Vedanta: (Sanskrit) "Ultimate wisdom" or "final

conclusions of the Vedas." Vedanta is the system of

thought embodied in the Upanishads (ca 1500-600 bce),

which give forth the ultimate conclusions of the Vedas.

Through history there developed numerous Vedanta

schools, ranging from pure dualism to absolute monism.

The first and original school is Advaita Ishvaravada,

"monistic theism" or panentheism, exemplified in the

Vedanta-Siddhanta of Rishi Tirumular (ca 250 bce) of the Nandinatha Sampradaya in his Tirumantiram, which is a

perfect summation of both the Vedas and the Agamas.

This is a dipolar reconciliation of monism and dualism

which, as philosopher-statesman Dr. S. Radhakrishnan

(18881975)

declared, best depicts the philosophy of the

Upanishads. After about 700 ce, many other schools

developed, each establishing itself through written

commentaries on the major Upanishads, the Bhagavad

Gita and the Brahma Sutras. The latter text, by

Badarayana (ca 400 bce), is the earliest known

systematization of Vedanta, but its extremely terse

aphorisms are philosophically illusive without

commentary. During the "scholastic era" (7001700),

three main variations of the original Vedanta were

developed: 1) Advaita Vedanta, or pure nondualism,

exemplified by Shankara (788820);

2) Vishishtadvaita

Vedanta, or qualified nondualism, most fully expressed by

Ramanuja (10171137);

and 3) Dvaita Vedanta,

expounded by Madhva (11971278).

Panentheism is embodied in those qualified nondual

Vedanta schools that accept the ultimate identity of

the soul and God. Examples are the Vishishtadvaita

of Bhaskara (ca 950), the Shuddha Advaita, "pure

nondualism," of Vallabha (ca 14751530)

and, to a

lesser degree, the Vishishtadvaita of Ramanuja.

In summary: Madhva, the dualist, conceives

Brahman to be the Personal God. In his philosophy,

the universe, souls and God are all separate from one

another and real. Ramanuja, the qualified nondualist,

also conceives Brahman to be the Personal God. In

his philosophy, God must not be considered apart

from the world and souls, for the three together form

a one whole. The world and souls are real as the

body of God, and the individual soul feels himself to

be part of God. Shankara, the strict advaitist,

conceives Brahman to be the Impersonal God, the

Absolute. Shankara does not deny the existence of

the Personal God, known as Ishvara, but declares

Ishvara to be equally as unreal as the universe and

the individuality of the soul. In truth, the only

Reality is the Absolute, and man is that Absolute. To

Rishi Tirumular, the panentheist, there is an eternal

oneness of God and man at the level of their inner Being, but a difference is acknowledged during the

evolution of the soul. Ultimately even this difference

merges in identity. Thus, there is perfectly

beginningless oneness and a temporary difference

which resolves itself in perfect identity.

Vedanta is one of the six classical philosophies (shad

darshanas) along with Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Sankhya,

Yoga and Mimamsa. Vedanta is also called Uttara

Mimamsa, "upper or later examination," as

distinguished from Purva Mimamsa, which

concerned itself solely with the earlier portions of the

Veda. Other important schools of Vedanta include

the Dvaitadvaita, "dual-nondualism,"of Nimbarka (ca

1150), and the Achintya Bhedabheda, "unthinkable

difference-nondifference," of Chaitanya (14851534).

See: acosmic pantheism, Advaita Isvaravada,

dvaita-advaita, monistic theism, Madhva,

panentheism, Ramanuja, Tirumantiram, Vallabha.

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

Voluspa (Icelandic) [from volva, vala sibyl + spa see clairvoyantly]

The foremost lay of the poetic or Elder Edda, sung by the "wise sibyl" in response to Odin's quest for knowledge. The vala represents the indelible record of the past, which here is consulted by the god Odin. Odin Allfather is the central character in Norse myths, and represents evolving consciousness, whether human, solar, planetary, or cosmic. Odin questions the vala and she responds with an account of creation and foretells the future destiny of conscious beings. From this record of the past history of the world, Odin learns about our planet's destiny and of nine former worlds that preceded the present one. The entire process of cosmic evolution is here comprised in a thumbnail sketch, which is all but incomprehensible unless amplified by the other lays of the Elder Edda.

