Manu Dictionary

A dictionary Of Commonly Used Sanskrit terms. From Lac to Omkarasana.

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.

Fourteen A septenate in which each member is dual. In the Hindu Laws of Manu, fourteen manus are enumerated; and in theosophy a root-manu and a seed-manu are given for each round. In a Hindu allegory, there arise from the churning of the ocean fourteen "precious things," which in a corresponding Japanese system are enumerated as seven.

See also KURMA-AVATARA

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

Adityas (Sanskrit) (belonging to, issuing from aditi unbounded expanse)

Son of Aditi, space; in the Vedas a name for the sun; also referred to variously as five, seven, eight, and twelve in number. The eighth aditya (Marttanda) was rejected by Aditi, leaving seven son-suns, each manifesting a particular solar energy (cf RV 10, 72, 8-9). " 'The Seven allow the mortals to see their dwellings, but show themselves only to the Arhats,' says an old proverb, 'their dwellings' standing here for planets" (SD 1:100).

The Brahmanas and Puranas generally reckon twelve adityas. In a preceding manvantara they were called tushitas, but when the end of the cycle was near they entered the "womb of Aditi, that we may be born in the next Manwantara; for, thereby, we shall again enjoy the rank of gods." Hence in the present seventh manvantara, they are known as adityas (VP 1:15). When the pralaya (dissolution) of the world comes, twelve suns will appear (MB 3:3, 26; Dict Hind 3). The twelve adityas are the twelve great gods of the Hindu pantheon; also, the twelve signs of the zodiac or twelve months of the year.

The adityas are the sustainers of the solar divine life which exists in all things, and in our present Vaivasvata manvantara they are the divine solar pitris (fathers) -- not the lower or lunar pitris -- which incarnated in early humanity. "The wise call our fathers Vasus; our paternal grandfathers Rudras, our paternal great grandfathers, Adityas . . . " (Manu 3:284).

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

dharma-shastras

The scriptures, supplementary to the Vedas, that teach the proper behavior for civilized human society. Some dharma-shastras are in the form of concise codes (sutras), and others in the form of common verse. Best known of this second group is the Manu-smriti (Manu-samhita).

(See also: dharma-shastras , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Raivata Manvantara (Sanskrit). The life-cycle presided over by Raivata Manu. As he is the fifth of the fourteen Manus (in Esotercism, Dhyan Chohans), there being seven root-Manus and seven seed-Manus for the seven Rounds of our terrestrial chain of globes (See Esot. Buddhism by A. P. Sinnett, and the

Secret Doctrine, Vol.1., "Brahminical Chronology"), Raivata presided over the third Round and was its root-Manu.

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

Saryati (Sanskrit) Manu's fourth son. {BCW 14:247}

(See also: Saryati , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Brahmapriya:

Brahmapriya: Beloved of Brahma, said of Satharupa, the wife of Manu. (BV-30)

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

Avyakta (Sanskrit) (from a not + vyakta manifested from vy-anj to anoint, adorn, cause to appear, manifest)

Unmanifested; applied to Vishnu and Siva, and in the Bhagavad-Gita to Krishna. Hence Avyakta is the unmanifest or the undifferentiated, as opposed to vyakta, the manifest or differentiated. In the Sankhya philosophy, it is mulaprikriti (root- or primordial nature), the veil of parabrahman, or parabrahman manifested in mulaprakriti.

Mulaprakriti is the unmanifested side of differentiated nature, and hence avyakta; but the term is equally applicable to the consciousness side of the universe, during those immensely long time periods when cosmic consciousness is sunken in its own essence and not manifesting. Similarly, the higher or divine-spiritual parts of cosmic consciousness may be said to be avyakta even during periods of cosmic manifestation. To the Sankhyas, avyakta is the one cosmic principle which is the root of all essential selfhood and which during cosmic manvantara is in its lower parts differentiated in and through the innumerable hierarchical organisms. It therefore subsists in every kind of upadhi and is the real spiritual entity which a person has to reach in his progress towards spirit.

In the Vedantic system of Krishna, however, avyakta is also parabrahman, that which will not perish even at the time of cosmic pralaya, because parabrahman is the one essence, not only of the whole cosmos, but even of mulaprakriti itself, the foundation of the manifested cosmos. "In case you follow the Sankhyan doctrine, you have to rise from Upadhi to Upadhi in gradual succession, and when you try to rise from the last Upadhi to their Avyaktam, there is unfortunately no connection that is likely to enable your consciousness to bridge the interval. If the Sankhyan system of philosophy is the true one, your aim will be to trace Upadhi to its source, but not consciousness to its source.

