W. Q. Judge's Student Glossary

FOR THE USE OF STUDENTS OF THEOSOPHICAL LITERATURE

THIRD EDITION. -- WITH AN APPENDIX -- ARYAN PRESS. -- NEW YORK. -- THE PATH, 144 MADISON AVE. -- 1892

 

PREFATORY WORDS.

A GLOSSARY is said to be “a vocabulary explaining words which are obscure, antiquated, local, or peculiar to some cult or special study.  “This little work is not a dictionary, because to be such it should contain all the words of some language, which it does not.

This is an attempt to furnish students of Theosophical literature who are not Sanskritists with a glossary — nothing else — of the many Sanskrit and other strange words found so often in books and writings published and written by members of our Society.  Readers will therefore understand that we are not offering them a Sanskrit grammar, nor a book which will make clear all that they wish to know about the proper pronunciation of Sanskrit words.  The latter would be, in our opinion, a hopeless work, and is not attempted.

Rarely is even a dictionary complete; and we do not claim that this glossary contains every foreign word which may be met in Theosophical books; but it has all the important ones.

In order to give some notion of the proper pronunciation of Sanskrit, but only by way of a guide, and not as an authority, a short table is put at the end of these paragraphs, which if carefully studied will help readers to come somewhat near to the right sound.

Yet even the table will be blind to those who cannot see that if we postulate for e the sound of a in gay, we must spell Kate as Ket.  Those who speak Spanish will very readily acquire the right pronunciation when they know that as in Spanish so in Sanskrit, in nearly all cases, a is ah, e is like a in gay, i is ee, o is oh, u is oo, ai is i and au is ow, none of these sounds being altered by juxtaposition or combination of letters.

It is well to remember, too, that a little common sense and memory will enable us to see at once that if one writer writes Arjoon he means what another does by Arjuna.  The old edition of Wilkins’ translation of the Bhagavad-Gita comes as near as any later work to giving the right sound in English form.  He spells Gita as Geeta, Arjuna as Arjoon, Pandu as Pandoo, Amrita as Amreeta, Krishna as Kreeshna.

TABLE OF VOWEL SOUNDS.

a as a in father.

e as a in hate.

i as i in pique.

o as o in go.

u as oo in root

ai as i in mine.

au as ow in now.

EXAMPLES.  — Avidya, ah-veed yah; Buddha, Bood-dhah; ha-tha-yoga, hat-ha yo gah; Isvara, Eesh-wah-ra; Siva, Shee-vah; Surya, Soor yah; yuga, yoo gah.

 

A WORKING GLOSSARY

FOR THE USE OF

Students of Theosophical Literature.

Abhava, non-existence, non-entity; privation, negation, destruct-tion, death.  (a, not; bhava, being: non-being.)

Abhinivesa, idle terror causing death.

Abhutarajasas, bright incorporeal beings, deities having not even astral forms.  (a, not; bhuta, element; raj, shine.)

Abhyasana, uninterrupted contemplation of an object.  (abhi, into; asa, throwing: “throwing [one’s self] into [study].”)

Acharya, a holy teacher; an instructor in the mysteries.  (Literally, “one who knows the achara, or rules.”)

Achit, one of the three inseparable aspects of Parabrahmam.  (a, devoid of; chit, thought, intelligent force, mind.)

Achyuta, the “unfalling,”that which is not subject to “fall;” a title given to Krishna in the Bhagavat-Gita; a name of Vishnu.

Adept  (Eng. ), as used in these times is applied to the Mahatmas, but as there are black and white, high and low Adepts, that use is erroneous.  The word strictly means an expert or master in some particular art or science.  In Theosophical literature the term is generally applied to those occultists who have passed beyond the age of pupilage and have, so to speak, “come of age” in the study and practice of occultism, being more than chelas but less than full Initiates.

Adharma, unrighteousness, wickedness, vice.

Adhibautika, natural; a term applied to natural and extrinsic pain.

Adhibhuta, the lord of lives; the Supreme Spirit when dwelling in all elemental nature through the mysterious power; of nature’s illusion.  (adhi, over; bhuta, element.)

Adhidaivata,  (also Adhidaiva), presiding deity, lord of all the gods; the Supreme Spirit as dwelling in the solar orb  (meaning, according to Eastern ideas, that the supreme power for this solar system has its place in the sun), or when fully manifest in man.  (adhi, over; daiva, a god.)

Adhidaivika, a term applied to superhuman pain.

Adhivajna, the Supreme Spirit as director of the body, as it is held in the ancient doctrine that one spirit guides all men, assuming in each an apparent separateness which is due to the personal lower self.  (adhi, over; yajna, sacrificial ceremony: “ director of the sacrificial ceremony “ — which is human life.)

Adhyatma , the soul of souls; the over-soul.  (adhi, over; atma, soul.)

