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Below are some short introductions. Click on the blue hyperlinked word to get more related articles.
Trijnana - Trijnana (Sanskrit) [from tri three + jnana knowledge]
The threefold knowledge, consisting of three degrees: knowledge based on faith or inner conviction, on theoretical knowledge, and on personal and practical knowledge.
Charismatic Gifts - According to Christian doctrine, the special spiritual gifts given to members of the Christian church. They are for edifying and building up the church. They are: word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, distinguishing of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues. Christians use the term to avoid using the term psychic.
Asura - Asura (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root as to breathe)
A title frequently given to the hierarch or supreme spirit of our universe, as being the primal "Breather"; also a class of spiritual-intellectual beings. In Hinduism it commonly signifies elemental and evil gods or demons. "Primarily in the Rig-Veda, the ''Asuras'' are shown as spiritual divine beings; their etymology is derived from asu (breath), the ''Breath of God,'' and they mean the same as the Supreme Spirit or the Zoroastrian Ahura. It is later on, for purposes of theology and dogma, that they are shown issuing from Brahma''s thigh, and that their name began to be derived from a privative, and sura, god (solar deities), or not-a-god, and that they became the enemies of the gods" (SD 2:59).
Further, the asuras "are the sons of the primeval Creative Breath at the beginning of every new Maha Kalpa, or Manvantara; in the same rank as the Angels who had remained ''faithful.'' These were the allies of Soma (the parent of the Esoteric Wisdom) as against Brishaspati (representing ritualistic or ceremonial worship). Evidently they have been degraded in Space and Time into opposing powers or demons by the ceremonialists, on account of their rebellion against hypocrisy, sham-worship, and the dead-letter form" (SD 2:500).
Asura is employed with frequency in theosophical writings to signify the class of spiritual-intellectual beings called manasaputras, kumaras, or angishvattas. As a matter of fact, asuras, maruts, rudras, and daityas are but various ways of describing the intellectual gods or manasas, as contrasted with the as yet incompleted devas or suras.
Asura is used in the earliest Vedic literature as a title of the cosmic hierarch or supreme spirit. The Vedic Asura is nothing other than the Great Breath of archaic occult literature -- the Great Breath coming and going as manvantara and pralaya. The other Vedic gods mentioned so much more frequently in the slokas, such as Agni, Indra, and Varuna, are all subordinate hierarchically and cosmogonically to the Vedic Asura, which is really Brahman-pradhana or the Second Logos, Father-Mother; Varuna is the acme or summit of akasa-tattva; Agni is the summit or hierarch of cosmic taijasa-tattva; and Indra is often identified with Vayu as the summit of cosmic Vayu-tattva.
See also MAHASURA
Adhere - To remain attached or faithful, as to a leader, society, principle, etc.
Hinduism - (Sanskrit) India''s indigenous religious and cultural system, followed today by nearly one billion adherents, mostly in India, but with large populations in many other countries. Also called Sanatana Dharma, "eternal religion" and Vaidika Dharma, "religion of the Vedas."
Hinduism is the world''s most ancient religion and encompasses a broad spectrum of philosophies ranging from pluralistic theism to absolute monism.
It is a family of myriad faiths with four primary denominations:
Saivism,
Vaishnavism,
Shaktism and
Smartism.
These four hold such divergent beliefs that each is a complete and independent religion. Yet, they share a vast heritage of culture and belief:
karma,
dharma,
reincarnation,
all-pervasive Divinity,
temple worship,
sacraments,
manifold Deities,
the guru-shishya tradition and
a reliance on the Vedas as scriptural authority.
From the rich soil of Hinduism long ago sprang various other traditions. Among these were Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism, which rejected the Vedas and thus emerged as completely distinct religions, disassociated from Hinduism, while still sharing many philosophical insights and cultural values with their parent faith.
Though the genesis of the term is controversial, the consensus is that the term Hindu or Indu was used by the Persians to refer to the Indian peoples of the Indus Valley as early as 500 bce. Additionally, Indian scholars point to the appearance of the related term Sindhu in the ancient Rig Veda Samhita. Janaki Abhisheki writes (Religion as Knowledge: The Hindu Concept, p. 1): "Whereas today the word
Hindu connotes a particular faith and culture, in ancient times it was used to describe those belonging to a particular region. About 500 bce we find the Persians referring to ''Hapta Hindu.'' This referred to the region of Northwest India and the Punjab (before partition).
