -- Hiranyagarbha -- Sukshma-sarira

The Logos -- Golden Egg -- Subtle Vehicle or Personal Monad

Daiviprakriti -- Visvanara -- Sthula-sarira

Light of the Logos -- Subtle Essence of Physical Vehicle -- Manifested Universe

In these three columns there are correspondences reading right to left which apply to three vastly differing scales of magnitude both in quality and in explanation. Thus the last term in the first column is daiviprakriti, which really means spirit-matter in manifestation, and therefore is a gross body of the universe, although in the human case this is equivalent to the sthula-sarira or gross physical body.

It is likewise to be noted that the Vedantist classification of the principles, whether of a universe or an individual, is six in number: the essential self or atman, and five kosas emanating from it; the main reason for the Taraka-Raja-Yoga fourfold division lies in the fact that the atman of a person may be used in any one of the three upadhis independently as it were of the others, without the person's running the risk of killing himself. In this way they form a natural division of the human being.

Comparing this fourfold classification of the human constitution with the sevenfold division commonly set forth in theosophical literature: atman (the essential principle of selfhood and therefore the highest) is the same in both; karana-sarira is equivalent to buddhi and the higher manas; sukshma-sarira comprises manas and kama; while sthula-sarira takes in the three lower principles -- prana, linga-sarira, and sthula-sarira. The reason for the two classifications is that Subba Row fastened "attention on the monads, looking upon the universe as a vast aggregate of individualities; while H. P. B. for that time of the world's history saw the need to give to the inquiring Western mind . . . some real explanation of what the composition of the universe is as an entity -- what its 'stuff' is, and what man is as an integral part of it. Now the seven principles are the seven kinds of 'stuff' of the universe. . . . (however)

we must not have our minds confused with the idea that the seven principles are one thing, and the monads are something else which work through the principles as disjunct from them" (FSO 443-4).

See also PRINCIPLES.

(See also: Fourfold Classification, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

agni-hotra:

agni-hotra (-hothra). Ritual of offering oblations in the holy fireplace. Three kinds are: daily obligation, occasional obligation, and optional fire.

(See also: agni-hotra, Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition ofVeda (Vedas) :

Veda (Vedas)

(Sanskrit) From a verbal root vid signifying "to know." These are the most ancient and the most sacred literary and religious works of the Hindus. Veda as a word may be described as "divine knowledge." The Vedas are four in number: the Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-Veda, and the Atharva-Veda, this last being commonly supposed to be of later date than the former three.

Manu in his Work on Law always speaks of the three Vedas, which he calls "the ancient triple Brahman"  - sanatanam trayam brahma." Connected with the Vedas is a large body of other works of various kinds, liturgical, ritualistic, exegetical, and mystical, the Veda itself being commonly divided into two great portions, outward and inner: the former called the karma-kanda, the "Section of Works," and the latter called jnana-kanda or "Section of Wisdom."

The authorship of the Veda is not unitary, but almost every hymn or division of a Veda is ascribed to a different author or rather to various authors; but they are supposed to have been compiled in their present form by Veda-Vyasa. There is no question in the minds of learned students of theosophy that the Vedas run back in their origins to enormous antiquity, thousands of years before the beginning of what is known in the Occident as the Christian era, whatever Occidental scholars may have to say in objection to this statement. Hindu pandits themselves claim that the Veda was taught orally for thousands of years, and then finally compiled on the shores of the sacred lake Manasa-Sarovara, beyond the Himalayas in a district of what is now Tibet.

See also: Veda (Vedas) , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

There are different kinds of meditation. A particular kind is best suited for a particular mind. The kind of meditation varies according to taste, temperament, capacity and type of mind of the individual.

From "Easy Steps to Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Meditation: Different Kinds of Meditation

guna:

guna. Quality, characteristic. The qualities of sathwa, rajas, and thamas (serenity, passion, ignorance) are general universal characteristics of all kinds of mental tendencies and actions/thoughts, which are prompted by specific kinds and mixtures of these three qualities. For example, sathwic food is health-giving, strength-giving and delightful; rajasic food is spicy, sour, or salty and brings on diseases; and thamasic food is impure, old, stale, tasteless, or rotten.

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

karma: (Sanskrit) "Action, deed."

One of the most important principles in Hindu thought, karma refers to

á      any act or deed;

á      the principle of cause and effect;

á      a consequence or "fruit of action" (karmaphala) or "after effect" (uttaraphala), which sooner or later returns upon the doer. What we sow, we shall reap in this or future lives. Selfish, hateful acts (papakarma or kukarma) will bring suffering. Benevolent actions (punyakarma or sukarma) will bring loving reactions.

