Brahma Viraj. (Sanskrit) The same: Brahma separating his body into two halves, male and female, creates in them Vach and Viraj. In plainer terms and esotericlly Brahma the Universe, differentiating, produced thereby material nature, Viraj, and spiritual intelligent Nature, Vach - which is the Logos of Deity or the manifested expression of the eternal divine Ideation.

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

Nabatheans. A sect almost identical in their beliefs with the Nazarenes and Sabeans, who had more reverence for John the Baptist than for Jesus. Maimonides identifies them with the astrolaters.

"Respecting the beliefs of the Sabeans", he says, "the most famous is the book, The agriculture of the Nabatheans". And we know that the Ebionites, the first of whom were the friends and relatives of Jesus, according to tradition, in other words, the earliest and first Christians, "were the direct followers and disciples of the Nazarene sect", according to Epiphanius and Theodoret (See the Contra Ebionites of Epiphanius, and also "Galileans" and "Nazarenes").

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

B’ne Alhim or Beni Elohim (Hebrew, Jewish). "Sons of God ", literally or more correctly "Sons of the gods", as Elohim is the plural of Eloah. A group of angelic powers referable by analogy to the Sephira Hod.

[w. w. w.]

(See also: B’ne Alhim, Beni Elohim , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Hippopotamus (Ancient Greek) In Egyptian symbolism Typhon was called "the hippopotamus who slew his father and violated his mother," Rhea (mother of the gods). His father was Chronos. As applied therefore to Time and Nature (Chronos and Rhea), the accusation becomes comprehensible.

The type of Cosmic Disharmony, Typhon, who is also Python, the monster formed of the slime of the Deluge of Deucalion, "violates" his mother, Primordial Harmony, whose beneficence was so great that she was called "The Mother of the Golden Age". It was Typhon, who put an end to the latter, i.e., produced the first war of elements.

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Pandora (Ancient Greek). A beautiful woman created by the gods under the orders of Zeus to be sent to Epimetheus, brother of Prometheus; she had charge of a casket in which all the evils, passions and plagues which torment humanity were locked up. This casket Pandora, led by curiosity, opened, and

thus set free all the ills which prey on mankind.

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

Bhons (Tibet, Tibetan). The followers of the old religion of the Aborigines of Tibet; of pre-buddhistic temples and ritualism; the same as Dugpas, "red caps", though the latter appellation usually applies only to sorcerers.

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

Jiva (Sanskrit). Life, as the Absolute; the Monad also or "Atma-Buddhi".

Jivanmukta (Sanskrit). An adept or yogi who has reached the ultimate state of holiness, and separated himself from matter; a Mahatma, or Nirvanee, a "dweller in bliss" and emancipation. Virtually one who has reached Nirvana during life.

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

Maha Pralaya (Sanskrit). The opposite of Mahamanvantara, literally "the great Dissolution", the "Night" following the "Day of Brahma". It is the great rest and sleep of all nature after a period of active manifestation; orthodox Christians would refer to it as the "Destruction of the World".

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

Paranirvana (Sanskrit). Absolute Non-Being, which is equivalent to absolute Being or "Be-ness", the state reached by the human Monad at the end of the great cycle (See Secret Doctrine I, 135). The same as Paraniskpanna.

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

Hiranya Garbha (Sanskrit). The radiant or golden egg or womb. Esoterically the luminous "fire mist" or ethereal stuff from which the Universe was formed.

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

Advaita:

Non-duality; a school of Vedanta philosophy teaching the oneness of God, soul, and universe, whose chief exponent was Sankaracharya.

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

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V X Y Z

Calvary Cross. This form of cross does not date from Christianity. It was known and used for mystical purposes, thousands of years before our era.

It formed part and parcel of the various Rituals, in Egypt and Greece, in Babylon and India, as well as in China, Mexico, and Peru. It is a cosmic, as well as a physiological (or phallic) symbol. That it existed among all the "heathen" nations is testified to by Tertullian. "How doth the Athenian Minerva differ from the body of a cross?" he queries. "The origin of your gods is derived from figures moulded on a cross.

All those rows of images on your standards are the appendages of crosses; those hangings on your banners are the robes of crosses." And the fiery champion was right. The tau or T is the most ancient of all forms, and the cross or the tat (q.v.) as ancient. The crux ansata, the cross with a handle, is in the hands of almost every god, including Baal and the Phœnician Astarte.

