Narada (Sanskrit) One of the ten great rishis, mind-born sons of Brahma, or prajapatis; the most difficult to understand of the Vedic rishis because the most closely connected with occult doctrines.

"Narada is here, there, and everywhere; and yet, none of the Puranas gives the true characteristics of this great enemy of physical procreation. Whatever those characteristics may be in Hindu Esotericism, Narada -- who is called in Cis-Himalayan Occultism Pesh-Hun, the 'Messenger,' or the Greek Angelos -- is the sole confidant and the executor of the universal decrees of Karma and adi-Budh a kind of active and ever incarnating logos, who leads and guides human affairs from the beginning to the end of the Kalpa.

" 'Pesh-Hun' is a general not a special Hindu possession. He is the mysterious guiding intelligent power, which gives the impulse to, and regulates the impetus of cycles, Kalpas and universal events. He is Karma's visible adjuster on a general scale; the inspirer and the leader of the greatest heroes of this Manvantara. In the exoteric works he is referred to by some very uncomplimentary names; such as 'Kali-Karaka,' strife-maker, 'Kapi-vaktra,' monkey-faced, and even 'Pisuna,' the spy, though elsewhere he is called Deva-Brahma. . . .

"What Narada really is, cannot be explained in print; . . . But it may be remarked, that if there is in the Hindu Pantheon a deity which resembles Jehovah, in tempting by 'suggestion' of thoughts and 'hardening' of the hearts of those whom he would make his tools and victims, it is Narada. Only with the latter it is no desire to obtain a pretext for 'plaguing,' and thus showing that 'I am the Lord God.' Nor is it through any ambitious or selfish motive; but, verily, to serve and guide universal progress and evolution.

". . . It is he who has charge of our progress and national weal or woe. It is he who brings on wars and puts an end to them. In the old Stanzas Pesh-Hun is credited with having calculated and recorded all the astronomical and cosmic cycles to come, and with having taught the Science to the first gazers at the starry vault" (SD 2:48-9).

(See also: Narada, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Kinnara (Sanskrit) (from kim what + nara man)

Also Kim-nara.

"What sort of a man?" -- a mythical being supposed to have a human figure with the head of a horse; or sometimes a horse's body having the head of a man. In later times, like the naras, they are reckoned with the gandharvas (celestial choristers), and are likewise frequently connected with the kimpurushas. Some accounts say that they sprang from the toe of Brahma; but they were the product of the earth at the commencement of the kalpa, the early attempts of formation of quasi-conscious beings leading to self-conscious beings.

In a larger sense, the kinnaras, kimpurushas, etc., are entities belonging to our planetary chain who partake partly of the nature of matter or form, and partly of spirit. They have a definite place in the economy of the planetary chain and perform their functions very much as the human hierarchy does. They are more advanced that the mere nature sprites or elementals, but yet are inferior to humankind, and are to be classed generally with the hosts of quasi-astral beings.

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

Jaya (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root ji to conquer)

Conquering, winning, victorious. As a noun, conquest, victory, hence a favorite proper name, applied to gods and goddesses, Arjuna, the sun, etc. In the Puranas, the jayas are the twelve great gods (or twelve great hierarchies of beings) created by Brahma to assist him in his work of creation in the very beginning of the kalpa. Also termed chhandajas -- those born of their own will or svabhava, in human and other form. Being lost in samadhi they neglected to create, and therefore they were cursed to be born repeatedly in each manvantara until the seventh. They are called respectively: Ajitas, Tushitas, Satyas, Haris, Vaikunthas, Sadhyas, and Adityas. They are equivalent to the manasaputras or reincarnating egos.

Jaya-indriyanam is a philosophical term meaning victory over or restraint of the senses.

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

Eternity (from Latin aeternus, aeviternus from aevum an age)

Originally eternity signified time divided into endless cycles stretching from the indefinite past through the present into the indefinite future, comprised within encompassing frontierless duration. Eternity therefore is the abstract sum total of endlessly cyclical time periods.

