Discrimination Dictionary

Anudita-viveka - one whose spiritual discrimination is not awakened; the spiritually unconscious.

(See also: Anudita-viveka , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

 CHAOS MAGICK: Largely the invention of Austin Osman Spare, and developed by a few others during the 1980's. Chaos mages enter the "abyss", in simplistic terms the "Unknown". Anarchistic, clever, self-referential, and self-annihilistic,

Chaos Magick is an extraordinary deconstruction of magick, semantics, and psychology designed to eradicate consensual belief structures and, using the energy freed by this act, glimpse the fractal contours of reality. It is a synthesis of ceremonial magick, freestyle shamanism and sigilizing, however, its practitioners reject the traditional discrimination of magick into white, grey, and black, and assume a highly individualistic approach to the interplay between ethics and personal will.

(See also:  CHAOS MAGICK , Pagan Organisations, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary, Wicca,)

Vichakshana:

Vichakshana: Reason, discrimination (SSS-III)

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

ashuddha tattvas: Odic, or magnetic, energy. These 24 categories make up the "world" of ashuddha (impure) maya. This is the realm of the astral and physical planes, in which souls function through the manomaya, pranamaya and

annamaya koshas, depending on their level of embodiment.

1.    prakriti tattva: primal nature, the gross energy of which all lower tattvas are formed. Prakriti, also called pradhana, is expressed as three gunas (qualities) - sattva, rajas and tamas. These manifest as light, activity and inertia, respectively; and on the subtle level as pleasure, sorrow and delusion. These gunas dominate the soul's powers of knowledge, action and desire (jnana, kriya and ic�ha), and form the guna body, manomaya kosha. - antahkarana: the mental faculty.

2.     buddhi tattva: judgment, intellect, the faculty of discrimination.

3.     ahamkara tattva: egoism, sense of I-ness in the external form. It is the fundamental principle of individuality.

4.     manas tattva: the instinctive mind, the receiving and directing link between the outer senses and the inner faculties. - jnanendriya: the five cognitive senses, of the nature of sattva guna. Each has a subtle and physical aspect.

5.     shrotra tattva: hearing (ears).

6.     tvak tattva: touching (skin).

7.     chakshu tattva: seeing (eyes).

8.     rasana tattva: tasting (tongue).

9.     ghrana tattva: smelling (nose). - karmendriya: the five organs of action, of the nature of rajaguna. Each has a subtle and physical aspect.

10.  vak tattva: speech (voice).

11.  pani tattva: grasping (hands).

12.  pada tattva: walking (feet).

13.  payu tattva: excretion (anus).

14.  upastha tattva: procreation (genitals). - tanmatra: the five subtle elements, of the nature of tamaguna.

15.  shabda tattva: sound.

16.  sparsha tattva: feel.

17.  rupa tattva: form.

18.  rasa tattva: taste.

19.  gandha tattva: odor. These are the subtle characteristics of the five gross elements, akasha, vayu, tejas, apas and prithivi, respectively. - panchabhuta: the five gross elements.

20.  akasha tattva: ether or space.

21.  vayu tattva: air.

22.  tejas tattva: fire.

23.  apas tattva (or jala): water.

24.  prithivi tattva: earth.

See:tattvas, tattva, atattva, antahkarana, guna, kosha, Siva

(See also: Ashuddha tattvas , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Kashmir Saivism: (Sanskrit) In this mildly theistic and intensely monistic school founded by Vasugupta around 850, Siva is immanent and transcendent. Purification and yoga are strongly emphasized.

Kashmir Saivism provides an extremely rich and detailed understanding of the human psyche, and a clear and distinct path of kundalini-siddha yoga to the goal of Self Realization. The Kashmir Saivite is not so much concerned with worshiping a personal God as he is with attaining the transcendental state of Siva consciousness. Sadhana leads to the assimilation of the object (world) in the subject (I) until the Self (Siva) stands revealed as one with the universe. The goal- liberation- is sustained recognition (pratyabhijna) of one's true Self as nothing but Siva.