Adhyatmika, relating to the soul  (adhyatma); a term applied to natural and inseparable pain.

Adi, the first, the beginning; the unknown Deity, Brahma.

Adi-Buddha, first or primeval wisdom; an aspect of Para­brahmam.  (adi, first; buddha, wisdom.)

Adi-Buddhi, the first or unmanifested consciousness.

Adi-Sanat, “the first ancient,” Brahma, the creator.

Aditi, “the boundless,” i. e., space; aether; akasa; Vedic name for mulaprakriti; abstract space, or ideal nature, corresponding with the Egyptian Isis, the female side of procreative nature.

Adityas, the twelve sun-gods who bring about the universal conflagration of this solar system.

Adi-Varsha, the first country; the Eden of the first races.

Adonai, a Hebrew word, meaning “Lord,” which was used in reading the sacred scrolls as a substitute for the unut­terable name of four letters, the J-H-V-H.  This term was used by mediaeval writers as a name for certain class­es of the Dhyan Chohans.

Adrishta, unseen; beyond reach of consciousness; the merit or demerit attaching to a man’s conduct in a former in­carnation, and the corresponding  (apparently arbitrary) punishment or reward in the present or a future incarna­tion; destiny.

Advaita, non-duality; the one secondless existence, the one reality; a system of philosophy based on non-duality.

Agami, one of the three sorts of karma.  (a, not; gami, go­ing.)  (See Karma.)

Agni, name of a god; fire, especially fire from heaven; some­times indirectly signifying Parabrahmam.

Agnihotri, a priest and invoker of fire.  (agni, fire, especial­ly fire from heaven; hotri, priest, offerer, invoker.)

Agnisvattas, gods of fire and air; one of the two kinds of Pitris, incorporeal, without even astral forms, who are fashioners of the inner man.

Ahamkara, egoism; that which within us says, “I am the actor, for me all this is being done”; in Sankhya philos­ophy, the third of the eight producers of creation.  (Aham I; kara, making:  the making of self.)

Ahriman, the evil principle of the universe; the “Satan” of Zoroastrianism; an asura.

Aisvarya, power; superhuman powers of omnipresence, om­nipotence, invisibility, etc.

Aitareya-Brahmana, name of a Upanishad.  (See Brahmana.)

Aitihya, oral communication, traditional instruction.

Aja, not born, existing from all eternity; a term applied to the higher deities.

Ajnyana, ignorance.

Akasa, the subtle fluid that pervades all space, and exists everywhere and in everything, as the vehicle of life and sound; “out-look,” open space, sky, aether.  It is said that by a knowledge and use of the akasa all magical feats can be performed.

Akhyayikas, short tales or anecdotes.

Aksha, eye; any round thing.

Akshara, unbroken, imperishable; Brahma, Vishnu, or Siva; the syllable Om; the soul.  (aksha, a round thing, a circle, unbroken [like a circle].)

Akta, anointed, initiated.

Alaya, the over-soul.  (a, not; laya, dissolution: non-dis­solution, permanence.)

Amanasa, the mindless.  (a, not; manas, mind.)

Amitabha, a Dhyani-Buddha; the celestial name of Gautama Buddha, much used in Japanese Buddhism.  (Literally, “of unmeasured splendor.”)

Amrita, the water of immortality obtained, according to an allegory in the Mahabharata, from the churning of the ocean by the suras and asuras, meaning the spiritual cul­tivation resulting from the conflict between our higher and lower nature; Soma Juice; immortality; the col­lective body of immortals; the immortal light; final eman­cipation.  (Literally, “deathless.’’)

Anaisvarya, powerless, without supremacy.

Ananda, bliss; an aspect of Parabrahmam.

Anandamya-kosa,the spiritual soul, buddhi.  (See Kosa.)

Ananta, infinite; a term applied to different deities, and to the seven-headed serpent couch upon which Krishna  (the manifested Vishnu) reclines when he creates the worlds; the infinite beyond time and space.

Anavasada, indifference to miseries.

Anayam, a measure of time, 180 days.

Andhatamisra, utter darkness of the soul.

Anima, a power or siddhi by which one can go into the smallest atom.

Anima Mundi  (Latin), the soul of the world.  In Esotericism it means the actual soul or psychic force of the world; that is, that this globe as a whole with its creatures has its own soul.

Anishtubha, a peculiar Sanskrit metre.

Anitya, temporary, not everlasting.

Annamaya-Kosa, the material body.  (See Kosa.)

Antahkarana, the channel of communication between the higher and lower aspects of manas; the seat of thought and feeling.  (antar, within; karana, instrument or means of causing.)

Anu, atomic.

Anuddharsha, contentment, satisfaction with one’s condition.

Anugita, an episode from the fourteenth book of the Maha­bharata.  It gives the discourse between Krishna and Arjuna after the battle with which the Bhagavad-Gita opens.  (anu, after;  gita, song: an after-song.)