The consciousness manifested in every Upadhi is traceable to the Logos and not to the Avyaktam of the Sankhyas. It is very much easier for a man to follow his own consciousness farther and farther into the depths of his inmost nature, and ultimately reach its source -- the Logos -- than to try to follow Upadhi to its source in this Mulaprakriti, this Avyaktam. Moreover, supposing you do succeed in reaching this Avyaktam, you can never fix your thoughts in it or preserve your individuality in it; for, it is incapable of retaining any of these permanently" (Notes on BG 98). Nevertheless the Sankhya philosophy is as true as is the Vedanta, and reaches the same ultimates of philosophic thought and understanding, although along differing systemic lines.

In the Law of Manu avyakta is used as an equivalent to paramatman (universal spirit).

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

Manvantharas:

Manvantharas: The Eras of Manu. (BV-32), the Chronology of Manu, the story of the Manus and their lineage; one of the ten characteristics of the Purana's. (BV-34)

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

Yajnavalkya Smriti: (Sanskrit) A Hindu code of law, one of the Dharma Shastras, regarded second in authority only to the earlier Manu Dharma Shastras.

See: Dharma Shastra, smriti.

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

Bhavishya-Purana Bhavisya-Purana (Sanskrit) (from bhavishya about to come to pass, future)

One of the 18 principal Puranas, extant copies containing 7,000 slokas. While the original of this work is said to have been a revelation of future events by Brahma, it in main part is a treatise on various religious rites and observances, although containing other matter closely recalling portions of the Laws of Manu. Its chief deity is Siva.

(See also: Bhavishya-Purana, Bhavisya-Purana , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Brahma Savarna (Sanskrit) One of the 14 manus of our planetary chain, said by Blavatsky to be the seed manu of the fifth round. {SD 2:309}.

(See also: Brahma Savarna , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Doctrine of Emanation In its metaphysical meaning, it is opposed to Evolution, yet one with it.

Science teaches that evolution is physiologically a mode of generation in which the germ that develops the foetus pre-exists already in the parent, the development and final form and characteristics of that germ being accomplished in nature; and that in cosmology the process takes place blindly through the correlation of the elements, and their various compounds.

Occultism answers that this is only the apparent mode, the real process being Emanation, guided by intelligent Forces under an immutable LAW. Therefore, while the Occultists and Theosophists believe thoroughly in the doctrine of Evolution as given out by Kapila and Manu, they are Emanationists rather than Evolutionists.

The doctrine of Emanation was at one time universal. It was taught by the Alexandrian as well as by the Indian philosophers, by the Egyptian, the Chaldean and Hellenic Hierophants, and also by the Hebrews (in their Kabbala, and even in Genesis). For it is only owing to deliberate mistranslation that the Hebrew word asdt has been translated "angels" from the Septuagint, when it means Emanations, Eons, precisely as with the Gnostics. Indeed, in Deuteronomy (xxxiii., 2) the word asdt or ashdt is translated as" fiery law", whilst the correct rendering of the passage should be "from his right hand went [ not a fiery law, but a fire according to law "; viz., that the fire of one flame is imparted to, and caught up by another like as in a trail of inflammable substance.

This is precisely emanation. As shown in Isis Unveiled: "In Evolution, as it is now beginning to he understood, there is supposed to be in all matter an impulse to take on a higher form - a supposition clearly expressed by Manu and other Hindu philosophers of the highest antiquity. The philosopher’s tree illustrates it in the case of the zinc solution. The controversy between the followers of this school and the Emanationists may he briefly stated thus The Evolutionist stops all inquiry at the borders of ‘ the Unknowable "; the Emanationist believes that nothing can be evolved - or, as the word means, unwombed or born - except it has first been involved, thus indicating that life is from a spiritual potency above the whole."

(See also: Doctrine of Emanation , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

manvantara

The period of a Manu’s reign, lasting 306,720,000 years.

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

Virasvamin (Sanskrit) [from vira eminent, excellent + svamin master, pandit]

The father of Medhatithi, the author of the Manubhashya, the commentary on the Laws of Manu.

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

Vasishtha Vasistha (Sanskrit) The most wealthy; a celebrated Vedic rishi, representing the typical Brahmin sage. Many legends have clustered about him, especially in regard to his conflict with the sage Visvamitra -- the king who raised himself from the Kshatriya to the Brahmanical class.

Many hymns of the Rig-Veda are attributed to these two sages: one hymn represents Vasishtha as the family priest of King Sudas, and in the Rig-Veda (7:33:11) he is called the son of the apsaras Urvasi by Mitra and Varuna, hence his name Maitravaruni. He is also supposed to have owned Nandini, the cow of plenty (offspring of Surabhi). As this cow was able to grant the sage all his wishes, he became the master of every vasu (desirable object).

