Supreme Being Dictionary

GODDESS -

1. Supreme being of matriarchal avilizations.

2. an internal set of images and attitudes. (NAD)

(See also: GODDESS , Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Wondrous Being Often equivalent to Silent Watcher, the supreme head of a hierarchy; and since hierarchies are innumerable, there are innumerable Wondrous Beings. Thus there is a Wondrous Being or Silent Watcher of cosmic magnitude for the Brotherhood of Compassion; a Wondrous Being for our globe, who is identical on a smaller scale; and a Wondrous Being for our planetary chain. In the other direction, there are Wondrous Beings for all less hierarchies even down to that of the atom: it is the highest egoic form of the divine spark everywhere. In The Secret Doctrine the Wondrous Being is made equivalent to the root-base or ever-living-human-banyan.

"This 'Wondrous Being' descended from a 'high region,' they say, in the early part of the Third Age, before the separation of the sexes of the Third Race. . . .

"The 'Being' just referred to, which has to remain nameless, is the Tree from which, in subsequent ages, all the great historically known Sages and Hierophants, such as the Rishi Kapila, Hermes, Enoch, Orpheus, etc., etc., have branched off. As objective man, he is the mysterious (to the profane -- the ever invisible) yet ever present Personage about whom legends are rife in the East, especially among the Occultists and the students of the Sacred Science. It is he who changes form, yet remains ever the same. And it is he again who holds spiritual sway over the initiated Adepts throughout the whole world. He is, as said, the 'Nameless One' who has so many names, and yet whose names and whose very nature are unknown. He is the 'Initiator,' called the 'great sacrifice.' For, sitting at the threshold of light, he looks into it from within the circle of Darkness, which he will not cross; nor will he quit his post till the last day of this life-cycle" (SD 1:207-8).

The Wondrous Being of the human constitution is the higher monad called atma-buddhi-manas or the inner god, to which Jesus referred when he spoke of his Father.

See also WATCHER

(See also: Wondrous Being , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

God

1.    (Judeo-Christianity) Creator and sustainer of the universe.

2.    (Theosophy) Transcendent and immanent being who guides and controls the course of planetary evolution.

3.    Sum total of all that is.

4.    (Islam) Lord of the universe who cannot be represented by any form.

5.    (Hinduism) The One who plays the game of life by becoming the Many, losing itself in the creation and finding its way back to unity; supreme being, personal friend, teacher, and lover who knows the heart of all beings.

6.    (mysticism) Indwelling spirit within all beings; one's highest self realized through contemplation or service; eternal, infinite, all-wise, all-knowing, all-loving, ever-free radiant presence.

7.    (humanism) Impersonal spirit of selfless love

(See also: God , Body Mind and Soul)

 Ishvara:

a supreme being, god

(See also:  Ishvara , Body Mind and Soul)

Aham Brahmasmi: (Sanskrit) "I am God." Famous phrase often repeated in the Upanishads. In this ecstatic statement of enlightenment, "I" does not refer to the individuality or outer nature, but to the essence of the soul which is ever identical to God Siva (or Brahman, the Supreme Being) as Satchidananda and Parasiva. One of four Upanishadic "great sayings," mahavakya.

(See also: Aham Brahmasmi , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Allah

The God or Supreme Being of Islam

(See also: Allah , Body Mind and Soul)

Yoga

(from Sanskrit. verbal root, meaning "discipline," )

Any number of physical or spiritual disciplines arising in India. An Eastern philosophy involving spiritual discipline using various techniques to experience union with a Supreme Being. Many yogic paths exist and include work on the physical body as in Hatha yoga, which uses breathing exercises and sustained physical postures to gain physical and mental control over the body; Bhakti, the yoga of devotion and love using the heart as a vehicle for transcendence; and other types of yoga specific to a path or teacher including Iyengar, Jnana, Karma, Kripalu, Kriya, Kundalini, Raja, Siddha and Tantra yoga.

