Merit Dictionary

In a conversation with his consort Parvati, Shiva is believed to have said that through self-knowledge, one can attain salvation. People are born as human beings due to their past good samskaras, but to attain liberation they will have to attain self-knowledge.

In ancient times, Parvati symbolised the spirit of enquiry. She would pose questions to Shiva, and Shiva's answers provided deep insight into the nature of spirituality. Parvati's questions are collectively known as the Nigama shastra. Shiva's answers are philosophical; they are also of great practical value.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Peace of Mind: Spiritual Evolution Is The Key To Salvation

When Boddhidharma, was presented to the emperor of China, the ruler of the Middle Kingdom recounted the many great works of charity he had performed for his people, of the places of worship he had built and the religious ceremonies he had conducted.

“Tell me then”, he asked Boddhidharma, “having done all these good works, what is the merit I have earned for myself?” And the sage replied gruffly: “None whatsoever”. The Emperor was outraged. “Who is it who dares to speak to me in such an impudent manner?” he demanded. And Boddhidharma looked at the Emperor and said, “No one at all”.

This story is central to the teachings of Zen Buddhism that Boddhidharma took with him from India to China.

(See also: Zen Buddhism , God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Zen Buddhism: Mapless Journeys Beyond the Self  

Definition and meaning of Rating, Merit :

Rating, Merit: See Merit Rating.

(Source: InsWeb)

Also see these pages: Rating, Merit , Insurance, Insurance Sitemap, Insurance Dictionary - R

 Punya:

virtue, merit, good

(See also:  Punya , Body Mind and Soul)

Definition and meaning of Rating, Merit :

Rating, Merit: See Merit Rating.

(Source: InsWeb)

Also see these pages: Rating, Merit , Insurance, Insurance Sitemap, Insurance Dictionary - R

Body And Soul: The individual souls are eternal, manifold, eternally separate from one another, and distinct from the body, senses and mind; and yet capable of apprehension, volition, desire, aversion, pleasure, pain, merit and demerit. They are infinite, ubiquitous or omnipresent and diffused everywhere throughout space. A mans soul is as much in New York as in Bombay, although it can only apprehend and feel and act where the body is. The soul and the mind are not objects of perception.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Body And Soul: Vedic Philosophy - Body And Soul

Brahmana (Sanskrit) Also Brahman, Brahmin. As a noun, a member of the highest of the four orthodox Hindu castes during the Vedic and post-Vedic periods. The other three Hindu castes are Kshattriya, Vaisya, and Sudra.

Originally an individual became a Brahmana through personal merit and initiation, but gradually priestcraft by degrees entered in, so that the son of a Brahmana became a Brahmana by right or family protection first, then by that of descent. The rights of blood-descent in time replaced the nobler rights of genuine merit, and thus arose the rigid cast of the Brahmanas. Blavatsky says that a true Brahmana is one who has become a dvija (twice-born or initiate) and one "whose seven forefathers have drunk the juice of the moon-plant (Soma),' and who is a 'Trisuparna' ("three-leaved or -winged" or active in the highest three principles)

, for he has understood the secret of the Vedas" (SD 1:209-10). Dvija and trisuparna, although still used in India, are used merely by courtesy and ancient custom; in archaic ages the titles were properly borne, because merited, and were descriptive rather than complimentary.

A second meaning as a noun is one of the portions of Vedic literature containing rules for the proper chanting and usage of the mantras or hymns at sacrifices, and explanations in detail of what these sacrifices are, illustrated by legends and old stories. These Brahmanas are "pre-eminently occult works, hence used purposely as blinds. They were allowed to survive for public use and property only because they were and are absolutely unintelligible to the masses. Otherwise they would have disappeared from circulation as long ago as the days of Akbar" (SD 1:68).

