Although there are many Asanas (8,400,000 according to the scriptures) the practice of the 12 basic yoga postures brings out the essence and all major benefits of this wonderful system.

Read more here: » Yoga Postures: What is Proper Exercise - 12 Basic Yoga Postures

While in recent years the word "yoga" has been heard more in gyms than in religious discourse, "yoga" in its original sense has little to do with exercise. "Yoga" comes from the Sanskrit verb yuj, to yoke or unite. The goal of yoga is to unite oneself with God; the practice of yoga is the path we take to accomplish this.

Read more here: » Yoga: The Meaning of Yoga

Origins beliefs commonly refer to creation beliefs — mytho-religious stories which explain the beginnings of the universe as a deliberate act of "creation" by a supreme being. "Origin belief" may be generalized to include non-religious claims and theories based in contemporary science or philosophy—the Big Bang, origin of life, panspermia and theory of evolution fall into this category. As with any set of beliefs, opinions regarding the validity of particular origins beliefs diffe ...

See also:

Origin belief, Origin belief - Creation beliefs, Origin belief - Science-based beliefs, Origin belief - Creation ex nihilo, Origin belief - Religious creation beliefs, Origin belief - Limits to the ontology of creation, Origin belief - Creation within various belief systems

Read more here: » Origin belief: Encyclopedia II - Origin belief - Creation beliefs

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam teach that Creation is the origin of the totality of the omniverse by the action of God. Even more particularly, every type of existence is also owing to the act of creation by God. Among monotheists it has historically been most commonly believed that living things are the God's creations, and are not the result of a process inherent in originally non-living things, unless this process is designed, initiated, or directed by God; likewise, sentient and intelligent beings are God's creation, and did not arise through the development of living but non- ...

See also:

Creator God, Creator God - Abrahamic religions, Creator God - Christianity, Creator God - Hinduism, Creator God - Classical Greece

Read more here: » Creator God: Encyclopedia II - Creator God - Abrahamic religions

Several Biblical passages refer to “hosts” around God and in the heights above. This phrase is commonly taken to refer to angels or other creatures, but an alternate interpretation takes it to mean the stars. Under this interpretation, the stars were supposed to be living creatures. If the difficult passage (Judges 5:20) may be regarded as other than a poetical figure, the stars "walk on the way"; they "come out" in the morning, and "go in" at night. By a miracle, sun and moon are made to stand suddenly still (Josh. 10:12). They fight fr ...

See also:

Biblical cosmology, Biblical cosmology - Background, Biblical cosmology - Sky sun moon and stars, Biblical cosmology - Stars as the Hosts of Heaven, Biblical cosmology - Planets, Biblical cosmology - The Bible and the Big Bang, Biblical cosmology - Modern day biblical cosmologies

Read more here: » Biblical cosmology: Encyclopedia II - Biblical cosmology - Stars as the Hosts of Heaven

Evolutionary creationism is a variant of creationism which accepts microevolution and macroevolution while retaining a theistic interpretation of evolution. Theistic evolution is accepted (or at least not rejected) by major Christian churches, including Roman Catholicism; some Judaism denominations; and other religious organizations that lack a literalist stance concerning holy scriptures. With this approach toward evolution, scriptural creation stor ...

See also:

Theistic evolution, Theistic evolution - Spectrum of viewpoints, Theistic evolution - Deism, Theistic evolution - Other variants, Theistic evolution - Christianity, Theistic evolution - Christian Justification for Evolution, Theistic evolution - Islam, Theistic evolution - Judaism, Theistic evolution - Evolutionary biologists who were also theists, Theistic evolution - Criticisms of theistic evolution

Read more here: » Theistic evolution: Encyclopedia II - Theistic evolution - Spectrum of viewpoints

Many Gap Creationists postulate that this gap occurs between the seventh day, the one of rest, and the account of the Fall of Adam and Eve and hence that of Mankind though the agency of the temptation of Satan in the form of a snake. According to this theory, this amount of time would be sufficient for all of the geologic events which have happened to make the appearance of the Earth to be quite old. Another popular approach is to assume that the gap occurs between Gen 1:1 and Gen 1:2. This postulates that the earth was initially crea ...

See also:

Gap Creationism, Gap Creationism - Rationale, Gap Creationism - Varieties, Gap Creationism - Criticisms

Read more here: » Gap Creationism: Encyclopedia II - Gap Creationism - Varieties

Day-Age Creationism - The meaning of “day” yôm. There is much debate between Young Earth and Old Earth creationists about both scientific and Biblical issues. Some proponents of Day-Age Creationism note that God is not bound by time (Psalms 90:4 ect.) and that the term "day" in Genesis is used before the creation of the sun or the moon (although there is a difference of opinion on the precise order of creation within the Day-Age view. See Old Earth Creationism). ; consequently, "day" does ...