The Rig Veda (the most ancient literature of the Hindus) uses the word Sapta Sindhu singly or in plural at least 200 times. Sindhu is the River Indus. Panini, the great Sanskrit grammarian, also uses the word Sindhu to denote the country or region.
While the Persians substituted h for s, the Greeks removed the h also and pronounced the word as ''Indoi.'' Indian is derived from the Greek Indoi."
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan similarly observed,
"The Hindu civilization is so called since its original founders or earliest followers occupied the territory drained by the Sindhu (the Indus) River system corresponding to the Northwest Frontier Province and the Punjab. This is recorded in the Rig Veda, the oldest of the Vedas, the Hindu scriptures, which give their name to this period of Indian history. The people on the Indian side of the Sindhu were called Hindus by the Persians and the later Western invaders. That is the genesis of the word Hindu" (The Hindu View of Life, p. 12).
See: Hindu.
Paracelsus - (1493-1541) The nom de plume of the German physician and alchemist Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, who was born in Einsieden, Switzerland.
Paracelsus was a medical reformer who introduced a new concept of disease and the use of chemical medicines. He studied at several Italian universities and began to practice medicine and surgery in the 1520s. A difficult personality, he created controversy because of his wholesale condemnation of traditional science and medicine. He never obtained a secure academic position or permanent employment. Paracelsus''s new concept of disease emphasized its causes to be external agents that attack the body, contrary to the traditional idea of disease as an internal upset of the balance of the body''s humors (yellow bile, black bile, blood and phlegm).
Therapy, according to Paracelsus, was to be directed against these agents of disease, and for this he advocated the use of chemicals rather than herbs. Alchemy became the means of preparing such chemicals; in this way Paracelsus changed the emphasis of the alchemical art from chasing the elusive Elixir of Life or Philosopher''s Stone, to making medicines.
In his " Biographia Antiqua ", Francis Barrett appends to the name of Paracelsus the following titles of distinction: "The Prince of Physicians and Philosophers by Fire; Grand Paradoxical Physician; The Trismegistus of Switzerland; First Reformer of Chymical Philosophy; Adept in Alchymy, Cabala, and Magic; Nature''s Faithful Secretary; Master of the Elixir of Life and The Philosopher''s Stone," and the "Great Monarch of Chymical Secrets. "
Ushas - Ushas usas (Sanskrit) [from the verbal root ush to burn, warm by illumination or light]
The dawn, daughter of heaven, identical with the Latin Aurora and the Greek Eos. First mentioned in the Vedas, "wherein her name is also Ahana and Dyotana ([both words meaning]
the illuminator), and is a most poetical and fascinating image. She is the ever-faithful friend of men, of rich and poor, though she is believed to prefer the latter. She smiles upon and visits the dwelling of every living mortal. She is the immortal, ever-youthful virgin, the light of the poor, and the destroyer of darkness" (TG 356).
Mystically, dawn is the bringer of spiritual and intellectual light, and therefore the sweet and holy comforter, allusions to which are found even in the New Testament with reference to Paraclete.
World Council Of Churches - An international agency promoting interfaith dialogue and ecumenical cooperation among churches. Most participants are mainline denominations dominated by the theological perspective of liberal Christianity.
Var - Var (Scandinavian) Goddess of vows; ninth of the 14 goddesses Asynjur of the Eddas: she hearkens to oaths and covenants, and takes vengeance on those who perjure themselves, avenging every breach of faith.
Closely associated with her was the tenth goddess Vor, she who is wise and of a searching spirit; none can conceal anything from her. Both are classed as handmaidens of the goddess Freya (Venus).
Awakening Of Faith - Mahayana Buddhist text of the 5th or 6th centuries CE by an otherwise unknown figure named Asvaghosha; the work which emphasizes ultimate reality as suchness (tathata).
Sound - Shabda. As the darshana, or "seeing," of the Divine is a central article of faith for Hindus, similarly, hearing the Divine is spiritually indispensable. The ears are a center of many nadis connected to inner organs of perception. Gurus may when imparting initiation whisper in the ear of disciples to stimulate these centers and give a greater effect to their instructions.
