Eternal Dictionary

Visishtadvaita visistadvaita (Sanskrit) [from visishta distinguished, qualified from the verbal root visish to distinguish + advaita nonduality]

Qualified nonduality; the Vedantic school founded by Vaishnava teacher Ramanuja, intermediate between the Advaita (nondualistic) Vedanta of Sankaracharya and the Dvaita (dualistic) Vedanta.

Just as the Advaita teaches that essentially there is an absolute reality, and that all things issue forth from the incomprehensible womb of cosmic life -- which therefore is the only abstract as well as substantial reality of all beings -- so the Dvaita teaches the opposite: that while all beneath the abstract reality issue forth from it, they do so rather as creations than as essences, parts, or portions of the eternal reality. The Visishtavaita school straddles these philosophical views, asserting with the Advaita that all are at one in essence, yet holding that the distinctions during manifestation between the eternal reality and all its offspring are relatively real. This stand is little favored by either of the other schools.

The Visishtadvaita school teaches that the human spirit is separate and different from the one supreme spirit, though dependent on it and ultimately to be united with it, as well as originally in some manner springing forth from it. The Visishtadvaita speaks of the supreme spirit almost as monists do, because apparently ascribing to it a type of individuality, which is as offensive to the rigid logical impersonal eternal All of the Advaita as is the franker dualism of the Dvaitins. This arises from the fact that the Advaitins claim that it is utterly improper to ascribe individuality, personality, or monadism of any kind to the infinite -- a claim which is precisely that of modern theosophy. However, "Dualistic and anthropomorphic as may be the philosophy of the Visishtadwaita, when compared with that of the Adwaita -- the non-dualists, -- it is yet supremely higher in logic and philosophy than the cosmogony accepted by either Christianity, or its great opponent, modern Science" (SD 1:522).

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

Raganuga-bhakti - bhakti which follows in the wake of the ragatmika nature present in the hearts of the Lord’s eternal associates in Vraja is known as raganuga-bhakti.

(See also: Raganuga-bhakti , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Immortality

Life without death anytime in the future. Not exactly the same as eternal. Eternal means without being or end. Immortal allows for a beginning.

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

Compassion (from Latin com with + pati to bear, suffer)

Sympathetic understanding; the feeling of one's unity with all that is, resulting in an "intimate magnetic sympathy with all that is." (OG)

"Canst thou destroy divine compassion? . . . Compassion is no attribute. It is the LAW of laws -- eternal Harmony, Alaya's SELF; a shoreless universal essence, the light of everlasting Right, and fitness of all things, the law of love eternal.

"The more thou dost become at one with it, thy being melted in its BEING, the more thy Soul unites with that which IS, the more thou wilt become Compassion Absolute.

"Such is the Arya Path, Path of the Buddhas of perfection" (VS 69-70).

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

Mantra - a mystical sloka composed of the names of Sri Bhagavan which addresses any individual deity.

Mantras are given to a disciple by a guru at the time of diksa. The question may be raised that since bhagavan-nama is independent, how can mantras, which are composed of the names of the Lord (bhagavan-nama) , be dependent upon diksa?

Srila Jiva Gosvami has discussed this question in Bhakti-sandarbha (Anuccheda 284). He says that mantras are bhagavannamatmika. This means that mantras are composed of the names of Bhagavan. The difference is that mantras also contain some special words like nama, svaha, and klim. Sri Bhagavan and the rsis have invested mantras with special power by which those mantras reveal one’s own specific relationship with Krsna. Therefore it may seem that mantras are endowed with some special potencies that are not invested in nama.

A contradiction arises because if bhagavan-nama (which is lacking these special attributes) is able to bestow the supreme object of attainment (parama-purusartha) without any need for diksa, how is it that mantras are dependent on diksa when they are even more powerful than nama?

Srila Jiva Gosvami analyzes that by the constitutional nature of mantras, they are not dependent on diksa. Nonetheless, people in general are influenced by the bodily conception and their hearts are polluted with abominable desires. In order to curb these tendencies, the rsis have established regulations to be followed in the arcana-marga. Otherwise, by constitutional nature, there is no difference between nama and mantra in the matter of their independence of any formalities.

