Dream Dictionary Creation

CHALICE - the chalice or cup as a ritual tool represents water and the west and it is also representation of the feminine principle of creation. (CMM) - symbol of partnership society, especially the unstratified, equalitarian era of the Goddess (Riane Eisler) (NAD)

(See also: CHALICE , Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

prakriti:

prakriti (prakrithi). Causal matter, creation, nature.

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

Kalpana:

Kalpana: imagination of the mind; creation.

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

mahapralaya: (Sanskrit) "Great dissolution."

Total annihilation of the universe at the end of a mahakalpa. It is the absorption of all existence, including time, space and individual consciousness, all the lokas and their inhabitants into God Siva, as the water of a river returns to its source, the sea. Then Siva alone exists in His three perfections, until He again issues forth creation. During this incredibly vast period there are many partial dissolutions, pralayas, when either the Bhuloka or the Bhuloka and the Antarloka are destroyed.

See: cosmic cycle, pralaya.

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

aeon

Creation step or cycle. Used to measure maturity of souls, Keys of Enoch

(See also: Aeon , Body Mind and Soul)

Attavada (Pali) (from attan self (Sanskrit atman) + vada theory, disputation from the verbal root vad to speak)

Atmavada (Sanskrit) The theory of a persistent soul. A study of Buddhist sutras or suttas shows that Gautama Buddha intended the term to convey the meaning of the heresy of separateness, the belief that one's self or soul is different and apart from the one universal self, Brahman.

Its importance in philosophy and mystical thought, and its genuine Buddhist significance, lies in the fact that Buddhism does not deny the existence of a soul, but strongly emphasizes the fact that no such soul is either a special creation or in its essence different from and other than the cosmic self.

Hence the meaning of the heresy of separateness, because those who hold this view are under the constant false impression that in themselves they are different from, and other than, the universe in which they live, move, and have all their being.

In The Mahatma Letters attavada is termed "the doctrine of Self," and with sakkayaditthi leads "to the maya of heresy and belief in the efficacy of vain rites and ceremonies; in prayers and intercession" (ML 111).

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

Desire A word whose shades of meaning range from mere animal desire to that of cosmic kama or eros which "first arose in It," bringing spirit into union with matter and giving rise to the creation or emanation of various classes of beings.

It can also be lofty spiritual aspiration, the yearning upwards with the undying desire for the divine, or impersonal love, or again, the urge to become united or one with others. Many words overlap it in meaning, such as will, attraction, love, and cupidity, and it is generally used as a translation of the Sanskrit kama.

Philosophically, it is often synonymous with abstract will, as when kama is called sometimes desire and sometimes will, so that will and desire seem to blend into one on the higher ranges. In the saying, behind will stands desire, will is a colorless force set in motion by desire, much as a current is set up by an electromotive force. From another viewpoint, will, as an abstract motor in the human constitution, arises from the higher or spiritual-intellectual ranges of the kama principle itself, for "Will and Desire are the higher and lower aspects of one and the same thing" (BCW 12:702).

See also KAMA; EROS

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

nada: (Sanskrit) "Sound; tone, vibration."

Metaphysically, the mystic sounds of the Eternal, of which the highest is the transcendent or Soundless Sound, Paranada, the first vibration from which creation emanates. Paranada is so pure and subtle that it cannot be identified to the denser regions of the mind. From Paranada comes Pranava, Aum, and further evolutes of nada. These are experienced by the meditator as the nadanadi shakti, "the energy current of sound," heard pulsing through the nerve system as a constant high-pitched hum, much like a tambura, an electrical transformer, a swarm of bees or a shruti box.

Listening to the inner sounds is a contemplative practice, called nada upasana, "worship through sound," nada anusandhana, "cultivation of inner sound," or nada yoga. The subtle variations of the nadanadi shakti represent the psychic wavelengths of established guru lineages of many Indian religions. Nada also refers to other psychic sounds heard during deep meditation, including those resembling various musical instruments. Most commonly, nada refers to ordinary sound.