As used in The Secret Doctrine, eternity often means a kosmic mahakalpa or manifestation period; thus the seven eternities means seven kosmic periods equivalent to 100 Years of Brahma or 311,040,000,000,000 human years. Even in the Hindu Vishnu-Purana, immortality, which is given as a definition of eternity, means merely "existence to the end of the Kalpa" (2:8). Occasionally used as a synonym for duration.

The emblem of eternity is the serpent in the form of a circle, biting with its active head its passive tail, and from its emanations spring worlds, beings, and things.

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

A Theosophical definition of Round :

Round

The doctrine concerning our planetary chain commonly called that of the seven rounds means that the life cycle or life-wave begins its evolutionary course on globe A, the first of the series of seven (or ten) globes; then, completing its cycles there, runs down to globe B, and then to globe C, and then to globe D, our earth; and then, on the ascending arc, to globe E, then to globe F, and then to globe G. These are the manifest seven globes of the planetary chain. This is one planetary round. After the planetary round there ensues a planetary or chain nirvana, until the second round begins in the same way, but in a more "advanced" degree of evolution than was the first round.

A globe round is one of the seven passages of a life-wave during its planetary round, on any one (and therefore on and through each) of the globes. When the life-wave has passed through globe D, for instance, and ends its cycles on globe D, this is the globe round of globe D for that particular planetary round; and so with all the globes respectively. Seven root-races make one globe round. There are seven globe rounds therefore (one globe round for each of the seven globes) in each planetary round.

Seven planetary rounds equal one kalpa or manvantara or Day of Brahma. When seven planetary rounds have been accomplished, which is as much as saying forty-nine globe rounds (or globe manvantaras), there ensues a still higher nirvana than that occurring between globes G and A after each planetary round. This higher nirvana is coincident with what is called a pralaya of that planetary chain, which pralaya lasts until the cycle again returns for a new planetary chain to form, containing the same hosts of living beings as on the preceding chain, and which are now destined to enter upon the new planetary chain, but on and in a higher series of planes or worlds than in the preceding one.

When seven such planetary chains with their various kalpas or manvantaras have passed away, this sevenfold grand cycle is one solar manvantara, and then the solar system sinks into the solar or cosmic pralaya.

There are outer rounds and inner rounds. An inner round comprises the passage of the life-wave in any one planetary chain from globe A to globe G once around, and this takes place seven times in a planetary manvantara.

The outer round comprises the passage of the entirety of a life-wave of a planetary chain along the circulations of the solar system, from one of the seven sacred planets to another; and this for seven (or ten) times.

There is another aspect of the teaching concerning the outer rounds which cannot be elucidated here.

See also: Round, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition of Dhyan (Dhyani) - Chohan (Chohans) :

Dhyan (Dhyani) - Chohan (Chohans)

A compound word meaning "lords of meditation"  - kosmic spirits or planetary spirits. There are three classes of dhyan-chohans, each of which is divided into seven subclasses.

The dhyan-chohans collectively are one division of that wondrous host of spiritual beings who are the full-blown flowers of former world periods or manvantaras. This wondrous host are the men made perfect of those former world periods; and they guide the evolution of this planet in its present manvantara. They are our own spiritual lords, leaders, and saviors. They supervise us now in our evolution here, and in our own present cyclic pilgrimage we follow the path of the general evolution outlined by them.

Man in his higher nature is an embryo dhyan-chohan, an embryo lord of meditation. It is his destiny, if he run the race successfully, to blossom forth at the end of the seventh round as a lord of meditation  - a planetary spirit  - when this planetary manvantaric kalpa is ended, this Day of Brahma, which is the seven rounds, each round in seven stages.

In one most important sense the dhyan-chohans are actually our own selves. We were born from them. We are the monads, we are the atoms, the souls, projected, sent forth, emanated, by the dhyanis.

See also: Dhyan (Dhyani - Chohan (Chohans, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

smriti: (Sanskrit) "That which is remembered; the tradition."