Anumana, inference, drawing a conclusion from given prem­ises, one of the means of obtaining knowledge according to the Sankhya or Nyaya systems.

Anumapaka, the basis of inference.

Anumata, producer of satisfaction in the doer of an act, though not himself concerned in action, still appearing as such.

Anupadaka, without progenitors; a name applied to celestial beings generally, and also to the highest Adepts.

Anusrava, Vedic tradition; acquired by repeated hearing.

Anyathajnana, confounding of the attributes of one thing with those of another.  (anyatha, otherwise; jnana, know­ing

Ap, water; air; the intermediate region.

Apah,  (plural of Ap), divinities^-and potencies.

Apam-Napat, Vedic name for Agni, or fire as sprung from water; intelligent force pervading nature the “light of the Logos,” Fohat.  (apam, water; napat, offspring.)

Apana, breathing out, expiration, one of the five vital airs,  (opposed to prana); a cultivated physical faculty utilized in certain Hatha Yoga exercises.

Apavarga, the emancipation of the soul from the misery of repeated re-births; final beatitude.  (apa, from, away; varga, purified, exempt.)

Aprithaksiddha, inseparable and eternal union, such as thatexisting between Chit, Achit and Isvara.

Aranis, the two pieces of wood used in producing, by attri­tion, the sacred fire.

Arghya, a libation to gods or saints, of rice, flowers, etc., with
water, or of water only, in a small boat-shaped vessel.

Arghyanath, lord of libations, a title of the Maha-Chohan.

Arghya-Varsha, the land of libations; the mystery name of
the land whence the Kalki avatar is expected to come.

Arhats, initiated holy men of the Buddhist and Jaina faiths; often used synonymously with Rishi, Mahatma, and Adept.  (Literally, “worthy ones.”)

Arjuna, a personality in the Bhagavat Gita, son and avatar of Indra, allegorically representing man; also spoken of as Nara.  (arjuna, silver white. nara, man, the primal man, a hero.)

Arupa, formless, colorless.  (a, not; rupa, color, form.)

Arya, a man of the Vedic Indian tribes, an Aryan.  (Liter­ally, ‘‘one of the faithful.”)

Aryasangha, the whole body of the Aryans; name of the founder of the Yogachara  (Yogakara) school of Buddhism.

Aryavarta, the sacred land of the Aryans; India.

Asakti, disability.

Asana a posture of a devotee, the manner of sitting forming part of the eight-fold observances of ascetic; one of the eight means or stages of Yoga.  (See Yoga.)

Asat, non-being.

Asmita, egoism.

Astral Body  (Eng.), a term very 1oosely used in Theosoph­ical literature to cover every kind of phantasmal or ethereal appearance of the human form.  Its principal meanings are as follows:

(1)      The term is used as the English equivalent of the Sanskrit linga-sarira, and then means the ethereal or subtle form round which the physical body is built up, a form which serves as the vehicle of prana or life, and constitutes the mould into and from which the atoms of gross matter are continually passing.  The linga-sarira or astral body in this sense can exude or ooze out from the physical body and become perceptible to the physical senses.  This frequently occurs in the case of spiritualistic mediums, many of whose phenomena, espe­cially the so-called materializations, are produced through the agency of this astral body.  But the linga-sarira can never go far from the physical body and disintegrates, as a rule, shortly after the death of the latter.

(2)      The term “astral body” is also used to mean the mayavi-rupa or thought-form, or illusionary form.  As its name implies, the latter is a form or body created by the power of thought, and it is this mayavi-rupa which is seen in cases of the apparitions of living persons at a distance from the physical body.

(3)      The term “astral body” is also sometimes used in regard to the kama-rupa or body of desires, which remains in the astral world after the death of the physical body, and the disintegration of the linga-sarira proper, when it slowly fades out as the energy that it has derived from the true ego, the manas-buddhi, is dissipated.

Astral Light  (Eng.), the light derived from the stars; the lowest principle of akasa.  This term has been so indiscrim­inately used as to be now synonymous with akasa and ether.  Although called “light,” it is such as can only be perceived psychically.  A tenuous medium, or ether, interpenetrating all space, and which cannot be properly understood unless the doctrine is fully admitted that the apparently solid world and material objects are all illusions or space made visible.  (See Akasa.)

Asu, vital spirit, vigorous life; the breath; spiritual life.

Asura, a spiritual, divine being;  (derived from asu, breath;) an evil spirit, a demon of the highest order in perpetual hostility with the gods;  (incorrectly derived from a, not, and sura, god:  a non-god, a demon.).

Asura-Maya, name of a great Atlantean magician, who is said to have been a great astronomer.

Asvamedha, the horse-sacrifice, a ceremony of Vedic times.

Asvatha, the holy fig tree, symbolizing the universe.

Atharva-Veda, the fourth of the Vedas.

