A Theosophical definition of Bodhisattva :

Bodhisattva

(Sanskrit) A compound word: literally "he whose essence (sattva) has become intelligence (bodhi)." As explained exoterically, a bodhisattva means one who in another incarnation or in a few more incarnations will become a buddha. A bodhisattva from the standpoint of the occult teachings is more than that.

When a man, a human being, has reached the state where his ego becomes conscious, fully so, of its inner divinity, becomes clothed with the buddhic ray  - where, so to say, the personal man has put on the garments of inner immortality in actuality, on this earth, here and now  - that man is a bodhisattva. His higher principles have nearly reached nirvana. When they do so finally, such a man is a buddha, a human buddha, a manushya-buddha. Obviously, if such a bodhisattva were to reincarnate, in the next incarnation or in a very few future incarnations thereafter, he would be a manushya-buddha.

A buddha, in the esoteric teaching, is one whose higher principles can learn nothing more. They have reached nirvana and remain there; but the spiritually awakened personal man, the bodhisattva, the person made semi-divine to use popular language, instead of choosing his reward in the nirvana of a less degree, remains on earth out of pity and compassion for inferior beings, and becomes what is called a nirmanakaya. In a very mystical part of the esoteric philosophy, a bodhisattva is the representative on earth of a dhyani-buddha or celestial buddha  - in other words, one who has become an incarnation or expression of his own divine monad.

See also: Bodhisattva , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

A Theosophical definition of Brahma :

Brahma

(Sanskrit) A word of which the root, brih, means "expansion." It stands for the spiritual energy-consciousness side of our solar universe, i.e., our solar system, and the Egg of Brahma is that solar system.

A Day of Brahma or a maha-manvantara is composed of seven rounds, a period of 4,320,000,000 terrestrial years; this period is also called a kalpa. A Night of Brahma, the planetary rest period, which is also called the parinirvanic period, is of equal length.

Seven Days of Brahma make one solar kalpa; or, in other words, seven planetary cycles, each cycle consisting of seven rounds (or seven planetary manvantaras), form one solar manvantara.

One Year of Brahma consists of 360 Divine Days, each day being the duration of a planet's life, i.e., of a planetary chain of seven globes. The Life of Brahma (or the life of the universal system) consists of one hundred Divine Years, i.e., 4,320,000,000 years times 36,000 x 2.

The Life of Brahma is half ended: that is, fifty of his years are gone  - a period of 155,520,000,000,000 of our years have passed away since our solar system, with its sun, first began its manvantaric course. There remain, therefore, fifty more such Years of Brahma before the system sinks into rest or pralaya. As only half of the evolutionary journey is accomplished, we are, therefore, at the bottom of the kosmic cycle, i.e., on the lowest plane.

See also: Brahma , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

A Theosophical definition of Brahman :

Brahman

(Sanskrit) A word of which the root, brih, means "expansion." It is that part of the celestial being which first initiates manifestation through the various Brahmas, the expansion of the one into the many. It is what is called the unmanifest Logos. It may also be called the impersonal and uncognizable principle of the universe, and must be sharply distinguished from the masculine Brahma of which there are many in a universe.

Note: In early theosophical literature, as well as in translations of the Hindu writings, Brahman is sometimes spelled Brahma or even Brahm; but this should not be confused with Brahma. (See also Parabrahman, Brahma)

See also: Brahman , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

A Theosophical definition of Brahmana :

Brahmana

(Sanskrit) A word having several meanings in Hindu sacred literature. Brahmana is both noun and adjective, as noun signifying a member of the first of the four Vedic classes, and as adjective signifying what belongs to a Brahmana or what is Brahmanical. Secondly, it signifies one of the portions of the Vedic literature, containing rules for the proper usage of the mantras or hymns at sacrifices, explanations in detail of what these sacrifices are, illustrated by legends and old stories.

Another adjective with closely similar meaning is Brahma. An old-fashioned English way of spelling Brahmana is Brahmin.

