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Theosophical Glossary

prepared by W Q Judge

Included as a useful reference

guide to Theosophical terms

Posted 10/4/07

ABHIDHARMA, the third division of the "Tripitaka" or Buddhist canon. It contains

the philosophical dissertations and metaphysics of the Buddhists, and from it the Mahayana and Hinayana schools got their fundamental doctrines.

ABSOLUTE, anything of which it can be predicated that it is "not relative". In pure metaphysics that which exists independent of any other cause; unconditioned. Hence the same as Parabrahmam, or the "unknowable". That state or condition into which it is said the manifested universe disappears upon the great Pralaya. Said to be, by some, the combination of Spirit and Matter.

ADAM, the first man in the Hebraic system. The word really means Man and not a man.

ADAM KADMON, in the Kabalah, the Heavenly Man; Humanity in its ideal form, for Adam Kadmon is said to stand with his head in heaven and his feet on earth.

ADIBUDDHA, the first or supreme Buddha. Buddha in reality is not a person, but a

principle incarnating in different so-called Buddhas.

AEONS, periods of time of such duration as to be incomprehensible; also celestial beings.

AETHER, same as Ether. The great luminiferous substance throughout the whole universe. Astral Light, Akasa, and the like are forms of Aether.

AHURA-MAZDA, the divine principle with the Parsees.

AIN-SOPH, from the Kabalah; the boundless, the expanding Deity. It is also written En-Soph.

AJNANA, ignorance, or not-knowledge. (See Ajnyana, the word is the same.)

ALAYA, in addition to meaning already given it, may be rendered Universal Soul.

ALKORAN, same as Koran, which see.

AMENTI, in the Egyptian system the dwelling of the God Amon; the same as Hades of the Greeks. In fact the state of man after death, as it was divided into various parts corresponding to the possible various conditions of the soul after death of the body.

ANTARATMA, mind, the human soul.

ANTARYAMIN, that which is latent in all; a title of Ishwara.

ANTASKARANA, the same as antakarana.

ANU, on p. 4 of Glossary should be atom, and also, one of the names of Brahma.

ASHWATTHA, same as asvatha.

ATLANTIS, a former continent which was submerged long ago during the cataclysms which overtook other races. A part of it was on the Atlantic floor, and hence the name of that ocean as well as Mount Atlas. But it included much more, and

probably the Americas among other lands.

ATMAN, the same as Atma, which see.

AUM, the same as Om, which see.

AVARANA-SAKTI, centripetal force or power.

AVITCHI, a state of the soul. The place or time for this state is not always after death, for it may be in life and on this very earth. It is called "the last of the eight hells", and is commonly thought of as a state after death of

the body.

BHIKSHUS, religious mendicants, or mendicant scholars among the Buddhists. There are two sorts, those who control themselves by religion and those who control themselves by the nature of their foods. At one time they were supposed to be wonder-workers.

BHUMI, the earth. See also Bhuh.

BINAH (Heb.), understanding. The third of the ten Sephiroth of the Kabalah. The third of the supernal triad. A female potency.

BLACK MACIC, sorcery, necromancy, calling back of the dead, selfish use of occult power of any sort. For instance, the use of hypnotism, magnetism, mesmerism, or the like for any purpose for one's own ends, whether those ends be apparently good or evil, partakes of the nature of black magic. The development of telepathic suggestion will lead to black magic, inasmuch as it can be used for the personal ends of the operator.

BOOK OF THE DEAD, an Egyptian ritualistic work found on mummies, and parts of which are given in Egyptian paintings. It represents in great part the supposed trial of the soul after the death of the body, and in fact refers to the imperishable records of a man's life in the Astral Light, and the effects in nature of his thoughts and acts, by all of which he is self-judged.

BRAHMA VACH, the speech of Brahma, and hence Brahma male and female.

BRAHMA VIDYA, the knowledge of or about Brahman; true knowledge -- not literally, but in the sense that if of Brahman it must be true.

BRAHMA VIRAJ, almost the same as Brahma Vach; it is Brahman differentiated into material unintelligent nature and into spiritual intelligent nature.