During temple puja, bells ring loudly, drums resound, conches and woodwinds blare to awaken worshipers from routine states of consciousness.
Meditation on inner sound, called nada-anusandhana, is an essential yoga practice. Listening to the Vedas or other scripture is a mystical process. Traditional music is revered as the nectar of the Divine.
See: Aum, nada, Siva consciousness.
Spiritual Gifts - According to Christian doctrine, special abilities given by God to worthy believers. Every Christian has at least one
Following is a list of the gifts arranged in two groups.
The first are gifts that require supernatural intervention and are possessed only by true Christians.
The second are gifts that do not require supernatural intervention. Even non-Christians can have the second group of gifts.
A further issue is whether or not the gifts are still in use today. Some believe they ceased with the apostles and the completion of the writings of the Bible) and they are no longer needed for the building up of the body of Christ (Eph. 4: 12). Others believe the gifts are still in use but not in the pure apostolic sense. In other words, they are still in use but not in the same way possessed by the apostles. Instead, they are available to the believer if and when God decides it is beneficial to use them.
The first group of spiritual gifts are: Salvation, Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge, Faith, Healing, Miracles, Prophecy, Distinguishing of Spirits, Tongues, and Interpretation of Tongues.
The second group of spiritual gifts are: Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Giving, Leading, and Showing mercy.
(see Psychic Gifts)
Confirmation - Initiation ritual for a Christian, usually consisting of an anointing with oil and/or a laying on of hands.
In early Christianity part of a single ceremony that included baptism with water followed by an imposition of hands in which the newly baptized received the gift of the Spirit, it is observed as a separate rite in many Christian traditions.
The ritual signals the initiation of the baptized into full and responsible church membership and into a personal mature acceptance of the faith. By the Middle Ages, both Catholics and Orthodox recognized it as one of seven sacraments, complementing and completing the Christian initiation begun with baptism.
Most Protestant denominations do not consider the ritual a sacrament, but view it as a rite of initiation into full Christian discipleship.
Plenum - Plenum (Latin) Full, fullness, as opposed to void or so-called empty space; the plenitude of fullness of matter in space which in fact forms space. Space in this sense is a plenum or pleroma, not a vacuum; yet philosophically, because of the nature of mahamaya, all manifested existence is illusory and hence empty in the mystical sense. Therefore those great systems of thought which have remained most faithful to the ancient wisdom, such as Northern Buddhism, speak of space and all the vast variety of existence as sunyata (the void).
Pentateuch - Pentateuch [from Greek pente five + teuchos books]
A work in five books; the first five books of the Bible, containing stories of creation, of a flood, of the wanderings and settlement of the Hebrews, and the so-called Law of Moses. To these is sometimes added Joshua, sometimes also Judges and Ruth.
Jewish belief in the authorship of Moses was adopted by the Christian Church, but internal evidence has now caused this to be rejected; and the form in which we have the present Pentateuch is usually attributed to Ezra, who reestablished the Jewish religion after the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. If he did not write it, he certainly rewrote it. For Christians, the literal acceptance of this work as being divinely inspired has thrown a dark cloud over their faith.
The Pentateuch forms part of one of the world''s sacred scriptures, being preceded by the Hindu, Mazdean, Egyptian, and Chaldean, counting only some of those well known to modern scholarship; so that we find the ancient teachings as they have reached us in a very confused and altered form.
The Pentateuch is, exoterically, a collection of allegorical legends; but, in the light of the Zohar, the main book of the modern Jewish Qabbalah, the first four chapters at least of Genesis are a fragment of a highly philosophical page in archaic cosmogony. "Left in their symbolical disguise, they are a nursery tale, an ugly thorn in the side of science and logic, an evident effect of Karma. To have let them serve as a prologue to Christianity was a cruel revenge on the part of the Rabbis, who knew better what their Pentateuch meant" (SD 1:11).
If the Jehovistic portions are eliminated, the Mosaic books are found full of occult and priceless knowledge, especially in the first six chapters, even changed as they are and often veiled with thick garmentings of allegory. The Elohistic texts were written, according to the ideas of some Biblical scholars, 500 years after the date of Moses, and the Jehovistic 800 years. But these dates seem to be wholly arbitrary and repose upon modern Biblical speculation. Archeological excavations on the Biblical sites may or may not support to some extent the Bible narratives, but such narratives, at least those of the early part of Genesis, are merely the raw material for the later allegory constructed around them.
