All my life, I have believed that there is a necessary interaction that occurs between a person and the Divine. This interaction does not come only to prophets, Bodhisatvas, and other great spiritual masters, it comes also to us: ordinary people in our ordinary lives. A beautiful little article by Christina Baldwin about our ability to be connected to the divine.

Read more here: » Spiritual Inspiration: Pick Up The Phone, It Might Be God Calling

 Often when we suffer from a physical condition either minor or severe, it is a link in a chain of sequences that began centuries ago. Some illnesses and afflictions are Karmic. Knowing the cosmic relevance if it is karmic can lead to an understanding of the disease or illness on various levels. To consciously know this alone can have a transforming effect upon our lives today. Just understanding our situation can enable us to come to terms with it, which in turn can enable us to achieve vital equilibrium at higher levels of being and integration as well.

Read more here: » Karma: Karma in the Flesh

There is no reference to worship of idols in the Vedas. The Puranas and the Agamas give descriptions of idol-worship both in the houses and in the temples. Idol-worship is not peculiar to Hinduism. Christians worship the Cross. They have the image of the Cross in their mind. The Mohammedans keep the image of the Kaba stone when they kneel and do prayers. The people of the whole world, save a few Yogis and Vedantins, are all worshippers of idols. They keep some image or the other in the mind.

The mental image also is a form of idol. The difference is not one of kind, but only one of degree. All worshippers, however intellectual they may be, generate a form in the mind and make the mind dwell on that image.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Hindu Worship: An Introduction to Hindu Worship

There is no reference to worship of idols in the Vedas. The Puranas and the Agamas give descriptions of idol-worship both in the houses and in the temples. Idol-worship is not peculiar to Hinduism. Christians worship the Cross. They have the image of the Cross in their mind. The Mohammedans keep the image of the Kaba stone when they kneel and do prayers. The people of the whole world, save a few Yogis and Vedantins, are all worshippers of idols. They keep some image or the other in the mind.

The mental image also is a form of idol. The difference is not one of kind, but only one of degree. All worshippers, however intellectual they may be, generate a form in the mind and make the mind dwell on that image.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Hindu Worship: The Philosophy And Significance Of Idol-Worship

God and Gods of Hinduism

The most prevalent expression of worship for the Hindu comes as devotion to God and the Gods. In the Hindu pantheon there are said to be three hundred and thirty-three million Gods. Hindus believe in one Supreme Being. The plurality of Gods are perceived as divine creations of that one Being. So, Hinduism has one supreme God, but it has an extensive hierarchy of Gods. Many people look at the Gods as mere symbols, representations of forces or mind strata, or as various Personifications generated as a projection o of man's mind onto an impersonal pure Beingness.

Read more here: » Hinduism: God and Gods of Hinduism

Alchemy ; in Arabic Ul-Khemi, is, as the name suggests, the chemistry of nature. Ui-Khemi or Al-Kimia, however, is only an Arabianized word, taken from the Greek chemeia, (chemeia) from cumoz -  "juice", sap extracted from a plant.

Says Dr. Wynn Westcott: "The earliest use of the actual term ‘alchemy’ is found in the works of Julius Firmicus Maternus, who lived in the days of Constantine the Great. The Imperial Library in Paris contains the oldest-extant alchemic treatise known in Europe;it was written by Zosimus the Panopolite about 400 A.D. in the Greek language, the next oldest is by Eneas Gazeus, 480 A.D."

It deals with the finer forces of nature and the various conditions in which they are found to operate. Seeking under the veil of language, more or less artificial, to convey to the uninitiated so much of the mysterium magnum as is safe in the hands of a selfish world, the alchemist postulates as his first principle the existence of a certain Universal Solvent by which all composite bodies are resolved into the homogeneous substance from which they are evolved, which substance he calls pure gold, or summa materia. This solvent, also called menstvuum universale, possesses the power of removing all the seeds of disease from the human body, of renewing youth and prolonging life. Such is the lapis philosophorum (philosopher’s stone).