Hinduism's nonrevealed, secondary but deeply revered scriptures, derived from man's insight and experience. Smriti speaks of secular matters - science, law, history, agriculture, etc. - as well as spiritual lore, ranging from day-to-day rules and regulations to superconscious outpourings.

1)    The term smriti refers to a specific collection of ancient Sanskritic texts as follows: the six or more Vedangas, the four Upavedas, the two Itihasas, and the 18 main Puranas. Among the Vedangas, the Kalpa Vedanga defines codes of ritual in the Shrauta and Shulba Shastras, and domestic-civil laws in the Grihya and Dharma Shastras. Also included as classical smriti are the founding sutras of six ancient philosophies called shad darshana (Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta).

2)    In a general sense, smriti may refer to any text other than shruti (revealed scripture) that is revered as scripture within a particular sect. From the vast body of sacred literature, shastra, each sect and school claims its own preferred texts as secondary scripture, e.g., the Ramayana of Vaishnavism and Smartism, or the Tirumurai of Saiva Siddhanta. Thus, the selection of smriti varies widely from one sect and lineage to another.

See: Mahabharata, Ramayana, Tirumurai.

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

Prophecy of future enlightenment

(Skt.: vyakarana; Pali.: veyüakarana; Jpn.: juki or kibetsu or wagarana)

A Buddha's prediction that a disciple (or disciples) will attain enlightenment in the future. One of the twelve divisions of the teachings, vyakarana is rendered as the prophecy of future enlightenment and indicates the part of a sutra in which Shakyamuni Buddha pronounces that a practitioner will attain Buddhahood in a future existence. Such prophecies are common in Mahayana sutras.

The Lotus Sutra contains a number of passages in which the Buddha predicts enlightenment for his disciples and foretells what their titles as future Buddhas will be as well as the names of their respective kalpas (eras) and Buddha lands.

In the "Simile and Parable" (third) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha predicts the enlightenment of Shariputra, and in the "Bestowal of Prophecy" (sixth) chapter, Shakyamuni predicts enlightenment for the four great voice-hearers, Mahakashyapa, Subhuti, Katyayana, and Maudgalyayana. In the "Five Hundred Disciples" (eighth) and the "Prophecies" (ninth) chapters, Shakyamuni predicts enlightenment for other individual disciples as well as for groups of disciples, thousands in all. According to the Jataka, stories of the Buddha's previous lives, in a past existence Shakyamuni himself received a prophecy of enlightenment from the Buddha Burning Torch (Skt Dipamkara).

(See also: Prophecy of future enlightenment, Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

A Theosophical definition of Manvantara :

Manvantara

(Sanskrit) This word is a compound, and means nothing more than "between two manus"; more literally, "manu-within or -between." A manu, as said, is the entities collectively which appear first at the beginning of manifestation; the spiritual tree of life of any planetary chain of manifested being. The second verbal element of "manvantara," or antara, is a prepositional suffix signifying "within" or "between"; hence the compound paraphrased means "within a manu," or "between manus." A manvantara is the period of activity between any two manus, on any plane, since in any such period there is a root-manu at the beginning of evolution, and a seed-manu at its close, preceding a pralaya.

There are many kinds of manvantaras: prakritika manvantara  - universal manvantara; saurya manvantara  - the manvantara of the solar system; bhaumika manvantara  - the terrestrial manvantara, or manvantara of earth; paurusha manvantara  - the manvantara, or period of activity, of man.

A round-manvantara is the time required for one round: that is, the cycle from globe A to the last globe of the seven, and starting from the root-manu or collective "humanity" of globe A and ending with the seed-manu or collective "humanity" of Globe G.

A planetary manvantara  - also called a maha-manvantara or a kalpa  - is the period of the lifetime of a planet during its seven rounds. It is also called a Day of Brahma, and its length is 4,320,000,000 years.

See also: Manvantara, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

Japa - loud chanting or soft utterance of the holy names of Krsna to oneself; usually referring to the practice of chanting hari-nama on tulasi beads.

