temple: An edice in a consecrated place dedicated to the worship of God or the Gods. From the Latin templum, "temple, sanctuary; marked space."

Hindu temples, over one million worldwide, are revered as sacred, magical places in which the three worlds most consciously commune - structures especially built and consecrated to channel the subtle spiritual energies of inner-world beings.

The temple's psychic atmosphere is maintained through regular worship ceremonies (puja) invoking the Deity, who uses His installed image (murti) as a temporary body to bless those living on the earth plane. In Hinduism, the temple is the hub of virtually all aspects of social and religious life. It may be referred to by the Sanskrit terms mandira, devalaya (or Sivalaya, a Siva temple), as well as by vernacular terms such as koyil (Tamil).

See: garbhagriha, darshana, mandapa, pradakshina, sound, teradi, tirthayatra.

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

Somanath Temple: (Sanskrit) Ancient center of Pashupata Saivism located in modern Gujarat state and mentioned in the Mahabharata. The first recorded temple was built there before 100. In 1026 the then fabulously wealthy temple was sacked by Muslim invaders, the Sivalinga smashed and 50,000 brahmins slaughtered.

The temple was rebuilt several times and finally demolished by the Moghul emperor Aurangzeb (ca 1700). Sardar Patel, deputy prime minister of India, spearheaded its reconstruction in 1947.

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

Iraivan Temple:

See: San Marga Sanctuary.

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

Kedareshvara Temple: (Sanskrit) A temple in Karnataka which belonged to the Kalamukha sect of Saivism. Inscriptions upon it (1162) are a main source of knowledge about this now nearly extinct sect.

See: Kalamukha.

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

consecrated temple: A temple duly and fully established in all three worlds through formal religious ceremony known as kumbhabisheka.

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

Tota-gopinatha temple

a temple in Jagannatha Puri near the tomb of Haridasa Thakura.

(See also: Tota-gopinatha temple, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

temple

A dwelling place for the holy. A place within ourselves, such as a dedicated heart, or in the outer world that has been purified and dedicated to spiritual purposes

(See also: Temple, Body Mind and Soul)

mandir:

a hindu temple

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

Agasha Temple of Wisdom

An organization founded by channel and author William Eisen in Los Angeles, CA which teaches the universal consciousness of god, reincarnation, pyramidology, and the Ascended Masters.

(See also: Agasha Temple of Wisdom, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

mandal:

hindu temple which can also be used for socio-cultural purposes

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

Temple [from Latin templum, tempulum a small division from Greek, Latin tem to cut off, mark out]

Templum was a spot marked off for sacred purposes by the augur with his staff, and might be on the ground or in the sky, where it was a region designated for the observation of omens. This connects the idea with that of the celestial mansions or zodiacal signs. From being a mere marked-off spot, it gradually evolved into elaborate edifices, and it has also a figurative use, as when the body is called the temple of God or the earth is described as a temple. When a temple in ancient days was constructed by adepts for specific purposes, it became a center or receptacle of spiritual energies attracted and focused there; and from this arose the merely exoteric ideas, true in their origin but absurdly untrue today, that a consecrated portion of a temple or church was the Holy of Holies or the Seat of God, etc.

The temple then is the shrine of the divine presence, and as such plays a predominant role in all cults, appearing as a Holy of Holies, a tabernacle, etc., and with many elaborations and accessories, such as special chambers, images, sacred vessels, and the like. The word becomes equivalent to all those signifying the receptive side of universal nature, such as moon, ark, and womb. The object of making inner understanding and inner vision seem more real to the mere man, by constructing edifices consecrated to divine worship and designed to draw down divine presences, is one that can readily be understood, and which may be either an assistance or a drawback according to whether the spirit of the worshiper is less or more materialistic.

There is a suggestive connection with temple and tempus (Latin "time," from the same root), divided time as opposed to duration or undivided time.

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

Temple of Solomon The building of this temple, according to the Bible, was first projected by King David, but on command of the Lord was not carried out by him because he had "shed much blood." David, however, assembled materials and workmen. To aid him in building the Temple, his son Solomon appealed to Hiram or Huram, King of Tyre, to send him a skillful artisan, and King Hiram sent Hiram Abif to Solomon, also workmen and additional supplies of timber.

