Samskara Dictionary

Anna-prasana:

Anna-prasana: ritual at which a child for the first time receives solid food. One of the ten samskara's

(See also: Anna-prasana , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

rites of passage: Sacraments marking crucial stages of life.

See: samskara.

(See also: Rites of passage , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Nidana (Sanskrit) [from ni down, into + the verbal root da to bind]

That which binds, to earth or to existence, philosophically speaking. Originally meaning bond, rope, halter -- that which binds. From this arose the implication of binding cause, or bonds of causation, and hence in Buddhist philosophy it signifies cause of existence, the concatenation of cause and effect.

The twelve nidanas given as the chief causes are:

1)    jati (birth) according to one of the chatur-yoni, the four modes of entering incarnation, each mode placing the being in one of the six gatis;

2)    jara-marana (decrepitude) and death, following the maturity of the skandhas;

3)    bhava, which leads every sentient being to be born in this or another mode of existence in the trailokya and gatis;

4)    upadana, the creative cause of bhava which thus becomes the cause of jati, and this creative cause is the clinging to life;

5)    trishna (thirst for life, love, attachment);

6)    vedana (sensation) perception by the senses, the fifth skandha;

7)    sparsa (the sense of touch) contact of any kind, whether mental or physical;

8)    shadayatana (the organs of sensation) the inner or mental astral seats of the organs of sense;

9)    nama-rupa (name-form, personality, a form with a name to it) the symbol of the unreality of material phenomenal appearances;

10)  vijnana, the perfect knowledge of every perceptible thing and of all objects in their concatenation and unity;

11)  samskara, action on the plane of illusion; and

12) avidya (nescience, ignorance) lack of true perception.

Nidana is also a title of Brahma, considered as the first cause, being the kosmic living aggregate of vital bonds forming the universe into an organic whole; reproduced through its own internal energies from the preceding manvantara.

(See also: Nidana , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Karma (Sanskrit). Physically, action: metaphysically, the LAW OF RETRIBUTION, the Law of cause and effect or Ethical Causation. Nemesis, only in one sense, that of bad Karma.

It is the eleventh Nidana in the concatenation of causes and effects in orthodox Buddhism ; yet it is the power that controls all things, the resultant of moral action, the meta physical Samskara, or the moral effect of an act committed for the attainment of something which gratifies a personal desire.

There is the Karma of merit and the Karma of demerit. Karma neither punishes nor rewards, it is simply the one Universal LAW which guides unerringly, and, so to say, blindly, all other laws productive of certain effects along the grooves of their respective causations.

When Buddhism teaches that "Karma is that moral kernel (of any being) which alone survives death and continues in transmigration ‘ or reincarnation, it simply means that there remains nought after each Personality but the causes produced by it ; causes which are undying, i.e., which cannot be eliminated from the Universe until replaced by their legitimate effects, and wiped out by them, so to speak, and such causes - unless compensated during the life of the person who produced them with adequate effects, will follow the reincarnated Ego, and reach it in its subsequent reincarnation until a harmony between effects and causes is fully reestablished. No "personality" - a mere bundle of material atoms and of instinctual and mental characteristics - can of course continue, as such, in the world of pure Spirit.

Only that which is immortal in its very nature and divine in its essence, namely, the Ego, can exist for ever. And as it is that Ego which chooses the personality it will inform, after each Devachan, and which receives through these personalities the effects of the Karmic causes produced, it is therefore the Ego, that self which is the "moral kernel" referred to and embodied karma, "which alone survives death."

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

Samskara:

Inborn desire. Mental impression of acts done in former state of existence. Purification ceremony or sacrament.

(See also: Samskara , Body Mind and Soul)

samskara:

samskara (samskaara). Inborn desire, mental impression of acts done in former state of existence. Purificatory ceremony or sacrament.

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

Samskara:

Samskara:Purificatory ceremony or sacrament. (Garbadhana samskara & Anna-prasana). Refining process (Vidhya Vahini) and SSS-IV

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Samskara:

Samskara: 'impression'; "Every action that you do produces a two-fold effect. It produces an impression in your mind and when you die you carry the Samskara in the Karmashaya or receptacle of works in your subconscious mind. It produces an impression on the world or Akashic records. " (Swami S'ivananda)

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SAMSKARA: impression in the subconscious mind

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

Samskara:

impressions stored in the mind that form the basis of our beliefs, attitudes and personality.

(See also: Samskara ,Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

Samskara - Impression.

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Samskara:

Samskara: impression; ceremonial purification;  prenatal tendency.

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samskara:

a mental impression produced by past experiences, mental or behavioral patterns.

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Samskara:

Samskara ("activator"): the subconscious impression left behind by each act of volition, which, in turn, leads to renewed psychomental activity; the countless samskaras hidden in the depth of the mind are ultimately eliminated only in asamprajnata-samadhi (see samadhi)

(See also: Samskara ,Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

subconscious mind: Samskara chitta ("impression mind").

The part of mind "beneath" the conscious mind, the storehouse or recorder of all experience (whether remembered consciously or not) - the holder of past impressions, reactions and desires. Also, the seat of involuntary physiological processes.

See: awareness, mind, chitta, consciousness, maya, tattva, world, Three phases of mind, Five states of the mind.

(See also: Subconscious mind , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Buddhism: Basic Buddhist Dictionary

A basic dictionary of Buddhism terms. Please note that all words in grey like " Buddhism " are links to an archive with related articles.

Samskara -

(1) a sacred or sanctifying ceremony.

(2) reformation or training of the mind; impression on the mind of any previous experience or acts done in a former state of existence.

(See also: Samskara , Bhakti, Bhakti Yoga, Bhakti Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

vasana: (Sanskrit) "Subconscious inclination." From vas, "living, remaining." The subliminal inclinations and habit patterns which, as driving forces, color and motivate one's attitudes and future actions. Vasanas are the conglomerate results of subconscious impressions (samskaras) created through experience. Samskaras, experiential impressions, combine in the subconscious to form vasanas, which thereafter contribute to mental fluctuations, called vritti. The most complex and emotionally charged vasanas are found in the dimension of mind called the subsubconscious, or vasana chitta.

See: samskara, mind (five states), vasana daha tantra, vritti.

(See also: Vasana , 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 Yoga Dictionary from Abhyasa to Yukti.

From "Kundalini Yoga" by Sri Swami Sivananda