Though the Brahmanas are the oldest scholastic treatises on the primitive hymns, they themselves require a key for a proper understanding of them which Orientalists have hitherto failed to secure. Since the time of Gautama Buddha, the keys to the Brahmanical secret code have been in the possession of initiates alone, who guard their treasure with extreme and jealous care. There are indeed few, if any, individuals of the present-day Brahmanical cast in India who are even conscious that such keys exists; although no small number of them, possibly, have intimations or intuitions that a secret wisdom has been lost which is uniformly understood to have been in the possession of the ancient Indian rishis.

Brahmana is also the adjectival form for the two uses given above.

See also CHATUR-VARNA

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

Virtue

See "Merit and Virtue."

 (See also: Virtue , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

punya:

punya - virtue, merit, good

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

Gautama (Sanskrit) The Prince of Kapilavastu, son of Sudhodana, the Sakya king of a small realm on the borders of Nepaul, born in the seventh century B.c., now called the "Saviour of the World".

Gautama or Gotama was the sacerdotal name of the Sakya family, and Sidhartha was Buddha’s name before he became a Buddha. Sakya Muni, means the Saint of the Sakya family. Born a simple mortal he rose to Buddhaship through his own personal and unaided merit. A man - verily greater than any god!

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

Shivaratri:

(lit., night of Shiva) The night of the new moon in late February that is especially sacred to Lord Shiva. Devotees repeat the mantra Om Namah Shivaya throughout the night; on this night each repetition is said to equal the merit of a thousand repetitions.

(See also: Shivaratri , Yoga, Yoga Dictionary, Siddha Yoga, Siddha Yoga 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

Rocking-chair

• Rocking-chairs seen in dreams, bring friendly intercourse and contentment with any environment.
• To see a mother, wife, or sweetheart in a rocking chair, is ominous of the sweetest joys that earth affords.
• To see vacant rocking-chairs, forebodes bereavement or estrangement. The dreamer will surely merit misfortune in some form.

Source: 10 000 Dream Interpretations, by Gustavus Hindman Miller

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Rocking-chair , Meaning of Dreams about Rocking-chair , Dream Interpretation Rocking-chair )

Heart

• To dream of your heart paining and suffocating you, there will be trouble in your business. Some mistake of your own will bring loss if not corrected.
• Seeing your heart, foretells sickness and failure of energy.
• To see the heart of an animal, you will overcome enemies and merit the respect of all.
• To eat the heart of a chicken, denotes strange desires will cause you to carry out very difficult projects for your advancement.

Source: 10 000 Dream Interpretations, by Gustavus Hindman Miller

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - Heart , Meaning of Dreams about Heart , Dream Interpretation Heart )

Buddha Siddharta (Sanskrit) The name given to Gautama, the Prince of Kapilavastu, at his birth. It is an abbreviation of sarvartthasiddha and means, the "realization of all desires".

Gautama, which means, on earth (gau) the most victorious (tama) "was the sacerdotal name of the Sakya family, the kingly patronymic of the dynasty to which the father of Gautama, the King Suddhodhana of Kapilavastu, belonged. Kapilavastu was an ancient city, the birth-place of the Great Reformer and was destroyed during his life time. In the title Sakyamuni, the last component, muni, is rendered as meaning one mighty in charity, isolation and silence", and the former Sakya is the family name.

Every Orientalist or Pundit knows by heart the story of Gautama, the Buddha, the most perfect of mortal men that the world has ever seen, but none of them seem to suspect the esoteric meaning underlying his prenatal biography, i.e., the significance of the popular story. The Lalitavistura tells the tale, but abstains from hinting at the truth. The 5,000 jatakas, or the events of former births (re-incarnations) are taken literally instead of esoterically.

Gautama, the Buddha, would not have been a mortal man, had he not passed through hundreds and thousands of births previous to his last. Yet the detailed account of these, and the statement that during them he worked his way up through every stage of transmigration from the lowest animate and inanimate atom and insect, up to the highest - or man, contains simply the well-known occult aphorism: "a stone becomes a plant, a plant an animal, and an animal a man". Every human being who has ever existed, has passed through the same evolution. But the hidden symbolism in the sequence of these re-births (jataka) contains a perfect history of the evolution on this earth, pre and post human, and is a scientific exposition of natural facts. One truth not veiled but bare and open is found in their nomenclature, viz., that as soon as Gautama had reached the human form he began exhibiting in every personality the utmost unselfishness, self-sacrifice and charity.

