Introduction and links to related topics Below are some short introductions. Click on the blue hyperlinked word to get more related articles.
Sadhana - Spiritual practice, discipline and effort. Part of the daily way of life for serious spiritual aspirants. Will often involve daily devotion, meditation and sacred mantras.
Mantra - Mantra is a combination of divine syllables or sounds which when recited invokes the latent power in that particular mantra, which involves pleasing some deities or attaining some results (used originally in Vedic sanatana dharma, Hinduism and Buddhism). The Mantras are created by spiritual Seers (Rishis and Yogis) in a divine trance. Each mantra has a rishi (spiritual seer).
In Sanskrit, mantra literally means ''instrument of thought'', from man (to think) verb : ‘Mananat trayate iti mantrah’ - by the Manana (constant recollection or recitation) of which one is liberated. Liberation involves your aim, i.e. what one wants to achieve by this mantra -sadhana.
Each Mantra consists of a Matraa (phase) which creates a distinct sound-frequency; a Devataa (deity or God); a Bija (seed) which gives it a special power, and the Kilakam (support or pillar). Some mantras consists of only seeds (single syllables without special literal meaning) an are called Bija-mantras. [The word is accepted in New English Oxford Dictionary].€€€
Sutra - (Sanskrit) "Thread."
An aphoristic verse; the literary style consisting of such maxims. From 500 bce, this style was widely adopted by Indian philosophical systems and eventually employed in works on law, grammar, medicine, poetry, crafts, etc. Each sutra is often accompanied by a commentary called bhashya and sometimes subcommentary called tika, vyakhyana or tippani.
Through the media of short, concise, easily memorized sutras, vast amounts of knowledge were preserved. Reciting relevant sutra texts from memory is a daily sadhana in various Hindu arts and sciences.
Sutra also names the wife''s wedding pendant (mangala sutra).
See: bhashya, wedding pendant.
Sadhana - (Sanskrit) "Means of attainment."
Self-effort, spiritual discipline; the way." Religious or spiritual disciplines, such as puja, yoga, meditation, japa, fasting and austerity. The effect of sadhana is the building of willpower, faith and confidence in oneself and in God, Gods and guru.
The effect of sadhana is the building of willpower, faith and confidence in oneself and in God, Gods and guru. Sadhana harnesses and transmutes the instinctive-intellectual nature, allowing progressive spiritual unfoldment into the superconscious realizations and innate abilities of the soul.
See: purity-impurity, pada, raja yoga, sadhana marga, spiritual unfoldment.
Tantrism - The enlightenment path outlined in the Tantra scriptures.
Tantrism is sometimes considered a parallel stream of history and tradition in Hinduism, running alongside and gradually interweaving with the Vedic brahminical tradition.
Tantrism refers to traditions, mainly within Saivism and Shaktism, that focus on the arousal of the kundalini force, and which view the human body as a vehicle of the Divine and an instrument for liberation. Tantrism''s ultimate aim is a channeling of the kundalini life force through the sushumna, the gracious channel, upwards into the sahasrara chakra and beyond, through the door of brahman (brahmarandhra) into Parasiva, either before or at the time of death. The stress is on the transformation of all spheres of consciousness, spiritual, psychic, emotional and material. It is a path of sadhana.
Shakta Tantrism: Brings a strong emphasis on the worship of the feminine force. Depending on the school, this may be symbolic or literal in rites involving sexual intercourse, etc. Shakta Tantrism''s main principle is the use of the material to gain the spiritual. In certain schools, historically, this implies embracing that which is normally forbidden and manipulating the forces to attain transcendent consciousness rather than lower consciousness. There are three main streams:
the righthand path (dakshina marga or dakshinachara) of conservative Hindu practice,
the left-hand path (vama marga or vamachara) involving the use of things normally forbidden such as taking intoxicants, meat, ritual sex, etc., and
the yogic path of the Kaula sect. Gorakshanatha followers are sometimes grouped with the latter.
See: Shaktism, kundalini, kundalini yoga, raja yoga, tantra.
Blessing - Good wishes; benediction. Seeking and giving blessings is extremely central in Hindu life, nurtured in the precepts of karunya (grace), shakti (energy), darshana (encountering/seeing the divine), prasada (blessed offerings), puja (invocation), tirthayatra (pilgrimage), diksha (initiation), shaktipata (descent of grace), samskaras (rites of passage), sannidhya (holy presence) and sadhana (inner-attunement disciplines).
Sadhana Marga - (Sanskrit) "The way of sadhana."