Nama, being non-different from nami, or Bhagavan Himself, is already invested with all potencies. Therefore in actuality, the glory of nama is superior to that of mantras. Yet Jiva Gosvami says that the diksa-mantras are invested with the power to reveal the sadhakas’ specific relationship with the Lord - sri bhagavata samam atmasambandha- visesa-pratipadakas ca (Bhakti-sandarbha, Anuccheda 284). The same thing is stated in Anuccheda 283: divyam-jnanam hy atra srimati mantre bhagavat-svarupa-jnanam tena bhagavata sambandha-visesa-jnanam ca (see diksa). This means that when a guru who is situated on the platform of bhava gives diksa, the mantras are invested with the knowledge of Bhagavan’s svarupa and knowledge of one’s specific relationship with Him. Therefore, those who are desiring to attain the prema-seva of Sri Krsna in Vraja in one of the four relationships of dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, or madhura should accept diksa-mantras from a guru who is established in one of these moods.

(See also: Mantra , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Attic

Any part of a house usually represents a part of yourself (dreamer = house). The attic is the last thing built. Consider the details of the dream and try to figure out what your unconscious is trying to tell you. Some believe that the attic symbolizes the higher self, or best self (i.e. the self that is in contact with the eternal). Others think that the attic symbolizes the sum total of your life's work or it may predict how well you will do in old age. If the attic is full of "neat" stuff, it may imply that you are accomplishing wonderful things and are living up to your potential in this lifetime.

Source: Dream Lover Incorporated, http://www.dreamloverinc.com

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Attic , Meaning of Dreams about Attic , Dream Interpretation Attic )

Aeon, Aeons (Latin) Aion (Greek) (from aion time)

An age, a period of time; used alone, equivalent to the word logos, but the usual meaning includes a spiritual being considered as an emanation from the divine essence and also a period of time which is brought about by the existence of this spiritual being.

In the Gnostic systems it signified the various creative powers issuing from the demiurgic Logos, and varying in degree from the most spiritual or ethereal planes to the most gross. Valentinus held that a perfect aion called Propator, equivalent to the First Logos, existed before bythos or the spatial deep (equivalent to the Second Logos).

Blavatsky explains that it is "Aion, who springs as a Ray from Ain-Soph (who does not create), and Aion, who creates, or through whom, rather, everything is created, or evolves" (SD 1:349). This twofold use of a word to denote a period of time and a deific power, also appears in Manu, and in the names of the Biblical patriarchs and the periods assigned to their respective lifetimes. (See FSO 194-5 for more detail)

The adjective aeonios occurs frequently in the New Testament, where it is mistranslated as eternal or everlasting.

(See also: Aeon, Aeons , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Baresma(n) (Avestan), Barsum (Pahlavi), Barsam (Persian) (from the verbal root bares to grow upright; cf Sanskrit barh)

A wand of the Magi, who were instructed in the Vendidad to go to the tree "that is beautiful, high-growing, and mighty amongst the high-growing trees," and after an invocation, to cut off a twig, "long as a plowshare, thick as a barley-corn. The faithful one, holding it in his left hand, shall not leave off keeping his eyes upon it, whilst he is offering up the sacrifice to Ahura Mazda and to the Amesha-Spentas." To this day the Parsis use the baresman, but have replaced the twigs of the scared tree with brass wires.

Blavatsky hints that baresman is taken from the tree created by Ahura Mazda, the tree of occult and spiritual knowledge and wisdom, and so is a symbolic rod of power and wisdom, such as is often ascribed in ancient mythologies to great leaders or teachers of peoples and to high adepts. Baresman symbolically represents a branch of the tree of knowledge, known as Gaokarena in Pahlavi literature, soul healing Haoma (the extract of this tree), and Zavr (its libation). "We praise mighty Vayu, with the Haoma mixed with milk and with Baresman with the tongue of Kherad (Intellect) and the holy word, with words and deeds, with Zavr and the true spoken words" (Ram Yasht 5).

It is said in Zad-Sparam that the tree of Harwisp Tohmag (all-seed-bearing tree) was created in the sea of Farakhkard (the unbounded sea) from which all plants grow, and that the Simorgh (Saena) nests on it. When the Simorgh flies away, all the dry seeds drop into the water which the rain brings down to earth. Next to the All-seed-bearing Tree exists the tree of white Haoma (Gaokarena), the foe of decrepitude, reviver of the dead, and giver of eternal life.

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

Parama-guru - grand-spiritual master; the guru of one’s guru.