The croix cramponnée is the Indian Swastica. It has been exhumed from the lowest foundations of the ancient site of Troy, and it appears on Etruscan and Chaldean relics of antiquity. As Mrs. Jamieson shows: "The ankh of Egypt was the crutch of St. Anthony and the cross of St. Philip. The Labarum of Constantine . . . was an emblem long before, in Etruria. Osiris had the Labarum for his sign; Horus appears sometimes with the long Latin cross. T

he Greek pectoral cross is Egyptian. It was called by the Fathers the devil’s invention before Christ . The crux ansata is upon the old coins of Tarsus, as the Maltese upon the breast of an Assyrian king ...The cross of Calvary, so common in Europe, occurs on the breasts of mummies. . . it was suspended round the necks of sacred Serpents in Egypt. . . . Strange Asiatic tribes bringing tribute in Egypt are noticed with garments studded with crosses, and Sir Gardner Wilkinson dates this picture B.C. 1500." Finally, "Typhon, the Evil One, is chained by a cross".

(Eg. Belief and Mod. Thought).

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

Lila (Sanskrit) Sport, literally; or pastime. In the orthodox Hindu Scriptures it is explained that "the acts of the divinity are lila ", or sport.

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

Naga (Sanskrit). Literally "Serpent". The name in the Indian Pantheon of the Serpent or Dragon Spirits, and of the inhabitants of Patala, hell. But as Patala means the antipodes, and was the name given to America by the ancients, who knew and visited that continent before Europe had ever heard of it, the term is probably akin to the Mexican Nagals the (now) sorcerers and medicine men.

The Nagas are the Burmese Nats, serpent-gods, or "dragon demons". In Esotericism, however, and as already stated, this is a nick-name for the "wise men" or adepts in China and Tibet, the "Dragons." are regarded as the titulary deities of the world, and of various spots on the earth, and the word is explained as meaning adepts, yogis, and narjols. The term has simply reference to their great knowledge and wisdom. This is also proven in the ancient Sutras and Buddha’s biographies.

The Naga is ever a wise man, endowed with extraordinary magic powers, in South and Central America as in India, in Chaldea as also in ancient Egypt. In China the "worship" of the Nagas was widespread, and it has become still more pronounced since Nagarjuna (the "great Naga", the "great adept" literally), the fourteenth Buddhist patriarch, visited China.

The "Nagas" are regarded by the Celestials as "the tutelary Spirits or gods of the five regions or the four points of the compass and the centre, as the guardians of the five lakes and four oceans" (Eitel). This, traced to its origin and translated esoterically, means that the five continents and their five root-races had always been under the guardianship of "terrestrial deities", i.e., Wise Adepts. The tradition that Nagas washed Gautama Buddha at his birth, protected him and guarded the relics of his body when dead, points again to the Nagas being only wise men, Arhats, and no monsters or Dragons. This is also corroborated by the innumerable stories of the conversion of Nagas to Buddhism.

The Naga of a lake in a forest near Rajagriha and many other "Dragons" were thus converted by Buddha to the good Law.

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

Nirukta (Sanskrit). An anga or limb, a division of the Vedas; a glossarial comment.

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

Astral Monad or Soul The animal soul or vital-astral soul, the lowest and feeblest reflection or vehicle of the divine monad; when enlightened by the human monad, it produces the human being known today.

(See also: Astral Monad, Soul , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Soul. The yuch, or nephesh of the Bible; the vital principle, or the breath of life, which every animal, down to the infusoria, shares with man. In the translated Bible it stands indifferently for life, blood and soul. " Let us not kill his nephesh ", says the original text: "let us not kill him ", translate the Christians (Genesis xxxvii. 21), and so on.

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

Soul:

The spiritual element of a person, generally believed to be immortal.

(See also: Soul , Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

Soul Generally, the manifesting vehicle or garment in which an ego clothes itself. First in serial order is the monad, on whatever plane and of whatever class; its vehicle or carrier is its efflux, the ego; which in its turn clothes itself in its own vital garment which is soul. Cosmically, therefore, soul is the vehicle or upadhi of spirit.

