Pancha Kosha (Sanskrit). The five "sheaths". According to Vedantin philosophy, Vijnanamaya Kosha, the fourth sheath, is composed of Buddhi, or is Buddhi. The five sheaths are said to belong to the two higher principles - Jivatma and Sakshi, which represent the Upathita and An-upahita, divine spirit respectively. The division in the esoteric teaching differs from this, as it divides man’s physical-metaphysical aspect into seven principles.

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

Ragnarok (Scandianvian Norse). A kind of metaphysical entity called the "Destroyer" and the "Twilight of the Gods", the two-thirds of whom are destroyed at the "Last Battle" in the Edda. Ragnarok lies in chains on the ledge of a rock so long as there are some good men in the world; but when all laws are broken and all virtue and good vanish from it, then Ragnarok will he unbound and allowed to bring every imaginable evil and disaster on the doomed world.

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

Rings and Rounds. Terms employed by Theosophists in explanation of Eastern cosmogony. They are used to denote the various evolutionary cycles in the Elemental, Mineral, &c., Kingdoms, through which the Monad passes on any one globe, the term Round being used only to denote the cyclic passage of the Monad round the complete chain of seven globes. Generally speaking, Theosophists use the term ring as a synonym of cycles, whether cosmic, geological, metaphysical or any other.

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

Sankhya (Sanskrit). The system of philosophy founded by Kapila Rishi, a system of analytical metaphysics, and one of the six Darshanas or schools of philosophy. It discourses on numerical categories and the meaning of the twenty-five tatwas (the forces of nature in various degrees). This "atomistic school", as some call it, explains nature by the interaction of twenty-four elements with purusha (spirit) modified by the three gunas (qualities), teaching the eternity of pradhana (primordial, homogeneous matter), or the self-transformation of nature and the eternity of the human Egos.

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

Tattwa (Sanskrit). Eternally existing " That "; also, the different principles in Nature, in their occult meaning. Tattwa Samasa is a work of Sankhya philosophy attributed to Kapila himself.

Also the abstract principles of existence or categories, physical and metaphysical. The subtle elements - five exoterically, seven in esoteric philosophy -  - which are correlative to the five and the seven senses on the physical plane ; the last two senses are as yet latent in man, but will be developed in the two last root-races.

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

Karma: The law of action and reaction, the metaphysical equivalent of the principle: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7). It is karma operating through the law of cause and effect that binds the jiva or the individual soul to the wheel of birth and death.

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

IMMORTALITY

The fourth and shallowest of ego desires. The difference between the initiate and the ordinary person is that the initiate knows that he, along with everything in the universe, is already immortal. Ordinary people see the truth in such ideas but choose to live as if the illusion of commonplace, middle-class job and family are more "practical" or "real" than metaphysical truth.

(See also: IMMORTALITY, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Tripitaka (Sanskrit) [from tri three + pitaka basket]

The three baskets, pitaka being the name by which one of the collections of Buddhist sacred scriptures is known. This threefold collection consists of Sastra-pitaka often called the Sutra-pitaka, the rules or precepts; Vinaya-pitaka, the discipline and rules for the priesthood and ascetics; and Abhidharma-pitaka, the philosophical and metaphysical dissertations. "There is a fourth division -- the Samyakta Pitaka. But as it is a later addition by the Chinese Buddhists, it is not accepted by the Southern Church of Siam and Ceylon" (TG 341).

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

Svayambhu-sunyata (Sanskrit) [from svayambhu self-becoming + sunyata void]

The self-becoming void of infinitude; in Hindu and Buddhist metaphysics, sunyata means that which is empty or void to human eye or understanding because of feebleness of penetrating vision, but otherwise the absolute fullness of spirit. "Spontaneous self-evolution; self-existence of the real in the unreal, i.e., of the Eternal Sat in the periodical Asat" (TG 315).

(See also: Svayambhu-sunyata, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

AB

Egyptian "heart". The source of life amongst the Nilots. Considered the center of the conscious mind. It as essential that the Ab survive death through physical embalming, because even if the physical heart was "dead" the spirit still had to derive its post mortem existence from it. Metaphysically, the heart is the center of the innermost self, which is simultaneously the innermost center of the universe, not to mention Ra, the Sun, as being the objective counterpart.