There are three upaya, or stages of attainment of God consciousness: anavopaya (yoga), shaktopaya (spiritual discrimination), shambhavopaya (attainment through the guru's instruction) and anupaya, or "no means" (spontaneous realization without effort). Kashmir Saivite literature is in three broad divisions: Agama Shastras, Spanda Shastras and Pratyabhijna Shastras. Today various organizations promulgate the esoteric teachings. While the number of Kashmir Saivite formal followers is uncertain, the school remains an important influence in India.

See: Saivism, upaya.

(See also: Kashmir Saivism , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Pitta dominated Rajasikas, intellectually oriented but vulnerable to temptations, are very human in their character and approach to life.

Asura

Indulgence in self-praise, bravery, cruelty, envy and ruthlessness. Terrifying appearance.

Raksasa

Excessive sleep and indolence. Envious disposition. Constant anger, intolerance, and cruel behaviour. Gluttonous habits.

Paisala

Unclean habits. Cowardly, with a terrifying disposition. Gluttonous habits. Fondness for the opposite sex. Abnormal diet and regimen.

Sarpa

Sharp reactions. Excessive indolance. Frequent fearful disposition. Brave or cowardly attitude depending on situations.

Praita

Excessive desire for food. Envious character. Excessive greediness and actions without discrimination.

Sakuna

Full of passion. Unsteadiness, ruthlessness, and excessive attitude for food.

(See also: Rajas , Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Dictionary, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

buddhi: (Sanskrit) "Intellect, reason, logic." The intellectual or disciplined mind. Buddhi is characterized by discrimination (viveka), voluntary restraint (vairagya), cultivation of calmness (shanti), contentment (santosha) and forgiveness (kshama). It is a faculty of manomaya kosha, the instinctive-intellectual sheath. See: intellectual mind, kosha, mind (individual).

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

Jnana Yoga

Path of wisdom arrived at through discrimination and discipline of the mind

(See also: Jnana Yoga , Body Mind and Soul)

Buddhi (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root budh to awaken, enlighten, know)

The spiritual soul, the faculty of discriminating, the channel through which streams divine inspiration from the atman to the ego, and therefore that faculty which enables us to discern between good and evil -- spiritual conscience. The qualities of the buddhic principle when awakened are higher judgment, instant understanding, discrimination, intuition, love that has no bounds, and consequent universal forgiveness.

In the theosophical scheme, it is the sixth principle counting upwards in the human constitution: the vehicle of pure, universal spirit, hence an inseparable garment or vehicle of atman. In its essence of the highest plane of akasa or alaya, buddhi stands in the same relation to atman as, on the cosmic scale, mulaprakriti does to parabrahman.

Buddhi uses manas as its garment, and in the former are likewise stored the fruitages of the many incarnations on earth; hence buddhi is often called both the seed and flower of manas. Buddhi is truly the center of spiritual consciousness and therefore its qualities are enduring. The purer and higher part of manas must awaken, by rising to it, this essential energy that inherently resides in buddhi so that the latter may become active in a person's life. Buddha and Christ are examples of sages who had become human imbodiments of the usually latent qualities of buddhi. Buddhi becomes more or less conscious on this plane by the flowerings it draws from manas after every incarnation of the ego. "Buddhi would remain only an impersonal spirit without this element which it borrows from the human soul, which conditions and makes of it, in this illusive Universe, as it were something separate from the universal soul for the whole period of the cycle of incarnation" (Key 159-60).

"No purely spiritual Buddhi (divine Soul) can have an independent (conscious) existence before the spark which issued from the pure Essence of the Universal Sixth principle, -- or the over-soul, -- has (a) passed through every elemental form of the phenomenal world of that Manvantara, and (b) acquired individuality, first by natural impulse, and then by self-induced and self-devised efforts (checked by its Karma), thus ascending through all the degrees of intelligence, from the lowest to the highest Manas, from mineral and plant, up to the holiest archangel (Dhyani-Buddha)" (SD 1:17).

In the human constitution buddhi is a ray from the cosmic principle mahabuddhi or adi-buddhi, a synonym for alaya, pradhana, or the Second Logos, while akasa in its higher reaches is identic with alaya.

