Introduction and links to related topics Below are some short introductions. Click on the blue hyperlinked word to get more related articles.
Mantra - A secret utterance or secret vibrational name of a god that when unleashed can have a potent effect. The most popular Hindu examples are "Om mani padmi om"; "Tat tvam asti!" and "Om namah shivaya." Riland adds "Om! Bhur Buhva Swah. Tat savitur varnyam devasya dhimahi, dhiyo yo na prachodayat." Gurus sometimes supply their chelas with secret and "tailored" mantras. Mantras are extremely important meditational engines and provide powerful foundations for the psyche.
Here is an old pain mantram:
Swords miss, knots loose!
Asclepius, Apollo, Hermes, Zeus!
Dharani - Dharani(Sanskrit). In Buddhism - both Southern and Northern - and also in Hinduism, it means simply a mantra or mantras - sacred verses from the Rig Veda.
In days of old these mantras or Dharani were all considered mystical and practically efficacious in their use. At present, however, it is the Yogacharya school alone which proves the claim in practice.
When chanted according to given instructions a Dharani produces wonderful effects. Its occult power, however, does not reside in the words but in the inflexion or accent given and the resulting sound originated thereby. (See "Mantra" and "Akasa").
Guru Gita - A sacred text consisting of mantras that describe the nature of the Guru, and the Guru-disciple relationship.
Gayatri Mantra - (Sanskrit)
1) Famous Vedic mantra used in puja and personal chanting. Om (bhur bhuvah svah) tat savitur varenyam, bhargo devasya dhimahi, dhiyo yo nah prachodayat. "(O Divine Beings of all three worlds,) we meditate upon the glorious splendor of the Vivifier divine. May He illumine our minds." (Rig Veda 3.62.10 VE). This sacred verse is also called the Savitri Mantra, being addressed to Savitri, the Sun as Creator, and is considered a universal mystic formula so significant that it is called Vedamatri, "mother of the Vedas."
2) Any of a class of special tantric mantras called Gayatri. Each addresses a particular Deity. The Siva Gayatri Mantra is: Tryambakam yajamahe sugandhim pushtivardhanam, urvarukamiva bandhanan mrtyormukshiya mamrtat. "We adore the fragrant three-eyed one who promotes prosperity. May we be freed from the bondage of death as a cucumber from its stalk, but not from immortality." This is a famous verse of the Yajur Veda (from Rudranamaka, or Sri Rudram), considered an essential mantra of Siva worship used in all Siva rites.
Kirtan - Mantras that are sung to music. Chanting and singing devotional songs.
Yajna - (Sanskrit) "Worship; sacrifice."
One of the most central Hindu concepts - sacrifice and surrender through acts of worship, inner and outer.
1) A form of ritual worship especially prevalent in Vedic times, in which oblations - ghee, grains, spices and exotic woods - are offered into a fire according to scriptural injunctions while special mantras are chanted.
The element fire, Agni, is revered as the divine messenger who carries offerings and prayers to the Gods.
The ancient Veda Brahmanas and the Shrauta Shastras describe various types of yajna rites, some so elaborate as to require hundreds of priests, whose powerful chanting resounds for miles. These major yajnas are performed in large, open-air structures called yagashala.
Domestic yajnas, prescribed in the Grihya Shastras, are performed in the family compound or courtyard. Yajna requires four components, none of which may be omitted: dravya, sacrificial substances; tyaga, the spirit of sacrificing all to God; devata, the celestial beings who receive the sacrifice; and mantra, the empowering word or chant.
While puja (worship in temples with water, lights and flowers) has largely replaced the yajna, this ancient rite still continues, and its specialized priestly training is carried on in schools in India.
Yajnas of a grand scale are performed for special occasions, beseeching the Gods for rain during drought, or for peace during bloody civil war. Even in temples, yajna has its Agamic equivalent in the agnikaraka, the homa or havana ceremony, held in a fire pit (homakunda) in an outer mandapa of a temple as part of elaborate puja rites.