The Wagner opera cycle "The Ring of the Nibelungen" is based on the Volsupa, which relates the beginning and end of the world, and the fresh, new creation to follow. The sibyl speaks of Ragnarok, when the gods retreat from existence into their own celestial spheres, presenting a grim and fearsome prospect, but the narrative ends with a note of hope for a serene future world to follow.

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

Mirror

In dreams, mirrors can reflect directly, reflect with additions or deletions, or serve as a doorway into another reality as in Alice in Wonderland. The mirror is troubling because it reveals plainly what is before us, forcing us to interpret and evaluate whether or not we like what we see.

If the mirror is inconsistent ? by adding or deleting certain elements ? it is a projection of perceptive versus actual reality. In this case the dream may be a herald that you are misinterpreting the motives of others by not accepting them at face value. (Who or what is being added or deleted from the mirror?)

Finally, the mirror as a doorway to another world is usually a fantasy created by the subconscious. As Alice discovered when she went through the looking glass, the mirror is a metaphor of possible worlds. Does your dream mirror function as a gate or access out of one boundary and into another possible world? What is more desirable or more threatening about that world?

Source: iVillage, http://www.ivillage.co.uk

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

SHAMANISM: The oldest system of healing and magick in the world, probably as old as mankind itself. Shamanism is the art of functioning comfortably in two realities; the ordinary reality of the everyday, waking world, and the non-ordinary reality of the shamanic state of consciousness attained through an ecstatic trance.

The primary purpose of shamanism is the healing of body and mind, but it is also used for divination and to ensure prosperity for communities. Shamanism is found in some form in every culture in the world.

(See also: SHAMANISM , Pagan Organisations, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary, Wicca,)

Four ranks of sages

(Jpn.: shie)

Buddhist teachers to be relied upon after Shakyamuni Buddha's death. They are explained in the Nirvana and other sutras, which classify them into four ranks according to their level of understanding.

The first rank refers to the voice-hearers who have yet to attain any of the four stages of Hinayana enlightenment.

The second rank refers to those who have attained the first stage, that of the stream-winner (Skt srota-apanna ), or one who has entered the metaphorical river leading to nirvana; and to those the second stage, that of the once-returner (sakridagamin), or one who must undergo only one more rebirth in the human world before entering nirvana.

The third rank refers to those who have attained the third stage, that of non-returner (anagamin), or one who will never be reborn in this world.

The fourth rank refers to those who have eliminated the illusions of thought and desire and attained the fourth and highest stage, that of arhat.

T'ien-t'ai (538-597) and Chang-an (561-632) correlated the four ranks to the fifty-two stages of bodhisattva practice in The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra and The Annotations on the Nirvana Sutra, respectively.

From this viewpoint,

• persons of the first rank correspond to those who have not yet attained the first stage of security.
• Persons of the second rank correspond to those in the ten stages of security.
• Persons of the third rank correspond to those in the ten stages of practice and the ten stages of devotion.
• Persons of the fourth rank correspond to those in the ten stages of development and the stage of near-perfect enlightenment, in which one has almost reached the enlightenment of the Buddha.

Though the four ranks represent the four levels of understanding, "the four ranks of sages" is also a general term for reliable Buddhist teachers, irrespective of how they fit into the above classification. If they are bodhisattvas, they are also referred to as the four ranks of bodhisattvas.

(See also: Four ranks of sages , Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment, Buddhism Enlightenment Dictionary)

Theodice, Theodicy [coined from Greek theos god + dike justice]

A vindication of divine justice; a system or method of intellectual theorizing about the nature of so-called divine justice, having in view vindication of the justice and holiness of God, in connection with evil. Ancient philosophers all taught that the heart of things was divine harmony and that whatever evil, distortion, and obliquity might exist in the world is ultimately traceable back to the imperfect intelligence of evolving beings, who by their manifold conflicts of thought and will thus produce disharmony, relative confusion, and hence evil, in the scheme of things.