Martyr - Someone who dies for a belief or cause. A Christian martyr would be a person who dies because of his or her faith in Christian principles.
Wisdom Religion - Wisdom Religion. The one religion which underlies all the now-existing creeds. That "faith" which, being primordial, and revealed directly to human kind by their progenitors and informing EGOS (though the Church regards them as the "fallen angels"), required no "grace", nor blind faith to believe, for it was knowledge. (See "Gupta Vidya", Hidden Knowledge.) It is on this Wisdom Religion that Theosophy is based.
Pharisee - The Pharisees were a Jewish sect from the second century B.C. to the first century A.D. They considered the entire old Testament to be authoritative, unlike the Sadducees who only accepted the first five books. The Pharisees believed in life after death, the resurrection, the existence of angels and demons, and that the way to God was through keeping the law. "According to Josephus, the Pharisees were the group most influential with the people, were noted for their accurate and therefore authoritative interpretations of Jewish law, and had their own traditions and way of life to which they were faithful. They had a simple standard of living and cultivated harmonious relations with others.
Dharma - Refers to religion or activities regulated by religion; one''s faith; one''s spiritual path in life. Also in the lowest sense it refers to the duties one is compelled to perform in vedic culture based on their stage in life and family in which they were born. In other words there is both a mundane and spiritual conception and definition of this word.
Masonry - Masonry Operative masonry, the art of building in stone; speculative and emblematic Freemasonry, called such since 1717 when four English Lodges of operative masons established the Grand Lodge of England of Speculative and Emblematic Freemasonry, so called because building materials, tools, and instruments are symbolically and analogically used in the building of the universe and of man as a temple enshrining a god.
Originally, however, among the ancient Masons, and today throughout the Orient "wherever magic and the wisdom-religion are studied, its practitioners and students are known among their craft as Builders -- for they build the temple of knowledge, of secret science. Those of the adepts who are active, are styled practical or operative Builders, while the students, or neophytes are classed as speculative or theoretical. The former exemplify in works their control over the forces of inanimate as well as animate nature; the latter are but perfecting themselves in the rudiments of the sacred science" (IU 2:392).
Modern Freemasonry includes many Rites and Degrees, all the so-called higher degrees being based upon the three fundamental craft degrees -- 1) Entered Apprentice; 2) Fellow Craft; and 3) Master Mason -- which degrees alone comprise true Masonic secrets and have any valid claim to descent from ancient Masonry. The lessons or keynotes of these three degrees are respectively 1) ethical, to subdue the passions; 2) intellectual, the training of the mind, the seven liberal arts and sciences, and the mounting of the stairway of wisdom; and 3) spiritual, the conquest of death. The lessons in each degree are enforced and illustrated by appropriate symbols and allegories. The central theme of modern Masonry is the building of King Solomon''s Temple; the death of Hiram Abif and the consequent loss of the Word; the raising of Hiram Abif, and the communication of a Substitute Word.
"Modern Masonry is undeniably the dim and hazy reflection of primeval Occult Masonry, of the teaching of those divine Masons who established the Mysteries of the prehistoric and prediluvian Temples and Initiation, raised by truly superhuman Builders" (SD III 165).
"The Temple was the last European secret organization which, as a body, had in its possession some of the mysteries of the East. True, there were in the past century (and perhaps still are) isolated ''Brothers'' faithfully and secretly working under the direction of Eastern Brotherhoods. But these, when they did belong to European societies, invariably joined them for objects unknown to the Fraternity, though at the same time for the benefit of the latter. It is through them that modern Masons have all they know of importance; and the similarity now found between the Speculative Rites of antiquity, the mysteries of the Essences, Gnostics, and the Hindus, and the highest and oldest of the Masonic degrees well prove the fact. . . .
"Freedom of intellectual thought and the restoration of one and universal religion was their secret object" (IU 2:380, 382).
"The simple truth is that modern Masonry is a sadly different thing from what the once universal secret fraternity was . . ." and "the time has come to remodel Masonry and restore those ancient landmarks, borrowed from the early sodalities, which the eighteenth century founders of speculative Freemasonry meant to have incorporated in the fraternity" (IU 2:387, 377).
