Indian Philosophy Dictionary

Sad-darshanas: The six orthodox systems of Indian philosophy: Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Sankhya, Yoga, Mimamsa, and Vedanta.

(See also: Sad-darshanas , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Sankhya

One of the schools (systems) of Indian philosophy

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

darsana:

darsana (dharshana). Any of the six principal systems of ancient Indian philosophy; insight or vision of truth.

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

vaisesika:

vaisesika - one of the schools of Indian philosophy

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

Veda:

The most ancient scriptures of Indian Philosophy

(See also: Veda , Kundalini, Kundalini Yoga, Kundalini Dictionary)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V X Y Z

Patanjali:

Patanjali (Pathanjali). Author of the Yoga Sutras, which form the foundation of the yoga system of Indian philosophy. See raja-yoga.

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

mimansa:

mimansa - one of the schools of Indian philosophy

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

NAIYAYIKAS: followers of the Nyaya school of Indian philosophy

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

Kashmiri Shaivism: Shaivite philosophy of medieval Kashmir

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

Vaisheshika

One of the schools (systems) of Indian philosophy

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

West The forces of the four cardinal points have each a distinct occult property, and are ruled over by the four regents.

Blavatsky states that there is occult philosophy in the early Christian doctrine, echoes of which still linger in both the Orthodox Greek and the Roman Catholic Churches, that public calamities are due to invisible messengers from the north and west, and particularly from the west, the conjunction of the two points being combined in the northwest (SD 1:123).

Most good, on the other hand, flows forth from the north and east. The Egyptian goddess Hathor is spoken of as the infernal Isis, the goddess preeminently of the west or nether world. East and west are not localities but directions, and when used in reference to localities the meaning is purely relative. Good and evil, too, are relative terms as experienced by human beings, for such messengers and influences are in all cases strictly karmic agents; and often what people in their blindness and weakness think a calamity or misfortune may indeed be a blessing in disguise.

See also CARDINAL POINTS

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

Buddha [one of true wisdom]: Buddha is a title bestowed on an enlightened master. The Buddha in the present cycle is Siddhartha Gautama (563 BC) who was born in a small kingdom in present day Nepal. After a renunciation of his kingdom and a long period of asceticism, he became enlightened and began teaching. His sermons form the school of philosophy called Buddhism.

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

Self: The nearest English equivalent of the Sanskrit word “Atman”, the essential Divinity of an individual.

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

Prakriti prakrti (Sanskrit) [from pra forwards, progression + the verbal root kri to make, do]

Production, bringing forth, originating, primordial state or condition, original substance. Nature; spiritual and ethereal substances in all their forms, visible and invisible. Its root or parent is mulaprakriti (root of prakriti), and it is to be considered with vikriti, which signifies change, alteration, or a production or evolution from the prakriti which precedes it.

"In common usage Prakriti may be called Nature in general, as the great Producer of entities or things, and through this Nature acts the ever-active Brahma or Purusha. Purusha, therefore, is Spirit, and Prakriti is its productive veil or sheath. Essentially or fundamentally the two are one, and whatever Prakriti through and by the influence of Purusha produces is the multitudinous and multiform Vikritis which make the immense variety and diversity in the Universe around us.

"In one or more of the Hindu philosophies, Prakriti is the same as Sakti, and therefore Prakriti and Sakti are virtually interchangeable with Maya or Maha-Maya or so-called illusion, Prakriti is often spoken of as 'matter,' but this is inexact although a very common usage; matter is rather the 'productions' or phases that Prakriti brings about, the Vikritis. In the Indian Sankhya philosophy Pradhana is virtually identical with Prakriti, and both are often used to signify the producing element from and out of which all illusory material manifestations or appearances are evolved" (OG 129-30).

In the Sankhya philosophy prakriti is sevenfold. These seven prakritis are mahat, ahankara, and the five tanmatras (rudimentary or subtle elements) -- sabda, sparsa, rupa, rasa, and gandha.

The Visishtadvaita Vedantists teach as do theosophists that "every particle or atom of Prakriti contains Jiva (divine life), and is the sarira (body) of that Jiva which it contains, while every Jiva is in its turn the sarira of the supreme spirit, as 'Parabrahm pervades every Jiva, as well as every particle of matter'" (SD 1:522).