A term used by Sage Yogaswami to name his prescription for seekers of Truth - a path of intense effort, spiritual discipline and consistent inner transformation, as opposed to theoretical and intellectual learning.
See: mysticism, pada, sadhana, spiritual unfoldment.
Adhyatma Vikasa - (Sanskrit) "Spiritual unfoldment." The blossoming of inner or higher (adhi), soul (atma) qualities as a result of religious striving, sadhana. Vikasa means, "becoming visible, shining forth, manifestation opening," as a flower unfolds its petals, or the chakras unfold theirs as a result of kundalini awakening.
See: spiritual unfoldment.
San Marga - (Sanskrit) "True path."
The straight spiritual path leading to the ultimate goal, Self Realization, without detouring into unnecessary psychic exploration or pointless development of siddhis. A San Margi is a person "on the path," as opposed to a samsari, one engrossed in worldliness. San Marga also names the jnana pada.
See: pada, sadhana marga, samsari.
Brahma Muhurta - (Sanskrit) "Time of God." A very favorable time for sadhana. It is traditional to arise before this period, bathe and begin one''s morning worship. Brahma muhurta is defined as roughly 1.5 hours, the last muhurta of the night in the 8-muhurta system. It is understood as comprising the final three muhurtas of the night in 15 or 16-muhurta systems, equalling 144 minutes or 135 minutes respectively.
See: muhurta.
Videhamukti - (Sanskrit) "Disembodied liberation."
Release from reincarnation through nirvikalpa samadhi -
the realization of the Self, Parasiva - at the point of death.
Blessed are those who are aware that departure,
mahasamadhi, is drawing near. They settle all affairs,
make amends and intensify personal sadhana. They seek
the silver channel of sushumna which guides kundalini
through the door of Brahman into the beyond of the
beyond. They seek total renunciation as the day of
transition looms strongly in their consciousness. Those
who know that Lord Yama is ready to receive them, seek
to merge with Siva. They seek nirvikalpa samadhi as the
body and earthly life fall away. Those who succeed are the
videhamuktas, honored as among those who will never be
reborn. Hindu tradition allows for vows of renunciation,
called atura sannyasa diksha, to be taken and the orange
robe donned by the worthy sadhaka or householder in the
days prior to death.
See: jivanmukti, kaivalya, moksha,
Parasiva, Self Realization.
Ardhanarishvara - (Sanskrit) "Half-female Lord." Lord Siva in androgynous form, male on the right side and female on the left, indicating that: 1) Siva (like all Mahadevas) is genderless; 2) Siva is All, inseparable from His energy, Shakti; 3) in Siva the ida (feminine) and the pingala (masculine) nadis (psychic nerve currents) are balanced so that sushumna is ever active. The meditator who balances these through sadhana and yoga becomes like Siva. In the unity of Ardhanarishvara all opposites are reconciled; duality vanishes back into the one source. This icon especially represents Siva''s second perfection: Pure Consciousness (Satchidananda or Parashakti).
See: kundalini, nadi, Shakti, Siva.
Punya - (Sanskrit) "Holy; virtuous; auspicious."
Good or righteous.
Meritorious action.
Merit earned through right thought, word and action.
Punya includes all forms of doing good, from the simplest helpful deed to a lifetime of conscientious beneficence. Each act of punya carries its karmic consequence, karmaphala, "fruit of action" - the positive reward of actions, words and deeds that are in keeping with dharma. Awakened psychics who have developed clairvoyant sight can clearly see the punya accrued in the inner subconscious aura as a colorful, freeflowing, astral, light-energy, pranic substance.
Punya is seen as light-hued, pastel colors, whereas its counterpart, papa, is seen as shades of darker colors which are usually static and immovable. These arrangements of the papa shades and punya hues are not unlike the free-expression paintings found in modern art. Punya colors produce inner contentment, deep joy, the feeling of security and fearlessness. Papa can be dissolved and punya created through penance (prayashchitta), austerity (tapas) and good deeds (sukritya).
Punya is earned through virtuous living, following the multi-faceted laws of dharma. Punya depends on purity of acts according to various factors including
the karma and evolution of the individual,
degree of sacrifice and unselfish motivation and
time and place. For example, virtuous deeds, sadhana, tapas and penance have greater merit when performed in holy places and at auspicious times.
The Tirukural (105) states that "Help rendered another cannot be measured by the extent of the assistance given. Its true measure is the worth of the recipient." In other words, a small act done for a great and worthy soul carries more punya than even a large act performed for a lesser person. (Opposite of papa.)
See: aura, karma, papa, penance.
Svara Sadhana - Regulation of breath.
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