lunghi: Malayalam word for a wrap-around cloth worn as a skirt by both men and women in Kerala (dhoti in Hindi). The mundu is the top cloth worn over the shoulder.

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

Lotus (from Greek lotos)

A lily belonging to the genus Nymphaea, an ancient and universal symbol; in India spoken of innumerable times under its Sanskrit name padma.

"It is the flower sacred to nature and her Gods, and represents the abstract and the Concrete Universes, standing as the emblem of the productive powers of both spiritual and physical nature. It was held sacred from the remotest antiquity by the Aryan Hindus, the Egyptians, and the Buddhists after them; revered in China and Japan, and adopted as a Christian emblem by the Greek and Latin Churches, who made of it a messenger as the Christians do now, who replace it with the water lily. It had, and still has, its mystic meaning which is identical with every nation on the earth" (SD 1:379).

In relation to men, the lotus is the symbol of the self-producing soul which, during manifestation immersed in material life as the lotus seed is embedded in the mud of lake or pond, is wakened by the warm rays of the spiritual sun, and grows upward through the world of illusion (symbolized by water) to blossom in the free air and sunlight of truth.

Cosmically the lotus symbolizes the emanation of the objective from the subjective, the manifested effect or production of the eternal plan on which the invisible worlds are built by the formative logoi. This lies buried, until the time for its svabhava or production comes, in the bosom of eternal ideation -- as the lotus plant of visible nature exists in miniature in the seed.

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

turya: the substratum in which the waking, dream and sleep are perceived in the phenomenal or waking point of view; for convenience, it is referred to as the fourth, or turya, state of consciousness. It can be compared to water, which appears in the three states of ice, liquid and steam.

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

prakarana grantha: introductory Vedantic texts that unfold the entire subject matter of Vedanta with or without reference to any of the terse Upanishads. The purpose of these texts were to explain all the concepts necessary for enlightenment in simple terms, so the subject could be understood without having to resort to the study of the thick scriptures and the lengthy logical analysis typical of the scholarly approach. Some of the most known are Atma Bodha, Vivekachudamani, Panchadasi, Vedanta Sara, Vedanta Paribhasa.

(See also: prakarana grantha , Hinduism, Yoga, Body Mind and Soul)

ghee: butter that has been clarified using fire.

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

Chandrakaladhara, Lord [moon + small part + ornament]: During the churning of the milky ocean by the gods and the demons, “Chandrakala” emerged on the day of the new moon. The gods prayed to Lord Shiva to wear this crescent moon on his head as an ornament with the hope that it would help cool his destructive anger.

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

Panchadasi [fifteen]: Vedantic text of fifteen chapters written by Swami Vidyaranya. It is an advanced introductory text (prakarana grantha) intended to unfold all the subject of Vedanta necessary for enlightenment, or to serve as a foundation for further study of Vedanta.

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

samsara: the process of the wordly life through successive births and deaths.

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

matha: monastery, seminary; one of the four centers established by Adi Shankaracharya for the preservation of the four Vedas and other sacred scriptures: Badrinath (north), Shringeri (south), Puri (east) and Dwaraka (west). These four mathas have established subsidiary mathas in their respective districts, such as at Kanchi and Kavir.

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

chandala: untouchable; one outside of the caste system. The outcastes were generally of the aboriginal native tribes.

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

dharma shala: overnight abodes or hostels that were constructed by pious people or kings to provide free food and shelter to traveling pilgrims.

(See also: dharma shala , Hinduism, Yoga, Body Mind and Soul)

Uttarkasi: the Himalayan mountain village that has been the residence of many sages, including Swami Tapovanam.

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

ashram: monastery, hermitage, place of retreat.

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

Atma (n): the essential Divinity, or light of consciousness, in each individual; often translated into English as “Self”. See Brahman.

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

Shruti [shru = to hear]: the Holy Scriptures that were heard by the ancient rishis through direct revelation; the Vedas.

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

Narayana: an epithet of Lord Vishnu.

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

punya: good karma, or merit, accumulated from good actions.

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

Tamil: the language of the Dravidians of South India, from which Malayalam is derived.

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

laksharchana [lak = one thousand]: worship by chanting the one thousand name of a god or goddess.

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

Moghul: a dynasty established in India in the 16th century by Babur, a Mongolian/Turk; also a civilian of this dynasty.

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

Genesis. The whole of the Book of Genesis down to the death of Joseph, is found to he a hardly altered version of the Cosmogony of the Chaldeans, as is now repeatedly proven from the Assyrian tiles.

The first three chapters are transcribed from the allegorical narratives of the beginnings common to all nations.

Chapters four and five are a new allegorical adaptation of the same narration in the secret Book of Numbers; chapter six is an astronomical narrative of the Solar year and the seven cosmocratores from the Egyptian original of the Pymander and the symbolical visions of a series of Enoichioi (Seers) - from whom came also the Book of Enoch.

The beginning of Exodus, and the story of Moses is that of the Babylonian Sargon, who having flourished (as even that unwilling authority Dr. Sayce tells us) 3750 B.C. preceded the Jewish lawgiver by almost 2300 years. (See Secret Doctrine, vol. II., pp. 691 et seq.)

Nevertheless, Genesis is an undeniably esoteric work. It has not borrowed, nor has it disfigured the universal symbols and teachings on the lines of which it was written, but simply adapted the eternal truths to its own national spirit and clothed them in cunning allegories comprehensible only to its Kabbalists and Initiates.

The Gnostics have done the same, each sect in its own way, as thousands of years before, India, Egypt, Chaldea and Greece, had also dressed the same incommunicable truths each in its own national garb. The key and solution to all such narratives can be found only in the esoteric teachings.

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