Atma, the spirit of the universe; spirit; soul; the animating spiritual breath; the permanent Self; the highest prin­ciple of life in the universe; in one sense Brahma, the supreme deity and soul of the universe.

Atma-Vidya, knowledge of soul or the Supreme Spirit.

Atri, a famous Rishi, author of a number of Vedic hymns.

Atyantika Pralaya, absolute dissolution or obscuration, as, for instance, of a whole planetary chain.

Augoeides  (Greek, literally meaning the “self-luminous“ or “shining one“), a term applied by the Neo-Platonists to the Higher Ego or Individuality of man, as contradis­tinguished from his lower self or personality.  In the Se­cret Doctrine the hints given in Isis Unveiled are ex­plained by the statement that the Augoeides, the “Father in Heaven,” the “Higher Ego,” are synonymous terms referring to the Manasa-Dhyani, who incarnated in or overshadowed the mindless men of the third race, and thus conferred on them the potency of divine, conscious immortality.

Avabohda, waking, perception, discrimination, knowledge.

Avalokitesvara, a Bhodisattva; the manifested Logos, the synthesis of the seven Dhyani-Buddhas or Dhyan-Chohan­ic hosts.  (avalokita, seen; isvara, lord : the lord who is manifest [to the Self]. Rhys Davids renders it, “the lord who looks down from on high.”)

Avarana-Sakti, the power that makes one thing appear as another.

Avastha, state, condition.

Avastha-Traya, the three states of the soul, according to Vedanta philosophy, known to uninitiated humanity, name­ly:  jagrata, waking state; svapna, dreaming state; and sushupti, dreamless sleep.  (See also Turiya.)

Avatara, an avatar, the appearance of any deity upon earth, but more particularly the incarnations of Vishnu in his ten principal forms, namely: the fish, tortoise, boar, man­-lion, dwarf, the two Ramas, Krishna, Buddha, and Kalki, the last yet to come, and which will take place at the end of the four yugas.

Avidya, without knowledge, ignorance, illusion; personified illusion, or Maya; in Buddhism, ignorance together with non-existence.  (a, not, Without, vidya, knowledge.)

Avikara, changeless, undifferentiating.

Avyakta, indiscrete or undifferentiated matter, the primor­dial principle whence the phenomenal world is produced; mulaprakriti; the all-soul.  (See Mulaprakriti.)

 

Bandha, fettering; bondage, as opposed to moksha or emancipation.

Barhishad, a class of lunar pitris who are creators of physical man.  (baris, sacrificial grass, kusa ; sad, seated: seated on the kusa grass.)

Bhagavad-Gita, an epic in the Mahabharata, consisting of a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, which is car­ried on in a chariot drawn up between two opposing armies.  The chariot means, esoterically, the body; Ar­juna is the Ego; Krishna is the Supreme Spirit, and the opposing hosts of Kauravas and Pandavas are the higher and lower natures of man; the horses may be called the mind, which draws the body.  The poem has been translated by Burnouf into French, by Lassen into Latin, by Stanis­lav Gotti into Italian, by Galanos into Greek, by Wilkins, Davies, Thompson, Kasinath Telang, Chintamon, Mohini, Arnold and others into English.  (bhagavat, having happi­ness, blessed; gita, song: song of the blessed one.)

Bhakti, devotion, a thing apportioned or set apart, portion.

Bhakti-Yoga, systematized devotion for the attainment of union with Parabrahmam, prescribed in the Visishtadvaita Catechism as “the contemplation of Parabrahmam, with its various attributes and qualities, without any interrup­tion whatever, throughout one’s whole life, and at the same time discharging one’s duties to the best of one’s ability, or true devotion.”   (See also the Bhagavad-Gita for prescription of and insistence upon attainment of devotion, conjoined with strict performance of duty.)

Bharata, “the one supported,” an epithet of Agni as being maintained or kept alive by men; the true consciousness, of which the consciousness of the interior faculties is a reflection; an epithet given Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita to signify his intimate relation with his race and nation.

Bharata-Varsha, India.

Bhima, son of Vayu the god of the wind; presiding deity of the air, allegorically representing power; a Vidarbhan king; the higher nature of man.  (Literally, “terrible.”)

Bhishma, the grandsire  (grandfather’s step-brother) of both the Kauravas and the Pandavas, allegorically representing the lower nature of man.  (Literally, “horrible.”)

Bhoga, fruition, enjoyment.

Bhokta, the consciousness pervading the Buddhi, and which appears as conscious beings.

Bhrantidarsanatah, false perception, the perception of one who moves  (or thinks) unsteadily, without aim.

Bhrigu, the planet Venus; a race of beings described in the Rig-Veda as cherishing fire brought to them by the wind, or as kindling fire from the aranis; that one of the ten Maharshis from whom these beings descended.  It in some sense gives a clue to the use and function of Venus in relation to our earth.