BROTHERS OF THE SHADOW, the opposite of the Adepts of the white or unselfish school. Those of the shadow include all black magicians, sorcerers, and others who intelligently abuse occult powers for selfish ends. They are not only living in bodies, but are also still undestroyed or not yet disintegrated shades of former living beings who were magicians of the black school. See also Dugpa and

Gyalukpa.

BUDDHI, the sixth "principle" of man's sevenfold constitution.

CAUSAL BODY, the principle Buddhi in conjunction with Manas, as it thus is the

cause for incarnation through its connection with spirit above and matter below. In this sense it is soul, thus with the other two bringing out the classification of body, soul, spirit.

CHESED (Heb.), mercy. The fourth of the ten Sephiroth of the Kabalah. A masculine potency, sometimes called Gedulah.

CHOCKMAH (Heb.), wisdom. The second of the ten Sephiroth in the Kabalah. The second of the supernal triad. A masculine potency.

CHOHAN, Lord and Master. Spiritual beings. See Secret Doctrine for fuller explanations.

CODEX NAZARAEUS, the Codex of the Nazarenes; the Book of Adam. See Norberg's Codex Nazaraeus.

CYCLE, a ring or turn, from the Greek Kuklos; more properly a spiral; a day and night are a cycle; a year is another. The returning again of any time or any impression. The subject of cycles is of the greatest importance, as it includes all history and all evolution. The best known large cycle is the sidereal, a little over 25,000 years.

DANA, true charity.

DAY OF BRAHMA, the great period during which universal manifestation lasts. A space of time said to include 2,160,000,000 years, or 14 Manvantaras. See Yuga.

DESATIR, an ancient Persian book containing the books of the various prophets. It is full of mysticism and not clear to the modern mind.

DEVAGANA, a troop of Gods or celestial beings possessing much wisdom, for they are presided over by Indra, chief of the Gods.

DEVAGANESHWARA, an epithet of Indra, because he is lord of a collection or troop of Gods.

DHARMAKAYA, the "glorified spiritual body" developed by every Buddha; the body of the law, not as a collection of laws but as a body or vehicle obtained by practice of the precepts through countless incarnations.

DOPPELGANGER, the double which goes; the same as astral body when that wanders from the physical; synonymous with wraith or apparition or forerunner.

DOUBLE, the same as Doppelganger, or the astral body detached from the physical.

DWELLER ON THE THRESHOLD, found in Lytton's Zanoni; the shades of defunct bad men in Kamaloka, full of evil, able to do evil, and with a kind of intelligence not easily explained; also the combined evil thoughts of the race and family to which every one belongs, and said to become, as it were, visible when one passes the threshold of ordinary experience.

DWIJADRUSHTA, the inner vision.

DWIPA, the same as Dvipa. There are said to be seven Dwipas, and these are the great divisions of the world as given in the allegories of the Puranas. There names are: Jambu, Plaksha, Shalmali, Kusha, Krauncha, Shaka, and Pushkara. An explanation of these allegorical divisions will be found in THE PATH for April and May, 1889.

EIGHT SUPERHUMAN FACULTIES. These are given under Vibhuti, which see.

ELOHIM, one of the names occurring in Genesis, which have been rendered in the Christian bible as God and Lord; but the Hebrews had a different meaning, and the word may be translated as plural.

ENS, being, existence, essence. With the alchemists the recondite part of a substance from which all its qualities flow. The real Presence in Nature of the

Greeks.

EN-SOPH, the same as Ain-Soph, which see.

ETHER, in physics and astronomy a hypothetical medium of extreme tenuity universally diffused throughout all space, and which is supposed to be the medium for the transmission of sound and light, and in a sense the basis of form. It corresponds almost exactly to the Astral Light of the Kabalist, which is an aspect of the Akasa. There are differences between the two, however. It should not be confounded with the Ether of the ancients, which might be said to be the same as the Akasa itself, whereas Ether is only an aspect of that.

ESOTERIC, hidden, secret, within. From the Greek "Esoterikos". The term was first applied to the private instructions and doctrines of Pythagoras, taught only to a select number of his pupils and not intended or designed for the general outer body. Opposed to exoteric or public.

EXOTERIC, public, unconcealed. The opposite of esoteric, which see.

