Purity Dictionary

Sattva - Purity.

(See also: Sattva ,Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

A Theosophical definition of Heaven and Hell :

Heaven and Hell

Every ancient exoteric religion taught that the so-called heavens are divided into steps or grades of ascending bliss and purity; and the so-called hells into steps or grades of increasing purgation or suffering. Now the esoteric doctrine or occultism teaches that the one is not a punishment, nor is the other strictly speaking a reward.

The teaching is, simply, that each entity after physical death is drawn to the appropriate sphere to which the karmic destiny of the entity and the entity's own character and impulses magnetically attract it. As a man works, as a man sows, in his life, that and that only shall he reap after death. Good seed produces good fruit; bad seed, tares  - and perhaps even nothing of value or of spiritual use follows a negative and colorless life.

After the second death, the human monad "goes" to devachan  - often called in theosophical literature the heaven-world. There are many degrees in devachan: the highest, the intermediate, and the lowest.

What becomes of the entity, on the other hand, the lower human soul, that is so befouled and weighted with earth thought and the lower instincts that it cannot rise? There may be enough in it of the spirit nature to hold it together as an entity and enable it to become a reincarnating being, but it is foul, it is heavy; its tendency is consequently downwards. Can it therefore rise into a heavenly felicity? Can it go even into the lower realms of devachan and there enjoy its modicum of the beatitude, bliss, of everything that is noble and beautiful? No. There is an appropriate sphere for every degree of development of the ego-soul, and it gravitates to that sphere and remains there until it is thoroughly purged, until the sin has been washed out, so to say.

These are the so-called hells, beneath even the lowest ranges of devachan; whereas the arupa heavens are the highest parts of the devachan. Nirvana is a very different thing from the heavens. (See also Kama-Loka, Avichi, Devachan, Nirvana)

See also: Heaven and Hell , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Chastity

Sexual abstinence in order to obtain religious purity. In ascetic traditions, chastity may be a lifelong condition. Temporary sexual abstinence is common among warriors, hunters, and individuals undertaking vows.

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

grace: "Benevolence, love, giving," from the Latin gratia, "favor, goodwill."

God's power of revealment, anugraha shakti ("kindness, showing favor"), by which souls are awakened to their true, Divine nature.

Grace in the unripe stages of the spiritual journey is experienced by the devotee as receiving gifts or boons, often unbidden, from God. The mature soul finds himself surrounded by grace. He sees all of God's actions as grace, whether they be seemingly pleasant and helpful or not. For him, his very love of God, the power to meditate or worship, and the spiritual urge which drives his life are entirely and obviously God's grace, a divine endowment, an intercession, unrelated to any deed or action he did or could perform.

In Saiva Siddhanta, it is grace that awakens the love of God within the devotee, softens the intellect and inaugurates the quest for Self Realization. It descends when the soul has reached a certain level of maturity, and often comes in the form of a spiritual initiation, called shaktipata, from a satguru.

Grace is not only the force of illumination or revealment. It also includes Siva's other four powers - creation, preservation, destruction and concealment - through which He provides the world of experience and limits the soul's consciousness so that it may evolve.

More broadly, grace is God's ever-flowing love and compassion, karuna, also known as kripa ("tenderness, compassion") and prasada (literally, "clearness, purity").

To whom is God's grace given? Can it be earned? Two famous analogies, that of the monkey (markata) and that of the cat (marjara) express two classical viewpoints on salvation and grace.

• The markata school, perhaps represented more fully by the Vedas, asserts that the soul must cling to God like a monkey clings to its mother and thus participate in its "salvation."
• The marjara school, which better reflects the position of the Agamas, says that the soul must be like a young kitten, totally dependent on its mother's will, picked up in her mouth by the scruff of the neck and carried here and there. This crucial state of loving surrender is called prapatti.

See: anugraha shakti, prapatti, shaktipata, tirodhana shakti.

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

Color

1. Red: Good news. Passion. Anger. A warning to control your temper.

Astrological parallel: Aries.

2. Blue: Enlightenment. Insight. Relief from worry. Assistance from outside sources.

Astrological parallel: Libra.