(See also: Parama-guru , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Visrambha-guru-seva - service to guru which is imbued with deep faith and intimacy (see visrambha). Service devoid of formality. Complete absence of any feeling of separateness from the guru. This type of service is possible only in an advanced stage.

(See also: Visrambha-guru-seva , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Nitya-tattva - eternal truth, reality or philosophical principle.

(See also: Nitya-tattva , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

SACRIFICE

Anton LaVey's Satanism frowns on self-sacrifice and the Catholic Church calls suicide a sin. Xtianity offers "eternal life" in "God," which is all very well, provided you know what "God" is. Once we stop separating from the Whole, we automatically place self-sacrifice above eternal life and, in doing so, paradoxically, we transform immolation into immortality. In Buddhism, which sees the true extinction of the ego in Nirvana, i.e., as release from both death and rebirth, sacrifice means having the compassion to remain in the world in order to help others. Thus, the self-incendiarism of Buddhists as protests against the war in Viet Nam were an extreme form of compassion. They were sacrifices in the Judeo-Christo-Islamic sense, but for a bodhisattva it is not a sacrifice to die, it's a gift.

(See also: SACRIFICE , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

Atash, Atash-Azar (Persian), Atur (Pahlavi), Atar (Avestan) Fire; the name of the ninth day of the month of the ancient Iranian calendar as well as the ninth month of the year (Sagittarius). Zoroaster uses the term in the Gathas in the sense of the life-giving force or the spiritual nature of the eternal truth. It is this fire which guides the universe as well as the individual towards its destiny -- perfection.

In the ancient Aryan faith, atash has three qualities and sometimes is called trishazashta (fire of the three stations). These stations are named: Azar-borzin-Mehr, Azar-Faranbagh or Azar-Khordad, and Azar-Goshnasp. In later Avestic literature five different fires have been named: 1)Brezisevangha (beneficent fire of the high) spiritual fire; 2) Vohu-Fryana (fire of instinct) animal fire; 3) Urvazishta (fire of life, most beneficial fire) vegetation fire; 4) Vazishta (celestial fire of heavenly bodies) the most supporting fire; and 5) Spenishta (holy fire or paradisical fire) the most bountiful fire (Yasna 17, 11).

There have been seven commonly accepted fire temples named after the seven heavenly bodies: 1) Azar-Mehr (Mithra's fire); 2) Azar-Noush (fire of sweetness, healing) symbolizing Ab-e-Hayat or Water of Life; 3) Azar-Bahram (fire of victory) symbolizing creation of light; 4) Azar-Aeen or Azar Abteen (Apam-Napata, the universal self or the fire of glory that the son of the waters wishes to seize); 5) Azar-Khorin (the rule of the sun) symbolizing perfection; 6) Azar-Borzin (fire of the high); and 7) Azar-Zartusht (fire of Zoroaster, the eternal light).

(See also: Atash, Atash-Azar, Atar, Atur , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Siva, Shiva (Sanskrit) The third god of the Hindu Trimurti (trinity): Brahma the evolver; Vishnu the preserver; and Siva the regenerator or destroyer.

Siva is one of the three loftiest divinities of our solar system, and in his character of destroyer stands higher than Vishnu for he is "the destroying deity, evolution and PROGRESS personified, who is the regenerator at the same time; who destroys things under one form but to recall them to life under another more perfect type" (SD 2:182). As the destroyer of outward forms he is called Vamadeva. Endowed with so many powers and attributes, Siva possesses a great number of names, and is represented under a corresponding variety of forms. He corresponds to the Palestinian Ba`al or Moloch, Saturn, the Phoenician El, the Egyptian Seth, and the Biblical Chiun of Amos, and Greek Typhon.

"In the Rig Veda the name Siva is unknown, but the god is called Rudra, which is a word used for Agni, the fire god . . ."; "In the Vedas he is the divine Ego aspiring to return to its pure, deific state, and at the same time that divine ego imprisoned in earthly form, whose fierce passions make of him the 'roarer,' the 'terrible' " (SD 2:613, 548).