See also:

Day-Age Creationism, Day-Age Creationism - Day-Age Creation Theory, Day-Age Creationism - Biblical debate, Day-Age Creationism - The meaning of “day” yôm, Day-Age Creationism - The Sabbath, Day-Age Creationism - Luminaries on “day” 4, Day-Age Creationism - The events of “day” six, Day-Age Creationism - “Day” seven, Day-Age Creationism - The Fall

Read more here: » Day-Age Creationism: Encyclopedia II - Day-Age Creationism - Biblical debate

The cosmological argument depends on several assumptions. Most objections center on two of them: Everything has a cause. A causal chain cannot be of infinite length. (and therefore also "5. There must be a first cause.") The cosmological argument attempts to prove that a First Cause exists. One objection is that this does not even attempt to ascribe this First Cause with attributes necessary to call it "God," not even with extremely basic prerequisites such as self-awareness and will (though there are some ...

See also:

Cosmological argument, Cosmological argument - Origins of the argument, Cosmological argument - The argument, Cosmological argument - A more detailed version of the argument, Cosmological argument - Critique and Objections, Cosmological argument - Scientific positions

Read more here: » Cosmological argument: Encyclopedia II - Cosmological argument - Critique and Objections

Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of god(s). That is, all who do not have such a belief - whether they think of themselves as nontheists, agnostics or even Buddhists - are covered under this term. Atheism can also be defined more narrowly as the active denial of the existence of god(s), either of a specific or general kind, or even that god(s) can exist. Generally speaking, atheism refers to a la ...

Including:

• Atheism - Etymology
• Atheism - Types and typologies of atheism
• Atheism - Atheism as lack of theism
• Atheism - Atheism as immorality
• Atheism - Weak and strong atheism
• Atheism - Ignosticism
• Atheism - Gnostic and agnostic atheism
• Atheism - Atheism in philosophical naturalism
• Atheism - Antitheism
• Atheism - History
• Atheism - Distribution of atheists
• Atheism - Atheism in the United Kingdom
• Atheism - Atheism in the United States
• Atheism - Atheism studies and statistics
• Atheism - Statistical problems
• Atheism - Religion and atheism
• Atheism - Spiritual and religious atheism
• Atheism - Judaism
• Atheism - Christianity
• Atheism - Islam
• Atheism - Asian spirituality
• Atheism - Reasons for atheism
• Atheism - Philosophical reasons
• Atheism - Personal and social reasons
• Atheism - Three famous atheists: Freud Marx and Nietzsche
• Atheism - Criticisms of atheism
• Atheism - Atheism is incoherent
• Atheism - Atheism doesn't exist
• Atheism - Atheism leads to poor morals and ethics
• Atheism - Atheism is a belief as much as theism is
• Atheism - Related concepts
• Atheism - Organizations
• Atheism - Satire

Read more here: » Atheism: Encyclopedia - Atheism

Evolutionary creationism is a variant of creationism which accepts microevolution and macroevolution while retaining a theistic interpretation of evolution. Theistic evolution is accepted (or at least not rejected) by major Christian churches, including Roman Catholicism; some Judaism denominations; and other religious organizations that lack a literalist stance concerning holy scriptures. With this approach toward evolution, scriptural creation stories are typically interpreted as being allegorical in nature. Many individuals stress the unreliability of Genesis as a scientific text ...

See also:

Theistic evolution, Theistic evolution - Spectrum of viewpoints, Theistic evolution - Deism, Theistic evolution - Other variants, Theistic evolution - Christianity, Theistic evolution - Christian Justification for Evolution, Theistic evolution - Islam, Theistic evolution - Judaism, Theistic evolution - Evolutionary biologists who were also theists, Theistic evolution - Criticisms of theistic evolution

Read more here: » Theistic evolution: Encyclopedia II - Theistic evolution - Spectrum of viewpoints

Professor Arthur Holmes (1895-1965) geologist, professor at the University of Durham. He writes regarding the age of the earth in his great book, The Age of Earth (1913) as follows: "Long before it became a scientific aspiration to estimate the age of the earth, many elaborate systems of the world chronology had been devised by the sages of antiquity. The most remarkable of these occult time-scales is that of the ancient Hindus, whose astonishing concept of the Earth's durat ...

See also:

Religious cosmology, Religious cosmology - Christian Cosmology, Religious cosmology - Hindu Cosmology, Religious cosmology - Buddhist Cosmology, Religious cosmology - Jain Cosmology, Religious cosmology - Zoroastrian Cosmology

Read more here: » Religious cosmology: Encyclopedia II - Religious cosmology - Hindu Cosmology

Some philosophers deny that the concept of "being" has any meaning at all, since we only define an object's existence by its relation to other objects, and actions it undertakes. The term "I am" has no meaning by itself; it must have an action or relation appended to it. This in turn has led to the thought that "being" and nothingness are closely related, developed in existential philosophy. Existentialist philosophers such as Sartre, as well as continental philosophers such as Hegel and Heidegger have also written extensively on the ...

See also:

Being, Being - Being and substance in Aristotle, Being - Being in continental philosophy and existentialism, Being - Being in Islamic philosophy

Read more here: » Being: Encyclopedia II - Being - Being in continental philosophy and existentialism

The cosmological argument depends on several assumptions. Most objections center on two of them: Everything has a cause. A causal chain cannot be of infinite length. (and therefore also "5. There must be a first cause.") The cosmological argument attempts to prove that a First Cause exists, but does not even attempt to ascribe this First Cause with attributes necessary to call it "God," not even with extremely basic prerequisites such as self-awareness and will. It simply names the First Cause as "God" wit ...