3. Green: Peace. Tranquillity. The Earth. Money. A journey. Good news.

Astrological parallel: Taurus.

4. Yellow: Intellect. A problem or puzzle to be solved. Possible setbacks. Gemini. Also: Gold: Leo.

5. Pink: Love. Compassion. The attainment of a dream.

6. Purple: Spirituality; status in one's own circle. Increased social life, or the desire for same.

7. Orange: Message from a great Master. Metaphysical or spiritual knowledge.

8. Brown: Illness. Materialism.

9. Black: Unhappiness. A rough road ahead. Something that the dreamer needs to know. In extreme cases, a death—BUT THE DREAMER'S DEATH IS NEVER SHOWN.

Astrological parallel: Scorpio.

10. White: Purity. Success well earned.

11. Gray: Gray is a rather depressing color; some mystics believe it to be the color of the aura of a prison. Some sources believe it to indicate a slow period in the dreamer’s life, when he or she is merely “marking time.”

12. A swirl of color: Great joy, happiness, success. Dreams attained. Luck in love.

Astrological parallel: The Sun.

Source: Astrocenter, http://astrocenter.astrology.msn.com/msn/DreamDictionary.aspx

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

yama-niyama: (Sanskrit) "Restraints-observances."

The first two of the eight limbs of raja yoga, constituting Hinduism's fundamental ethical codes, the yamas and niyamas are the essential foundation for all spiritual progress. They are codified in numerous scriptures including the Shandilya and Varuha Upanishads, Hatha Yoga Pradipika by Gorakshanatha, the Tirumantiram of Tirumular and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. All the above texts list ten yamas and ten niyamas, with the exception of Patanjali's classic work, which lists only five of each.

The yamas are the ethical restraints; the niyamas are the religious practices. Because it is brief, the entire code can be easily memorized and reviewed daily by the spiritual aspirant. Here are the ten traditional yamas and ten niyamas.

yamas:

1)    ahimsa: "Noninjury." Not harming others by thought, word, or deed.

2)    satya: "Truthfulness." Refraining from lying and betraying promises.

3)    asteya: "Nonstealing." Neither stealing, nor coveting nor entering into debt.

4)    brahmacharya: (Sanskrit) "Divine conduct." Controlling lust by remaining celibate when single, leading to faithfulness in marriage.

5)    kshama: (Sanskrit) "Patience." Restraining intolerance with people and impatience with circumstances.

6)    dhriti: "Steadfastness." Overcoming nonperseverance, fear, indecision and changeableness.

7)    daya: "Compassion." Conquering callous, cruel and insensitive feelings toward all beings.

8)    arjava: "Honesty, straightforwardness." Renouncing deception and wrongdoing.

9)    mitahara: "Moderate appetite." Neither eating too much nor consuming meat, fish, fowl or eggs.

10) shaucha: "Purity." Avoiding impurity in body, mind and speech. -

niyamas:

1)    hri: "Remorse." Being modest and showing shame for misdeeds.

2)    santosha: "Contentment." Seeking joy and serenity in life.

3)    dana: "Giving." Tithing and giving generously without thought of reward.

4)    astikya: (Sanskrit) "Faith." Believing firmly in God, Gods, guru and the path to enlightenment.

5)    Ishvarapujana: "Worship of the Lord." The cultivation of devotion through daily worship and meditation.

6)    siddhanta shravana: "Scriptural listening." Studying the teachings and listening to the wise of one's lineage.

7)    mati: "Cognition." Developing a spiritual will and intellect with the guru's guidance.

8)    vrata: "Sacred vows." Fulfilling religious vows, rules and observances faithfully.

9)    japa: "Recitation." Chanting mantras daily.

10) tapas: (Sanskrit) "Austerity." Performing sadhana, penance, tapas and sacrifice.

Patanjali lists the yamas as: ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha (noncovetousness); and the niyamas as: shaucha, santosha, tapas, svadhyaya (self-reflection, scriptural study) and Ishvarapranidhana (worship).

See: raja yoga.