2) Personal acts of worship or sacrifice. Life itself is a jivayajna.
The Upanishads suggest that one can make "inner yajnas" by offering up bits of the little self into the fires of sadhana and tapas until the greater Self shines forth.
The five daily yajnas, pancha mahayajna, of the householder (outlined in the Dharma Shastras) ensure offerings to rishis, ancestors, Gods, creatures and men. They are as follows.
brahma yajna: (also called Veda yajna or rishi yajna) "Homage to the seers." Accomplished through studying and teaching the Vedas.
deva yajna: "Homage to Gods and elementals." Recognizing the debt due to those who guide nature, and the feeding of them by offering ghee and uncooked grains into the fire. This is the homa sacrifice.
pitri yajna: "Homage to ancestors." Offering of cakes (pinda) and water to the family line and the progenitors of mankind.
bhuta yajna: "Homage to beings." Placing food-offerings, bali, on the ground, intended for animals, birds, insects, wandering outcastes and beings of the invisible worlds. ("Let him gently place on the ground [food] for dogs, outcastes, svapachas, those diseased from sins, crows and insects" Manu Dharma Shastras 3.92).
manushya yajna: "Homage to men." Feeding guests and the poor, the homeless and the student. Manushya yajna includes all acts of philanthropy, such as tithing and charity. The Vedic study is performed in the morning.
The other four yajnas are performed just before taking one''s noon meal. Manu Dharma Shastras (3.80) states, "Let him worship, according to the rule, the rishis with Veda study, the devas with homa, the pitris with shraddha, men with food, and the bhutas with bali."
Mystics warn that all offerings must be tempered in the fires of kundalini through the power of inner yajna to be true and valuable, just as the fire of awareness is needed to indelibly imprint ideas and concepts on one''s own akashic window.
See: dharma, havana, homa, puja, sacrifice.
Mantra - Mantra is a combination of divine syllables or sounds which when recited invokes the latent power in that particular mantra, which involves pleasing some deities or attaining some results (used originally in Vedic sanatana dharma, Hinduism and Buddhism). The Mantras are created by spiritual Seers (Rishis and Yogis) in a divine trance. Each mantra has a rishi (spiritual seer).
In Sanskrit, mantra literally means ''instrument of thought'', from man (to think) verb : ‘Mananat trayate iti mantrah’ - by the Manana (constant recollection or recitation) of which one is liberated. Liberation involves your aim, i.e. what one wants to achieve by this mantra -sadhana.
Each Mantra consists of a Matraa (phase) which creates a distinct sound-frequency; a Devataa (deity or God); a Bija (seed) which gives it a special power, and the Kilakam (support or pillar). Some mantras consists of only seeds (single syllables without special literal meaning) an are called Bija-mantras. [The word is accepted in New English Oxford Dictionary].€€€
Yogacharya - Yogacharya (Sanskrit).
(1) A mystic school.
(2) Lit., a teacher (acharya) of Yoga, one who has mastered the doctrines and practices of ecstatic meditation - the culmination of which are the Mahasiddhis. It is incorrect to confuse this school with the Tantra, or Mahatantra school founded by Samantabhadra, for there are two Yogacharya Schools, one esoteric, the other popular.
The doctrines of the latter were compiled and glossed by Asamgha in the sixth century of our era, and his mystic tantras and mantras, his formularies, litanies, spells and mudra would certainly, if attempted without a Guru, serve rather purposes of sorcery and black magic than real Yoga. Those who undertake to write upon the subject are generally learned missionaries and haters of Eastern philosophy in general. From these no unbiassed views can be expected.
Thus when we read in the Sanskrit -Chinese Dictionary of Eitel, that the reciting of mantras (which he calls " spells"!) " should he accompanied by music and distortions of the fingers (mudra), that a state of mental fixity (Samadhi} might he reached ‘ - one acquainted, however slightly,. with the real practice of Yoga can only shrug his shoulders.