In Manu (1:35) Vasishtha is enumerated as one of the ten prajapatis, the patriarchs produced by Manu-Svayambhuva for the peopling of the earth. In the Mahabharata he is regarded as the family priest of the Suryavansa (solar race), and also as one of the seven great rishis associated with the seven stars of the Great Bear. In the Puranas, Vasishtha is represented as one of the arrangers of the Vedas in a dvapara yuga of a certain chatur yuga, and as the father of seven celebrated sons.

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

Viraj (Sanskrit). The Hindu Logos in the Puranas; the male Manu, created in the female portion of Brahma’s body (Vach) by that god. Says Manu: " Having divided his body into two parts, the lord (Brahma) became with the one half a male and with the other half a female; and in her he created Viraj". The Rig -Veda makes Viraj spring from Purusha, and Purusha spring from Viraj. The latter is the type of all male beings, and Vach, Sata-rupa (she of the hundred forms), the type of all female forms.

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

Humanity. Occultly and Kabbalistically, the whole of mankind is symbolised, by Manu in India; by Vajrasattva or Dorjesempa, the head of the Seven Dhyani, in Northern Buddhism; and by Adam Kadmon in the Kabbala.

All these represent the totality of mankind whose beginning is in this androgynic protoplast, and whose end is in the Absolute, beyond all these symbols and myths of human origin.

Humanity is a great Brotherhood by virtue of the sameness of the material from which it is formed physically and morally. Unless, however, it becomes a Brotherhood also intellectually, it is no better than a superior genus of animals.

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

Medhatithi (Sanskrit) [from medha wisdom, intelligence + atithi guest]

The guest of wisdom or intelligence; a luminary in law and commentator on the Laws of Manu.

(See also: Medhatithi , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Mano (Gnostic) In the Codex Nazaraeus, chief scripture of the Nazarene Gnostics, the chief of the aeons, the King of Splendor, from whom shoot forth five refulgent rays of divine light. The Codex describes Mano as the supreme King of Light, the great first one: he who first emanates from Ferho, the unknown formless life, generally equivalent to the Second Logos in theosophy.

"He is the Second 'Life' of the second or manifested trinity 'the heavenly life and light, and older than the architect of heaven and earth' (Cod. Naz., Vol. I, p. 145). These trinities are as follows.

• The Supreme Lord of splendour and of light, luminous and refulgent, before which no other existed, is called Corona (the crown); Lord Ferho, the unrevealed life which existed in the former from eternity; and Lord Jordan -- the spirit, the living water of grace (Ibid. II., pp. 45-51). He is the one through whom alone we can be saved. These three constitute the trinity in abscondito.

• The second trinity is composed of the three lives. The first is the similitude of Lord Ferho, through whom he has proceeded forth; and the second Ferho is the King of Light -- Mano. The second life is Ish Amon (Pleroma), the vase of election, containing the visible thought of the Jordanus Maximus -- the type (or its intelligible reflection), the prototype of the living water, who is the 'spiritual Jordan.' (Ibid. II., p. 211)

• The third life, which is produced by the other two, is Abatur (Ab, the Parent or Father). This is the mysterious and decrepit 'Aged of the Aged,' the Ancient 'Senem sui obtegentem et grandaevum mundi.' This latter third Life is the Father of the Demiurge Fetahil, the Creator of the world, whom the Ophites call Ilda-Baoth . . . though Fetahil is the only-begotten one, the reflection of the Father, Abatur, who begets him by looking into the 'dark water.' Sophia Achamoth also begets her Son Ilda-Baoth the Demiurge, by looking into the chaos of matter. But the Lord Mano, 'the Lord of loftiness, the Lord of all genii,' is higher than the Father, in this kabalistic Codex -- one is purely spiritual, the other material. So, for instance, while Abatur's 'only-begotten' one is the genius Fetahil, the Creator of the physical world, Lord Mano, the 'Lord of Celsitude,' who is the son of Him, who is 'the Father of all who preach the Gospel,' produces also an 'only-begotten' one, the Lord Lehdaio, 'a just Lord.' He is the Christos, the anointed, who pours out the 'grace' of the Invisible Jordan, the Spirit of the Highest Crown . . ." (TG 204-5).

The trinity of Mano, Spiritus, and Lehdaio is equivalent to the Father, Mother, and Son of the Christian system. From one standpoint Mano is comparable also to the Hindu Manu (cf IU 2:229).

(See also: Mano , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Adityas

Aditi’s twelve sons: Surya, Aryama, Pusha, Tvashta, Savita, Bhaga, Dhata, Vidhata, Varuna, Mitra, Indra, and Lord Vamana. They rule the universe as the principal demigods during the period of the current Manu, Vaivasvata.

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

Raivata (Sanskrit) The fifth manu.

(See also: Raivata , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)