GEBURAH (Heb.), power. The fifth of the ten Sephiroth of the Kabalah. A female potency.

GEDULAH (Heb.), same as Chesed.

GELUKPA, the same as Gyalugpa. Literally, the "yellow caps", from their wearing such color. They are a sect in Tibet, the opposite of Dugpas who wear red caps. Gelukpas are white magicians and Dugpas black.

GNOSIS, "knowledge". The term used in the earlier Western mystical systems to denote the final wisdom to be achieved. The same as the Gupta Vidya of the Hindus.

GNOSTICS, philosophers of the first, second, and third century who followed the Gnosis (knowledge) and taught a doctrine almost identical with present-day Theosophy.

GUARDIAN WALL, the metaphorical wall of protection created around mankind by the accumulated efforts of all the hosts of Saints, Adepts, Narjols, and Nirmanakayas, to save it from falling lower in the scale than it already is, and to shield it from yet more terrible evils than are at present its lot.

GUNASAMYA, the state in which the qualities -- gunas -- are in equilibrium.

HANUMAN, the "monkey god".

HARPOCRATES, the "god of Silence and Mystery" in Egyptian mythology. He is

represented with a finger on his mouth, and is either standing, or sitting on a Lotus. An aspect of Horus, the child of Isis and Osiris.

HERMES TRISMEGISTUS, the "founder" of the Hermetic philosophy. A purely mythical personage, whose name has been appropriated by many of the Greek Alchemists. The same as the Egyptian god Thoth, the celestial scribe, who records the thoughts and words of all men, and on whose tablets are to be found the mysteries of the ages.

HIGHER EGO, Buddhi-Manas. The spiritual part of the human ego. The god within us, or our "Father in Heaven."

HIGHER SELF, Atma. The spiritual essence in man. The supreme Soul, the divine Monad, overshadowing the human Ego.

HOD (Heb.), splendor. The eighth of the ten Sephiroth of the Kabalah. A female potency.

HORUS, the son of Osiris and Isis, the Father and Mother, or spiritual and material aspects of Being, in Egyptian mysticism. Therefore he is the fount of life, the germ, the "mystic child of the ark"; that out of which the whole universe grows or becomes.

HYPERBOREAN, the regions round the North Pole comprised within the Arctic Circle. The land of the Second Race.

ILDA BAOTH, the son of Darkness and god of our material (fourth) globe according to the Gnostic teaching in the Codex Nazaraeus.

INCARNATION, the descent into matter, or contacting of the Soul with physical existence.

INCUBUS, the male Elemental called into existence by sexual passion and lust. The female is called the Succubus.

INDIVIDUALITY, the permanent principle in man. A name applied by Theosophists to the Higher Ego, in contradistinction to the lower, transitory element, the "personality". (See Higher Ego.)

INITIATE, one who has passed through an Initiation; especially, one who has passed the seventh or final Initiation on this planet.

INITIATION, the ceremony of introducing to fresh knowledge concerning anything. Applied to the rite of admission into the sacred mysteries.

ISIS, the mystic "Mother" of Nature in Egyptian lore. The "woman clothed with the sun".

ISITA, one of the eight superhuman faculties. The power to exercise supreme dominion. See Vibhuti.

JEHOVAH, literally Male-Female. The god of procreation, or sex-god. The tribal-god of the Jews -- now worshipped by Christians as the "Most High".

JESOD (Heb.), foundation. The ninth of the ten Sephiroth of the Kabalah. A

masculine potency.

KADMON, see Adam Kadmon.

KAMALOKA, sometimes written Kama Loka and Kama -Loca. Literally, the place, world, or sphere of desire, from Kama, desire, and loka, place, world, or sphere. That place where the body of passions and desires holds sway after the death of the physical body. It is the same as the Greek Hades and Egyptian Amenti, where the astral shades of the dead remain until they disintegrate or fade out. As the earthly plane is where the material body disintegrates, so Kamaloka is that one wherein the astral body in its turn dies and fades away.

Kamaloka is much the same as the purgatory of the Christians, and in it remain the bodies of the dead infused with the desires and passions, for which reason is the term Kamarupa. The disincarnated Ego sheds its astral body in Kamaloka, and from that state passes to Devachan; hence the state is intermediate between

earth-life and the joys of the Devachanic state.