(See also: AB, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

Neo-platonism. Lit.,"The new Platonism" or Platonic School. An eclectic pantheistic school of philosophy founded in Alexandria by Ammonius Saccas, of which his disciple Plotinus was the head (A.D. 189-270). It sought to reconcile Platonic teachings and the Aristotelean system with oriental Theosophy. Its chief occupation was pure spiritual philosophy, metaphysics and mysticism. Theurgy was introduced towards its later years. It was the ultimate effort of high intelligences to check the ever-increasing ignorant superstition and blind faith of the times; the last product of Greek philosophy, which was finally crushed and put to death by brute force.

(See also: Neo-platonism, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Philo Judeus. A Hellenized Jew of Alexandria, and a very famous historian and writer; born about 30 B.C, died about 45 A.D. He ought thus to have been well acquainted with the greatest event of the 1st century of our era, and the facts about Jesus, his life, and the drama of the Crucifixion.

And yet he is absolutely silent upon the subject, both in his careful enumeration of the then existing Sects and Brotherhoods in Palestine and in his accounts of the Jerusalem of his day. He was a great mystic and his works abound with metaphysics and noble ideas, while in esoteric knowledge he had no rival for several ages among the best writers.

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

Point within a Circle. In its esoteric meaning the first unmanifested logos appearing on the infinite and shoreless expanse of Space, represented by the Circle. It is the plane of Infinity and Absoluteness. This is only one of the numberless and hidden meanings of this symbol, which is the most important of all the geometrical figures used in metaphysical emblematology. As to the Masons, they have made of the point "an individual brother" whose duty to God and man is bounded by the circle, and have added John the Baptist and John the Evangelist to keep company with the "brother", representing them under two perpendicular parallel lines.

(See also: Point within a Circle, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Samskara (Sanskrit). Lit., from Sam and Kri, to improve, refine, impress. In Hindu philosophy the term is used to denote the impressions left upon the mind by individual actions or external circumstances, and capable of being developed on any future favourable occasion - even in a future birth.

The Samskara denotes, therefore, the germs of propensities and impulses from previous births to be developed in this, or the coming janmas or reincarnations. In Tibet, Samskara is called Doodyed, and in China is defined as, or at least connected with, action or Karma. It is, strictly speaking, a metaphysical term, which in exoteric philosophies is variously defined; e.g., in Nepaul as illusion, in Tibet as notion, and in Ceylon as discrimination. The true meaning is as given above, and as such is connected with Karma and its working.

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

Thretaona (Mazd.) The Persian Michael, who contended with Zohak or Azhi-Dahaka, the destroying serpent. In the Avesta Azhi-Dahaka is a three-headed monster, one of whose heads is human, and the two others Ophidian. Dahaka, who is shown in the Zoroastrian Scriptures as coming from Babylonia, stands as the allegorical symbol of the Assyrian dynasty of King Dahaka (Az-Dahaka) which ruled Asia with an iron hand, and whose banners bore the purple sign of the dragon, Purpureum signum draconis. Metaphysically, however, the human head denotes the physical man, and the two serpent heads the dual manasic principles - the dragon and serpent both standing as symbols of wisdom and occult powers.

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

Cycle. From the Greek Kuklos. The ancients divided time into end less cycles, wheels within wheels, all such periods being of various durations, and each marking the beginning or the end of some event either cosmic, mundane, physical or metaphysical.

There were cycles of only a few years, and cycles of immense duration, the great Orphic cycle, referring to the ethnological change of races, lasting 120,000 years, and the cycle of Cassandrus of 136,000, which brought about a complete change in planetary influences and their correlations between men and gods - a fact entirely lost sight of by modern astrologers.

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

Macroprosopus (Ancient Greek). ‘A Kabalistic term, made of a compound Greek word: meaning the Vast or Great Countenance (See "Kabalistic Faces"); a title of Kether, the Crown, the highest Sephira.