Bhuh, the world.

Bhurloka, the place of earth, the terrestrial world.

Bhuta, an element; created being, elemental, ghost, goblin, imp, demon, phantom, elementary.

Bhuta-Dak, a “spirit-medium”; one who holds communion with elementals.   (A mongrel word, dak usually meaning “carriage.”)

Bhutatma, the vital soul, or elemental self, as opposed to Kshetrajna.  (bhuta, elemental; atma, self, soul.)

Bhuvah, Sky.

Bodisattva, one who has perfect wisdom as his essence, and who will attain in only one or a certain number of births to the state of a Buddha; the terrestrial correspondent of a Dhyani-Buddha, a human Buddha.

Brahma, the Absolute, Parabrahmam.

Brahmā, the creator; the impersonal universe-pervading spirit personified under this name; the lord or ruler over a Brahmanda, at the end of whose “life” that system is resolved into its final elements and reabsorbed by Para­brahmam.

Brahmacharin, an ascetic mendicant who lives under the di­rection of a spiritual ’Master and is vowed to celibacy and mendicancy.

Brahmacharya, life of religious studentship and holiness.

Brahma-Kalpa, a “day of Brahmā,” embracing a period of fourteen manvantaras, together with the sandhis inter­vening between two Manus, equal in all to 1,000 maha­yugas, or 4,320,000,000 solar Years.

Brahman, religious devotion, prayer; one who prays, a priest.

Brahmana, a class of prose works appended to the Vedas, as the Rig-Veda has the Aitareya-Brahmana and the Kaushitaka-Brahmana; the White Yajur-Veda has the Satapatha-Brahmana; the Black Yajur-Veda has the Tait­tiriya-Brahmana; the Sama-Veda has eight Brahmanas; and the Atharva-Veda has the Gopatha-Brahmana.  They are esoteric keys to the ceremonial magic of the Vedas.

Brahmanda, a macrocosm, the mundane egg; a division of infinite space containing the fourteen lokas.  (Brahmā, the creator; anda, egg.)

Brahma-Pura, a Vedic term for the heart, also for the body.  (brahma, Brahma; Pura, city:  city of Brahma.)

Brahma-Putras, sons of Brahma.

Brahma-Randhra, an opening in the crown of the head through which the soul is said to escape at death.  Nine openings of the human body are usually reckoned, the Brahma-randhra being the tenth.  It is, however, in the right sense, an astral current and not a material place or opening.  (brahma, the Supreme, the Atma; randhra, an opening, any one of the openings of the human body.)

Brahma-Rishi,  (also Bramarishi), a priest-sage.

Brahma-Samadhi, abstract meditation upon Brahma, perfect absorption in thought upon the Supreme Spirit.

Brih, prayer; expansion.

Brihaspati, the personification of exoteric ritualism; the planet Jupiter.

Brihat-Saman, a sacred verse which is said to reveal the path to Nirvana.

Buddha, a manifestation of the Supreme, the first Buddha being Avalokitesvara, from whom emanate the seven Dhyani-Buddhas  (“Buddhas of contemplation“), who by the power of meditation create for themselves the celes­tial Bodhisattvas, who incarnate on earth at the beginning of each human cycle as men, and become human Bodhi­sattvas and finally terrestrial Buddhas, of whom there have been four, humanity being now in the fourth round.

Buddhi, intelligence; in the Sankhya philosophy, intellect as the second tattva, coming next to and proceeding from mulaprakriti or avyakta; the passive spiritual vehicle, or latent ideation, of Atma, serving to connect it with manas, the individual self.  (See Manas.)

Budha, awake, intelligent, wise; the planet Mercury.

Bythos, the abyss, or chaos, — a Gnostic term.

 

Caduceus  (Greek), the rod of Mercury, consisting of two serpents twined about a staff. Sometimes the staff also terminates in the head of a serpent.

Chaitanya, the Supreme Spirit considered as the essence of all being.

Chakra, wheel, discus, center; in the body, centres of psy­chic energy; the weapon of Vishnu, symbolizing cyclic evolution; a cycle.

Chakshus, the eye.

Chandala, an outcast, a pariah.

Chandra, the moon.  (Literally, “glittering.”)

Charvaka, a Hindu philosopher, founder of the Charvaka system of philosophy, which is .considered by some to be materialistic.

Chaturmasya, three sacrifices performed every four months, at the beginning of the three seasons.

Chela, pupil, disciple.  (See Lanoo.)

Chemi, the land of Egypt.

Chetana, knowledge of right and wrong; the thinking prin­ciple.  (See Chaitanya.)

Chhaya, a reflected image, shadow, shade; the astral image projected as a model for material man.

Chidatma, the Logos — that is, the unitary soul and intelli­gence in one aspect  (chit, intelligence; atma, soul.)

Chinmatra, pure intelligence.