This view was replaced during Christian ages by the attempt of many writers to rescue the reputation of the Christian God, who on the one hand is said to be the creator of everything and who yet is supposed to be the fountain of love, mercy, harmony, and goodness.

In view of the evils and suffering in the world, such Christian attempts have been futile, for it is obvious that if God is the creator of all that is, He must have been either directly or indirectly the creator of all the disharmony, wickedness, and misery in the world, as was indeed alleged by many Jewish rabbis, following statements in the Hebrew scriptures. But this thought has been denied by Christians who refuse to accept their God of love and justice as the creator of evil, and thus they had recourse to the Devil, who himself must have been created by their omniscient God.

(See also: Theodice, Theodicy , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Tsimtsum (Chaldean) [from the verbal root tsaman to contract, press together]

Contraction; a Qabbalistic term containing the philosophical idea of a previous expansion -- otherwise there could have been no subsequent contraction. Hence, tsimtsum is used to designate centrifugal and centripetal motion, expansion and contraction, which under the direction of the supreme of the Sephiroth brought forth and maintains the universe.

"The Unknown Absolute, above all number, manifested Itself through an emanation in which it was immanent yet as to which it was transcendental. It first withdrew Itself into Itself, to form an infinite Space, the Abyss; which It then filled with a modified and gradually diminishing Light or Vitalization, first appearing in the Abyss, as the centre of a mathematical point which gradually spread Its Life-giving energy or force throughout all Space. This concentration or contraction and its expansion, being the centripetal and centrifugal energies of creation and existence, the Qabbalists called Tzimtzum. The Will of Ain Soph then manifests Itself through the Ideal Perfect Model or Vitalizing Form, first principle and perfect prototype in idea, of all the to be created, whether spiritual or material. This is the Mikrokosm to the Ain Soph, the Makrokosm as to all the created. It is called the Son of Elohim, i.e., God, and the Adam Illa-ah or Adam Qadmon, the Man of the East or Heavenly Adam" (Myer, Qabbalah p. 231).

This idea is analogous to the Hindu inbreathing and outbreathing of Brahma.

Tsimtsum is stated to be particularly active in the third `olam or lowest triad of the Sephirothal Cosmic Tree -- each Sephirothal Tree is divided into a set of three triads, called respectively 1) intelligible or intellectual world; 2) formative or paradigmatic world; and 3) the natural world. It is in this last triad of Sephiroth, called `olam ham-Muteba`, where tsimtsum is specifically active.

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

Trees of Life. From the highest antiquity trees were connected with the gods and mystical forces in nature.

Every nation had its sacred tree, with its peculiar characteristics and attributes based on natural, and also occasionally on occult properties, as expounded in the esoteric teachings. Thus the peepul or Ashvattha of India, the abode of Pitris (elementals in fact) of a lower order, became the Bo-tree or ficus religiosa of the Buddhists the world over, since Gautama Buddha reached the highest knowledge and Nirvana under such a tree. The ash tree, Yggdrasil, is the world-tree of the Norsemen or Scandinavians.

The banyan tree is the symbol of spirit and matter, descending to the earth, striking root, and then re-ascending heavenward again. The triple-leaved palasa is a symbol of the triple essence in the Universe - Spirit, Soul, Matter.

The dark cypress was the world-tree of Mexico, and is now with the Christians and Mahomedans the emblem of death, of peace and rest. The fir was held sacred in Egypt, and its cone was carried in religious processions, though now it has almost disappeared from the land of the mummies; so also was the sycamore, the tamarisk, the palm and the vine.

The sycamore was the Tree of Life in Egypt, and also in Assyria. It was sacred to Hathor at Heliopolis; and is now sacred in the same place to the Virgin Mary. Its juice was precious by virtue of its occult powers, as the Soma is with Brahmans, and Haoma with the Parsis. " The fruit and sap of the Tree of Life bestow immortality." A large volume might be written upon these sacred trees of antiquity, the reverence for some of which has survived to this day, without exhausting the subject.