See: Aum, nadi, pranava, sound, healing sound, vibrational healing

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

soul: The real being of man, as distinguished from body, mind and emotions. The soul - known as atman or purusha - is the sum of its two aspects, the form or body of the soul and the essence of the soul (though many texts use the word soul to refer to the essence only). -

-       essence or nucleus of the soul: Man's innermost and unchanging being - Pure Consciousness (Parashakti or Satchidananda) and Absolute Reality (Parasiva). This essence was never created, does not change or evolve and is eternally identical with God Siva's perfections of Parashakti and Parasiva.

-       soul body: anandamaya kosha ("sheath of bliss"), also referred to as the "causal body" (karana sharira), "innermost sheath" and "body of light." Body of the soul, or soul body, names the soul's manifest nature as an individual being - an effulgent, human-like form composed of light (quantums).

-        

It is the emanational creation of God Siva, destined to one day merge back into Him. During its evolution, the soul functions through four types of outer sheaths that envelope the soul form - mental, instinctive-intellectual, vital and physical - and employs the mental faculties of manas, buddhi and ahamkara, as well as the five agents of perception (jnanendriyas), and five agents of action (karmendriyas).

 The "soul body" is not a body in sense of a case, a vessel, vehicle or enclosure for something else. The soul body is the soul itself - a radiant, self-effulgent, human-like, super-intelligent being. Its very composition is Satchidananda in various subtle levels of manifestation. It is the finest of subatomic forms, on the quantum level.

The soul form evolves as its consciousness evolves, becoming more and more refined until finally it is the same intensity or refinement as the Primal Soul, Parameshvara. The experiences of life, in all the various planes of consciousness, are "food for the soul," reaping lessons that actually raise the level of intelligence and divine love. Thus, very refined souls, whether embodied or in the disembodied, ajiva, state, are like walking intelligences with inventive creativeness and powers of preservation, beaming with love and luminosity in their self-effulgent bodies of quantum light particles.

See: atman, evolution of the soul, indriya, kosha, Parashakti, Parasiva, purusha, quantum, Satchidananda, spiritual unfoldment.

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

Darkness In theosophical philosophy light is not regarded as self-existent, but as primordially the spiritual effect of a spiritual cause, the emanation from something grander and more radical beyond it.

This unknown divine substratum, the original superspiritual intelligence-substance of the universe, is sometimes called darkness; likewise, it is spoken of as absolute light. Thus absolute light and absolute darkness are the same, so that manifested light sprang from unmanifested light or darkness.

Philosophically, non-ego -- which is freedom from the limitations of egoity and manifested particularities -- voidness, and darkness are a three-in-one, darkness being Father-Mother and light, their Son. Night or darkness preceded day and light in cosmogony, as is recognized in Genesis, where darkness broods over the face of the deep. The creation of light, or the emanation of light from darkness, is the first step in cosmic manifestation. Light thus is truly called original substance or spiritual matter; darkness, purest spirit. Synonymous with this darkness are 'eyn soph, the Boundless, the bridgeless abyss, the unmanifest, the ever-invisible robes of the eternal parent.

Light and darkness on manifested planes constitute a duality, correlative and interdependent, neither conceivable without the other. But what is darkness to our physical senses may be light to our inner senses.

Darkness is also used to denote the shadow side of things, and hence in popular speech evil as opposed to good, ignorance to knowledge.

See also DAWN; LIGHT; USHAS

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

bindu: (Sanskrit) "A drop, small particle, dot."

1)    The seed or source of creation. In the 36 tattvas, the nucleus or first particle of transcendent light, technically called Parabindu, corresponding to the Shakti tattva. Scientists say the whole universe just before the big bang could fit on the head of a pin- a tremendous point of energy- that is Parabindu.