Buddha Gautama, the fourth of the Sapta (Seven) Buddhas and Sapta Tathagatas was born according to Chinese Chronology in 1024 B.C; but according to the Singhalese chronicles, on the 8th day of the second (or fourth) moon in the year 621 before our era. He fled from his father’s palace to become an ascetic on the night of the 8th day of the second moon, 597 BC., and having passed six years in ascetic meditation at Gaya, and perceiving that physical self-torture was useless to bring enlightenment, be decided upon striking out a new path, until he reached the state of Bodhi. He became a full Buddha on the night of the 8th day of the twelfth moon, in the year 592, and finally entered Nirvana in the year 543 according to Southern Buddhism. The Orientalists, however, have decided upon several other dates. All the rest is allegorical. He attained the state of Bodhisattva on earth when in the personality called Prabhapala. Tushita stands for a place on this globe, not for a paradise in the invisible regions. The selection of the Sakya family and his mother Maya, as "the purest on earth," is in accordance with the model of the nativity of every Saviour, God or deified Reformer.

The tale about his entering his mother’s bosom in the shape of a white elephant is an allusion to his innate wisdom, the elephant of that colour being a symbol of every Bodhisattva. The statements that at Gautama’s birth, the newly born babe walked seven steps in four directions, that an Udumbara flower bloomed in all its rare beauty and that the Naga kings forthwith proceeded ‘‘to baptise him ", are all so many allegories in the phraseology of the Initiates and well-understood by every Eastern Occultist. The whole events of his noble life are given in occult numbers, and every so-called miraculous event - so deplored by Orientalists as confusing the narrative and making it impossible to extricate truth from fiction - is simply the allegorical veiling of the truth, it is as comprehensible to an Occultist learned in symbolism, as it is difficult to understand for a European scholar ignorant of Occultism.

Every detail of the narrative after his death and before cremation is a chapter of facts written in a language which must be studied before it is understood, otherwise its dead letter will lead one into absurd contradictions. For instance, having reminded his disciples of the immortality of Dharmakaya Buddha is said to have passed into Samadhi, and lost himself in Nirvana - from which none can return., and yet, notwithstanding this, the Buddha is shown bursting open the lid of the coffin, and stepping out of it ; saluting with folded hands his mother Maya who had suddenly appeared in the air, though she had died seven (days after his birth, &c., &c.

As Buddha. was a Chakravartti (he who turns the wheel of the Law), his body at its cremation could not be consumed by common fire. What happens Suddenly a jet of flame burst out of the Swastica on his breast, and reduced his body to ashes. Space prevents giving more instances. As to his being one of the true and undeniable Saviours of the World, suffice it to say that the most rabid orthodox missionary, unless he is hopelessly insane, or has not the least regard even for historical truth, cannot find one smallest accusation against the life and personal character of Gautama, the "Buddha".

Without any claim to divinity, allowing his followers to fall into atheism, rather than into the degrading superstition of deva or idol-worship, his walk in life is from the beginning to the end, holy and divine. During the years of his mission it is blameless and pure as that of a god - or as the latter should be. He is a perfect example of a divine, godly man. He reached Buddhaship - i.e., complete enlightenment - entirely by his own merit and owing to his own individual exertions, no god being supposed to have any personal merit in the exercise of goodness and holiness. Esoteric teachings claim that he renounced Nirvana and gave up the Dharmakaya vesture to remain a "Buddha of compassion" within the reach of the miseries of this world.

And the religious philosophy he left to it has produced for over 2,000 years generations of good and unselfish men. His is the only absolutely bloodless religion among all the existing religions tolerant and liberal, teaching universal compassion and charity, love and self-sacrifice, poverty and contentment with one’s lot, whatever it may he.