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

Brahman (Sanskrit) (from brih to expand)

Sometimes Brahma or Brahm. The one reality, "the impersonal, supreme and uncognizable Principle of the Universe from the essence of which all emanates, and into which all returns, which is incorporeal, immaterial, unborn, eternal, beginningless and endless. It is all-pervading, animating the highest god as well as the smallest mineral atom" (TG 62). It involves both essential consciousness and substance, and is the spiritual background of the kosmos, the Cause of all Causes, what is commonly called the Unmanifest Logos: "Brahma, the Noumenon, never rests, as IT never changes and ever IS, though IT cannot be said to be anywhere" (SD 1:374). As the fundamental cosmic fountain of consciousness and spiritual substance, Brahman is the fundamental or cosmic self which, in the case of an individual being, becomes the kshetrajna, the spiritual sun within the individual. Thus the essential self of every being or entity from cosmos to physical atom is this Brahman itself, which is the cause of the familiar saying "tat tvam asi" (you are that).

Through and from Brahman derive the various cosmic Brahmas, the expansion of the One into the many. Brahman does not put forth evolution itself nor create, but exhibits various aspects of itself by means of emanative evolution. The Hindu Puranas say that Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva are the primordial energies of Brahman, the divine neuter. There is a clear distinction between the impersonal, supreme, all-pervading, immanent, beginningless, and endless cosmic principle, whose essence is consciousness-life-substance, and the various Brahmas; for these latter are the periodic manifestations of the highest energies flowing forth at the beginning of each manvantara from the neuter Brahman, and into which these various Brahmas are ingathered again when the cosmic cycle reaches its close and pralaya ensues.

Philosophically, as the supreme cosmic principle of any universe, Brahman is enclosed within its veil or sakti, called pradhana; just as Brahma is similarly infolded within its inseparable sakti called prakriti, and on a still vaster plane mulaprakriti enfolds parabrahman. We have thus: parabrahman-mulaprakriti, Brahman-pradhana, and Brahma- or Purusha-prakriti.

(See also: Brahman , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

monistic theism: Advaita Ishvaravada.

Monism is the doctrine that reality is a one whole or existence without independent parts. Theism is the belief that God exists as a real, conscious, personal Supreme Being.

Monistic theism is the dipolar doctrine, also called panentheism, that embraces both monism and theism, two perspectives ordinarily considered contradictory or mutually exclusive, since theism implies dualism.

Monistic theism simultaneously accepts that God has a personal form, that He creates, pervades and is all that exists - and that He ultimately transcends all existence and that the soul is, in essence, one with God. Advaita Siddhanta (monistic Saiva Siddhanta, or Advaita Ishvaravada Saiva Siddhanta) is a specific form of monistic theism.

See: advaita, Advaita Ishvaravada, Advaita Siddhanta, dvaita-advaita, panentheism, theism.

(See also: Monistic theism , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Dvaita (Sanskrit) Duality; applied to a Vedanta sect, also called Madhvas after their founder, Madhva (born c. 1200). The chief doctrine of this school is duality, standing in opposition to the teachings of Sankaracharya, whose system is known as the Advaita (non-duality).

The Dvaita Vedantists assert that there are two principles in the universe: the supreme Being, and the innumerable multitudes of other beings among which are mankind -- and that these are distinct one from the other.

See also RAMANUJACHARYA.

(See also: Dvaita , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

PURUSHA: The Supreme Being.

(See also: PURUSHA ,Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

Achidrupa, acidrupa (Sanskrit) (from a not + cit intelligence + rupa form, body)

A form or body without an intelligence; the negative or opposite of chidrupa, pure intelligence and consciousness, which is applied to the hierarch or supreme being of a hierarchy. Achidrupa signifies whatever entity or thing is not yet self-consciously cognizant of the chit (intelligence) within itself, i.e., without an atman or conscious self. Hence achidrupa could apply to the material spheres, or even to intelligences greatly inferior to the chidrupa. Like most Oriental philosophical terms, the meaning shifts in connection with the framework of thought in which it is used.

(See also: Achidrupa, acidrupa , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Aum Supreme Truth

See Aum Shinri Kyo.

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

Aisvarika (Sanskrit) (from isvara lord, prince, master from the verbal root ish to be valid, powerful, master of)

Relating to a lord or king; the hierarch or supreme spirit of a hierarchy. One of the four philosophical schools or systems in Nepal (the others being Karmika, Yatnika, and Svabhavikia). In this system, adi-buddha is individualized as the cosmic spirit of our hierarchy, attention being centered on this individualization to an extent unusual in Buddhism. While it is true that the highest individualized manifestation of adi-buddhi is adi-buddha, which is the isvara or supreme hierarch of our own cosmic hierarchy, nevertheless both adi-buddhi and adi-buddha are abstract principles of the galactic spaces.