KAMA-MANAS, a compound term used in Theosophical literature to designate the

state of mind or manas when closely associated with Kama, or desire; it may therefore be said to be lower manas, as it is mind directed by, and functioning in, desire to a greater extent than in and by -Buddhi.

KAMAVASAYITA, one of the eight superhuman faculties. The power to suppress all desire. See Vibhuti.

KASHI, the same as Casi and Kasi.

KAURAVAS, the same as Kuravas.

KETHER (Heb.), the Crown. The highest of the ten Sephirroth, the emanations of Deity in the Hebrew Kabalah. The first of the supernal Triad.

KLESHA, lit. "misery". Cleaving to existence; love of life; Kama.

KORAN, the sacred Scriptures of the Mussalmans -- Mohamedans -- containing their moral and religious code; revealed to Mohamet.

KOSHA, the same as Kosa, which see.

KOUNBOUM, a sacred Tree of Thibet, on whose leaves and bark are said to be imprinted innumerable religious sentences in sacred characters, each leaf containing a distinct word or sentence. The tree is said to have grown out of the hair of the Lama Tson-ka-pa, who was buried under the soil on which it flourishes.

KURUS, the enemies of the Pandavas in the Mahabharata. The Kurus represent the lower material elements in our nature: the Pandavas the higher. The war which is carried on between these on the plane of Kurukshetra represents the struggle Man has to make in order to gain control over his lower nature.

KWAN-SHAI-YIN, the manifested spiritual side of nature in Northern and Chinese Buddhism. The Male Logos.

KWAN-YIN, the permanent, hidden side of the manifested Universe. The female

Logos. (Chinese).

LAMA, a title properly given only to the superior priests of Thibet; now of ten, however, applied to those of any caste. The Grand Lama is supposed to be an incarnation of Buddha.

LAOTZE, a great Chinese philosopher; the founder of Taoism. He preceded Confucius. The mystic doctrine of the latter (now almost universal in China) is in many ways but the revived Taoistic belief.

LEMURIA, the name given by some writers to a continent supposed to have existed at one time, but now hidden under the waves. The Secret Doctrine affirms its previous existence and holds that it extended between India and Africa. The land

of the Third Race.

LHAMAYIN, an order of Elementals. (Thibetan).

LIPIKAS, the celestial scribes; the recorders of every thought, act, and word of man. Collectively, the "Book of the Recording Angel". Agents of Karma in the greater sense; mentioned in the Secret Doctrine,

LOBHA, avarice.

LOTUS, the sacred plant of oriental nations, Egypt, India, etc. At one time a universal symbol of the Universe, and in a narrower sense of the Earth.

LUCIFER, the planet Venus as the "Morning Star". Lucifer is the symbol of purity and wisdom, and not of the devil; the alter-ego and "better half " of the earth.

LUXOR, (Brotherhood of) the most secret of the mystic orders. One of its centers is in the United States, while "its ramifications extend widely throughout the great Republic of the West". The name is derived from the Ancient Lookshur in Beloochistan, after which the Egyptian city was also named. It is in direct and intimate relationship with the great Eastern Brotherhood.

MACROPOSOPUS, a Kabalistic term, meaning the "Great Countenance". The Universe as a whole, or the totality of the manifested Cosmos. The Heavenly Man. The Macrocosm.

MAGIC, the science of bringing into visible action forces ordinarily hidden. The ancients recognized three sorts: Theurgia, or White Magic; Goetia, or Black Magic; and Natural Magic. Theurgia had to do with the powers of the soul, the philosopher's stone, the magic which makes of man a God. Goetia was sorcery, or the communication with the regents of the invisible worlds with evil intent. Natural Magic had dealings entirely with nature, and might be either Black or White according as the Adept whose will called it into action was of the Left- or Right-hand path. The physician who heals with the use of his drugs is as much a natural magician as the necromancer who effects cures by his thaumaturgy; with the difference, however, that the one can give no reason for the effects he produces, while the other can.

MAHA, (Sans.) great.