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

Energy: Reiki

Reiki (pronounounced RAY-kee) is a Japanese word meaning "Universal Life-Force-Energy". The "Ki" (pronounced CHEE) part is the same word as Chi or Qi, the Chinese word for the energy which underlies everything. Reiki is a system for channeling that energy to someone for the purpose of healing. It was discovered by Dr. Usui, said to be a teacher or perhaps dean of a Christian school in Japan, in the late 1800's. 

The Reiki practices of today are said to have originated in Japan in a clinic headed by Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, a Naval Commander in the Naval Reserve. Today there is little or no hard evidence of Reiki from before World War II. All of the histories of Reiki come from the verbal stories passed on from Mrs. Takata. With roots in Japan prior to World War II, much of the documentation was lost. Apparently the survivors of the war lost the resources allowing them to continue the Reiki clinic and perhaps stopped practicing Reiki. If it were not for Mrs. Takata learning Reiki before the war and bringing it to America, this healing technique could well have been lost to the world.

(Some sources say that Dr. Usui was Buddhist and that the claim he was dean of a Christian school was made by Mrs. Takata to make Reiki more acceptable to Christians in America.)

In its simplest form using Reiki is simply the practitioner placing his/her hands on the recipient with the intent of bringing healing, and willing for Reiki energy to flow. There is a set of traditionally taught hand positions which give good coverage over the recipients entire body. It is not necessary to follow those positions, they are merely taught as a starting position from which the practitioner can learn. If there is a specific area of concern, the practitioner can keep his/her hands right there for as long as necessary.

According to Reiki healers there are four unique qualities that identify energy healing techniques as Reiki:

1. The ability to do Reiki comes from receiving an attunement, rather than developing the ability over time though the use of meditation or other exercises. 

2. All Reiki techniques are part of a lineage. This means that the technique has been passed on from teacher to student through an attunement process starting with the one who first channeled the technique. 

3. Reiki does not require that one guide the energy with the mind, as it is guided by the higher power and knows where to go and how to act all on its own. 

4. Because of this, Reiki can do no harm.

(See also: Reiki , Alternative Health, Holistic Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Islam

A world religion based on the teachings and life of Muhammad (570-632 AD) in Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia (then Persia). Islam is the second largest world religion, and has recently become the third largest religious body in America.

Islam is composed of two major divisions - the mainstream Sunni (the largest) and the more radical Shi'ites.

The mystical tradition of Sufism includes many Sunnis and some Shi'ites.

The Arabic word Islam means Òsubmission to the will of GodÓ and a person who submits is called a Muslim.

The Quran (or, Koran), the Torah, the Psalms of the Old Testament, and the Gospel of the New Testament are regarded as holy books. However, only the Quran is considered uncorrupted.

While many Muslims exhibit tolerance towards other faiths, even today Islamic fundamentalism promotes jihad (holy war), against those of other religious and political views.

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

STANG: A forked ritual staff usually of Ash wood that serves as an altar -- additionally it is a physical representation of the World Tree or Irminsul showing the illusion of duality, as well as being a staff of office for the coven Magister or Magistra. Also functions as a simple walking stick and early versions were used to mark ley lines and used as tools to survey the surrounding countryside.

(See also: STANG , Witch, Witchcraft, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Aboriginal Dreaming

An English expression adopted by Australian Aborigines to convey ideas that, though related in their thought, are not usually denoted by a single word in any of their languages.

One sense is that of a primordial epoch, the Dreaming or Dreamtime, when beings with remarkable powers arose from the ground, descended from the sky, or appeared from over the horizon. They gave the earth its shape by creating physical features (often from parts of their own bodies), fixed life in species form, established human culture, and gave everything its name.

These creative beings, who in their totality are the ultimate explanation of all things, are themselves called Dreamings (roughly equivalent to the anthropological term totems).

Their significance to the Aborigines is not merely historical but personal and social, for each individual and group gains a distinctive identity through its association with one or more Dreamings. In many regions it is held that such beings reincarnate themselves as humans, or that they left relics behind that, to this day, are sufficiently potent to impregnate women.

