Sacrifice (from a Middle English verb meaning 'to make sacred', from Old French, from Latin sacrificium : sacer, sacred; sacred + facere, to make) is commonly known as the practice of offering food, or the lives of animals or people to the gods, as an act of propitiation or worship. The term is also used metaphorically to describe selfless good deeds for others. Sacrifice - Theologies of sacrifice. The theology of sacrifice remains an issue, not only for religions that continue to practice ritua ...

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• Sacrifice - Theologies of sacrifice
• Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Judaism
• Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Islam
• Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Hinduism
• Sacrifice - Animal sacrifice
• Sacrifice - Human sacrifice
• Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Christianity
• Sacrifice - Sacrifice in games

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Sacrifice, Sacrifice - Theologies of sacrifice, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Judaism, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Islam, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Hinduism, Sacrifice - Animal sacrifice, Sacrifice - Human sacrifice, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Christianity, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in games

Read more here: » Sacrifice: Encyclopedia II - Sacrifice - Human sacrifice

In Judaism, a sacrifice is known as a Korban from the Hebrew root karov meaning to "[come] Close [to God]". The centrality of sacrifices in Judaism is clear, with much of the Bible, particularly the opening chapters of the book Leviticus, detailing the exact method of bringing sacrifices. Sacrifices were either bloody (animals) or unbloody (grain and wine). Bloody sacrifices were divided into holocausts (burnt offerings, in which the whole animal was burnt), guilt offerings (in which part was burnt and part left for the ...

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Sacrifice, Sacrifice - Theologies of sacrifice, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Judaism, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Islam, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Hinduism, Sacrifice - Animal sacrifice, Sacrifice - Human sacrifice, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Christianity, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in games

Read more here: » Sacrifice: Encyclopedia II - Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Judaism

"Sacrifice" is a word that has many unpleasant connotations for people, especially in the workplace. When a manager says, "We have to make some sacrifices around here," it usually means giving something up, or doing without something, either of which would make things more difficult.

But there's an entirely different way to look at sacrifice, from a spiritual point of view. From its Latin roots, the word sacrifice actually means "to make sacred." Following the chain of original meanings, sacred means "holy," holy means "whole," and whole means "healthy." Thus, sacrifice is anything that takes a situation and makes it sacred, holy, whole and healthy.

See also: Spirituality At Work, Work As A Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Based Leadership)

Good Friday is observed as a special day in the Christian calendar: It is the day when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was crucified; this was the day his spirit left his body.

The sacrifice was not committed in vain - Christ rose to immortality on Easter Sunday, in a Resurrection that is remembered every year, more than two millennia after the event, as the ultimate sacrifice of obedience to the Divine.

(See also: Good Friday, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

After having won the Mahabharata war, King Yuddhishthira, the eldest of the Pandavas, performed the Ashvamedha Yagna in which he gave away his riches to the deserving.

Just then a half-golden mongoose sneaked in and began rolling all over the ground. It then looked at its fur and seemed disappointed. The mongoose said sadly, "Ah! This is no sacrifice."

(See also: Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

There are five great daily sacrifices that are to be performed by every householder. They are: Brahma Yajna, called also Veda Yajna, sacrifice to Brahman or the Vedas or the sages; Deva Yajna, sacrifice to the celestials; (iii) Pitri Yajna, sacrifice to the manes; Bhuta Yajna, sacrifice to all the creatures; and Manushya Yajna, sacrifice to men.

Excerpt from All About Hinduism by Sri Swami Sivananda

Read more here: » Pancha Mahayajnas: The Hindu Ritual Pancha Mahayajnas

The ultimate test of a man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.

- Gaylord Nelson

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Over 4,000 years ago God asked Abraham to build the Kabah (house of worship) at Mecca and to call upon all people to make the pilgrimage to the House of God. Thus, it came to be obligatory for every Muslim to go for Haj at least once, provided good health and financial position permitted it.

Over two million believers from all over the world gather every year in Mecca to perform this pious duty. The rites of Haj take about one week to complete, but the devout spend as many days as possible so that they may become spiritually enriched by the sacred atmosphere. All the acts and sites of Haj convey a spiritual message.

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

Love is the primary, fundamental building block that everything is made of, and love is self-aware; it recognizes itself in everything, and loves itself in everything. In its primal, unified, unlimited, infinite state, it knows nothing other than unity, perfection, completion, wholeness.

Read more here: » Personal Growth: On Love, Separation, and Sacrifice

Today is the martyrdom day of Imam Husain, grandson of Prophet Mohammed. In 61 Hizrat (680 AD) a battle took place at Karbala, Iraq, on the banks of the river Euphrates.

A large army mobilised by Yazid, descendant of the Umayyad regime, besieged a small group led by Imam Husain, and forced them to pay allegiance to the Caliph and submit to his authority. Husain and his small group put up a brave resistance but were killed in the fierce battle.