As the monad creates for its manifestation successive vehicles, soul in its widest sense includes all these, even the physical body; but it is usually used in an aggregative sense to designate the intermediate nature, excluding the monad on the one hand and the physical body on the other. Such division produces the triad of spirit, soul, body, where soul is the vehicle of spirit, and body is the vehicle of soul and spirit.

The soul is evolved by experiences on different planes. In itself it is merely a vehicle; but, informed by the monad, through the latter's ego, it is a living conscious entity. The broad meaning is particularized with qualifying adjectives such as animal soul, human soul, etc. Saying that every living thing -- animal, vegetable, or mineral -- has a soul, refers to the intermediate nature of the being, of which its physical body is the vehicle. Souls, like bodies, are aggregates of innumerable subordinate lives or life-atoms of various orders. Equivalent to the Greek psyche and the Hebrew nephesh.

(See also: Soul , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

SOUL

The illusion of separation from spirit. It should be understood that the spirit is that which seeks manifestation and appears as a soul/body. The soul is that which characterizes, shapes, informs, moves and operates the material flesh and action it its unique expression. Without the soul, the body is no more than an automaton or zombie without meaning or purpose. Without the body, the soul is a wraith and an unfinished blueprint -- electricity without a plug. The Psyche is that entire part of the soul that ranges from all the depths of the Unconscious as its roots merge with the physical body all the way up to Consciousness itself, which is the intended goal of the spirit, like the fruit or blossom of a plant. That ultimate product, consciousness, is what the Greeks called the nous and which we translate, somewhat innacurately, as "the mind". But theosophically and alchemically speaking, Mind is much larger. It is the field encompassing both being and non-being, in which the spirit dwells, a continuum or sphere of containment for the All (that is, unaccessable "omiscience"). In short, the spirit seeks to know itself by means of the soul's use of the body as a tool to create consciousness. When, however, the soul identifies too strongly with the body, it soon becomes corrupt, turning into a mere slave of the flesh and the spirit is checkmated and imprisoned.

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

A Theosophical definition of Soul :

Soul

This word in the ancient wisdom signifies "vehicle," and upadhi  - that vehicle, or any vehicle, in which the monad, in any sphere of manifestation, is working out its destiny. A soul is an entity which is evolved by experiences; it is not a spirit, but it is a vehicle of a spirit  - the monad. It manifests in matter through and by being a substantial portion of the lower essence of the spirit. Touching another plane below it, or it may be above it, the point of union allowing ingress and egress to the consciousness, is a laya-center  - the neutral center, in matter or substance, through which consciousness passes  - and the center of that consciousness is the monad. The soul in contradistinction with the monad is its vehicle for manifestation on any one plane. The spirit or monad manifests in seven vehicles, and each one of these vehicles is a soul.

On the higher planes the soul is a vehicle manifesting as a sheaf or pillar of light; similarly with the various egos and their related vehicle-souls on the inferior planes, all growing constantly more dense, as the planes of matter gradually thicken downwards and become more compact, into which the monadic ray penetrates until the final soul, which is the physical body, the general vehicle or bearer or carrier of them all.

Our teachings give to every animate thing a soul  - not a human soul, or a divine soul, or a spiritual soul  - but a soul corresponding to its own type. What it is, what its type is, actually comes from its soul; hence we properly may speak of the different beasts as having one or the other, a "duck soul," an "ostrich soul," a "bull" or a "cow soul," and so forth. The entities lower than man  - in this case the beasts, considered as a kingdom, are differentiated into the different families of animals by the different souls within each. Of course behind the soul from which it springs there are in each individual entity all the other principles that likewise inform man; but all these higher principles are latent in the beast.

Speaking generally, however, we may say that the soul is the intermediate part between the spirit which is deathless and immortal on the one hand and, on the other hand, the physical frame, entirely mortal. The soul, therefore, is the intermediate part of the human constitution. It must be carefully noted in this connection that soul as a term employed in the esoteric philosophy, while indeed meaning essentially a "vehicle" or "sheath," this vehicle or sheath is nevertheless an animate or living entity much after the manner that the physical body, while being the sheath or vehicle of the other parts of man's constitution, is nevertheless in itself a discrete, animate, personalized being. (See also Vahana)

See also: Soul , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Soul

The life of the individual, the astral body That part of the individual which survives death and lives on into the otherworld, before being reincarnated.

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