(See also: Yama-niyama , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Shaucha: Purity; cleanliness.

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

CHITTA-SUDDHI: purity of mind

(See also: CHITTA-SUDDHI , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

God (Gods) and Goddess (Goddesses) A generalizing term signifying all self-conscious entities superior to humankind, most often restricted to the three dhyani-chohanic kingdoms. The gods have differing places in nature's hierarchical scheme, running through innumerable grades of cosmic intelligences. Theosophy teaches that human beings who successfully reach the seventh round on this earth chain will pass, at the conclusion of this last round, into the kingdom superior to the human, that of the lowest dhyani-chohans.

One function of dhyani-chohans (gods or demigods of a lower type) is the watching over of all hierarchies below them, some being guardians of the human host, others guarding and protecting the less evolved kingdoms. The higher hierarchical ranges of gods or divinities in our universe "are Entities of the higher worlds in the hierarchy of Being, so immeasurably high that, to us, they must appear as Gods, and collectively -- God. . . . To the highest, we are taught, belong the seven orders of the purely divine Spirits; to the six lower ones belong hierarchies that can occasionally be seen and heard by men, and who do communicate with their progeny of the Earth; which progeny is indissoluble linked with them, each principle in man having its direct source in the nature of those great Beings, who furnish us with the respective invisible elements in us" (SD 1:133).

These beings belong to two general divisions, the arupa (formless) and the rupa (form) divinities. Those having forms should not be imagined as necessarily having human forms as in the ancient pantheons, yet rupa gods do have highly ethereal forms, some perhaps resembling the present human shape and others of quite different construction. But the arupa divinities are to our power of imagination "beings of pure intelligence and of understanding, pure essences, pure spirits, formless as we conceive form" (Fund 347).

Tradition has it that in the immemorial past, certain lower gods associated intimately with their children, humanity, on this globe; but as time went by and mankind became more immersed in material pursuits, people grew to become increasingly forgetful of their divine origin and of the presence of the shining divinities instructing and guiding their forebears, so that the gods and demigods were remembered only in mythologies and religious metaphors of the various races.

What did the ancients mean by their gods and goddesses? They were intended to represent the guiding intelligences present within or in back of all invisible secrets, as well as astral and physical manifestations of nature. During the third root-race there were beings who were

"endowed with the sacred fire from the spark of higher and then independent Beings, who were the psychic and spiritual parents of Man, as the lower Pitar Devata (the Pitris) were the progenitors of his physical body. That Third and holy Race consisted of men who, at their zenith, were described as, 'towering giants of godly strength and beauty, and the depositaries of all the mysteries of Heaven and Earth.'. . .

". . . the chief gods and heroes of the Fourth and Fifth Races, as of later antiquity, are the deified images of these men of the Third. The days of their physiological purity, and those of their so-called Fall, have equally survived in the hearts and memories of their descendants. Hence, the dual nature shown in those gods, both virtue and sin being exalted to their highest degree, in the biographies composed by posterity" (SD 2:171-2).

The primeval human deity worship degenerated during the fourth root-race (the Atlantean), the ideal at first becoming confused with the form, and the latter finally almost superseding the spirit -- thus in the relatively complete materialization of idea into form, the later Atlanteans in time began to worship themselves, what was to them the powers of nature appearing through themselves as human beings; the degeneration of the ideal proceeding so far that ultimately the worst kind of idol worship became relatively universal, except for the seed of the newer and somewhat higher mankind of the fifth root-race then beginning.

"The moderns are satisfied with worshipping the male heroes of the Fourth race, who created gods after their own sexual image, whereas the gods of primeval mankind were 'male and female,' " i.e., hermaphrodite (SD 2:135).

See also DEITY

(See also: God, Goddess , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Sattwa: Light; purity; reality.

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

Satya Loka (Sanskrit). The world of infinite purity and wisdom, the celestial abode of Brahma and the gods.

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

Sattva-guna - the quality or nature of living beings which is characterised by wisdom and purity

(See also: Sattva-guna , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Anu (Chald.). One of the highest of Babylonian deities, "King of Angels and Spirits, Lord of the city of Erech". He is the Ruler and God of Heaven and Earth.