Chit, intelligence, perception; the element of immaterial and eternal spirit in each human being, the individual soul; intelligent force; potential understanding; one of the as­pects of Parabrahmam.  It is held that chit and achit do not exist without Parabrahmam, but, like substance and quality, are in inseparable union with one another and with Parabrahmam.

Chitra-Gupta, name of one of the beings recording the vices and virtues of mankind in Yama’s world.  (chitra, visible, ether; gupta, guarded, preserved: preserved in the ether.)

Chitta, thought, mind, reason; the heart considered as the seat of intellect; notice  (in the sense of observation).

Christos  (Greek), the Higher Self, Isvara.

Chyuta, “the fallen,” a term applied to those Dhyanis who, incarnating in human form, “fell” into gernation.

Crore, 10,000,000.

Crux Ansata  (Latin), the ansated cross.  (See Svastika.)

 

Dagoba, a conical erection of brick or stone surrounding relics among the Buddhists, built on a platform.

Daityas, descendants of Diti, demons, giants who lived in the earliest ages.

Daitya-Yuga, an age of the demons, consisting of 12,000 divine years.

Daiva-Prakriti, the synthesis of the six forces in the astral light; the “Light of the Logos.”

Daksha, ability, faculty, strength, power — all with especial application to spiritual power and will; son of Marisha, Kandu’s daughter, an allegorical personage introduced in the Puranas.

Dalada, the left canine tooth of Buddha — a relic.

Dama, Victor, a son of Bhima; house, home; self-restraint.

Danavas, sons of Danu, demons and foes of the gods; spoken of in the Bhagavad-Gita as evil spirits or fallen angels.

Danda, chastisement, correction; conquest; a measure of time, 6o making a siderial day.

Danu, one of the daughters of Daksha and mother of the Danavas.

Darsanas, the six systems of Hindu philosophy, viz: Sankhya of Kapila, Yoga of Patanjali, Nyaya of Gotama, Vaiseshika of Kanada, Purva-Mimansa of Jamini, Uttara-Mimansa or Vedanta of Vyasa.

Deha, the body.

Demiurgos  (Greek.), the creator, not in any personal sense, but as the aggregate of creative forces in the universe.

Deva  (also Devata), a celestial being, a god.

Devachan, heaven, the subjective rest between incarnations.

Devadatta, the conch-shell of Arjuna; one of the vital airs.  (deva, god; datta, given:  god-given.)

Devaki, the mother of Krishna.

Devanagiri, the character in which Sanscrit is usually written.  (Literally, “the divine-city writing.”)

Devarshi, divine sage, demi-god.(deva, god; rishi, sage.)

Devi  (feminine of Deva), an elemental being, a goddess.

Dhairya, fortitude, firmness.

Dhananjaya, a title of Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita; an epi­thet of Soma; a particular vital air which nourishes the body.  (dhanam, booty, wealth; jaya , conquering:  con­quering wealth.)

Dharana, maintaining, supporting, upholding; steadfast concentration.  (See Yoga.)

Dharma, law; duty; religion; good works; custom, usage, correct course of conduct; natural action of anything under its laws; virtue.

Dharma-Megha, cloud of virtue; one of the ten Bhumis  (earths, worlds) with Buddhists.  (dharma, virtue; megha, cloud.)

Dharman, accordant with nature; according to the estab­lished order of things.

Dharma-Sastra, book of laws.

Dhoti, the cloth wrapped around the loins of Hindus.  It is from 2 1/2, to 3 1/2 yards long, and 2 or 3 feet broad.  It is found represented upon the oldest frescoes and sculptures.

Dhritarashtra, a blind king, one of the personalities in the Mahabharata, who allegorically represents material exist­ence — of which his blindness and thirst for prolonged life are typical.  He is the first character prominently men­tioned in the Bhagavad-Gita, where, being blind, he anxiously asks for particulars of the battle, the defeat of his side meaning that material existence will fall into ins­ignificance.  (dhrita, firm, supported; rashtra, kingdom: “whose empire is firm.”)

Dhriti, patience, steadfastness; a certain evening sacrifice offered to the asvamedha.

Dhruva  (also Dhruvatara), the pole-star.  (Literally, “re­maining in one place.”)

Dhurti, decay; injury, damage.

Dhyana, meditation; abstract contemplation; divine intui­tion.  (See Yoga.)

Dhyan Chohans, the highest creative intelligences; gods; souls who become gods and co-workers with nature.

Dhyani-Buddha, a spiritual or mental Buddha, of whom seven, and sometimes ten, are mentioned; the first beings emanated by Avalokitesvara.

Diksha, ceremonies preliminary to sacrifice; new-birth — a rite of initiation; initiation personified as the wife of Soma.

Dikshita, initiated; an initiate.

Dioscuri  (Greek), the twin brothers Castor and Pollux.