It is the name of the Universe, called Arikh-Anpin, the totality of that of which Microprosopus or Zauir-Anpin

"the lesser countenance", is the part and antithesis. In its high or abstract metaphysical sense, Microprosopus is Adam Kadmon, the vehicle of Ain-Suph, and the crown of the Sephirothal Tree, though since Sephira and Adam Kadmon are in fact one under two aspects, it comes to the same thing. Interpretations are many, and they differ.

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

Buddhism. Buddhism is now split into two distinct Churches: the Southern and the Northern Church.

The former is said to be the purer form, as having preserved more religiously the original teachings of the Lord Buddha. It is the religion of Ceylon, Siam, Burmah and other places, while Northern Buddhism is confined to Tibet, China and Nepaul. Such a distinction, however, is incorrect.

If the Southern Church is nearer, in that it has not departed, except perhaps in some trifling dogmas due to the many councils held after the death of the Master, from the public or exoteric teachings of Sakyamuni - the Northern Church is the outcome of Siddharta Buddha’s esoteric teachings which he confined to his elect Bhikshus and Arhats. In fact, Buddhism in the present age, cannot he justly judged either by one or the other of its exoteric popular forms. Real Buddhism can be appreciated only by blending the philosophy of the Southern Church and the metaphysics of the Northern Schools.

If one seems too iconoclastic and stero:, and the other too metaphysical and transcendental, even to being overgrown with the weeds of Indian exotericism - many of the gods of its Pantheon having been transplanted under new names to Tibetan soil - it is entirely due to the popular expression of Buddhism in both Churches.

Correspondentially they stand in their relation to each other as Protestantism to Roman Catholicism. Both err by an excess of zeal and erroneous interpretations, though neither the Southern nor the Northern Buddhist clergy have ever departed from truth consciously, still less have they acted under the dictates of priestocracy, ambition, or with an eye to personal gain and power, as the two Christian Churches have.

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

Guru (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root gur to be weighty, venerable, excellent)

Teacher, preceptor; applied not only to a chela's spiritual teacher, but to spiritual and metaphysical teachers of many kinds. The spiritual fire within each person, the higher self or atma-buddhi, is also called a guru, a divine instructor; and this higher self within each individual is, when all is said, the supreme guru for that person.

The Master outside of the disciple's own spiritual guide is a very necessary element in genuine occult instruction; but the outer guru, the Master who teaches and leads the disciple, has always in view the evocation and development of the guru within the disciple -- the bringing to birth of the chela's own inner divine and intellectual energies and powers.

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

Philosophy The Greek philosophia meant love of wisdom, but with equal power of significance, although perhaps not etymologically as correct, the meaning was wisdom of love; also, the systematic investigation and instruction of facts and theories regarded as important in the study of truth.

In common usage it denotes the mental and moral sciences, in some respects being nearly equivalent to metaphysics, and including a number of divisions.

Theosophists speak of a triad of philosophy, religion, and science as being merged by theosophy into a unity; but science was itself at one time called natural philosophy, so that the chief distinction is that between faith and reason.

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

Agni-Vishnu-Surya Agni-Visnu-Surya (Sanskrit) (from agni fire + vishnu from the verbal root vis or the verbal root vish to pervade + surya sun)

Fire-pervader-solar deity; this triad of gods is probably a permutation of the original Vedic triad Agni-Indra-Surya, having their influence and place respectively on earth, in the atmosphere, and in the sky. Agni-Vishnu-Surya has been called the "synthesis and head, or the focus whence emanated in physics as in metaphysics, from the Spiritual as from the physical Sun, the Seven Rays, the seven fiery tongues, the seven planets or gods" (SD 2:608).

(See also: Agni-Vishnu-Surya, Agni-Visnu-Surya, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Abhidhamma (Pali) (from abhi towards, with intensified meaning + dhamma law, religion, duty from the verbal root dhri to hold fast, preserve, sustain)

The supreme dhamma or law as expounded in the third and last portion of the Pali Tipitaka (Sanskrit Tripitaka) or "three baskets" of the canonical books of the Southern School of Buddhism. The Abhidamma-pitaka, which deals with profound metaphysical themes, is believed to be the source from which the Mahayana and Hinayana got their fundamental doctrines.

Abhidamma (Sanskrit abhidharma) is defined by Buddhaghosha as "that higher law (dharma) which goes beyond (abhi) the popular or common law."

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