His symbol is a star and a kind of Maltese cross - emblems of divinity and sovereignty. He is an abstract divinity supposed to inform the whole expense of ethereal space or heaven, while his "wife" informs the more material planes. Both are the types of the Ouranos and Gaia of Hesiod.

They sprang from the original Chaos. All his titles and attributes are grapfiic and indicate health, purity physical and moral, antiquity and holiness.

Anu was the earliest god of the city of Erech. One of his sons was Bil orVil-Kan, the god of fire, of various metals, and of weapons. George Smith very pertinently sees in this deity a close connection with a kind of cross breed between "the biblical Tubal Cain and the classical Vulcan" . .who is considered to be moreover "the most potent deity in relation to witchcraft and spells generally".

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

Niyama: The second step in Raja Yoga, observance, purity and contentment.

(See also: Niyama ,Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

Judaism

Religion based on the belief that all people have a right to justice, purity, and truth which even the power of the king cannot erase

(See also: Judaism , Body Mind and Soul)

chittha-suddhi:

chittha-suddhi (-shuddhi). Cleansing of the mind, purity of conscience.

(See also: chittha-suddhi , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

Om (Sanskrit) Also Aum. In Brahmanical literature, a syllable of invocation, considered very holy: "Om is the bow, the Self is the arrow, Brahman is called its aim" (Mandukya Upanishad 2:2).

It is placed at the beginning of scriptures considered of unusual sanctity. "Prolonging the uttering of this word, both of the O and the M, with the mouth closed, it reechoes in and arouses vibration in the skull, and affects, if the aspirations be pure, the different nervous centers of the body for great good" (Fund 28). The virtue or spiritual and magical properties attributed to this word, however, arise out of the purity and devotion of the one uttering it.

(See also: Om , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Rubber

• To dream of being clothed in rubber garments, is a sign that you will have honors conferred upon you because of your steady and unchanging stand of purity and morality. If the garments are ragged or torn, you should be cautious in your conduct, as scandal is ready to attack your reputation.
• To dream of using "rubber'' as a slang term, foretells that you will be easy to please in your choice of pleasure and companions.
• If you find that your limbs will stretch like rubber, it is a sign that illness is threatening you, and you are likely to use deceit in your wooing and business.
• To dream of rubber goods, denotes that your affairs will be conducted on a secret basis, and your friends will fail to understand your conduct in many instances.

Source: 10 000 Dream Interpretations, by Gustavus Hindman Miller

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

Sattvapatti- Attainment of Sattwa. (Purity)

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

sathwic marga:

sathwic marga (saatthvika maarga). Path of serenity, purity, balance, goodness.

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

virginal: Characteristic of a virgin. Pure. - virginal God: Reference to Lord Karttikeya, the perpetual bachelor, descriptive of His inherent purity.

(See also: Virginal God , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Bhrigu (Sanskrit) (from bhrajj to be hot, brilliantly glowing)

One of the most celebrated of the Vedic rishis (sages), regarded as the ancestor of the Bhargavas, enumerated as one of the ten primeval maharshis created by the first manu; he is also regarded as one of the seven or ten prajapatis (progenitors) of mankind and other beings, "which is equivalent to identifying him with one of the creative gods, placed by the Puranas in Krita Yug, or the first age, that of purity" (TG 57). Some hymns in the Rig-Veda are attributed to him. The planet Sukra (Venus) is associated with Bhrigu, being one of its names, and Bhrigu is often a term designating the equivalent of Friday, which is consecrated to the planet Venus. Venus is also sometimes called the son of Bhrigu.

The Bhargavas (descendants of Bhrigu): are commonly classed as gods of the middle region or aerial divinities, although in the Rig-Veda they are intimately connected with fire. They are represented as enclosing fire in wood and giving it to mankind; also placing fire in the navel or center of the world. Thus they are associated with the Atharvans (fire-priests), Angirasas (deities of luminous objects), and Ribhus.

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