Freemasonry in fact was started as a minor theosophical movement as also were the original Order of the Temple, and the Rosicrucian Order, each of which was designed with the purpose of keeping alive in the outer world as far as the times permitted a knowledge of the ancient wisdom-teachings.
Tara - Tara (Sanskrit). The wife of Brihaspati (Jupiter), carried away by King Soma, the Moon, an act which led to the war of the Gods with the Asuras. Tara personifies mystic knowledge as opposed to ritualistic faith. She is the mother (by Soma) of Buddha, "Wisdom ".
Apo Pantas Kakodaimones! - False banishing mantram ("Away all evil demons!")
APOCALYPSE
We are aware that the muslims insist that there can be no Universal Eschatonic Implosion until the world has endured "40 years of rain." We would remind them that we have endured *more* than forty years of the "rain" of nuclear radiation and pollution. Aztec prophesies place the end of the world in the 20th Century (who can doubt it?). The Great Pyramid is said to contain, in its mystical measurements, similar predictions in stone of which the last is Sept. 17, 2001 A.D. Two thousand is commonly believed by western civilization to be the year of the Eschaton. The date given by Nostradamus, on the other hand, is slightly pre-millennial: 1999. This is just 13 years prior to the end of the great 160,000-year Mayan Cycle and Terence McKenna''s Timescape Zero (based on Ancient Chinese cycles), both at 2012 C.E. And although many others cite 2020, there are interesting reasons for seizing on 1999.
First of all, there is a scientific reason. As meteorologists have noted, the 11-year sunspot cycles which serve to heat the earth, have not only been increasing in severity, they have progressively exacerbated the greenhouse effect. This resulted, during the drought of 1988, in the first of the summer-long record-breaking temperatures that continue to plague us. In ''99 the sunspot activity could well have a cataclysmic effect.
Metaphysically, however, there are more compelling reasons. Since the exact interface betweeen the end of the Christian Aeon of Pisces and the beginning of the Humanist Aeon of Aquarius is impossible to pipoint, we are thrown back on sheer numerology. 1+9+9+9 = 28 = 2+8 = 10; numerologically and Pythagoras-wise ten is the number of perfect completion. In other words 1999 is the natural culmination of the Aeon, whereas 2000 is simply a thousandfold manifestation of the Duality: Two - that epitome of evil amongst numbers (from the cosmic point of view, the end of the world isn''t necessarily evil). The date, January 16, 1999 adds up to 9. That date is also Julian Day number 2,451,195, which adds up to 9 as well. Ironically enough, most computer projections of disaster, based on current ecological trends, ozone depletion, demographic patterns, etc. predict the peak somewhere between January, 1999 and September, 2013 - by which time the population of the earth will be nine billion and the "end" of the human yardstick on this planet will have come.
And although the Bible stipulates that "no man knoweth the day or the hour" of the last day, I do not hesitate to name the 9th second of the 9th minute of the 9th hour of January 16, 1999 as the eschaton (or the 9th day of the 9th month September).
As one of the Archons of the Ending Aeon, however, I have chosen 999 as my personal sigil, not 1999, because I want to ally myself with the spirit of the ending process, rather than with the End itself. Moreover, from an opitimistic point of view, 999 is qabalistically virginal - it has nothing written on it. Yet I see no reason to dispute ''99 as the Climax of the Apocalypse, and I take that most useful point of the Eschaton as the date of my own eschaton-count. My Newtime (13 month) calendar begins approximately on the winter solstice of 2000 (Newtime Year Zero), displacing Gregorian time forever. Hence I count forward from 1999, calling 1997 "Year Minus 3", etc.
It should be noted that "end of the world" predictions are always cropping up. For instance, there was Rev. Whisenant''s eschatonic prediction that September 13, 1988 would be the Great Day. Newspapers were gleeful in reporting that the date came and went. What they failed to realize was that 1988, in fact, the beginning of the end - since it was in that year that the greenhouse effect was finally accepted by the planetary powers and acknowledged as the harbinger of the end. If nothing else, 1988 was the year in which the Shroud of Turin was finally pronounced an error by the Vatican. At any rate, the good Rev''s numerology may have been naive and the particular fate he chose may have had little synchronistic sparkle, but his prediction wasn''t entirely off the wall. Isn''t it always the 11th hour? At least sub specie aeternitatis?
