Krishna Dictionary

Tishya tisya (Sanskrit) The sixth or eighth nakshatra (asterism); also a name in the Mahabharata and Harivansa for kali yuga (the fourth age, our present age) which commenced at the death of Krishna in 3102 BC.

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

Airavata (Sanskrit) (from iravat moisture-possessing from ira drink, food)

Son of Iravati; a vast elephant produced at the churning of the ocean and appropriated by the god Indra. When seated upon Airavata, Indra blesses the earth with rain, i.e., with the water that is drawn up by Airavata from the underworld. According to the Matangalila, Airavata was born when Brahma sang over the halves of the shell from which Garuda hatched, followed by seven more male and eight female elephants.

In the Mahabharata (Adi-parvan, ch 66) Airavata guards the eastern zone. Four such "elephants" (sometimes eight, each with its sakti or feminine potency) uphold the structure of the earth. The mighty four-tusked Airavata, therefore, represents one of the lokapalas (world protectors) -- called by Buddhists maharajas (great kings) -- which are the guardians and supporters of the universe. They are also mystically connected with the lipikas, the eternal karmic scribes. In the Bhagavad-Gita (10:2, 7) Krishna, in naming his divine manifestations, says that among elephants he is Airavata.

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

PAMHO. AGTSP.

an acronym, used in written correspondence for the standard greeting among devotees: “Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.”

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

A dictionary Of Siddha Yoga Terminology. From Abhanga to Yogini.

Please note that all words in grey, like "enlightenment" or "kundalini" are hyperlinked to archives further explaining the term. At the corresponding archive you will also find articles related to the term.

mangalacarana

Verses an author composes as an invocation with which to begin a book. The three aims of such an invocation are to offer respects to one’s worshipable Deity, to offer blessings to the readers, and to set forth the topic of the book.

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

charanamrita

The water that has bathed the feet of the Supreme Lord or His devotee. One honors charanamrita, normally collected after the daily worship of the Deity, by sipping it and sprinkling it on one’s head.

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

 Krishna:

the eighth incarnation of vishnu

(See also:  Krishna , Body Mind and Soul)

Rohini (Sanskrit) [from rohita red]

A red cow, represented as a daughter of Surabhi and mother of cattle, especially of Kamapdhenu (the cow of plenty). Also the ninth lunar asterism, personified as a daughter of Daksha and favorite wife of the moon. Again, the mother of Bala-Rama and of a wife of Krishna -- a common name for many personages of Hindu mythology.

(See also: Rohini , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

tapasya

austerity.

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

adhokshaja

a name of Lord Vishnu, meaning “He who is beyond the reach of the material senses.”

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

Naimisha (-aranya)

A sacred forest located exactly in the center of the universe, where the discus of Lord Vishnu once struck the earth. At the beginning of Kali-yuga, the chief sages of the universe assembled there to perform a thousand-year-long Soma sacrifice to counteract the bad effects of the age. During the sacrifice they heard Puranas and epics from Ugrashrava Suta, including the Mahabharata and Srimad-Bhagavatam.

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

nitya-baddha

eternally conditioned.

(See also: nitya-baddha , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Haridvara

One of the seven sacred cities capable of granting liberation. It is located where the Ganga descends from the Himalayas to the plain of central India.

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

Upapuranas

Minor Puranas.

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

Akshaya-pathra:

Akshaya-pathra: A vessel, whose contents will remain undiminished, however much they are used up, given by Krishna to the Pandavas in exile. (BV-22)

(See also: Akshaya-pathra , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Sankarshana

Another name of Lord Balarama. Also, one of Lord Narayana’s quadruple expansions in Vaikuntha. Balarama is the original Sankarshana, since Narayana is Lord Balarama’s expansion.

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

A dictionary Of Commonly Used Sanskrit terms. From Dadhicha to Kutichaka.

Please note that all words in grey, like "yoga", "enlightenment" or "kundalini" are hyperlinked to archives further explaining the term. At the corresponding archive you will also find articles related to the term.

Ishopanishad

one of the 108 principal Vedic scriptures known as the Upanishads.