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

Materialism In the rigid philosophical sense, any theory which considers the facts of the universe to be sufficiently explained by the existence and nature of matter. A familiar form of this is what has been called the atomo-mechanical theory, which derives all phenomena from the movements of material atoms in space. The philosophical definition of materialism differs according to the meaning of the word matter; as for instance, when we limit matter by no physical attributes or implications alone, but

See in it the sevenfold prakritis or pradhanas of Hindu philosophers and mystics, matter is then seen to be but a name for the veil or shadow of spirit -- the other side of spirit as it were. This distinction makes materialism but a synonym for spiritualism -- i.e., the profound philosophic theory that the universe is built throughout, from and of the substances and attributes of spirit, which become matter in its innumerable and manifold forms and phases on the lower cosmic planes. What physicists have been calling matter is a percept derived from the interaction of the physical senses with the physical plane of prakriti or nature.

Matter is one of the twin aspects of universal life, coeternal with spirit and indeed spirit's veil or vehicle, and hence is present on every plane of manifestation, from the highest to the lowest. When the manifested One of a universe is considered as a unit or unity, it is called the First or Unmanifest Logos; when it is considered as a duality it is called the Manifest-Unmanifested or Second Logos, and is spirit-matter or life, spirit being its positive pole and matter its negative. Matter is everywhere the vehicle of spirit, and in matter inhere the attributes which spirit expresses in it. Hence materialism, in this sense, would define the whole theosophic philosophy.

The history of philosophy presents a rivalry of schools where materialism is contrasted with idealism, but all these rival schools originated outside of the Mysteries of the sanctuary, although many if not all contain substantial elements of occult verities. The attempt entirely to separate the notions of spirit and matter, of mind and body, of noumenon and phenomenon, results in futility and confusion; a purely ideal world is as unreal as a purely material one.

Materialism, however, stands commonly for an attitude of mind which exalts sense-life, together with its appropriate species of intellectualism, into a summum bonum; and which strives to devise a philosophy that will justify such an attitude. It is an attitude towards life consisting of mental and emotional attachment to externals, to the senses, and to reasoning based on sensory perceptions; and a corresponding neglect and denial of real values. This kind of materialism undermines morals by substituting self-interest or expediency for an innate moral sense, as the basis for conduct. It places illusory power in the hands of man, while at the same time depriving him of his real power of penetrating discrimination, and hence of his ability while under this illusion to use the powers of nature aright.

(See also: Materialism , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

A Theosophical definition of Buddhi :

Buddhi

(Sanskrit) Buddhi comes from a Sanskrit root budh, commonly translated "to enlighten," but a better translation is "to perceive," "to cognize," "to recover consciousness," hence "to awaken," and therefore "to understand." The second counting downwards, or the sixth counting upwards, of the seven principles of man. Buddhi is the principle or organ in man which gives to him spiritual consciousness, and is the vehicle of the most high part of man  - the atman  - the faculty which manifests as understanding, judgment, discrimination, an inseparable veil or garment of the atman.

From another point of view, buddhi may truly be said to be both the seed and the fruit of manas.

Man's ordinary consciousness in life in his present stage of evolution is almost wholly in the lower or intermediate duad (manas-kama) of his constitution; when he raises his consciousness through personal effort to become permanently one with the higher duad (atma-buddhi), he becomes a mahatma, a master. At the death of the human being, this higher duad carries away with it all the spiritual essence, all the spiritual and intellectual aroma, of the lower or intermediate duad. Maha-buddhi is one of the names given to the kosmic principle mahat.

(See also Alaya)

See also: Buddhi , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Buddhi-taijasi (Sanskrit) In relation to the human principles, used to express the state of manas when it is bathed in the radiance of buddhi, the spiritual soul; yet its more exact significance is the radiance of buddhi itself: buddhi when actively radiating its own buddhic svabhava or characteristic. When manas becomes irradiated with buddhi-taijasi, then the human manasic faculty, the intellect, becomes suffused and infilled with spiritual discrimination and vision. It is the human soul "illuminated by the radiance of the divine soul. Therefore, Manas-taijasi may be described as radiant mind; the human reason lit by the light of the spirit; and Buddhi-Manas is the revelation of the divine plus human intellect and self-consciousness" (Key 159n).