Dis, space; a cardinal point of the compass.

Dnyana.  (See Jnana.)

Dnyana-Marga.  (See Jnana-Marga.)

Dnyana-Yoga.  (See Jnana-Yoga.)

Dosha, faults.

Draupadi, the wife of the five Pandu princes, being a per­sonification of yoga-maya, or the power of illusion.

Dravya, thing, object, substance, nine kinds of which are reckoned in the Nyaya philosophy, viz: prithivi, earth; ap, water; tejas, fire; vayu, air; akasa, ether; kala, time; dis, space; atma, soul; and manas, mind.

Driksthiti, the state in which one having converted his in^­ternal eye into one of pure knowledge, views the whole of this transitional world as Brahma; the real concentration.  (drik, one who sees, a seer; sthiti, standing, steadiness.)

Drishta, seen, perceived.

Drisya, visible, to be seen.

Dugpa  (Thibetan), a sorcerer or “red-cap” of Bhootan.  (See Gelupa.)

Duhkha, misery, uneasiness, anguish; pain personified as the son of Narada and Vedana.

Durga, a goddess, the wife of Siva — goddess of destruction, called also Kali.

Dvaita, dualism; a system of philosophy which asserts the distinctness from each other of the human spirit and the universal spirit.

Dvapara.  (See Dvapara-Yuga.)

Dvapara-Yuga, the third of the four ages.  (See Yuga.)

Dvaraka, Krishna’s city, submerged by the sea.  A temple still remains on the peninsula of Guzerat, an object of pilgrimage.  (Literally, “city with many gates.”)

Dvesha, hate.

Dvija, an initiated Brahman, Kshatriya, or Vaishya.  (dvi, twice; ja, born:  twice-born.)

Dvipa, an island, peninsula, any land surrounded by water; any continent on which a root-race is evolved.

 

Egg of the World, the egg form assumed by the Supreme Spirit, according to the Rig-Veda, from which the world is evolved.

Ego  (Latin), I ; myself; self.

Eka. one, single.

Ekagrata, one-pointed; the perfect concentration of con­templation.  (eka, one; agrata, pointed.)

Ekanekarupa, the one and the many in outward form.

Elementals  (Eng.), nature-spirits presiding over the ele­ments of fire, air, etc.; beings evolved from or constituting the lower, elemental nature of man; centers of force in the astral light.

Elementary  (Eng.), the psychic remnant left in the astral sphere after death, where it eventually becomes dissipated.  Though abandoned by the real Ego, it may retain the elements of the lower personality, and through accession of force from elementals, or from a living mediumistic person, may present a spurious semblance of the dead, which is easily mistaken for the spirit of that person.  Kabalistic works call the elementals “elementaries,” without distinguishing them from the “shells” of the dead.

Epopta  (Greek), a seer; one initiated into the Greater Mys­teries.

 

Fakir, a Mohammedan ascetic wonder-worker; the equiva­lent among the Mohammedans of the Hindu yogi.

FlagÆ  (Latin), a name given by Paracelsus to one of the higher groups of Dhyan Chohans.

Fohat  (Thibetan), force; force in its highest aspect, — that which gives differention and life to cosmic matter.

 

Gandha, odor, smell; fragrant substance; fragrance; per­fume.

Gandharvas, heavenly singers belonging to Indra’s court, a class of elemental spirits.

Gandiva, the bow of Arjuna, which was made from the plant gandi.  It was presented by Soma to Varuna, by him to Agni, and by Agni to Arjuna.

Ganesa, the god of wisdom, who is said to cause obstacles and remove them.  He is the son of Siva and Parvati, and is represented as a short fat man with an elephant’s head, having but one tusk; usually he is riding a rat, or is attended by one.  He is said to have written down the Mahabharata, as dictated by Vyasa.  He is the allegorical representation of magical learning.  (gana, body of attendants, Siva’s troop; isa, commander:  leader of the attendants of Siva.)

Grima, a siddhi, or power in magic, giving control over gravitation, so that one can become light or heavy at will.

Garuda, a mythical bird pictured as attendant upon Vishnu, as the eagle is the bird of Jove.  It is a Symbol of the great cycle of cosmic activity.

Gatha, a sacred verse, to be chanted or sung; a religious verse, but not belonging to the Vedas.

Ghee, a common word for ghi or ghrita — clarified butter, used both for culinary and religious purposes.

Ghora, frightful, disagreeable; an epithet of Siva.

Ghrana, the nose; smell; smelling.

Ghrita, ghee, butter clarified and hardened.

Gnana.  (See Jnana.)

Gnani.  (See Jnanin.)

Gnyana.  (See Jnyana.)

Govinda, the finder of cows, the searcher for cows, an epi­thet of Krishna or manifested Vishnu.

Grihastha, a priest of the exoteric ritual only; a house­holder.  (griha, house; stha, standing, abiding.)