The word japa comes from the verbal root jap which means to utter or whisper repeatedly (especially prayers or incantations). In the Sabda-kalpa-druma, japa has been defined as the utterance of mantras either within the heart or verbally. In Haribhakti- vilasa (17.155-159) Srila Sanatana Gosvami describes japa in the following words: "In the Nrsimha-Purana it is said that japa-yajna is of three kinds:

(1) vacika (verbal) ,

(2) upamsu (in a whisper) , and

(3) manasika (within the mind).

When a mantra is pronounced very distinctly either in a high, low, or resonant voice it is known as vacika-japa. When a mantra is uttered slowly with slight movement of the lips and can be heard only by one’s own ears it is known as upamsu-japa. When one meditates on the meaning of the mantra by application of the intelligence going repeatedly from one syllable to the next and from one word to the next it is known as manasika-japa.”

(See also: Japa, Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Manu:

Manu: impersonation of Krishna as the ruler, father and legislator of humanity. There are fourteen of them for each day of Brahma or kalpa 308.6 millions of years ruling. Present Manu, the seventh: Sraddhadeva (also called Vaivasvata see further image)

- Writer of the Manu-samhita.

 - The first earthly creature created from Brahma

- The fourteen Manu's appearing in one day of Brahma are: (1) Svayambhuva, (2) Svarocisa, (3) Uttama, (4) Tamasa, (5) Raivata, (6) Caksusa, (7) Vaivasvata, (8) Savarni, (9) Daksa-savarni, (10) Brahma-savarni, (11) Dharma-savarni, (12) Rudra-savarni, (13) Deva-savarni and (14) Indra-savarni.

One Body was transformed into two and therefore, where there was one Will formerly, two appeared, one which attracted and the other which was drawn towards creation, the feminine and the masculine. Since the one attracted in a hundred distinct ways it was called, Satharupa (hundred-facetted) and Beloved of Brahma (Brahmapriya). The other was named, Manu (BV-30), (RRV-10a).

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

Saptarshis saptarsis [from sapta seven + rishi sage]

Seven sages or rishis; the seven great planetary spirits intimately connected with the constellation Ursa Major. Their names are commonly given as Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, and Vasishtha.

"By the seven great Rishis, the seven great rupa hierarchies or classes of Dhyan Chohans, are meant. Let us bear in mind that the Saptarshi (the seven Rishis) are the regents of the seven stars of the Great Bear, therefore, of the same nature as the angels of the planets, or the seven great Planetary Spirits. They were all reborn, all men on earth in various Kalpas and races. Moreover, 'the four preceding Manus' are the four classes of the originally arupa gods -- the Kumaras, the Rudras, the Asuras, etc.: who are also said to have incarnated. They are not the Prajapatis, as the first are, but their informing principles -- same of which have incarnated in men, while others have made other men simply the vehicles of their reflections" (SD 2:318n).

The seven rishis are also said to mark the time and the duration of events in our septenary life cycle.

The stars of our entire galaxy are all intimately connected together, spiritually, intellectually, psychically, vitally, and physically, which means a connection extending back to a unity of origin in a past so greatly remote that its period can be reckoned only in astronomical figures. In an exactly similar way all the planets of our solar system, especially the so-called seven sacred planets of the ancients, are connected in origin in a distant past, although in a past greatly nearer than the former.

(See also: Saptarshis, saptarsis, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Centaurs (Greek) Greek mythology preserves legends of monsters, half man, half horse, located in wild spots in Greece. "See, for comparison, the account of creation by Berosus (Alexander Polyhistor) and the hideous beings born from the two-fold principle (Earth and Water) in the Abyss of primordial creation: Neras (Naras)

(Centaurs, men with the limbs of horses and human bodies), and Kimnaras (men with the heads of horses) created by Brahma in the commencement of the Kalpa" (SD 2:65). The centaurs were also said to be the offspring of Ixion, king of the Lapith people, and a cloud shaped like Hera, sent by Zeus to test his wickedness; or as being offsprings of Ixion's son and mares. They were considered a rude, wild race living in the mountains of Thessaly.