According to the Biblical account the Temple was completely built, while according to Masonic tradition the building was left unfinished on account of the death of Hiram Abif. The temple after its completion retained its original splendor for only 33 years when the Egyptian King Shishak made war upon Rehoboam, Solomon's son, captured Jerusalem, and took away all the treasures of the temple and of the king's house. Its history is one of repeated profanation and of alternate spoilations and repairs, until finally in 588 BC it was entirely destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in the reign of Zedekiah. Yet Herodotus who, some 150 years later, visited Tyre and described the temple of Melkarth and Astoreth, does not even mention the Temple of Solomon, supporting the view that there never was such a structure actually built.

Granting that there may be some historical background for the Biblical account, it is nevertheless allegorical throughout. Blavatsky compares the measurements given in the Bible with those of the Great Pyramid and the Tabernacle of Moses, all of which were constructed upon the same abstract formula derived from the number of years in the precessional cycle, and also upon integral values of pi, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter. Moses symbolized these "under the form and measurements of the tabernacle, that he is supposed to have constructed in the wilderness. On these data the later Jewish High Priests constructed the allegory of Solomon's Temple -- a building which never had a real existence, any more than had King Solomon himself, who is simply, and as much a solar myth as is the still later Hiram Abif, of the Masons, as Ragon has well demonstrated. Thus, if the measurements of this allegorical temple, the symbol of the cycle of Initiation, coincide with those of the Great Pyramid, it is due to the fact that the former were derived from the latter through the Tabernacle of Moses" (SD 1:314-5). And she refers to "the undeniable, clear, and mathematical proofs that the esoteric foundations, or the system used in the building of the Great Pyramid, and the architectural measurements in the Temple of Solomon (whether the latter be mythical or real), Noah's ark, and the ark of the Covenant, are the same" (SD 2:465).

The key to the meaning of Solomon's Temple is given by W. Q. Judge: it

"means man whose frame is built up, finished and decorated without the least noise. But the materials had to be found, gathered together and fashioned in other and distant places. . . . Man could not have his bodily temple to live in until all the matter in and about his world had been found by the Master, who is the inner man, when found the plans for working it required to be detailed. They then had to be carried out in different detail until all the parts should be perfectly ready and fit for placing in the final structure. So in the vast stretch of time which began after the first almost intangible matter had been gathered and kneaded, the material and vegetable kingdoms had sole possession here with the Master -- man -- who was hidden from sight within carrying forward the plans for the foundations of the human temple. All of this requires many, many ages, since we know that nature never leaps. And when the rough work was completed, when the human temple was erected, many more ages would be required for all the servants, the priests, and the counselors to learn their parts properly so that man, the Master, might be able to use the temple for its best and highest purposes" (Ocean 20).

Thus David, who collected materials for the building but was not permitted actually to build the temple, represents the evolutionary and preparatory work of earlier rounds and of the earlier root-races preceding the middle of the third root-race of this round, when humanity appeared upon the scene -- Solomon, David's son -- takes up the task of the actual building of the human temple. David thus mystically may stand for the lunar or barhishad-pitris, and Solomon for the solar or agnishvatta-pitris.

According to the Old Testament, the building of the temple was completed, but it was used for its high purposes only briefly. Allegorically this was during the Golden Age of the childhood of the human race -- the building was complete only as regards childhood when the gods walked among mankind and were their divine instructors; but humanity was not yet truly human, for manas (mind) had not yet been awakened by the manasaputras of whom Hiram Abif was a type. It is here that Masonic tradition should be studied together with the Biblical account. Then with the awakening of manas, and the eating from the Tree of Knowledge and hence the power to choose between good and evil -- in other words, with the beginning of self-directed evolution, the temple was desecrated again and again. "The building of the Temple of Solomon is the symbolical representation of the gradual acquirement of the secret wisdom, or magic; the erection and development of the spiritual from the earthly; the manifestation of the power and splendor of the spirit in the physical world, through the wisdom and genius of the builder. The latter, when he has become an adept, is a mightier king than Solomon himself, the emblem of the sun or Light himself -- the light of the real subjective world, shining in the darkness of the objective universe. This is the 'Temple' which can be reared without the sound of the hammer, or any tool of iron being heard in the house while it is 'in building' " (IU 2:391).