See also: Brahmana , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

A Theosophical definition of Buddha :

Buddha

(Sanskrit) The past participle of the root budh, meaning "to perceive," "to become cognizant of," also "to awaken," and "to recover consciousness." It signifies one who is spiritually awakened, no longer living "the living death" of ordinary men, but awakened to the spiritual influence from within or from "above." When man has awakened from the living death in which ordinary mortals live, when he has cast off the toils of both mind and flesh and, to use the old Christian term, has put on the garments of eternity, then he has awakened, he is a buddha. He has become one with  - not "absorbed" as is constantly translated but has become one with  - the Self of selves, with the paramatman, the Supreme Self. (See also Bodhi, Buddhi)

A buddha in the esoteric teaching is one whose higher principles can learn nothing more in this manvantara; they have reached nirvana and remain there. This does not mean, however, that the lower centers of consciousness of a buddha are in nirvana, for the contrary is true; and it is this fact that enables a Buddha of Compassion to remain in the lower realms of being as mankind's supreme guide and instructor, living usually as a nirmanakaya.

See also: Buddha , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

A Theosophical definition of Buddhi :

Buddhi

(Sanskrit) Buddhi comes from a Sanskrit root budh, commonly translated "to enlighten," but a better translation is "to perceive," "to cognize," "to recover consciousness," hence "to awaken," and therefore "to understand." The second counting downwards, or the sixth counting upwards, of the seven principles of man. Buddhi is the principle or organ in man which gives to him spiritual consciousness, and is the vehicle of the most high part of man  - the atman  - the faculty which manifests as understanding, judgment, discrimination, an inseparable veil or garment of the atman.

From another point of view, buddhi may truly be said to be both the seed and the fruit of manas.

Man's ordinary consciousness in life in his present stage of evolution is almost wholly in the lower or intermediate duad (manas-kama) of his constitution; when he raises his consciousness through personal effort to become permanently one with the higher duad (atma-buddhi), he becomes a mahatma, a master. At the death of the human being, this higher duad carries away with it all the spiritual essence, all the spiritual and intellectual aroma, of the lower or intermediate duad. Maha-buddhi is one of the names given to the kosmic principle mahat.

(See also Alaya)

See also: Buddhi , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Chandra-vansa (Sanskrit) The "Lunar Race", in contradistinction to Suryavansa, the "Solar Race". Some Orientalists think it an inconsistency that Krishna, a Chandravansa (of the Yadu branch) should have been declared an Avatar of Vishnu, who is a manifestation of the solar energy in Rig -Veda, a work of unsurpassed authority with the Brahmans.

This shows, however, the deep occult meaning of the Avatar ; a meaning which only esoteric philosophy can explain. A glossary is no fit place for such explanations; but it may be useful to remind those who know, and teach those who do not, that in Occultism, man is called a solar-lunar being, solar in his higher triad, and lunar in his quaternary. Moreover, it is the Sun who imparts his light to the Moon, in the same way as the human triad sheds its divine light on the mortal shell of sinful man.

Life celestial quickens life terrestrial. Krishna stands metaphysically for the Ego made one with Atma-Buddhi, and performs mystically the same function as the Christos of the Gnostics, both being "the inner god in the temple" - man. Lucifer is "the bright morning star", a well known symbol in Revelations, and, as a planet, corresponds to the EGO. Now Lucifer (or the planet Venus) is the Sukra-Usanas of the Hindus ; and Usanas is the Daitya-guru, i.e., the spiritual guide and instructor of the Danavas and the Daityas. The latter are the giant-demons in the Puranas, and in the esoteric interpretations, the antetypal symbol of the man of flesh, physical mankind. The Daityas can raise themselves, it is said, through knowledge "austerities and devotion" to "the rank of the gods and of the ABSOLUTE".

All this is very suggestive in the legend of Krishna ; and what is more suggestive still is that just as Krishna, the Avatar of a great God in India, is of time race of Yadu, so is another incarnation, "God incarnate himself" - or the "God-man Christ", also of the race Iadoo - the name for the Jews all over Asia. Moreover, as his mother, who is represented as Queen of Heaven standing on the crescent, is identified in Gnostic philosophy, and also in the esoteric system, with the Moon herself, like all the other lunar goddesses such as Isis, Diana, Astarte and others - mothers of the Logoi, so Christ is called repeatedly in the Roman Catholic Church, the Sun-Christ, the Christ-Soleil and so on. If the later is a metaphor so also is the earlier.

(See also: Chandra-vansa, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Mysticism: The direct personal contact with one's concept of God, the Divine, or the Ground of Being.

Natal Chart: Your natal (birth) chart, or horoscope, is drawn from calculations based upon the date, time, and place of your birth. Every element of the horoscope (which, if it’s like most Western horoscopes, will be drawn on a circular wheel) is expressed symbolically. Each symbol in the chart represents a celestial body, sign, house, or aspect.