See also TAIJASA

(See also: Buddhi-taijasi , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Swami Vivekananda,: (Sanskrit) "Of blissful

discrimination." Disciple of Sri Ramakrishna who was

overtaken by an ardent love of Hinduism and a missionary

zeal that drove him onward. He attained mahasamadhi at

age 39 (18631902).

Most notable among his

achievements was a trip around the world on which he

gave brilliant lectures, especially in Europe and America,

that created much respect for Hinduism. In India he

founded the Ramakrishna Mission which thrives today

internationally with over 100 centers and nearly 1,000

sannyasins. He is credited, along with Tagore, Aurobindo,

Radhakrishnan and others, with sparking the modern

Hindu revival.

See: jnana yoga, Ramakrishna.

(See also: Swami Vivekananda , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Virgo

"Virgin", sixth sign of the zodiac (approx. August 20 to September 20); of the earthy element, ruler Mercury; keyword; service, discrimination.

Recognized strengths: detail-oriented, intelligent, discerning, self-disciplined, analytical, hard-working, unassuming; self-examiner.

Potential weaknesses: judgmental, negative, critical, skeptical, low self-esteem

(See also: Virgo , Body Mind and Soul)

Viveka:

Viveka: Intelligent discrimination (Leela Kaivalya Vahini). The capacity to reason and see things in proper proportion. Discrimination between the real and unreal, between the permanent and the not, between the beneficial and the not, between truth and falsehood.

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

Bodhyanga (Sanskrit) (from bodhi wisdom + anga limb, portion, division)

Limb or division of essential wisdom; often used collectively to signify the branches of esoteric knowledge or understanding, usually enumerated as seven:

1)    smriti (memory);

2)    dharma-pravichaya (investigation -- hence correct understanding or discrimination of the Law);

3)    virya (energy);

4)    priti (spiritual joy);

5)    prasrabdhi (confidence, tranquillity);

6)    samadhi (absorption of the consciousness in a high spiritual and intellectual objective); and

7)    upeksha (absolute indifference).

Esoterically these correspond to seven states of consciousness (TG 59).

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

CHAOS MAGICK, CMT: A magickal system invented by Austin Osman Spare, and developed by a few others during the 1980's. Chaos mages enter the "abyss", in simplistic terms the "Unknown". Anarchistic, clever, self-referential, and self-annihilistic, Chaos Magick is an extraordinary deconstruction of magick, semantics, and psychology designed to eradicate consensual belief structures and, using the energy freed by this act, glimpse the fractal contours of reality. It is a synthesis of ceremonial magick, freestyle shamanism and sigilizing, however, its practitioners reject the traditional discrimination of magick into white, grey, and black, and assume a highly individualistic approach to the interplay between ethics and personal will.

(See also: CHAOS MAGICK, CMT , Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Bodhyanga (Sanskrit). Lit., the seven branches of knowledge or understanding. One of the 37 categories of the Bodhi pakchika dharma, comprehending seven degrees of intelligence (esoterically, seven states of consciousness), and these are

(1) Smriti "memory";

(2) Dharma pravitchaya, "correct understanding" or discrimination of the Law ;

(3) Virya, "energy" ;

(4) Priti, "spiritual joy" ;

(5 )Prasrabdhi, "tranquillity" or quietude;

(6) Samadhi, "ecstatic contemplation"; and

(7) Upeksha "absolute indifference".

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

Viveka:

Philosophical discrimination.

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

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V X Y Z

Sadhana-chatushtaya:

Sadhana-chatushtaya: the four kinds of  spiritual effort: discrimination, dispassion, sixfold virtues and  desire for liberation.

(See also: Sadhana-chatushtaya , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Jnana:

Jnana: spiritual knowledge, wisdom. (BV-10) 'Jnana alone can confer Liberation; Karma and Bhakthi are preliminary stages that each seeker has to go through. Jnana alone reveals the essential one-ness of the Universe, the one-ness of matter and matter, of time and space, of the most distant star with the smallest speck glittering in the sunlight' (SSS-II); The path of discrimination and elimination of illusion (RRV2-12b)

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