(See also: Aisvarika , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

chaitanya: (Sanskrit) "Spirit, consciousness, especially higher consciousness; Supreme Being."

A widely used term, often preceded by modifiers, e.g., sakshi chaitanya, "witness consciousness," or bhakti chaitanya, "devotional consciousness," or Sivachaitanya, "God consciousness." See: chitta, consciousness, mind (five states), Siva consciousness.

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

Ananda: Bliss or joy. In Indian philosophy of the Upanishads, Ananda was an important attribute of the supreme being, Brahman. "Bliss" was used to define Brahman and was also considered to be the highest state of the individual self.

(See also: Ananda ,Yoga, Yoga Dictionary)

Plotinus: Egyptian-born philosopher (205-270), one of the Western world's greatest known mystics, who extended and revived the work of the Greek philosopher Plato in the Roman Empire.

His philosophy, known as Neo-Platonism, posits concentric levels of reality, not unlike the Hindu cosmology of lokas, with a central source of sublime existence and values and an outer sheath of physical matter. Man, he said, is a microcosm of this system, capable of attaining the sublime inner state through enstasy. He practiced and taught ahimsa, vegetarianism, karma, reincarnation and belief in Supreme Being as both immanent and transcendent.

His writings, in six volumes, are called the Ennead. He was apparently familiar with Hindu wisdom through reading Life of Apollonius, a biography which narrated a young Greek renunciate's travels through India.

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

God

Regardless of whether we believe in a God or not, all of us have been exposed to the idea of a supreme and omnipresent being. The dilemma over the existence of God is probably the most common dilemma of them all. Everyone from time to time will have a dream about "God." Its symbolism depends on the dreamer. God in our dreams can be considered a positive or self affirming symbol. It represents truth, purity, and love. It also represents the creative energy which is abundant in all of us (whether we know it or not). For a certain number of people, in the dream state, God may have negative connotations. For them God could represent eternal punishment, damnation, and invoke massive amount guilt. Most religions consider dreams to be a pathway to God or to the spiritual realm. Through dreams we have an opportunity to have experiences which are not available during the day. Our unconscious mind may be more capable of connecting to the eternal flow of spirit and it may be the dwelling place of the soul.

See also: Meaning of Dreams about Jesus

Source: Dream Lover Incorporated, http://www.dreamloverinc.com

(See also: Dream Archives, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation, Dream Dictionary, Dream Dictionary - God , Meaning of Dreams about God , Dream Interpretation God )

Godhead: God; Divinity.

A term describing the essence or highest aspect of the Supreme Being.

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

ishvara:

ishvara - a supreme being, god

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

Abraxas, Abrasax (Gnostic) Mystical term used by the Gnostics to indicate the supreme entity of our cosmic hierarchy or its manifestation in the human being which they called the Christos. Abrasas has the value of 365, based on numerical equivalents of the Greek alphabet. Because 365 represents the cycle of one revolution of our planet around the sun, they held that in Abraxas were mystically contained the full number of families of entities composing a hierarchy. These entities received from their supreme illuminator, Abraxas, the streams of life and inspiration governing their existence. Thus in a sense Abraxas is the cosmic Oversoul, the creative or Third Logos, Brahma. The Basilidean Gnostics taught that from this supreme God was created nous (mind). Abraxas also was identified with the Hebrew 'Adonai, the Egyptian Horus, and the Hindu Prajapati.

Gnostic amulets known as Abraxas gems depicted the god as a pantheos (all-god), with the head of a cock, herald of the sun, representing foresight and vigilance; a human body clothed in armor, suggestive of guardian power; legs in the form of sacred asps. In his right hand is a scourge, emblem of authority; on his left arm a shield emblazoned with a word of power. This pantheos is invariably inscribed with his proper name IAO and his epithets Abraxas and Sabaoth, and often accompanied with invocations such as SEMES EILAM, the eternal sun (Gnostics and Their Remains 246), which Blavatsky equates with "the central spiritual sun" of the Qabbalists (SD 2:214). Though written in Greek characters, the words SEMES EILAM ABRASAX are probably Semitic in origin: shemesh sun; `olam secret, occult, hid, eternity, world; Abrasax Abraxas. Hence in combination the phrase may be rendered "the eternal sun Abraxax."

(See also: Abraxas, Abrasax , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)