Samsara Dictionary

liberation: Moksha, release from the bonds of pasha, after which the soul is liberated from samsara (the round of births and deaths). In Saiva Siddhanta, pasha is the threefold bondage of anava, karma and maya, which limit and confine the soul to the reincarnational cycle so that it may evolve. Moksha is freedom from the fettering power of these bonds, which do not cease to exist, but no longer have the power to fetter or bind the soul.

See: mala, jivanmukti, moksha, pasha, reincarnation, satguru, Self Realization, soul.

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

A dictionary with common spiritual words from Hinduism and Sanskrit. Also see these links: Hinduism, Spirituality, Enlightenment, Spiritual Dictionary and Hinduism Dictionary.

A Dictionary of Spiritual Terms. From Acupuncture to Zoroaster.

Please note that all words in grey, like "yoga", "enlightenment" or "kundalini" are hyperlinked to archives further explaining the term. At the corresponding archive you will also find articles related to the term.

A Yoga Dictionary from Abhyasa to Yukti.

From "Kundalini Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda

Avidya: In Hinduism this is one of the conditions involved in samsara and reincarnation, meaning ignorance. This is ignorance of spiritual perception, not book knowledge. The origin of tanha (craving) is avidya (ignorance), where tanha is what keeps the living in the cycle of samsara. We can see this reflected in the third noble truth, where the source of greed is illusion, and in order to overcome illusion we must overcome avidya, ignorance.

 (See also: Avidya , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

WHEEL OF FORTUNE

Destiny and Karma. The 10th and central Arcanum, circumscribed by the tetramorph and lettered Caph. It is the pathway between Chesed and Netzach. The wheel is a mandala, enabling the magus to master the polarities within himself. It may also be equated with the wheel of Samsara (birth, death and rebirth). Fortune tellers assign great happiness to this card (presumably because it is ruled by Jupiter).

It also represents the Wheel of the Tarot itself. Caph is "the palm of the hand" and the number ten refers to the ten fingers, leading some interpreters to conclude that the wheel is really a potter's wheel (in the hands of the Creator). Others interpret this as meaning that our fortunes lie in the palms of our hands. Clearly, the meanings of the wheel spin out in all directions.

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

Samsara

Cycle of rebirths; realms of Birth and Death.

 (See also: Samsara , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Samsara: The endless cycle of reincarnation; transmigration. Literally means to move about continuously.

 (See also: Samsara , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Samsara (Sanskrit) {BCW 3:89, 13:75; FSO 537}

(See also: Samsara , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Samsara

(Buddhist) The opposite of Nirvana. It is the world we live in now - the world of illusion, . passion; attachment to people and things; multiplicity and differentiation.

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

samsara (sa"msaara): Transmigration; the round of death and rebirth. See vatta.

 (See also: Samsara , Buddhism, Body Mind and Soul)

Samsara: Hindu notion of reincarnation in which one's present life is followed by a series of new lives in new physical bodies.

 (See also: Samsara , Eastern Philosophy, Body Mind and Soul)

The chains that tie you to this wheel of Samsara or Bhava-Chakra or round of births and deaths, are your desires. So long as you desire objects of this world, you must come back to this world in order to possess and enjoy them. But, when all your desires for the mundane objects cease, then the chains are broken and you are free. You need not take any more births. You attain Moksha or the final emancipation.

You wander in this Samsara as you think that you are different from the Lord. If you unite yourself with Him through meditation and Yoga, you will obtain immortality and eternal bliss. Cut the bonds of Karma through Knowledge of the Eternal and enjoy the Supreme Peace of the Atman, thy innermost Self and Inner Ruler. You will be freed from the round of births and deaths. Freed from sin, freed from passion, you will become a Jivanmukta or liberated sage. You will see the Self in the self and see the Self as all.

Read more here: » Samsara: How To Break The Bond Of Samsara

Samsara: Life through repeated births and deaths; the wheel of birth and death; the process of earthly life.