(See also: Prakriti, prakrti , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Abortion The destruction of the fetus in the uterus. The issues involved in the act are more vital and far-reaching than is generally suspected. Blavatsky in classifying feticide as unjustifiable murder, says: "yet it is neither from the standpoint of law, nor from any argument drawn from one or another orthodox ism that the warning voice is sent forth against the immoral and dangerous practice, but rather in occult philosophy both physiology and psychology show the disastrous consequence. . . .

For, indeed, when even successful and the mother does not die just then, it still shortens her life on earth to prolong it with dreary percentage in Kamaloka, the intermediate sphere between the earth and the region of rest, . . . a necessary halting place in the evolution of the degree of life. The crime committed lies precisely in the wilful and sinful destruction of life, and interference with the operations of nature, hence -- with Karma -- that of the mother and the would-be future human being. The sin is not regarded by theosophists as one of a religious character, . . . But foeticide is a crime against nature" (BCW 5:107-8).

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

Vedanta (end of knowledge): system of non-dualistic philosophy based on the Upanishads, which are found in the last section of the Vedas. Vedanta proves the non-difference between the individual Self  (Atman) and the Supreme Self (Brahman).

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

 Indus Valley Civilization (ca. 4000-1,500 BC): an advanced civilization in ancient India concurrent with the Babylonian and Egyptian civilizations. Numerous sites of ruins lie along the Indus River in present-day Pakistan.

(See also:  Indus Valley Civilization , Hinduism, Yoga, Body Mind and Soul)

Pashupata Saivism: (Sanskrit) Monistic and theistic, this school of Saivism reveres Siva as Supreme Cause and Personal Ruler of soul and world, denoted in His form as Pashupati, "Lord of souls." This school centers around the ascetic path, emphasizing sadhana, detachment from the world and the quest for "internal kundalini grace."

The Karavana Mahatmya recounts the birth of Lakulisha (ca 200 bce), a principal Pashupata guru, and refers to the temple of Somanatha as one of the most important Pashupata centers. Lakulisha propounded a Saiva monism, though indications are that Pashupata philosophy was previously dualistic, with Siva as efficient cause of the universe but not material cause. It is thought to be the source of various ascetic streams, including the Kapalikas and the Kalamukhas.

This school is represented today in the broad sadhu tradition, and numerous Pashupata sites of worship are scattered across India.

See: Saivism.

(See also: Pashupata Saivism , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Yoga (Sanskrit).

(1) One of the six Darshanas or schools of India; a school of philosophy founded by Patanjali, though the real Yoga doctrine, the one that is said to have helped to prepare the world for the preaching of Buddha, is attributed with good reasons to the more ancient sage Yajnawalkya, the writer of the Shatapatha Brahmana, of Yajur Veda, the Brihad Aranyaka, and other famous works.

(2) The practice of meditation as a means of leading to spiritual liberation. Psycho-spiritual powers are obtained thereby, and induced ecstatic states lead to the clear and correct perception of the eternal truths, in both the visible and invisible universe.

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

Rishikesh: a traditional spiritual center of the Hindu sages and sadhus. It lies at the foot of the Himalayas on the River Ganga.

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

Yana (Sanskrit) [from the verbal root ya to go]

Path, road, vehicle; there are two recognized paths of action in nature, the pratyeka-yana (the path of each one for himself) and the amrita-yana (the immortal vehicle or path of immortality). There are also two schools of philosophy in India using this term: the Hinayana (the lesser, inferior, or defective vehicle) and the Mahayana (the greater or superior vehicle).

This contrast is an exoteric rather than an esoteric one. It is a recognition of the fact that the religion of Gautama Buddha has separated into two general paths of action; but both the Hinayana and the Mahayana are recognized because known to possess each one its own particular value in training. The combination of the two is what one might call the esoteric path.

The Hinayana is that portion of the esoteric path in which the mystic traveler takes the lower passional and elemental sides of himself into strict discipline and self-control, the while following certain simple rules of day-to-day procedure; whereas the Mahayana aspect includes rather the training of the spiritual, intellectual, and higher psychic parts of the human constitution, such as is brought about by a profound study of philosophy, of the truths of nature, the mystical side of religion, and the higher parts of kosmic philosophy -- all these collected together around the heart of the Mahayana which is mystical study and aspiration.

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