Siva is often spoken of as the patron deity of esotericists, occultists, and ascetics; he is called the Mahayogin (the great ascetic), from whom the highest spiritual knowledge is acquired, and union with the great spirit of the universe is eventually gained. Here he is "the howling and terrific destroyer of human passions and physical senses, which are ever in the way of the development of the higher spiritual perceptions and the growth of the inner eternal man -- mystically . . . Siva-Rudra is the Destroyer, as Vishnu is the preserver; and both are the regenerators of spiritual as well as of physical nature. To live as a plant, the seed must die. To live as a conscious entity in the Eternity, the passions and senses of man must first die before his body does. 'To live is to die and to die is to live,' has been too little understood in the West. Siva, the destroyer, is the creator and the Saviour of Spiritual man, as he is the good gardener of nature. He weeds out the plants, human and cosmic, and kills the passions of the physical, to call to life the perceptions of the spiritual, man" (SD 1:459&n).

Though Siva is often called Maha-kala (great time) which, while being the great formative factor in manvantara is also the great dissolving power, to the Hindu mind destruction implies reproduction; so Siva is also called Sankara (the auspicious), for he is the reproductive power which is perpetually restoring that which has been dissolved, and hence is also called Mahadeva (the great god). Under this character of restorer he was often represented by the symbol of the linga or phallus: "the Lingham and Yoni of Siva-worship stand too high philosophically, its modern degeneration notwithstanding, to be called a simple phallic worship" (SD 2:588). It is under the form of the linga, either alone or combined with the yoni (female organ, the representative of his sakti or female energy), that Siva is so often worshiped today in India.

In the Linga-Purana, Siva is said to take repeated births, in one kalpa possessing a white complexion, in another that of a black color, in still another that of a red color, after which he becomes four youths of a yellow color. This allegory is an ethnological account of the different races of mankind and their varying types and colors (cf SD 1:324).

Siva is known under more than a thousand names or titles and is represented under many different forms in Hindu writings. As the god of generation and of justice, he is represented riding a white bull; his own color, as well as that of the bull, is generally white, referring probably to the unsullied purity of abstract justice. He is sometimes seen with two hands, sometimes with four, eight, or ten; and with five faces, representing among other things his power over the five elements.

He has three eyes, one placed in the centre of his forehead, and shaped as a vertical oval. These three eyes are said to denote his view of the three divisions of time: past, present, and future. He holds a trident in his hand to denote his three great attributes of emanator, destroyer, and regenerator, thus combining all the usual qualities or functions attributed to the Trimurti. In his character of time, he not only presides over its beginning and its extinction, but also over its present functioning as represented in astronomical and astrological calculations.

A crescent or half-moon on his forehead indicates time measured by the phases of the moon; a serpent forms one of his necklaces to denote the measure of time by cycles, and a second necklace of human skulls signifies the extinction and succession of the races of mankind. He is often pictures as entirely covered with serpents, which are at once emblems of spiritual immortality and his standing as the patron of the nagas or initiates. He is often mystically personated by Mount Meru, which esoterically is both the cosmic and terrestrial axis with their respective poles.

According to the belief of most Advaita-Vedantists, Sankaracharya, the great Indian philosopher and sage, is held to be an avatara of Siva.

See also Shiva, Siva

(See also: Siva, Shiva , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Deva

Lit., "A shining one".

An inhabitant of the heavenly realms, which is characterized by long life, joyous surroundings and blissful states of mind. In the Buddhist tradition, these states are understood to be impermanent, not eternal.

 (See also: Deva , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Ragamayi bhakti - bhakti which is permeated with raga, or spontaneous affection. Ragamayi bhakti is not within sadhana. It refers to the stage after prema has arisen. In the beginning, there is prema, which then develops into sneha, mana, pranaya, raga, anuraga, bhava and mahabhava.

When prema attains the state of raga it is called ragamayi. It comes after one takes his birth in the womb of a gopi and attains the association of Krsna’s ragatmika-bhaktas. By that association, first prema will come and then it will gradually evolve to the stage of raga and on up to mahabhava. The word trsna used here means ‘thirst’ to drink Krsna, His form (rupa) , taste (rasa) , smell (gandha) , sound (sabda) and touch (sparsa). The word premamayi is a general term that can indicate the stage of prema anywhere in its development from the stage of sneha right up to the stage of mahabhava.

(See also: Ragamayi bhakti , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Maya - illusion; that which is not; Sri Bhagavan’s external potency which influences the living entities to accept the false egoism of being independent enjoyers of this material world.