Karma is a neutral, self-perpetuating law of the inner cosmos, much as gravity is an impersonal law of the outer cosmos. In fact, it has been said that gravity is a small, external expression of the greater law of karma. The impelling, unseen power of one's past actions is called adrishta.

The law of karma acts impersonally, yet we may meaningfully interpret its results as either positive (punya) or negative (papa)- terms describing actions leading the soul either toward or away from the spiritual goal. Karma is further graded as: white (shukla), black (krishna), mixed (shukla-krishna) or neither white nor black (ashukla-akrishna). The latter term describes the karma of the jnani, who, as Rishi Patanjali says, is established in kaivalya, freedom from prakriti through realization of the Self. Similarly, one's karma must be in a condition of ashukla-akrishna, quiescent balance, in order for liberation to be attained. This equivalence of karma is called karmasamya, and is a factor that brings malaparipaka, or maturity of anava mala. It is this state of resolution in preparation for samadhi at death that all Hindus seek through making amends and settling differences.

Karma is threefold: sanchita, prarabdha and kriyamana.

-       sanchita karma: "Accumulated actions." The sum of all karmas of this life and past lives.

-       prarabdha karma: "Actions begun; set in motion." That portion of sanchita karma that is bearing fruit and shaping the events and conditions of the current life, including the nature of one's bodies, personal tendencies and associations.

-       - kriyamana karma: "Being made." The karma being created and added to sanchita in this life by one's thoughts, words and actions, or in the inner worlds between lives. Kriyamana karma is also called agami, "coming, arriving," and vartamana, "living, set in motion." While some kriyamana karmas bear fruit in the current life, others are stored for future births.

-        

Each of these types can be divided into two categories: arabdha (literally, "begun, undertaken;" karma that is "sprouting"), and anarabdha ("not commenced; dormant"), or "seed karma."

In a famed analogy, karma is compared to rice in its various stages. Sanchita karma, the residue of one's total accumulated actions, is likened to rice that has been harvested and stored in a granary. From the stored rice, a small portion has been removed, husked and readied for cooking and eating. This is prarabdha karma, past actions that are shaping the events of the present. Meanwhile, new rice, mainly from the most recent harvest of prarabdha karma, is being planted in the field that will yield a future crop and be added to the store of rice. This is kriyamana karma, the consequences of current actions. In Saivism, karma is one of three principal bonds of the soul, along with anava and maya. Karma is the driving force that brings the soul back again and again into human birth in the evolutionary cycle of transmigration called samsara. When all earthly karmas are resolved and the Self has been realized, the soul is liberated from rebirth. This is the goal of all Hindus.

For each of the three kinds of karma there is a different method of resolution. Nonattachment to the fruits of action, along with daily rites of worship and strict adherence to the codes of dharma, stops the accumulation of kriyamana. Prarabdha karma is resolved only through being experienced and lived through. Sanchita karma, normally inaccessible, is burned away only through the grace and diksha of the satguru, who prescribes sadhana and tapas for the benefit of the shishya. Through the sustained kundalini heat of this extreme penance, the seeds of unsprouted karmas are fried, and therefore will never sprout in this or future lives.

See: diksha, grace.

Like the four-fold edict of dharma, the three-fold edict of karma has both individual and impersonal dimensions. Personal karma is thus influenced by broader contexts, sometimes known as family karma, community karma, national karma, global karma and universal karma.

See: karma, anava, fate, maya, moksha, papa, pasha, punya, sin, soul, karma yoga.

karmasamya: (Sanskrit) "Balance or equipoise of karma."

See: karma.

karmashaya: (Sanskrit) "Holder of karma." Describes the body of the soul,

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

Pluto: Pluto is the god of the Underworld. His actions are mysterious and even frightening. The planet was discovered in the 1930’s at a time when the underworld of gangsters was thriving, causing serious disruption and turmoil. The power of such activities is only one expression of Pluto’s kind of energy. Pluto is the ruler of Scorpio.

Obsessive thinking and compulsive action are indicated by Pluto. The house position and aspects of Pluto show where you can get caught up in destructive thought patterns and activities that are not in your best interest or do not serve the general welfare of people. Often the impulse behind such activities is control at any cost, regardless of the results.

Transitions and transformations of all kinds are a broader expression of Pluto-type urges. The god of the Underworld rules over death; Pluto in your chart can indicate how you face and accept major changes in your life and in the lives of family and friends. It shows the kind of events that come into your life due to outside forces, and therefore how you develop flexible responses to pressure.

All invisible activities are part of the Pluto picture. You may find that many people in your age group share your views concerning ESP, psychic forces and things magical. You also will find that you see particular uses for such energy, and your use will be different from theirs. You may feel this is of grater or lesser importance in your life. Learning about Pluto’s place in your chart can set you on a path of discovery of your own “magic.”