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

The concept of self-sacrifice and martyrs are central to Christianity. In Christian teaching, God became incarnate in Jesus Christ to accomplish the reconciliation of God and humanity, which had separated itself from God through sin (see the concept of original sin). God's perfect justice required atonement for sin from humanity if human beings were to be saved from damnation, but God knew limited human beings could not make sufficient atonement, for humanity's offence to God was infinite. So God, in his perfect mercy, himself became a man s ...

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Sacrifice, Sacrifice - Theologies of sacrifice, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Judaism, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Islam, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Hinduism, Sacrifice - Animal sacrifice, Sacrifice - Human sacrifice, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Christianity, Sacrifice - Sacrifice in games

Read more here: » Sacrifice: Encyclopedia II - Sacrifice - Sacrifice in Christianity

sacrifice: Yajna.

1)    Making offerings to a Deity as an expression of homage and devotion.

2)    Giving up something, often one's own possession, advantage or preference, to serve a higher purpose.

The literal meaning of sacrifice is "to make sacred," implying an act of worship. It is the most common translation of the term yajna, from the verb yuj, "to worship." In Hinduism, all of life is a sacrifice - called jivayajna, a giving of oneself - through which comes true spiritual fulfillment. Tyaga, the power of detachment, is an essential quality of true sacrifice.

See: tyaga, yajna.

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

Child sacrifice is the ritualistic killing of children in order to please, propitiate or force supernatural beings in order to achieve a desired result. The practice has been believed to be central to some religions, made to a wide variety of gods, goddesses and spirits. These religions often depict the practice in myths as absolutely necessary to save the world from "chaos". In many cases, archaeologists have found evidence that suggests that the prevalence of child sacrifice in a culture (Carthaginian for instance) was probably far less than commonly belie ...

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The Cross of Sacrifice was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and is the focal point of the numerous cemeteries honoring the war dead of World War I that dot the countryside of the Western Front, and as far afield as Kranji, Singapore [1]. It is a 4 point limestone Latin cross. On the face of the cross is a bronze sword, blade down. It is usually mounted on an octagonal base. Originally they were produced in sizes of 14, 18, 20 and 24 foot heights to bette ...

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• Cross of Sacrifice - External link

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The Celts practised human sacrifice on a limited scale as part of their religious rituals. Animal sacrifice was more commonplace along with ritual deposition of tools, weapons and jewelry. The evidence for human sacrifices comes from: Writings by Romans and Greeks often at second hand or hearsay Irish medieval texts Archaeological data All these sources are, however, open to interpretation and subject to bias. Julius Caesar wrote in his Gallic Wars: [The Gauls] believ ...

Read more here: » Celts and human sacrifice: Encyclopedia - Celts and human sacrifice

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The Binding of Isaac, in Genesis 22, is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. To many readers the tale is one of the most challenging, complex, mystifying, and perhaps ethically troublesome episodes in the entire Bible. The story is referred to as the Akedah or Akedat Yitschak (עקידת יצחק) in Hebrew (the binding of Isaac) and as the Dhabih in Arabic. Abraham agrees to God's command without argument, even though God gives him no reason fo ...

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• Binding of Isaac - Jewish responses
• Binding of Isaac - Christian responses
• Binding of Isaac - Muslim responses
• Binding of Isaac - Modern-day interpretations
• Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in art
• Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in literature
• Binding of Isaac - The near-sacrifice in music
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The Ashvamedha, or the horse-sacrifice is one of the most important royal rituals of Vedic religion (1st millennium BC, the last recorded performance dates to the 4th century AD), described in detail in the Yajurveda (books 22–25) and the pertaining commentaries. Ashvamedha - The Vedic Sacrifice. The Ashvamedha could only be conducted by a king. Its object was the acquisition of power and glory, the sovereignty over neighbouring provinces, and general prosperity of the kingdom. The horse to ...

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• Ashvamedha - The Vedic Sacrifice
• Ashvamedha - Vedanta and modern Hinduism

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Moloch or Molech or Molekh representing Hebrew מלך mlk is either the name of a god or the name of a particular kind of sacrifice associated historically with Phoenician and related cultures in north Africa and the Levant. Moloch - Forms and grammar. The Hebrew letters מלך (mlk) usually stands for melek 'king' (Proto-Northwest Semitic malku) but when vocalized as mōlek in Masoretic Hebrew text, they have been traditionally understood as a proper ...

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• Moloch - Forms and grammar
• Moloch - Traditional accounts and theories
• Moloch - Eissfeldt's theory: a type of sacrifice
• Moloch - Biblical texts
• Moloch - Mosca's theories about offerings to Yahweh
• Moloch - Discussion of Eissfeldt's theory
• Moloch - Moloch in medieval texts
• Moloch - Flaubert's conception
• Moloch - Moloch as metaphor in modern art
• Moloch - Moloch in literature
• Moloch - Moloch in popular culture

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