(See also: Maya , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Perpetual Motion Equivalent of Latin perpetuum mobile (the ever-moving). The one eternal element is abstract space, coexistent with which are endless duration, primordial substance, and unending motion -- the breath of the one element. Deity is all these, but to modern minds perhaps it is best pictured as eternal perpetual motion, at once the ever-becoming, the ever-present, and the ever-existing.

Thus perpetual motion is an irresolvable first principle, and from it proceed relatively perpetual motions, such as the motions of the celestial orbs. Sir William Grove writes: "All motion is in one sense perpetual. In masses whose motion is stopped by mutual concussion, heat or motion of the particles is generated; and thus the motion continues, so that if we could venture to extend such thoughts to the universe, we should assume the same amount of motion affecting the same amount of matter for ever" (The Correlation of Physical Forces).

We are bathed, then, in an ocean of perpetual motion; motion means life, and life is everywhere. The physical universe is conceived as matter and motion, being the productions of originating substance and spiritual life; and hence, while wholly illusory in their appearances and phenomena, both in essence are indestructible, uncreate, and eternal. How much more so is the ultraphysical, when considered as noumena apart from their manifested physical productions.

As to the problem of making a machine which will keep running of itself, or in addition will do useful work, scientists declare it impossible because it contravenes the law of conservation of energy. The equation of energies in seeming cases of perpetual motion, however, can always be made to balance by the introduction of outside factors, such as the earth's rotation. If we regard thought and volition as forms of energy, the scope of the problem is greatly altered and enlarged; so that perpetual motion is possible or not according to the way in which we define it.

(See also: Perpetual Motion , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Nara (Sanskrit). "Man", the original, eternal man.

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

Circle

The circle symbolizes infinity, the circle of life and the eternal unknown. You, the dreamer, may have come to a greater degree of spiritual awareness, so the dream could be spiritual in nature. Carl Jung called all circular images a "mandala." It is one of the most important dream symbols which represent the psychic center of personality. It is symbolic of wholeness, completeness and unity of the self. However, as always, examine all of the details in the dream, as well as its tone and mood, and rule out the possibility of "going in circles" as the primary message in the dream.

Source: Dream Lover Incorporated, http://www.dreamloverinc.com

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Circle , Meaning of Dreams about Circle , Dream Interpretation Circle )

Parabrahman (Sanskrit) [from para beyond + Brahman (neuter) universal self or spirit]

That which is beyond Brahman; the self-enduring, eternal, self-sufficient cause of all, the one essence of everything in the kosmos. It is before all things in the kosmos, and is the one sole limitless life-consciousness-substance from which starts into existence a center of force which may be called the Logos. In the Vedic cycle of writing it is referred to as tat (that) as opposed to the world of manifestation called idam (this).

"Parabrahman is intimately connected with Mulaprakriti. Their interaction and intermingling cause the first nebulous thrilling, if the words will pass, of the Universal Life when spiritual desire first arose in it in the beginnings of things. . . . Parabrahman is no entity, is no individual, or individualized being. It is a convenient technical word with conveniently vague philosophical significancy, implying whatever is beyond the Absolute or Brahman of any hierarchy. Just as Brahman is the summit of a kosmic Hierarchy, so, following the same line of thought, the Parabrahman is 'whatever is beyond Brahman' " (OG 121).

The parabrahman of the Vedantists is likewise conceived of as an eternal and periodical law which causes an active and creative force to emanate from the ever-concealed and incomprehensible one principle at the beginning of every mahamanvantara or new cycle of cosmic life.

"Parabrahmam is an unconditioned and absolute reality, and Mulaprakriti is a sort of veil thrown over it. Parabrahmam by itself cannot be seen as it is. It is seen by the Logos with a veil thrown over it, and that veil is the mighty expanse of cosmic matter. It is the basis of material manifestations in the cosmos" (Notes on BG 21). Parabrahman has the same relation to the Logos as our atman does to our karana-sarira; and parabrahman is the very foundation of the highest self.

Parabrahman is identical with the 'eyn-soph of the Chaldean Qabbalah.

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

Advaita-jnana - knowledge of non-duality. Although in the true sense this refers to the Supreme Absolute Personality of Godhead who is devoid of all duality, the Mayavada conception of advaitajnana is that the ultimate substance, brahma, is devoid of form, qualities, personality, and variegatedness.

(See also: Advaita-jnana , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)