These distortions of the fingers or ,mudra are necessary, the author thinks, for the reaching of Samadhi, "characterized by there being neither thought nor annihilation of thought, and consisting of six-fold bodily (sic) and mental happiness (yogi) whence would result endowment with supernatural miracle-working power". Theosophists cannot be too much warned against such fantastic and prejudiced explanations.
Shruti - (Sanskrit) "That which is heard."
Hinduism''s revealed scriptures, of supreme theological authority and spiritual value. They are timeless teachings transmitted to rishis, or seers, directly by God thousands of years ago. Shruti is thus said to be apaurusheya, "impersonal," or rather "suprahuman."
Shruti consists essentially of the Vedas and the Agamas, preserved initially through oral tradition and eventually written down in Sanskrit. Among the many sacred books of the Hindus, these two bodies of knowledge are held in the highest esteem. For countless centuries shruti has been the basis of philosophical discussion, study and commentary, and this attention has given rise to countless schools of thought. It is also the subject of deep study and meditation, to realize the wisdom of the ancients within oneself.
Most mantras are drawn from shruti, used for rites of worship, both public and domestic, as well as personal prayer and japa. It is a remarkable tribute to Hindu culture that so much of shruti was preserved for thousands of years without alteration by means of oral instruction from guru to shishya, generation after generation. In the Veda tradition this was accomplished by requiring the student to learn each verse in eleven different ways, including backwards. Traditionally shruti is not read, but chanted according to extremely precise rules of grammar, pitch, intonation and rhythm. This brings forth its greatest power. In the sacred language of shruti, word and meaning are so closely aligned that hearing these holy scriptures properly chanted is magical in its effect upon the soul of the listener.
See: Agamas, smriti, Vedas.
Shaktism - (Sanskrit) "Doctrine of power."
The religion followed by those who worship the Supreme as the Divine Mother - Shakti or Devi - in Her many forms, both gentle and fierce. Shaktism is one of the four primary sects of Hinduism. Shaktism''s first historical signs are thousands of female statuettes dated ca 5500 bce recovered at the Mehrgarh village in India.
In philosophy and practice, Shaktism greatly resembles Saivism, both faiths promulgating, for example, the same ultimate goals of advaitic union with Siva and moksha. But Shaktas worship Shakti as the Supreme Being exclusively, as the dynamic aspect of Divinity, while Siva is considered solely transcendent and is not worshiped. There are many forms of Shaktism, with endless varieties of practices which seek to capture divine energy or power for spiritual transformation.
Geographically, Shaktism has two main forms, the Srikula "family of the Goddess Sri (or Lakshmi)," which respects the brahminical tradition (a mainstream Hindu tradition which respects caste and purity rules) and is strongest in South India; and the Kalikula, "family of Kali," which rejects brahminical tradition and prevails in Northern and Eastern India.
Four major expressions of Shaktism are evident today: folkshamanism, yoga, devotionalism and universalism. Among the eminent mantras of Shaktism is: Aum Hrim Chandikayai Namah, "I bow to Her who tears apart all dualities." There are many varieties of folk Shaktism gravitating around various forms of the Goddess, such as Kali, Durga and a number of forms of Amman. Such worship often involves animal sacrifice and fire-walking, though the former is tending to disappear.
See: Amman, Goddess, Ishta Devata, Kali, Shakti, tantrism.
Mantra Yoga - The yogic path utilizing mantras as the primary means of liberation.
Guhya-vidya - Guhya-vidya (Sanskrit) (from guhya secret from the verbal root guh to conceal, keep secret + vidya knowledge, wisdom.)
Secret knowledge, esoteric wisdom; in India, especially, the esoteric knowledge and science of the mantras and their true rhythm in chanting. Equivalent in grammatical meaning to gupta-vidya.
Yajna - 1) A sacrificial fire ritual in which Vedic mantras are recited while wood, fruit, grain, oil, yogurt, and ghee are poured into the fire as an offering to the Lord.
2) Any work or spiritual practice that is offered as worship to God.
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