No persecutions, and enforcement of faith by fire and sword, have ever disgraced it. No thunder-and-lightning-vomiting god has interfered with its chaste commandments; and if the simple, humane and philosophical code of daily life left to us by the greatest Man-Reformer ever known, should ever come to he adopted by mankind at large, then indeed an era of bliss and peace would dawn on Humanity.

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

The Vaiseshika system takes its name from Visesha or particularity which is the characteristic differentia of things. The aphorisms of Kanada contain the essence of the Vaiseshika philosophy. The principal subject treated therein is Visesha, one of the six Padarthas or categories enumerated by the founder.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Vaiseshika: Hindu Philosophy - The Vaiseshika

punya: good karma, or merit, accumulated from good actions.

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

Purnahuti:

(lit., full or complete offering) The culmination of any celebration, especially a saptah or a yajna. The final chant of a purnahuti is an arati, an invocation to the Guru entreating him to kindle the flame of divine love in the disciple's heart. Tradition states that to attend a purnahuti is to gain the merit of the entire celebration.

(See also: Purnahuti , Yoga, Yoga Dictionary, Siddha Yoga, Siddha Yoga 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

Experience Newsletter nr 7 (031021)
Non-graphic version.

Read more here: » Experience Newsletter nr 7 (031021)

Adrishta (Sanskrit) (from a not + the verbal root dris to see, learn, perceive with the mind or intuition)

Unseen, unforeseen, invisible; an unforeseen danger. In philosophy, that which is beyond the reach or observation of the percipient consciousness. W. Q. Judge defines it as "the merit or demerit attaching to a man's conduct in a former incarnation, and the corresponding (apparently arbitrary) punishment or reward in the present or a future incarnation" (WG 2). This is clearly seen in the compound term adrishta-phala (unseen fruit), karma not yet come into force. Hence the connotation of fate, luck (sometimes bad luck) that is attached to adrishta. (BCW 5:580 connects with Kanada as "unseen force"; 4:61 with Nyayas as invisible principle)

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

There is an ancient lore associated with the festival of Raksha Bandhan that is celebrated during the bright fortnight in the Hindu month of Shravan. The Bhavishya Purana refers to a battle between the deities and demons.

The king of the deities, Indra, was feeling depressed. Indra's wife Sachi then took a thread, charged it with sacred verses for protection and tied it on Indra's hand. Through the strength of this thread Indra conquered his enemies.

(See also: Raksha Bandhan , Indian Festivals, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Raksha Bandhan: Of Human Bonding And Celebration - about Raksha Bandhan  

Atash-Bahram, Atash Behram (Persian) Verethraghna (Avestan), Varhran, Varhram (Pahlavi) The sacred fire of the Parsis, kept perpetually burning on the altars; the third fire in the septenary system represents the first created fire, the fire of consciousness. Philosophically it alludes to the idea of becoming.

It corresponds to the Hindu akasa (SD 1:338). Bahram (victorious) is one of the seven planets which rules over the first month of the Iranian year, Farvardin (Aries). In Vedic literature he is known as the slayer of the demon Vritra. In Islamic mystical writings Bahram is referred to as the fifth sphere or intellect. "As the earthly representative of the heavenly fire, it is the sacred center to which every earthly fire longs to return, in order to be united again, as much as possible, with its native abode.

The more it has been defiled by worldly uses, the greater is the merit acquired by freeing it from defilement" (Vendidad 113). The Vestals in ancient Rome also kept a fire burning perpetually on their altars, as did the Greeks in the temple on the Acropolis, thus keeping the remembrance of the "living fire" by means of a visible manifestation.

The fundamental idea in these various manners of adoring fire was that, because of the warming and life-giving functions of this universal element, it symbolized the vital and all-penetrating activity of cosmic life. Furthermore, because the sun was the focus or heart through which pours the life of any solar system, therefore the ideas connected with ancient fire worship are likewise intimately connected with the teachings concerning the solar orb and its indwelling divinity.

See also FIRE WORSHIP

(See also: Atash-Bahram, Atash Behram , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)