But with the 20th Century we leave eternity behind and enter the dimensional worlds. The date Whisenant gave has another meaning. As you know, we stand in the slough of time and at the perimeters of various magico/religious aeons - including the multitudinous segments of the Galilean era - all of which end at different points. The prophecies are fulfilled at different velocities in different ways. The world "ends" perennially because "World" derives from Anglo-Saxon wer-µld ("Man''s Era" or "human time.")
Part of our confusion has to do with the fact that we tend to use "the world" and "the earth" as though they were synonyms. The earth is merely one of the stages on which the drama of the world is enacted. From the Olympian point of view, the end of a world isn''t a tragedy. Everything has its ?ld. Even the gods have their time. Even the dinosaurs had an "Age" so the toymakers tell us. The word for "world", in every language, is invariably linked to the notion of time. Arabic duniya, "the present (world)", Hebrew olam "eternity", Latin mundus, originally a division into sections (of time), like the Greek kosmos. Religion is always, sooner or later, part of that chronometry.
It amazes me that people, especially gullible Xtians, can be so blind as to expect everything to go on as it has done for millions of years when the end has, in fact, arrived. By now it should be clear even to rotting elephants and establishment flakes that the fulfillment of the prophesies is at hand. Even technocratic corporationism concedes that any time between now and the early 21st Century pollution, population, drought, disease and famine will have hit their strides (the "four horsemen" as the four elements: polluted air, sewage-laden water, barren earth, radiocative fire). Therefore 2000 also marks the beginning of the Age of Aquarius and the official end of the Piscean "Age of Jesus". After that date the Christians (all of whom by then will have been swept up into the arms of their Redeemer) will find themselves, or so asserts self-styled Neo-Xtian, Constance Cumbey, "preserved in their own bubble of spiritual sterility on the dimensional shelf of an alternate reality," where they may eternally contemplate the wonder of their salvation. Meanwhile, mankind''s post-holocaustic, enlightened remnant (should such a remnant, by any miracle, remain) will be free to move ahead...to? Incidentally, by the word "holocaust" I do not refer to war but to the destruction of the biosphere by the ravages of unchecked human growth.
For remarks on the return of Christ or "Second Coming" (see PAROUSIA). Meanwhile, the elect, who are still being sacrificed, already inhabit the New Jerusalem. The safe and sound remainder are not saved at all, despite their belief. They call themselves Xtians, but they are Philistines. The zealous guardians of the faith are precisely those about whom Matthew was shouting: "Not everyone who saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!", and of whom Mark said, "But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days." Those who remain are increasingly damned to the hell that earth is henceforth becoming. September 13, 1988 was the last day before it would be too late to begin the task of repairing the biosphere and reversing daily descent to terracide. So the jubilant laughter of Whisenant''s scoffers begins to sound increasingly hollow, doesn''t it?
Shamanism - From the Sanskrit shramana, "ascetic," akin to shram, meaning "to exert."
Generally refers to any religion based on the belief that good or evil spirits can be influenced by priests, or shamans, who serve as intermediaries between man and divine forces. Descriptive of many of the world''s tribal, indigenous faiths. See also: folk-shamanic, pagan, paganism, shamanism, incantation, mysticism, Shaktism.
Hindu - (Sanskrit) A follower of, or relating to, Hinduism.
Generally, one is understood to be a Hindu by being born into a Hindu family and practicing the faith, or by declaring oneself a Hindu. Acceptance into the fold is recognized through the name-giving sacrament, a temple ceremony called namakarana samskara, given to born Hindus shortly after birth, and to self-declared Hindus who have proven their sincerity and been accepted by a Hindu community. Full conversion is completed through disavowal of previous religious affiliations and legal change of name.
While traditions vary greatly, all Hindus rely on the Vedas as scriptural authority and generally attest to the following nine principles:
There exists a one, all-pervasive Supreme Being who is both immanent and transcendent, both creator and unmanifest Reality.
The universe undergoes endless cycles of creation, preservation and dissolution.