Alchemy first penetrated into Europe through Geber, the great Arabian sage and philosopher, in the eighth century of our era; but it was known and practised long ages ago in China and in Egypt, numerous papyri on alchemy and other proofs of its being the favourite study of kings and priests having been exhumed and preserved under the generic name of Hermetic treatises. (See "Tabula Smaragdina"). Alchemy is studied under three distinct aspects, which admit of many different interpretations, viz.: the Cosmic, Human, and Terrestrial. These three methods were typified under the three alchemical properties - sulphur, mercury, and salt.

Different writers have stated that there are three, seven, ten, and twelve processes respectively; but they are all agreed that there is but one object in alchemy, which is to transmute gross metals into pure gold. What that gold, however, really is, very few people understand correctly. No doubt that there is such a thing in nature as transmutation of the baser metals into the nobler, or gold. But this is only one aspect of alchemy, the terrestrial or purely material, for we sense logically the same process taking place in the bowels of the earth. Yet, besides and beyond this interpretation, there is in alchemy a symbolical meaning, purely psychic and spiritual.

While the Kabbalist-Alchemist seeks for the realization of the former, the Occultist-Alchemist, spurning the gold of the mines, gives all his attention and directs his efforts only towards the transmutation of the baser quaternary into the divine upper trinity of man, which when finally blended are one. The spiritual, mental, psychic, and physical planes of human existence are in alchemy compared to the four elements, fire, air, water and earth, and are each capable of a threefold constitution, i.e., fixed, mutable and volatile.

Little or nothing is known by the word concerning the origin of this archaic branch of philosophy; but it is certain that it antedates the construction of any known Zodiac, and, as dealing with the personified forces of nature, probably also any of the mythologies of the world; nor is there any doubt that the true secret of transmutation (on the physical plane) was known in days of old, and lost before the dawn of the so-called historical period. Modern chemistry owes its best fundamental discoveries to alchemy, but regardless of the undeniable truism of the latter that there is but one element in the universe, chemistry has placed metals in the class of elements and is only now beginning to find out its gross mistake.

Even sonic Encyclopedists are now forced to confess that if most of the accounts of transmutations are fraud or delusion, "yet some of them are accompanied by testimony which renders them probable. . . By means of the galvanic battery even the alkalis have been discovered to have a metallic base.

The possibility of obtaining metal from other substances which contain the ingredients composing it, and of changing one metal into another . . . must therefore be left undecided. Nor are all alchemists to be considered impostors. Many have laboured under the conviction of obtaining their object, with indefatigable patience and purity of heart, which is earnestly recommended by sound alchemists as the principal requisite for the success of their labours."

(Pop. Encyclop.)

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

 In India we must be grateful that the core beliefs, theoretical rigour and application of the Vaastu Shastras are still available, though in a depleted form. From the study of texts, dialogues with practitioners and field application of the concepts I have been able to reconstruct the overview of the Vaastu Shilpa Shastras and give a guideline for present day application. There is a great deal of resistance and deep feelings of distrust from the trained designers in the 'modern institutesÕ toward the assumptions and symbolism of the traditional paradigm. It is almost as if they feel threatened that their hegemony would be displaced. Are their fears valid? Is the basis of the Vaastu Shastras questionable in its present day application? Is it a meaningless mumbo jumbo in the 'scientificÕ climate of today?

Read more here: » Vaastu Shastra: Reinterpreting Vaastu

Zarathustra (Zend). The great lawgiver, and the founder of the religion variously called Mazdaism, Magism, Parsee?sm, Fire-Worship, and Zoroastrianism.