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

Sukha or happiness means different things to different people. This is especially so in the context of varying lifestyles prevalent today and the issues that a lot of us are living with and identifying ourselves with.

Sukha in Indian philosophical systems is a heavily loaded term. To understand the quality of true sukha or happiness also means that we need to define dukha or suffering.

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

Read more here: » Love and Happiness: Sukha And Dukha - Rise Above Them

Man can be compared to a plant. He grows and flourishes like a plant and dies in the end but not completely. The plant also grows and flourishes and dies in the end. It leaves behind it the seed which produces a new plant. Man leaves when dying his Karma behind—the good or bad actions of his life. The physical body may die and disintegrate, but the impressions of his actions do not die. He has to take birth again to enjoy the fruits of these actions. No life can be the first, for it is the fruits of previous actions, nor the last, for its actions must be expiated in the next life following. Therefore, Samsara or phenomenal existence is without beginning and an end. But there is no Samsara for a Jivanmukta or liberated sage who is resting in his own Sat-Chit-Ananda Svarupa.

The death and dying and the life after death has always fascinated man. This is an excerpt from the book What Becomes Of The Soul After Death by Sri Swami Sivananda.

Read more here: » Reincarnation: Theory Of Rebirth

Hinduism and Polygamy: Hindu view on Polygamy

Polygamy and polyandry were prevalent In ancient India, but it is doubtful whether they were ever popular in the public opinion. It was practiced mostly by the warrior castes and rich merchants. Many Hindu gods are also depicted as polygamous, with two or more wives. The goddesses are not actually wives in the physical sense but pure universal energies who assist their gods to maintain dharma (good order) in the universe. They do not possess physical bodies, though they can appear in human form if they want to. Present day Hindus consider both polygamy and polyandry primitive and archaic, remnants of an old society that still haunt the lives of a few unfortunate victims. In India Hindus acknowledge polygamy as both illegal and immoral. 

Read more here: » Hinduism and Polygamy: Hindu view on Polygamy

Scriptures by themselves cannot make a person enlightened. They give knowledge, not wisdom. But the Ashtavakra Gita is different. This scripture negates every facet of life, except supreme consciousness.

Sage Ashtavakra says to Janaka: "My son, you recite or listen to countless scriptures, but you will not be established within until you can forget everything"(16.1). He stresses the import of knowing one's own self. A person may quote extensively from the Bhagavad Gita or the Upanishads. But only through self-knowledge can he even begin to discover the stainless truth.

(See also: Life and Death, Life and Beyond, Death and Dying, Body Mind and Soul)

Read more here: » Life and Death: All that Exists is Total Awareness

In my work with in-person and distant healing, I've noticed a huge distinction between ordinary chi, ki, or prana, and that which is governed by the soul and kundalini energies. The universe isn't simply composed of a roiling ocean of prana-there are differing frequencies. From the relative prana to that prana which exists nearest the absolute, the energy is more refined on evolved levels of existence.

Read more here: » Healing: Distant Healing

Karma Yoga Lesson VI

Detachment; Accept the universe of thought without being affected by it; Avoid cosmogony; You Call change your environment; True vairagya or detachment; Change your point of view; The tangle of thought; The use of the "Neti," "Neti" mantra.

Read more here: » Karma Yoga: Karma Yoga - Lesson VI (of XI )

What is the process of reincarnation?

Carnate means flesh. The word reincarnate means to "reenter the flesh." We Hindus believe the soul is immortal and keeps reentering a fleshy body time and time again in order to resolve experiences and thereby learn all the lessons life in the material world has to offer. To hindus, it explains the natural way the soul evolves from immaturity to spiritual illumination. I myself have had many lives before this one and expect to have more. Finally, when I have it all worked out and all the lessons have been learned, I will attain mukti. This means I will still exist but no longer be pulled back to incarnate in a physical body.

Read more here: » Hinduism: What is the process of reincarnation?