Transmutation and rejuvenation are not the least important of Pluto’s expressions. By learning to control less constructive impulses and actions, you can channel your energy into positive directions like hands-on or spiritual healing, strengthening your body’s immune system, and generally revitalizing every area of experience. As you come to understand your hidden urges and control your responses to outside influences, you can experience a rich diverse experience on all levels – you will have choice.

(See also: Pluto, Magic, Shamanism, Paganism, Wicca)

Yuga (Sanskrit) Age; an age of the world, of which there are four -- satya yuga, treta yuga, dvapara yuga, and kali yuga -- which proceed in succession during the manvantaric cycle. Each yuga is preceded by a period called in the Puranas, sandhya (twilight, transition period, dawn) and followed by another period of like duration often called sandhyansa (a portion of twilight). Each of these transition periods is one-tenth of its yuga. The group of four yugas is first computed by the divine years or years of the gods -- each such year being equal to 360 years of mortal men.

Thus we have, in divine years:

1. Krita or Satya Yuga . . 4,000

Sandhya . . . . . . . . 400

Sandhyansa . . . . . . 400

4,800 or 1,728,000 mortal years

2. Treta Yuga . . . . . . . 3,000

Sandhya . . . . . . . . 300

Sandhyansa . . . . . . . 300

3,600 or 1,296,000 mortal years

3. Dvapara Yuga . . . . . . 2,000

Sandhya . . . . . . . . 200

Sandhyansa . . . . . . . 200

2,400 or 864,000 mortal years

4. Kali yuga . . . . . . . 1,000

Sandhya . . . . . . . . 100

Sandhyansa . . . . . . 100

1,200 or 432,000 mortal years

Total: 12,000 a Mahayuga or 4,320,000 mortal years

Of these four yugas, our present racial period is the kali yuga (black age), often called the Iron Age, said to have commenced at the moment of Krishna's death, usually given as 3102 BC. These yugas do not affect all mankind at the same time, as some races, because of their own special cycles in running, are in one or in another of the yugas, while other races are in a different cycle. This series of 4, 3, 2, 1, with ciphers added or not according to circumstances, are among the sacred computations of archaic esotericism, which shows that all the various kinds of yugas, the small being included within the great, are each governed by the same periodic and regular series -- all of which makes calculation no easy thing.

"All races have their own cycles, which fact causes a great difference. For instance, the Fourth Sub-Race of the Atlanteans was in its Kali-Yug, when destroyed, whereas the Fifth was in its Satya or Krita Yuga. The Aryan Race is now in its Kali Yuga, and will continue to be in it for 427,000 years longer, while various 'family Races,' called the Semitic, Hamitic, etc., are in their own special cycles. The forthcoming 6th Sub Race -- which may begin very soon -- will be in its Satya (golden) age while we reap the fruit of iniquity in our Kali Yuga" (SD 2:147n).

The four yugas refer to any root-race, although indeed a root-race from its individual beginning to its individual ending is about double the length of the great yuga as set forth in the above chart. The racial yugas, however, overlap because each new great race is born at about the middle period of the parent race, although the individual length of any one race is as above stated. Thus it is that by the overlapping of the races, a race and its succeeding race may for a long time be contemporaneous on the face of the globe.

As the four yugas are a reflection in human history of what takes place in the evolution of the earth itself, and also of the planetary chain, the same scheme of yugas applies on larger scales: there exist the four yugas in the time periods of the evolution of a planetary chain, as well as in the general time period of a globe manvantara. These cosmic yugas are very much longer than the racial yugas, but the same general scheme of 4, 3, 2 applies throughout.

"The sacredness of the cycle of 4320, with additional cyphers, lies in the fact that the figures which compose it, taken separately or joined in various combinations, are each and all symbolical of the greatest mysteries in Nature. Indeed, whether one takes the 4 separately, or the 3 by itself, or the two together making 7, or again the three added together and yielding 9, all these numbers have their application in the most sacred and occult things, and record the workings of Nature in her eternally periodical phenomena. They are never erring, perpetually recurring numbers, unveiling, to him who studies the secrets of Nature, a truly divine System, an intelligent plan in Cosmogony, which results in natural cosmic divisions of times, seasons, invisible influences, astronomical phenomena, with their action and reaction on terrestrial and even moral nature; on birth, death, and growth, on health and disease. All these natural events are based and depend upon cyclical processes in the Kosmos itself, producing periodic agencies which, acting from without, affect the Earth and all that lives and breathes on it, from one end to the other of any Manvantara. Causes and effects are esoteric, exoteric, and endexoteric, so to say" (SD 2:73-4).