This sense of oneness, in which past and present, spirit being and human being, are somehow fused, is also seen in ceremonies in which the actors wear designs and make movements symbolic or mimetic of what the Dreamings did in the Dreamtime. By extension, from these two senses of Dreaming, the Aborigines form other expressions, such as Dreaming-place (a site at which a Dreaming was active and left something of itself) and Dreaming-track (an imagined path along which a Dreaming traveled from place to place in the primordial epoch).

Contrary to what is sometimes suggested, the term has no necessary connection with the verb to dream, even though present-day revelations to humans by Dreamings normally occur while the recipient is in a dream or trance state.

See Astral World.

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

THIRD EYE - organ of intuition, located between the eyebrows; sixth chakra divided into five categories by the Tibetans: 1. Eyes of Instinct, supernormal range of vision like a bird. 2. Celestial eyes taking in heaven, Earth, past and future birth. 3. Eyes of Truth, taking in world epochs. 4. Divine Eyes, taking in millions of world periods. 5. Eyes of Wisdom of Buddha’s, taking in eternity. (NAD)

(See also: THIRD EYE , Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

A Theosophical definition of Esoteric Doctrine :

Esoteric Doctrine

The body of mystical and sacred teachings reserved for students of high and worthy character. This body of teachings has been known and studied by highly evolved individuals in all ages. The esoteric doctrine is the common property of mankind, and it has always been thus. In all the various great religions and philosophies of the world, the student will find fundamental principles in each which, when placed side by side and critically examined, are easily discovered to be identic. Every one of such fundamental principles is in every great world religion or world philosophy; hence the aggregate of these world religions or world philosophies contains the entirety of the esoteric doctrine, but usually expressed in exoteric form.

However, no one of these world religions or world philosophies gives in clear and explicit shape or form the entirety of the body of teachings which are at its heart; some religions emphasize one or more of such fundamental principles; another religion or philosophy will emphasize others of these principles; in either case others again of the principles remaining in the background. This readily accounts for the fact that the various world religions and world philosophies vary among themselves and often, to the unreflecting mind, superficially seem to have little in common, and perhaps even to be contradictory. The cause of this is the varying manner in which each such religion or philosophy has been given to the world, the form that each took having been best for the period in which it was promulgated. Each such religion or philosophy, having its own racial sphere and period of time, represents the various human minds who have developed it or who, so to say, have translated it to the world in this or in that particular promulgation.

These manners or mannerisms of exoteric thinking we may discard if we wish; but it is the fundamental principles behind every great religion or great philosophy which in their aggregate are the universal esoteric doctrine. In this universal esoteric doctrine lies the mystery-field of each great religion or philosophy  - this mystery-teaching being always reserved for the initiates. The esoteric philosophy or doctrine has been held from time immemorial in the guardianship of great men, exalted seers and sages, who from time to time promulgate it, or rather portions of it, to the world when the spiritual and intellectual need for so doing arises. The origins of the esoteric doctrine are found in the mystery-teachings of beings from other and spiritual spheres, who incarnated in the early humanity of the third root-race of this fourth round of our globe, and taught the then intellectually nascent mankind the necessary certain fundamental principles or truths regarding the universe and the nature of the world surrounding us.

See also: Esoteric Doctrine , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

Mysticism

A word originally derived from the Greek and having a wide range of meaning in modern religion and philosophy. A mystic may be said to be someone who has intuitions or intimations of the existence of inner and superior worlds, and who attempts to achieve conscious communion with them and the beings inhabiting these inner and invisible worlds.

From the theosophical or occult point of view, a mystic is one who has inner convictions often based on inner vision and knowledge of the existence of spiritual and ethereal worlds of which our outer physical world is but a manifestation; and who has some inner knowledge that these worlds or planes or spheres, with their hosts of inhabitants, are intimately connected with the origin, destiny, and even present nature of the world which surrounds us.

The average mystic, however, is one who lacks the direct guidance derived from personal teaching received from a master or spiritual superior.

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

ASTRAL PLANE: A place which is generally conceptualized as an invisible parallel world which remains unseen from our own solid world of form.