The age of the last Zoroaster (for it is a generic name) is not known, and perhaps for that very reason. Xanthus of Lydia, the earliest Greek writer who mentions this great lawgiver and religious reformer, places him about six hundred years before the Trojan War. But where is the historian who can now tell when the latter took place? Aristotle and also Eudoxus assign him a date of no less than 6,000 years before the days of Plato, and Aristotle was not one to make a statement without a good reason for it.

Berosus makes him a king of Babylon some 2,200 years B.C.; but then, how can one tell what were the original figures of Berosus, before his MSS. passed through the hands of Eusebius, whose fingers were so deft at altering figures, whether in Egyptian synchronistic tables or in Chaldean chronology? Haug refers Zoroaster to at least 1,000 years B.C.; and Bunsen (God in History, Vol. I., Book iii., ch. vi., p. 276) finds that Zarathustra Spitama lived under the King Vistaspa about 3,000 years B.C., and describes him as "one of the mightiest intellects and one of the greatest men of all time". It is with such exact dates in hand, and with the utterly extinct language of the Zend, whose teachings are rendered, probably in the most desultory manner, by the Pahlavi translation - a tongue, as shown by Darmsteter, which was itself growing obsolete so far back as the Sassanides -  that our scholars and Orientalists have presumed to monopolise to themselves the right of assigning hypothetical dates for the age of the holy prophet Zurthust. But the Occult records claim to have the correct dates of each of the thirteen Zoroasters mentioned in the Dabistan.

Their doctrines, and especially those of the last (divine) Zoroaster, spread from Bactria to the Medes; thence, under the name of Magism, incorporated by the Adept-Astronomers in Chaldea, they greatly influenced the mystic teachings of the Mosaic doctrines, even before, perhaps, they had culminated into what is now known as the modern religion of the Parsis. Like Manu and Vyasa in India, Zarathustra is a generic name for great reformers and law-givers.

The hierarchy began with the divine Zarathustra in the Vendidad, and ended with the great, but mortal man, bearing that title, and now lost to history. There were, as shown by the Dabistan, many Zoroasters or Zarathustras. As related in the Secret Doctrine, Vol. II., the last Zoroaster was the founder of the Fire-temple of Azareksh, many ages before the historical era. Had not Alexander destroyed so many sacred and precious works of the Mazdeans, truth and philosophy would have been more inclined to agree with history, in bestowing upon that Greek Vandal the title of "the Great".

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

Hinduism Lexicon on B

From backbiting to buddhi chitta.

Read more here: » Hinduism: Hinduism Lexicon on B

Huna is a powerful and transformational system of practices, teachings, philosophies, energy work and more. The word huna means (among other things) "secret," and may not have been used as the name of this spiritual path until modern times. The word Kahuna can mean keeper of the Secret, but is more often defined as expert and could refer to an expert in any field.

Read more here: » Huna: Introduction to Huna

Faith Makes God Visible

We cannot speak of God as we do of other things. This is because the Absolute has neither nama (name) nor rupa (form) . God is beyond name and form.

Western culture is largely centred on the limit-experience of Being and Plenitude, whereas the eastern is centred on the consciousness-limit of Nothing and Emptiness. Raimon Panikkar, a Catholic theologian says the former is attracted by the world of things as they reveal to us the transcendence of Reality. The latter is attracted by the world of the subject, which reveals to us the impermanence of that very Reality. Both are preoccupied with the problem of "ultimacy", which many traditions call God.

Panikkar speaks about nine ways not to talk about God.

Read more here: » Formless God: Faith Makes God Visible

The Vedas form the sound-manifestation of Ishvara. That sound has four divisions,— Para which finds manifestation only in Prana, Pasyanti which finds manifestation in the mind, Madhyama which finds manifestation in the Indriyas, and Vaikhari which finds manifestation in articulate expression.

Read more here: » The four stages of sound

They say that the most important relationship is the relationship you have with yourself, and that the key to most successful relationships is communication. So it follows that it would be helpful to communicate regularly with yourself.