See also:

Cosmological argument, Cosmological argument - Origins of the argument, Cosmological argument - The argument, Cosmological argument - A more detailed version of the argument, Cosmological argument - Critique and Objections, Cosmological argument - Scientific positions

Read more here: » Cosmological argument: Encyclopedia II - Cosmological argument - Critique and Objections

Old Earth creationism - Gap Creationism. One type of Old Earth creationism is Gap creationism. This view states that life was immediately created on a pre-existing old Earth. One variant rests on a literal reading of Genesis 1:1 as, "In the beginning, when the earth was formless and void," implying that the earth already existed, but had passed into decay during an earlier age of existence, and was being "shaped anew". This view is more consistent with mainstream science with respect to the age of the Eart ...

See also:

Old Earth creationism, Old Earth creationism - Types of Old Earth Creationism, Old Earth creationism - Gap Creationism, Old Earth creationism - Day-Age Creationism, Old Earth creationism - The Framework Hypothesis, Old Earth creationism - Cosmic Time, Old Earth creationism - Progressive Creationism, Old Earth creationism - Broader Reasoning

Read more here: » Old Earth creationism: Encyclopedia II - Old Earth creationism - Types of Old Earth Creationism

The word Yoga comes from the root Yuj which means to join. Yoga is restraint of the activities of the mind, and is the union of the individual soul with the Supreme Soul.

Hiranyagarbha is the founder of the Yoga system. The Yoga founded by Patanjali Maharshi is a branch or supplement of the Sankhya. It has its own charm for students of a mystic temperament and of a contemplative type. It claims greater orthodoxy than the Sankhya proper by directly acknowledging the existence of a Supreme Being (Isvara).

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Yoga: Hindu Philosophy - The Yoga

Young Earth creationism, in the West primarily, has its earliest roots in Judaism. For example, Ibn Ezra's (c. 1089–1164) commentary on Genesis is greatly esteemed in traditional rabbinical circles and he believed the Genesis days were 24 hour periods.[1] The first-century Jewish historian Josephus also accepted a six-day creation and young earth. It was also the dominant view of the Church Fathers and Protestant Reformers.[2] For much of the history of Christianity, young Earth creationism was the majority viewpoint in the absence ...

See also:

Young Earth creationism, Young Earth creationism - The history of young Earth creationism, Young Earth creationism - Revival of young Earth creationism, Young Earth creationism - Characteristics of Young Earth creationism, Young Earth creationism - Young Earth Creationist ideas, Young Earth creationism - The teaching of Genesis, Young Earth creationism - Young Earth creationism and other forms of creationism, Young Earth creationism - Young Earth creationism and the Omphalos hypothesis, Young Earth creationism - Criticisms of Young Earth creationism, Young Earth creationism - Theological

Read more here: » Young Earth creationism: Encyclopedia II - Young Earth creationism - The history of young Earth creationism

Compiled by the Sage Patanjali Maharishi in the Yoga Sutras, the Eight Limbs are a progressive series of steps or disciplines which purify the body and mind, ultimately leading the yogi to enlightenment.

This article details the eight limbs of the Raja Yoga system, one of the four main paths of Yoga.

Read more here: » Raja Yoga: The Eight Limbs of Raja Yoga

�

To attain jitendriyata is to achieve full control over ones senses. This leads to what is called God-realisation. In this controlled state all pain and suffering cease permanently.

There are different paths to achieve this height: Gyan yoga, karma yoga, bhakti yoga, raja yoga, hatha yoga, swara yoga, nada yoga, astanga yoga; all of these lead to the same goal of achieving communion with God. The shortest and most suitable path ordained in this Kali Yuga is bhakti yoga.

Read more here: » Bhakti Yoga: Lasting Happiness Through Bhakti Yoga

Acarya:

Acarya (sometimes spelled Acharya in English): a preceptor, instructor; cf. guru

(See also: Acarya ,Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

For more dictionary entries, see » Existence Dictionary

Here is a part of Patanjalis yoga-aphorisms describing the supernatural powers of a yogi. An extract from the Patanjali Yoga Sutras.

Read more here: » Sidhis - Supernatural Powers Patanjali Yoga Sutras - Illumination (Part IV of IV)

Existence (from Latin exsisto standing forth, emerging)

Although often used interchangeably with being, in theosophy being refers to abstract continuity in spirit, while existence means the phenomenal manifestation of an entity in the phenomenal worlds. Therefore being is the noumenon and existence is the phenomenon. Hence one can speak of the causes of existence (nidanas), or of all existences being dissolved. The Absolute, a cosmic hierarch, is defined with equal appropriateness as absolute existence and as non-existence.

Non-existence is described as absolute being, existence, and consciousness (SD 1:39). Fichte makes a proper distinction between being (Seyn) and existence (Daseyn), the former being the noumenal One, and the latter the phenomenal manifold through which the One is known.

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

For more dictionary entries, see » Existence Dictionary