From another standpoint, however, Greek mythology represents the centaurs as being wiser than men: thus Chiron, son of Kronos and Philyra, most famous of the Centaurs, is a teacher not only of the heroes, but instructed Apollo and Diana in hunting, medicine, music, and the art of prophecy. Later, centaurs were shown as forming part of the following of Dionysus.

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

MEDITATION - n. or adj.

1. art and science of contemplation and concentration spanning Paleolithic hunting rituals. Neolithic mysteries and historic religious traditions East and West, especially Zen, Yoga, Sufism and Coptic, Carmelite, Trappist and Quaker Christianity.

2. contemplation reflection, intuition, doing nothing; in duration from a movement to a kalpa, through most frequently for periods of 10 minutes to several hours or days; performed anytime, anywhere or in any position or activity, through often setting on the Earth, floor, a chair, rock or pennacle standing straight or holding a posture, walling, dancing, jogging, making love; sometimes accompanied by chanting silently or aloud alone or with a group; focusing on the breath, the chakras, the mind, parts of the body, light, sound, God, a tutelary deity, symbols, archetypes, a candle or another internal, external or transcendental object.

3. practice leading to cosmic consciousness, enlightenment truth-consciousness-bless, developing body consciousness, rooting in the here and now perfecting harmony and balance with the Earth.

5. discipline of mind awareness and control of thoughts, emotions and states of consciousness.

6. return to the source or emptiness to erase delusions, refresh ourselves day to day and begin a new. (Michio Kushi).

7. exercise or practice of just being experiencing ourselves at whatever we are, without any extra thing added. (Gary Snyder)

8. going into the mind to see wisdom for yourself-over and over again until it becomes the mind you live in. (Gary Snyder)

9. space to work or fears, hopes, neurotic games, self-deception. (Trungpa)

10. self-analysis, self-cultivation, self-enlightenment.

11. thought-form building, bring down to the concrete levels of the mental plane abstract ideas and intuitions and shattering of forms, establishing of a direct channel between the nomad and the purified personality and between the seven centers in the human etheric vehicle; freedom to work on any path (Bailey)

12. the Tao of cats n. mediator, meditativeness, adj. meditative. v. meditate (from meditari, Latin). (NAD)

(See also: MEDITATION, Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Sandhi, Samdhi (Sanskrit) [from sam together + the verbal root dha to place]

That which combines or unites; the interval between day and night, twilight; also the period at the expiration of each yuga (age), or between two manvantaras or kalpas. Equivalent to 1/10 the duration of the yuga and lasts until the commencement of the next yuga.

Such is the way the time periods of the yugas are calculated, whether according to divine years or solar years. However, when attention is concentrated solely on the dawns and twilights (there being a dawn and a twilight for each such time period in a yuga), every dawn and twilight conjoined is 1/6 of the length of each such time period: in other words, a dawn or twilight is 1/12 of the length of such period.

As an example, a mahayuga of 4,320,000 solar years (or 12,000 Divine Years, 360 solar years making one Divine Year) consists of four minor yugas -- the krita, treta, dvapara, and kali, decreasing in length by the Pythagorean scale of 4, 3, 2, 1 respectively. Thus counting in Divine Years, the krita is 4800 such years long, the treta 3600 such years, the dvapara 2400 such years, and the kali 1200 such years. Otherwise phrased, the krita is 4000 years long plus 1/10 thereof -- 400 years for its dawn and 400 years for its twilight. The treta is 3000 years long plus 1/10 that period or 300 years for its dawn and 300 years for its twilight.

The dvapara and the kali are calculated by the same rule. With solar years, the system can be illustrated by stating that the kali yuga is 360,000 solar years long, 1/10 of that period or 36,000 years each for its dawn and its twilight, the total comprising the full duration of 432,000 years. Thus the 2/10 when added are 72,000, which is 1.6 of the total duration; and either the dawn or twilight is 1/12 of the total or 36,000.

Another form of the term is sandhya; whereas sandhyansa is often specifically used for the period ending or closing a yuga and is 1/10 of the length of the age that it closes.

(See also: Sandhi, Samdhi, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)