Again, the building of a temple, sanctuary, Holy of Holies, etc., always signified in the occult language of ancient days the founding and dissemination throughout the world or a portion of mankind of a secret doctrine of nature. In a more restricted sense, the building of a temple referred to the actual establishment of an initiation center, where not only for such territory the ancient wisdom and its divine significances were taught, but disciples were trained and brought to the "new" or "second" birth, and thenceforth themselves became adepts or initiates. On these lines the building of Solomon's Temple was the inauguration and establishment of the teaching of nature's occult wisdom in Judea and surrounding territory.

(See also: Temple of Solomon, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Solomon's Temple.

See TEMPLE OF SOLOMON

(See also: Solomon's Temple, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

People's Temple Christian Church

Jim Jones, influenced by Unitarian Humanism, Father Divine, and Marxism, founded this church in 1977. He later claimed at various times to be God, Buddha, and Lenin. In 1978 after the majority of church members moved to Jonestown, Guyana, at Jones' command, 914 people (including Jones) committed suicide or were murdered. The group is now defunct.

(See also: People's Temple Christian Church, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Temple Lot Church of Christ,

Independence, MO: Splinter group that broke away from the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They claim to own the deed to the land on which a great temple is to be built according to Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith.

(See also: Temple Lot Church of Christ, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Skanda-Purana (Sanskrit) One of the 18 principal Hindu Puranas consisting of several samhitas and khandas.

The most celebrated of the latter is the Kasi-khanda, in which the temples of Kasi (Benares) are exalted, and legends concerning Kasi are related. In this Purana Skanda (Karttikeya, the god of war) narrates the events of the Tatpurusha Kalpa, embroidered with many tales.

(See also: Skanda-Purana, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Qodesh (Hebrew) Also Kedosh, Kedesh. Holiness, sanctity; a holy place, sanctuary; that which is holy or consecrated.

The feminine plural, Qedeshoth, and masculine plural, Qedeshim, in Biblical times referred to the women and men of degenerate times who were attached to certain temples as temple servants, the women here being equivalent to the nachnis (nautch-girls of the Hindu pagodas) or temple prostitutes. The men were "Galli, the mutilated priests of the lascivious rites of Venus Astarte, who lived 'by the house of the Lord' " (TG 169).

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

Kadosh (Hebrew, Jewish). Consecrated, holy; also written Kodesh. Something set apart for temple worship. But between the etymological meaning of the word, and its subsequent significance in application to the Kadeshim (the "priests" set apart for certain temple rites) - there is an abyss. The words Kadosh and Kadeshim are used in II. Kings as rather an opprobrious name, for the Kadeshuth of the Bible were identical in their office and duties with the Nautch girls of some Hindu temples. They were Galli, the mutilated priests of the lascivious rites of Venus Astarte, who lived "by the house of the Lord". Curiously enough the terms Kadosh, etc., were appropriated and used- by several degrees of Masonic knighthood.

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

Tulsi:

Tul(a)si: A sacred plant dear to Lord Krishna and worhiped by His devotees. Tulsi is a sacred plant and is worshiped by many Hindus. Many Vishnu temples have a tulsi garden. When food is offered to Lord Vishnu or Krishna, tulsi leaves are put on each preparation offered. Indians generally keep a tulsi tree in front of their house, towards the south-east corner of their house.

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

Annunciation Announcing; in Christianity, the foretelling to Mary of Jesus' birth by the angel Gabriel, celebrated on Lady Day, March 25. The fire and lamps used in this ceremony apparently point back to the marriage of Vulcan with Venus, to the Magi watching over the sacred fire in the East, to the Vestal Virgins in the West, and to the marriage of Father Sun with Mother Nature.

Some parallels from other religions are the luminous San-tusita (Bodhisat) appearing to Maya and announcing the coming birth of Gautama Buddha; the Hindu legend that there would be born the son of the Virgin (Krishna), the date of whose death marked the beginning of kali yuga; and in Egypt where scenes of an annunciation appear in the temple of Luxor.

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