All souls are evolving toward God and will ultimately find moksha: spiritual knowledge and liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Not a single soul will be eternally deprived of this destiny.
Karma is the law of cause and effect by which each individual creates his own destiny by his thoughts, words and deeds.
The soul reincarnates, evolving through many births until all karmas have been resolved.
Divine beings exist in unseen worlds, and temple worship, rituals, sacraments, as well as personal devotionals, create a communion with these devas and Gods.
A spiritually awakened master or satguru is essential to know the transcendent Absolute, as are personal discipline, good conduct, purification, self-inquiry and meditation.
All life is sacred, to be loved and revered, and therefore one should practice ahimsa, nonviolence.
No particular religion teaches the only way to salvation above all others. Rather, all genuine religious paths are facets of God''s pure love and light, deserving tolerance and understanding.
See: Hinduism.
Islamic Fundamentalism - In Islam, Fundamentalism is a contemporary category of scholarly comparative analysis referring to those ideologues who advocate a mythic view of Islamic values and seek to restore the timeless fabric of holistic law. They oppose the secular ethos that, in their view, characterizes not only the non-Muslim West but also putatively Muslim nation-states.
Islamic fundamentalists are largely drawn from male groups who have experienced colonial rule as disruption and alienation and postcolonial independence as acculturation and hypocrisy. They resent the economic forces that produced urbanization. They protest the absence of divine mandates in the public sphere of sprawling cities. They reject the modernist hegemony, equating pluralism with relativism and atheism. Instead, they uphold radical patriarchy, for which they find sanction in both scripture and history.
Islamic fundamentalists, like other fundamentalists, are modern without being modernist. Whether accepting oil export revenues or using clandestine bank accounts, they benefit from the capitalist-driven world system, despite their official opposition to both capitalism and communism as Western ideologies. They also understand the power of modern technology. They resort to modern media (newspapers, radio, television, cassettes) and, when necessary, they use state-of-the-art weapons (car bombs, Sten guns, plastic explosives) to achieve short-term objectives. Masters of the communications revolution, they often project their message better than do their adversaries.
Yet only a few Islamic fundamentalists are terrorists, and not all Arab terrorists are fundamentalists. It is important to distinguish fundamentalists from other political or social reformers.
The late-nineteenth-century activists Jamal ad-din al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh used Islamic symbols to mobilize powerful anticolonial movements, yet they did not perceive less fervent fellow Muslims as their enemies.
Sunni and Shiite fundamentalists differ from one another, especially in their attitude toward the state. Neither Sayyid Qutb (1906-66), founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, nor Abul-Ala Mawdudi (1903-79), founder of the Muslim League, believed that the nation-state, itself a truncated residue of colonial rule, could become the vehicle for inscribing Islamic values or pursing Islamic ideals.
By contrast, their Shiite counterparts had faith in the state, provided it had adopted an Islamic constitution. Shiite fundamentalists have openly employed the range of Western worldviews, from Marxism to just-war theory to creation science. Ideology itself has been embraced as voluntary religion. Unlike customary religion, ideology requires collective ideals to be translated into reality through concerted action. Islamic fundamentalists have captured a major state (Iran in 1979), they have assassinated a bold Muslim statesman (Anwar Sadat in 1981), and they have marshalled sporadic public support in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and, most recently, Jordan. However, they remain a minority viewpoint among all Muslims.
Bala - Bala (Sanskrit) Power, strength, might, vigor (cf Latin valor); one of the six functions of action, similar to the ten karmendriya (karmic energies) of Buddhism. In yoga practice the five powers (panchabalani) to be acquired are: complete trust or faith, energy, memory, meditation, and wisdom.
Eternal Life - Life everlasting in the presence of God. "This is eternal life, that they may know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou has sent" (John 17:3).
There are two senses in which this is used. First, as Christians we possess eternal life (1 John 5:13), yet we are not in heaven or in the immediate presence of God. Though we are still in mortal bodies and we still sin, by faith we are saved (Rom. 4:5; Eph. 2:8-9) and possess eternal life as a free gift from God (Rom. 6:23). Second, eternal life will reach its final state at the resurrection of the believers when Christ returns to earth to claim His church. It is then that eternal life will begin in its complete manifestation. We will no longer sin.
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