MAHABHARATA, a great epic poem of India. The "Great war". In it occur the two celebrated poems, the Bhagavad-Gita and the Ramayana. Probably the oldest poem extant.

MAHA-BUDDHI, mahat. The great intelligence of the Universe; Cosmic Ideation.

MAHA CHOHAN, the "great Chohan". The head of a spiritual Hierarchy. On this planet the head of the trans-Himalayan School of Adepts.

MANASA DHYANIS, the Agnishwatta Pitris: those who incarnated in man at the close of the Third Race and gave him mind, thereby making him a rational being.

MAHA-MANVANTARA, the great manvantara, or period of universal activity. Said to include 311,040,000,000,000 years, or a Maha-Kalpa.

MAHA PRALAYA, a great pralaya, or period of universal rest and dissolution. The "Night of Brahma".

MAHARAJA, "Great King". The four Maharajas are the four Karmic deities said to be at the four cardinal points to watch mankind.

MAHA-SUSHUPTI, the great dreamless sleep of all, signifying pralaya or dissolution, for at the great pralaya everything goes into a state which for us can only be rendered as dreamless sleep.

MALKUTH, (Heb.), the kingdom. The tenth of the ten Sephiroth. A female potency. The "Inferior Mother"; the earth.

MANAS TAIJASI, "Manas radiant"; Manas illumined by the light of Buddhi; the Ego in conjunction with spirit.

MANTRIKA SAKTI; in Glos. this is improperly put matrikas.

MATERIALIZATION, a term used among spiritualists to designate the supposed appearance objectively and tangibly at a seance, of a spirit. Materializations, however, are not such as spiritualists claim. They are brought about -- according to the "spirits" themselves in agreement with occult philosophy -- by a combination of magnetic and electric forces and material with pictures from the astral light wherein all pictures forever are. A framework, skeleton form, or flat surface of magnetic and electric matter is first constructed which is perfectly transparent like glass but also tangible, and upon it is reflected the image desired to be seen, whereupon the onlookers think they see a once incarnated spirit. It is the greatest of illusions, and, on the astral plane, is, in the opinion of occultism, nothing more than a "pepper's ghost". That these images speak does not add to proofs of identification, because all such things may be psychologically imitated, and an impression of speech may be produced upon every one who views the phenomenon. But it does happen, sometimes, that one among the onlookers may not hear the speech the others think they hear. A medium is absolutely necessary for a materialization to occur, unless it is brought about by an Adept.

METEMPSYCHOSIS. While this means transmigration it should be applied only to

animals, so as to distinguish it from Reincarnation, now applied to the reembodiment of the soul in human bodies. For many years European encyclopcedias have given the meaning as "passing after death into the body of some animal", and thus misunderstood the doctrine of the passing from one human body into another. Yet it has been often used to describe rebirth in human form. Herder has "Dialogues on Metempsychosis", devoted to the doctrine of human rebirth.

There is not the slightest doubt that the doctrine of passing into an animal form can be found in both Buddhism and Brahmanism. It doubtless arose from the theory, which has great authority behind it, that the physical atoms will pass, after death and the flight of the soul, into animal forms if the life of the man has been low and animal-like; for, every atom in the body is impressed with the actual character of the person; and further it was taught that a man having thus misused the atoms in his charge during life, would reap bad karma; from this arose the doctrine, with the vulgar, that men's souls passed into animal forms of different kinds as penalty for this, that, and the other crime.

MICROPOSOPUS, the "Lesser Countenance", a kabalistic term applied to any part of nature's manifestations, in antithesis to Macroposopus which includes them all; the Microcosm.

MORYA, the name of a Rajpoot tribe, so-called because of its being almost altogether composed of the descendants of the famous Moryan sovereign of Marya-Nagara. The Moryan Dynasty began with certain Kshatriyas of the Sakya line closely related to Gautama Buddha, who founded the town of Morya-Nagara in the Himalayas. In the Vishnu Purana it is stated that a king called Moru who lived during the Surya Dynasty is by his devotion and austerities living yet, in a certain village in the Himalyas, and in a future age he will come forth and restore the kshatriya race. "The Moryas will possess the Earth" is said in another place; meaning that by the power of their occult wisdom the Moryas in the future will be rulers of the earth, occultly, or in possession of all its knowledge.