(See also: Mysticism, Magic, Shamanism, Paganism, Wicca)

Mystic:

(1) One who practices mysticism.

(2) A person who uses mostly passive talents and rites for mostly theurgical purposes.

(See also: Mystic, Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Mysticism:

(1) The doctrine or belief that direct knowledge of the God(s), o spiritual truth, of ultimate reality, or of comparable matters is attainable through immediate intuition, insight or illumination and in a way differing from ordinary sense perception or conscious thought.

(2) The concepts and theories behind the theurgical approach to occultism.

(See also: Mysticism, Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

mysticism: Spirituality; the pursuit of direct spiritual or religious experience. Spiritual discipline aimed at union or communion with Ultimate Reality or God through deep meditation or trance-like contemplation. From the Greek mystikos, "of mysteries."

Characterized by the belief that Truth transcends intellectual processes and must be attained through transcendent means.

See: mysticism, occultism, clairaudient, clairvoyance, psychic, trance.psychic abilities, siddhi.

(See also: Mysticism, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

MYSTIC - n. or adj. 1. one who has experienced God directly.

2. believer in intuitive knowledge of God, especially through contemplation ad. mystical. (NAD

(See also: MYSTIC, Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

MYSTIC CROSS - Kabbalistic pentacle with four arms with three circular convexities on each end. (NAD)

(See also: MYSTIC CROSS, Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

MYSTICISM -

1. communication that God makes of his or her spiritual light of the depths of the human heart. (Dhu’n-Nun Misri)

2. absolute (Evelyn Underhill)

3. states characterized by ineffability, that of knowledge (William James)

4. feeling of union with all life.

5. awareness of a dazzling light that fills the mind and heart.

6. experience of being bathed in emotions of joy, awe, wonder.

7 intuitive flashes of awareness and understanding of the universe.

8. merging with the creation, creator, nature.

9. feeling of transcendental love and compassion for all living things.

10. renewed sense of energy and vitality and health.

11. sudden vanishing of suffering and fear of death.

12. enhanced appreciation of art and beauty and less attachment to material things.

13. appearance of ESP and enhanced intellect, gifts and powers.

14. renewed sense of purpose and mission in life.

15. Change in personality and inner radiance. (NAD)

(See also: MYSTICISM, Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

mystic

1. One who has experienced God directly. 2. Believer in intuitive knowledge of God, especially through contemplation

(See also: Mystic, Body Mind and Soul)

mysticism

Art and science of establishing conscious relation with the absolute.

(See also: Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

Mysticism

A word originally derived from the Greek and having a wide range of meaning in modern religion and philosophy. A mystic may be said to be someone who has intuitions or intimations of the existence of inner and superior worlds, and who attempts to achieve conscious communion with them and the beings inhabiting these inner and invisible worlds.

From the theosophical or occult point of view, a mystic is one who has inner convictions often based on inner vision and knowledge of the existence of spiritual and ethereal worlds of which our outer physical world is but a manifestation; and who has some inner knowledge that these worlds or planes or spheres, with their hosts of inhabitants, are intimately connected with the origin, destiny, and even present nature of the world which surrounds us.

The average mystic, however, is one who lacks the direct guidance derived from personal teaching received from a master or spiritual superior.

(See also: Mysticism, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Mystic Death An experience at a certain stage of initiation, where the candidate undergoes the experiences of virtual death, differing from actual death in that his body is prevented from dissolution so that he may resume it when the trial has been passed.

Through its symbolic representation in the exoteric Mystery dramas, it has passed into the substance of religious creeds where it has been adapted to those formulas, as in the story or mythos of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Egyptian Book of the Dead is, among other things, a description of some of the experiences undergone by such a candidate.

(See also: Mystic Death, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Mysticism The doctrine that the nature of reality can be known by direct apprehension, by faculties above the senses, by intuition.

"Mysticism demands a faculty above reason, by which the subject shall be placed in immediate and complete union with the object of his desire -- a union in which the consciousness of self has disappeared, and in which therefore subject and object are one" (Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th ed. "Mysticism"). It overlaps in meaning such terms as the Neoplatonic ecstasis, and the theosophy of Iamblichus.

(See also: Mysticism, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Mystic:

1. A person who has mystical experiences.
2. Used loosely to refer to psychics, mediums or romantics.

(See also: Mystic, Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

Mystical Experience:

ASCs involving experiences of ecstasy, unity, timelessness, loss of self, divine revelation, etc.

(See also: Mystical Experience, Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)