(See also: ASTRAL PLANE , Paganism, Pagan, Pagan Dictionary)

maya: (Sanskrit) "Consisting of; made of," as in manomaya, "made of mind."

From the verb root ma, "to measure, to limit, give form." The principle of appearance or manifestation of God's power or "mirific energy," "that which measures." The substance emanated from Siva through which the world of form is manifested. Hence all creation is also termed maya. It is the cosmic creative force, the principle of manifestation, ever in the process of creation, preservation and dissolution.

See: loka, mind (universal), mirific.

The Upanishads underscore maya's captivating nature, which blinds souls to the transcendent Truth. In Shankara's Vedantic interpretation, maya is taken as pure illusion or unreality. In Saivism it is one of the three bonds (pasha) that limit the soul and thereby facilitate its evolution. For Saivites and most other nondualists, it is understood not as illusion but as relative reality, in contrast to the unchanging Absolute Reality.

In the Saiva Siddhanta system, there are three main divisions of maya, the pure, the pure-impure and the impure realms. Pure or shuddha maya consists of the first five tattvas - Siva tattva, Shakti tattva, Sadasiva tattva, Ishvara tattva and Shuddhavidya tattva. The pure-impure realm consists of the next seven tattvas. The impure realm consists of the maya tattva and all of its evolutes - from the kala tattva to prithivi, the element earth. Thus, in relation to the physical universe, maya is the principle of ever-changing matter. In Vaishnavism, maya is one of the nine Shaktis of Vishnu.

See: loka, mind (universal), mirific, tattva, world.

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

Tala (Sanskrit) Lower or inferior portions of a series, inferior world; also a chasm, abyss, floor. All these ideas suggest lower or inferior planes. Often used in conjunction with loka (place, world). The talas stand for the material aspects or substance-principles of the different worlds which are the cosmic universe, in contrast with the lokas which suggest the spiritual aspect of the universe.

The number of loka-talas is generally given as seven, though the number varies, all the seven lokas and seven talas interblending and interworking to form the universe and all its various hierarchies. The seven talas are generally given in theosophical writings as atala, vitala, sutala, rasatala, talatala, mahatala, and patala.

Because the lokas are more particularly the spheres of spiritual and intellectual character, and the talas the spheres of vehicular or more substantial character, it has been customary in Indian literature to speak of the lokas as heavens and the talas as hells -- neither heavens nor hells bearing the shades of meaning attached to them in Christian theology. Every substantial globe is considered a hell; our own earth, for instance, bhurloka-patala, is so considered. All these talas are in the last analysis rising or descending realms forming the astral light which is not one sole restricted realm or sphere.

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

CREATION MYTH - myths about the origins of the world, often falling in one of four types.

1. creation from nothing in which God fashions Heaven and Earth from sound, word/thought.

2. creation from a cosmic egg in which the universe arises from complementary opposite principles.

3. an Earth diver story in which an emissary from the heavenly realm plunges into the chaos below and brings up clay or mud to fashion the Earth.

4. an emergence myth in which the first people emerge into the world of light from the underworld below. (NAD)

(See also: CREATION MYTH , Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Aziluth (Hebrew, Jewish) The name for the world of the Sephiroth, called the world of Emanations Olam Aziluth. It is the great and the highest prototype of the other worlds. "Atzeelooth is the Great Sacred Seal by means of which all the worlds are copied which have impressed on themselves the image on the Seal; and as this Great Seal comprehends three stages, which are three zures (prototypes) of Nephesh (the Vital Spirit or Soul), Ruach (the moral and reasoning Spirit), and the Neshamah (the Highest Soul of man), so the Sealed have also received three zures, namely Breeah, Yetzeerah, and Aseeyah, and these three zures are only one in the Seal" (Myer’s Qabbalah). The globes A, Z, of our terrestial chain are in Aziluth. (See Secret Doctrine.)

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

Pretaloka: (Sanskrit) "World of the departed."

The realm of the earth-bound souls. This lower region of Bhuvarloka is an astral duplicate of the physical world.

See: loka.

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