The fact is, our bodies are talking to us all the time, but frequently we don't listen. Both through physical sensations and our emotions the body has much to say to us. However, for many people these communications are all but a distant, meaningless rumble or even troublesome somethings that must be suppressed or endured.

Read more here: » Integrational Dialogue: Talking Yourself Into Wholeness - Integrational Dialogue

 Laya Yoga - The Essence Of All Religion

Yoga is the essence of every religion and is that what all religions have in common. If a man really wants to go deeply into the mystical and spiritual essence of their religion, then he or she comes to practise yoga. We say that yoga is not a religion in a sense of an individual creed or a sect separating from others, we also say that yoga is the substance and profundity of every religion and its inner cult. That is why one can be a member of every religious society and practise yoga. Two rules, or if one prefers, two commandments present in all scriptures such as Veda, Koran or the Bible are as if two angelic, divine wings of the Laya Yoga training. " Be holy because I am Holy" and " Be so perfect as your Heavenly Father is" these are the signs of an authentic, spiritual path of universal life.

Read more here: » Laya Yoga: The Essence Of All Religion - Laya Yoga

What is Dharma? Dharma is so called, because it holds; Dharma alone holds the people, etc. The word Dharma is derived from the root Dhr - to hold - and its etymological meaning is that which holds this world, or the people of the world, or the whole creation from the microcosm to the macrocosm.

Dharma is generally defined as righteousness or duty. Dharma is the principle of righteousness. It is the principle of holiness. It is also the principle of unity.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Dharma: Definition Of Dharma

Devanagari (Sanskrit) "Divine city writing," the alphabetic script of Aryan India, in which the Sanskrit language is usually written. The Devanagari alphabet and the art of writing it were kept secret for ages, and the dvijas (twice-born) and the dikshitas (initiates) alone were originally permitted to use this literary art.

In India, as in many other countries which have been the seat of archaic civilizations, sacred and secret records were committed to the tablets of the mind, rather than to material tablets. Alone the priesthood invariably had, in addition to the mnemonic records, an ideographic or syllabic script which was used when considered convenient or necessary, mainly for intercommunication between themselves and brother-initiates speaking other tongues.

This applied to ideographic characters which can be read with equal facility by those acquainted with them, whatever their spoken mother-tongue may be, and to written characters imbodying an archaic or sacred language, as was the case with the ancient Sanskrit. This is the main reason why these ancient peoples have so few allusions -- and sometimes no allusions at all -- to writing; in the civilizations of those far past times writing was not found to be a need and was kept as a sacred art for the temple scribes.

"Devanagari is as old as the Vedas, and held so sacred that the Brahmans, first under penalty of death, and later on, of eternal ostracism, were not even allowed to mention it to profane ears, much less to make known the existence of their secret temple libraries" (Five Years of Theosophy 360).

"Real Devanagari -- non-phonetic characters -- meant formerly the outward symbols, so to say, the signs used in the inter-communication between gods and initiated mortals. Hence their great sacredness and the silence maintained throughout the Vedic and the Brahmanical periods about any object concerned with, or referring to, reading and writing. It was the language of the gods" (ibid. 423).

The Devanagari characters as first used among initiates and privileged men were symbolic and ideographic in form. But these outlines by use gradually lost their mere picture-form, or idea-suggesting power, and through constant use and rapid writing continuously lost more and more of the details of the picture, until they finally became merely conventional signs or letters of the alphabet. The word devanagari is synonymous with the Hermetic and Hieratic Neter-Khari (divine speech) of the Egyptians.

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

Hinduism Lexicon on A

From aadheenam to axis.

Read more here: » Hinduism: Hinduism Lexicon on A

Karma Yoga Lesson VlI

Janaka and Shuka; Living as kings do; Helping humanity and geocentricity; Teaching the law, guarding oneself; Every act to be a sacrament.