2)    Small dot worn on the forehead between the eyebrows, or in the middle of the forehead, made of red powder (kunkuma), sandalpaste, clay, cosmetics or other substance. It is a sign that one is a Hindu. Mystically, it represents the "third eye," or the "mind's eye," which sees things that the physical eyes cannot see. The forehead dot is a reminder to use and cultivate one's spiritual vision, to perceive and understand life's inner workings, as well as to look into the past to see the future. The bindu is also a beauty mark worn by Hindu women, the color red generally a sign of marriage, black often worn before marriage to ward off the evil eye, kudrishti or papadrishti.

3)    The bindu is known as pottu in Tamil.

4)    Bindu is also a term for semen.

See: tattva, tilaka.

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

Ptah, or Pthah (Egypt, Egyptian). The son of Kneph in the Egyptian Pantheon. He is the Principle of Light and Life through which "creation" or rather evolution took place. The Egyptian logos and creator, the Demiurgos.

A very old deity, as, according to Herodotus, he had a temple erected to him by Menes, the first king of Egypt. He is "giver of life" and the self-born, and the father of Apis, the sacred bull, conceived through a ray from the Sun. Ptah is thus the prototype of Osiris, a later deity. Herodotus makes him the father of the Kabiri, the mystery-gods; and the Targum of Jerusalem says: "Egyptians called the wisdom of the First Intellect Ptah"; hence he is Mahat the "divine wisdom"; though from another aspect he is Swabhavat, the self-created substance, as a prayer addressed to him in the Ritual of the Dead says, after calling Ptah "father of fathers and of all gods, generator of all men produced from his substance": "Thou art without father, being. engendered by thy own will; thou art without mother, being born by the renewal of thine own substance from whom proceeds substance".

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

Sadhana:

Sadhana: Spiritual discipline or exercise; self effort (BV-30), (BV-33) The essential ingredient of this Sadhana is Love. Sadhana without Love (Prema) towards all creation, will reveal only Satan. (SSS-III)

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

Swedenborg, Emmanuel ( 1688-1772)

A Swedish scientist, theosophist, and mystic, a pioneer in both scientific, religious and spiritual thought.

For most of his life Swedenborg pursued a conventional, albeit brilliant, career. Educated at Uppsala University he first became a natural scientist and official with the Swedish Royal College of mines (1710-45), concentrating on research and theory. His foremost scientific writing is 'Opera Philosophica et Mineralia' (Philosophical and Mineralogical Works, three volumes, 1734), a unique combination of metaphysics, cosmology, and science.

A first-rate scientific theorist and inventor, Swedenborg, in some of his insights, anticipated scientific progress by more than a century. Visited by a mystic illumination in 1745, Swedenborg claimed a direct vision of a spiritual world underlying the natural sphere. He began having dreams, ecstatic visions, trances and mystical illusions in which he communicated with Jesus Christ and God and was granted a view of the order of the universe that was radically different from the teachings of the Christian church.

He resigned his job to concentrate full-time on his ecstatic visions and transcribing the knowledge imparted to him from the spiritual world. His voluminous works from this period are presented as divinely revealed biblical interpretations. In his system, best reflected in 'Divine Love and Wisdom' (1763), Swedenborg conceived of three spheres: divine mind, spiritual world, and natural world. Each corresponds to a degree of being in God and in humankind: love, wisdom, and use (end, cause, and effect). Through devotion to each degree, unification with it takes place and a person obtains his or her destiny, which is union with creator and creation.

Unlike many mystics, Swedenborg proposed an approach to spiritual reality and God through, rather than in rejection of, material nature. His 12-volume compendium 'The Heavenly Arcana' (1747-56) represents a unique synthesis between modern science and religion.

In response to a vision of the 'last judgment' and the 'return of Christ', Swedenborg proclaimed the advent of the New Church, an idea that found social expression in the Swedenborgian societies and in the foundation of the Church Of The New Jerusalem in England in 1778, and in the United States in 1792. Many of his views were adopted by 19th century spiritualism and many of his ideas were also disseminated in the works of writers and poets such as William Blake , Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Henry James .