Guha, a cave or subterranean resort of a yogi.

Guna, a quality, attribute; as a term in philosophy, one of the three pervading qualities of prakriti, matter, which specifically are: sattva, truth, purity; rajas, passional ac­tivity; tamas, darkness.  (guna, a single thread of a cord.)

Gunavisesha, modifications or affections of the qualities.

Gupta-Vidya, guarded or secret knowledge.  (gupta, hidden; vidya, knowledge.)

Guru, a spiritual parent or preceptor.  (guru, weighty, im­portant, worthy of honor.)

 

Ha, the sun; a symbol for the breath called prana in Hatha Yoga practices.

Hamsa,  (also Hansa), a mythical bird, corresponding some­what to the swan, and which is the vehicle of Brahmā; it symbolises spiritual wisdom.   (Probably derived from aham, I, and sa, that: “I am that,” i.e., the Supreme Spirit, —sa being a form of tad or tat.  It may also be de­rived from han, “to go,” and would then mean “who goes eternally.” See also So’ham.)

Hanuman,  (Hanumat), a monkey-chief, the most celebrated of a vast host of ape-like beings, who, according to the Ramayana, were created by the gods to be the allies of Rama-chandra in his war with Ravana.  Hanumat was the son of Pavana or Maruta, “the Wind,”  (according to some legends, of Siva,) and had many magical powers.  (Literally, “having large jaws.”)

Hari, pale yellow or golden, bay — “bays,” the bay coursers of Indra; “the Remover,” a title given to Krishna.

Harivant, “lord of the bay coursers” — a title of Indra.

Hatha-Yoga, a system of physical practices designed to cultivate will-power, withdraw the mind from external objects, and bring about certain changes of condition in the physical body, for the attainment of the lower siddhis or magical powers.  It involves great austerities, difficult and often painful postures, control of the breath, etc., is attended with great dangers, and yet, at its best, results in merely abnormal cultivation of physical and psychical powers, at the expense of spiritual progress.   (hatha, violence, force; yoga, union, contemplation:  forcing the mind to abstain from external objects.)

Hermetic Philosophy, the philosophic system of Hermes Trismegistus, of which unreliable fragments alone remain in Western literature.

Hermetist, one who follows the philosophy of Hermes Trismegistus.

Hetumat, having cause or origin; proceeding from a cause.  (Literally, “having the hetu,” reason for an inference, the second member of the five-membered Nyaga syllogism.)

Heya-Gunas, bad qualities.

Hierophant  (Eng.), an instructor in the Mysteries, an initator.  (Greek hieros, sacred; phantes, one who shows.)

Hina-Yana, the inferior or lesser vehicle, a system of Buddhistic teaching.  (See Maha-Yana.)

Hindu, a Hindoo; the name of the religion of the Hindus.

Hiranya-Garbha, a name of Brahmā, the creator, said to have been born from a golden egg which was formed out of the seed deposited by the self-existent Brahma in the waters; a symbol for universal abstract nature.  (hiranya, golden; garbha, the conceiving womb, the fruit of the womb:  “gold-scion,” or “fruit of the golden [egg].”)

Holy Triad, in Buddhisim, the Lord  (Buddha), the Law, and the Assembly.

Hotri, a priest conversant with the Rig-Veda., an offerer of sacrifices with fire.

Hridaya, the heart; the center or essence of anything; divine knowledge.

Hrishikesha, lord of the organs of sense, or the faculties.  (hrishika, any organ of sense, or indriya; isa, master, ruler.)   (See Indriyatman.)

 

IAO  (Hebrew), among the Semites, a name for the Supreme Spirit, as Aum is among the Aryans.

Ichchha, wish, desire.

Ichchhanabhighata, unobstruction of wish.

Ichchha-Sakti, the power of will, in the sense of strong desire.

Ida, a magnetic current on the right side of the human body, between the heart and the Brahma-randhra.

Iksvaku, son of Manu Vaivasvata, and founder and first king of the solar dynasty in Ayodhya, the capital of Rama, said to be the modern Oude.

Indra, one of the great powers of nature; the name of a god, or power, in heaven  (svarga) found in Sanskrit literature, sometimes directly and at other times indirectly signifying Parabrahmam.

Indriyas, the senses.  (Literally, “belonging to Indra.”)

Isa, lord; the name of one of the Upanishads, which treats of spiritual identity or unity.

Isvara, lord, master; an epithet of Siva, also of Durga or any other female sakti; the Supreme Spirit, or Atman, — the usual meaning in modern Theosophical works; one of the three inseparable realities — Chit, Achit and Isvara — combined in Parabrahmam, the three-in-one, which pervades and controls the universe; that part of the trinity which, assuming a form of suddasatva  (intellectual substance), enables yogis to engage in contemplation who would otherwise be incapable of contemplating or comprehending the impersonal deity.  (Pronoun