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

Klesha:

Klesha: 'suffering', affliction; five kinds: 1. avidya klesha: ignorance; 2. asthitha klesha:; 3. abhinava klesha: immaturity; 4. raga klesha: attachment; 5. dwesha klesha: hatred.

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

Second Round The evolutionary course of the life-waves once around the entire planetary chain is termed a round. A noteworthy difference between the first round and all succeeding rounds is that during the first round all the vestures of various kinds used by the evolving monads, whether grouped as life-waves or not, were constructed as elementary outlines, the monads pursuing their first cycling by building forms of a spiritual-ethereal character.

This applies not only the globes of a planetary chain themselves, but to the various bodies in which the individual monads of the life-waves manifest. Some of these bodies remain on each globe of the chain and become sishtas (remainders) when their respective life-waves pass to the next succeeding globe; and this procedure began during the first round. These remaining vestures or sishtas are ready as evolutionary type-forms when the incoming monads of the life-waves re-enter the different globes after having passed around the chain. These returning monads of the life-waves imbodying themselves in and through the sishtas, are the beginnings of the different root-races on each globe. Evolution proceeds through this process after the end of the first round, thus avoiding what would have otherwise been the need of the monads of the incoming life-waves to build bodies from the ground up -- the sishtas being relatively highly evolved vehicles waiting for the pioneer monads of the various life-waves.

Referring to the status of the human kingdom in the second round, man "is still gigantic and ethereal, but growing firmer and more condensed in body -- a more physical man, yet still less intelligent than spiritual; for mind is a slower and more difficult evolution than the physical frame and the mind would not develop as rapidly as the body" (ML 87).

During the second round even globe D of the earth-chain had not attained its present coarse consistency but was of an ethereal nature, although more dense and heavy than during the first round. Its characteristic was airy -- that element, "the purity of which would ensure continuous life to him who would use it. . . . From the second Round, Earth -- hitherto a foetus in the matrix of Space -- began its real existence: it had developed individual sentient life, its second principle" (SD 1:260).

"Matter in the second Round . . . may be figuratively referred to as two-dimensional. . . . equivalent to the second characteristic of matter corresponding to the second perceptive faculty or sense of man. But these two linked scales of evolution are concerned with the processes going on within the limits of a single Round" (SD 1:252). There is also a correspondence between the evolutionary development of the human principles and the rounds, so that the second round sees the development of the second human principle in its sevenfold or twelvefold aspects.

(See also: Second Round, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Dharma: Different Kinds Of Dharma

The underlying principle in caste system or Varna Dharma, is division of labour. Rishis studied human nature carefully. They came to the conclusion that all men were not equally fit for all kinds of work. Hence, they found it necessary to allocate different kinds of duties to different classes of people, according to their aptitude, capacity or quality.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Caste System: The Caste System and The Law of Spiritual Economics

Meaning of Dreams in Islam

Few Western dream researchers have any familiarity with the rich dream traditions of Islam. The Muslim faith first emerged in seventh century B.C.E. Arabia as a profound revisioning of early Jewish and Christian beliefs and practices. One theme the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) drew from the scriptures of those two religions was a reverence for dreaming. In the Quran, as in the Jewish Torah and the Christian New Testament, dreams serve as a vital medium by which God communicates with humans. Dreams offer divine guidance and comfort, warn people of impending danger, and offer prophetic glimpses of the future. Although the three religions drastically differ on many other topics, they find substantial agreement on this particular point: dreaming is a valuable source of wisdom, understanding, and inspiration. Indeed, as I will propose in this brief essay, Islam has historically shown greater interest in dreams than either of the other two traditions, and has done more to weave dreaming into the daily lives of its members. From the first revelatory visions of Muhammed to the myriad dream practices of present-day Muslims, Islam has developed and sustained a complex, multifaceted tradition of active engagement with the dreaming imagination.

Read more here: » Meaning of Dreams in Islam: Reflections on the Dream Traditions of Islam

The Seven Chakras

Apart from the physical body a human being consists of a spiritual body, and this spiritual body is composed of vibrations of light which are structured in a way so that they create different centres. These centres are each structured in a beautiful pattern, and they are located as follows:

Read more here: » Chakras: The Seven Chakras

Historical records of Tarot decks date back to the fourteenth century when people first used them for card games. The Roman Catholic Church condemned them as a device for the devil, referring to them as "The Devil's Picture Book." Today they are still being used, and are actually seeing a resurgence in popularity. The Tarot is a wonderful tool for awakening our intuition and putting us in touch with our inner and outer worlds through meditation, reflection, spiritual growth, problem-solving and divination.

Read more here: » Tarot: Getting Started Reading Tarot Cards