(See also: Emmanuel Swedenborg , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Siva: (Sanskrit) "The auspicious, gracious or kindly one."

Supreme Being of the Saivite religion. God Siva is All and in all, simultaneously the creator and the creation, both immanent and transcendent. As personal Deity, He is creator, preserver and destroyer. He is a one being, perhaps best understood in three perfections: Parameshvara (Primal Soul), Parashakti (pure consciousness) and Parasiva (Absolute Reality).

See: Ishta Devata, Parameshvara, Parashakti, Parasiva, Nataraja, Sadasiva, Saivism, Satchidananda.

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

five acts of Siva: Panchakritya. Creation, preservation, destruction, veiling and revealing.

See: Nataraja, Parameshvara.

(See also: Five acts of Siva , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Ruah (Hebrew) Also ruahh. Vital breath, wind, air, very much in the sense that the Greek pneuma means spirit, wind, air, and breath; a breath, exhalation; the rational soul or mind, possessing counsel, purpose, and will -- often confused with the vital principle placed in the breath and with the principle of life.

In connection with 'elohim, ruah denotes the rational and purposive mental quality of the gods -- the mental breath or power appearing mainly in humans, feebly in animals. It was regarded in Genesis as moving over the chaos at the creation, and operating in and through the universe, producing that which is noble and good in man and leading him to virtue. Cosmic ruah is in many respects equivalent to the Third Logos of Greek philosophy. A similar meaning implied exceptional soul powers, as in the inspired ruler and the prophet; hence the prophetic spirit -- which was often represented as passing from one person and resting in another.

In the Hebrew Qabbalah, ruah had the same general meaning, equivalent to buddhi-manas in the theosophical classification of human principles. But modern Western Qabbalists have confused ruah with the kama-rupa, or even sometimes with kama-manas, precisely as they have confused it with nephesh, the animal vitality connected with appetitive desire or kama.

(See also: Ruah , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Why should we understand how the universe was created? Because it gives us a clearer understanding of where we have come from, where we are going, who and what we are, and what our purpose is here. Once you consider that there is a purpose to life, the search for life's origins may very well lead you into a different direction than simply trying to find an explanation for a mechanical or chemical process of creation. This article by Stephen Knapp takes different approach to the origin of the universe, the Vedic approach.

Read more here: » Vedic Science: Understanding The Creation Of The Universe

 When we carefully enumerate our goals for the future, a kind of magic happens. This magic is that of visualization and affirmation, the primary tools in reality creation. This means that in addition to clearly stating our intentions through the act of goal setting, we have also begun to attract the necessary conditions to manifest what we want from the Universe.

Read more here: » Success Consciousness: The Miracle Of Goal Setting

Jesus came into the world to unveil the essence and scope of humanity. French philosopher Pascal said, it is through Jesus of Nazareth that we learn who we truly are, and what birth and death really mean.

The genius of humanity is revealed fully in Jesus; that's why he stands at the centre of human history. However, with most people focusing more on the events surrounding his birth, the essence of Christmas itself tends to get lost.

(See also: Christmas , Indian Festivals, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Christmas: Celebrate The Spirit Of Life With Jesus - about Christmas  

Havan is a procedure of eradicating inner imperfections prevalent in our being. This procedure has all the healing techniques incorporated in it beautifully. It is a rare combination of accupressure, touch healing, meditation, psychiatry, knowledge and wisdom. It is a perfect amalgamation of thought and procedure.

ÔTruth always conquers.' Truth is being one on three planes of thought, word and deed. To understand truth, to be truthful, and to become a reflection of truth, havan is a vedic procedure. It is a step towards a completely healthy body, mind and soul. In reality it is the only way to cleanse the body, mind and soul to ignite soul power.

(See also: Metaphysics, Metaphysical Principles, Definition of Metaphysics, Metaphysical Techniques, Miracles, Creating Miracles Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, Peace of Mind, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Metaphysical Techniques: Havan and Yagya: Procedure for purification