Read more here: » Karma Yoga: Karma Yoga - Lesson VII (of XI )

Senzar The name given to the ancient mystery-language unknown to modern philologists, that was known to all initiates of the inhabited and civilized world; the secret sacerdotal language or mystery-speech of the adepts of whatever class belonging to or owing allegiance to the chief esoteric brotherhood, "still used and studied unto this day in the secret communities of the Eastern adepts, and called by them -- according to the locality -- Zend-zar and Brahma or Deva-Bashya" (BCW 4:518n).

In this language, besides its common use as a universal means of intercommunication, were written the secret works preserving the history of the archaic continents and races, as well as prophecies of the future. It was used in the secret commentaries and stanzas forming the basis for The Secret Doctrine, wherein they are called the Stanzas of Dzyan or the Book of Dzyan.

"Tradition says, that it was taken down in Senzar, the secret sacerdotal tongue, from the words of the Divine Beings, who dictated it to the sons of Light, in Central Asia, at the very beginning of the 5th (our) race; for there was a time when its language (the Sen-zar) was known to the Initiates of every nation, when the forefathers of the Toltec understood it as easily as the inhabitants of lost Atlantis, who inherited it, in their turn, from the sages of the 3rd Race, the Manushis, who learnt it direct from the Devas of the 2nd and 1st Races" (SD 1:xliii).

As to the mode of writing this mystery-speech, "The sacerdotal language (Senzar), besides an alphabet of its own, may be rendered in several modes of writing in cypher characters, which partake more of the nature of ideographs than of syllables" (VS vii).

(See also: Senzar , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

A Theosophical definition of Nirmanakaya :

Nirmanakaya

(Sanskrit) A compound of two words: nirmana, a participle meaning "forming," "creating"; kaya, a word meaning "body," "robe," "vehicle"; thus, nirmanakaya means "formed-body." A nirmanakaya, however, is really a state assumed by or entered into by a bodhisattva  - an individual man made semi-divine who, to use popular language, instead of choosing his reward in the nirvana of a less degree, remains on earth out of pity and compassion for inferior beings, clothing himself in a nirmanakayic vesture. When that state is ended the nirmanakaya ends.

A nirmanakaya is a complete man possessing all the principles of his constitution except the linga-sarira and its accompanying physical body. He is one who lives on the plane of being next superior to the physical plane, and his purpose in so doing is to save men from themselves by being with them, and by continuously instilling thoughts of self-sacrifice, of self-forgetfulness, of spiritual and moral beauty, of mutual help, of compassion, and of pity.

Nirmanakaya is the third or lowest, exoterically speaking, of what is called in Sanskrit trikaya or "three bodies." The highest is the dharmakaya, in which state are the nirvanis and full pratyeka buddhas, etc.; the second state is the sambhogakaya, intermediate between the former and, thirdly, the nirmanakaya. The nirmanakaya vesture or condition enables one entering it to live in touch and sympathy with the world of men. The sambhogakaya enables one in that state to be conscious indeed to a certain extent of the world of men and its griefs and sorrows, but with little power or impulse to render aid. The dharmakaya vesture is so pure and holy, and indeed so high, that the one possessing the dharmakaya or who is in it, is virtually out of all touch with anything inferior to himself. It is, therefore, in the nirmanakaya vesture if not in physical form that live and work the Buddhas of Compassion, the greatest sages and seers, and all the superholy men who through striving through ages of evolution bring forth into manifestation and power and function the divinity within. The doctrine of the nirmanakayas is one of the most suggestive, profound, and beautiful teachings of the esoteric philosophy. (See also Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya)

See also: Nirmanakaya , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Mitchell Rabin is a therapist, Energy-Balancing practitioner and stress management consultant in NYC. He teaches, writes and is now completing his second book. Since 1993, he is hosting and producing a cable TV show called A Better World in the US. In this article, Mitchell share his personal enlightening experience of a meeting with Kalki in India.

Read more here: » Personal experience of enlightenment: A trip to India