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

pranamas

an offering of respect by joining ones hands.

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

chyavan Prash

an Ayurvedic herbal tonic paste.

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

rasabhasa

incompatible mixing of rasas.

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

Pineal Gland, Conarium, or Epiphysis Cerebri A small organ in the brain with a fancied resemblance to a pine cone; technically called the epiphysis, as being an "upgrowth" from the embryonic tissues which later form part of the ventricular or hollow center of the brain, which space is continuous with the central canal of the spinal cord.

The pineal gland is described as a rounded, oblong body, about one-third of an inch long, of a deep reddish color, connected with the posterior part of the third ventricle, and intimately related to the optic thalami which physiologists find to be the organs of reception and condensation of the most sensitive and sensorial incitations from the periphery of the body.

Thus this organ is in central relation to the coordinating organs of all the senses and sensations, and to the thinking brain which perfects and coordinates ideas. Its purpose, however, remains a mystery to the medical profession. A standard anatomy says: "The ancients had a grotesque theory that the epiphysis is the favorite and peculiar abiding-place of the human soul. Modern morphologists have shown it to be the homologue of the third eye which some reptiles possess."

Blavatsky, repeating the ancient belief, says that this concealed third eye is the "seat of the highest and divinest consciousness in man -- his omniscient spiritual and all-embracing mind" (Key 121). She sketches the evolutionary history of this Deva Eye (SD 2:294 et seq) which was the only seeing organ in the beginning of the present human race, when the spiritual element in the then humanity reigned supreme over the as yet unawakened intellectual and psychic elements in the nature. Later on, as the ethereal and psychospiritual early races became self-conscious and physicalized, they used their spiritual and intellectual powers and faculties for selfish and sensual purposes. Meantime, the third eye withdrew, pari passu, into the central cavity of the developing brain. There it has remained until the present -- a symbol of that past spiritual vision which we will regain as we progress consciously along the upward arc of the evolutionary cycle. As to scientific evidence of a once active third eye of objective vision in animals, the Hatteria punctata, a lizard type found in New Zealand, is pointed out. This land, being a part well above the waters of the ancient continent Lemuria, the home of the third root-race, would be likely to retain some remnants of early types of the creatures which once existed when "the third eye was primarily, as in man, the only seeing organ" (SD 2:299).

An ancient commentary says that by the middle of the fourth root-race, the "inner vision had to be awakened and acquired by artificial stimuli, the process of which was known to the old sages" (SD 2:294). Even now, the adept, with trained will, can arouse this ordinarily quiescent organ into activity, so that he becomes illuminated throughout and by it with a vision of infinitude. It was this sublime vision which overwhelmed Arjuna when Krishna, acting as the Logos within, gave the aspiring human monad the divine eye (BG ch 11). The analogy of enlarged vision holds good, in degree, when the spiritual teacher arouses the chela's latent ability to see for himself hidden truth.

Descartes reasoned that the seat of the soul was the pineal gland which, he said, though it was tied to the brain, was yet capable of being put into a kind of swinging motion by the animal spirits that cross the cavities of the skull. He was right about the cavities being open during life, and about the organ's response in oscillations; and what the ancients called animal spirits, is otherwise expressed in theosophical literature as circulating currents of the nerve-aura of occultism.

In the adept, the third eye is aroused by aspiration and concentration of his human will upon the attainment of union of his mental with his spiritual faculties. By this conscious effort, he rises to the higher powers of will which, in its ordinary automatic and emotional phases, is usually diffused throughout the activities of the animal body and brain, by way of the main organ of will, the pituitary gland, the psychic associate of the pineal center. The x-ray may yet reveal ethereal emanations of nerve-aura in the human brain, as living evidence of the interrelation of mind and matter. Meantime, concrete examples of such interaction are found in the pineal gland, in the form of "brain sand," or (acervulus cerebri).

See also EYE OF SIVA; THIRD EYE; CYCLOPES; DEVAKSHA; TRI-LOCHANA

(See also: Pineal Gland, Conarium, Epiphysis Cerebri , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)