MURHA, perplexing.

MYSTERIES, the secret ceremonies which took place during the Ancient Initiations, in which the candidates were taught the origin of things, the nature of the soul, and shown the births of worlds and systems by dramatic representations. They were divided into the Greater and the Lesser Mysteries.

MYSTERY-LANGUAGE, the language of the "mysteries" or those things which cannot be told. The sacerdotal language used in discussing sacred things.

NADI, passage, channel, method.

NEOPHYTE, a candidate or novice. One not initiated but preparing to be admitted into the sacred mysteries.

NEO-PLATONISM, the revived Platonism of the second and third centuries. Ammonius Saccas founded an Eclectic School of Theosopoy in Alexandria at that period, and strove to reestablish the older oriental philosophies and reconcile Platonic teaching with them. His followers have since been called Neo-Platonists. Plotinus was of this school.

NETZACH, (Heb.), Victory; the seventh of the ten Sephiroth of the Kabalah. A masculine potency.

NIDANA, a band, a rope, a halter. Theosophically, a first or original cause; a primary or remote cause; original form or cause of a thing; in ancient medicine of the Hindus the study of symptoms to determine remote or primary cause of the disease was a department with sixteen divisions, one being called nidana sthana. In metaphysics and the psychology of occultism, a nidana is the beginning of a current leading to acts and circumstances. It is related to another word -- nida -- which means a resting-place, a bird's-nest, a lair, a den; that is, the resting-place for a cause or start of a current or nidana.

NIGHT OF BRAHMA, a period of non-manifestation, of the same length as Day of

Brahma, which see.

OANNES, the same as Dag or Dagon, the "man-fish". A generic name for the Initiates of Chaldea, corresponding to the Nagas or "Snake-Kings" of the Buddhist legends, who are said to preserve and guard the ancient truths.

ORMAZD, (see Ahura-Mazda).

PANDU, the father of the Pandava Princes, who were the foes of the Kurus as related in the Bhagavat-Gita.

PARAMATMAN, the Great or Supreme Spirit; beyond atman.

PARAMITAS, the seven Paramitas of perfection are: Dana, Charity; Shila, Harmony; Kshanti, Patience; Virag, the higher Indifference; Virya, Courage; Dhyana, Contemplation; Prajna, the capacity for Mahatic perception.

PINGALA, in addition to what is given in the [[Working]] Glossary it should be understood that the breath and its channels referred to are not the lungs and air passages but the inner psychic breath.

PISTIS SOPHIA, a sacred Gnostic work; full of mysticism; very obscure in its terms.

PLANE, a level surface; specifically, a field of consciousness; as dream-plane, mental-plane, physical-plane, etc.

PLANETARY SPIRIT, the Regent of a planet; its Archangel, Governor, Spirit or

Dhyan-Chohan.

PLASTIC BODY, a name for the Linga-Sharira, or astral form. Called "Plastic" or "Protean" because of its power to assume any shape or form.

POSEIDONIS, (Gr.), the last remaining portion of the great Atlantic Continent, the isle Atlantis referred to in the Critias of Plato.

PRAKAMYA, one of the eight superhuman faculties; the power to exercise

irresistible will. See Vibhuti.

PRAPTI, one of the eight superhuman faculties. See Vibhuti for description.

PUJA, worship or adoration to idols, images or persons.

QABALLAH, this is also written Kaballah and Kabalah, which see. For a good series of hints on the Kabala see Lucifer, vol. x, May 92, p. 185.

QUATERNARY, the four lower "principles" in man's sevenfold constitution, to wit: Rupa, Life, Astral Body, and Kama. These four separate and disintegrate in Kama loka after death, for when the link is broken the deserted physical body is as much in Kama loka as the others. The symbol of the Quaternary is a square.

RACE, a division of Humanity. Occultism teaches that Mankind arises on the Earth in seven successive classes, called races. Each of these again divides into sub-races. The present "civilized" nations constitute the Fifth Subrace of the Fifth Root-Race; and it is taught that there are still extant specimens of the older races.

RAHAT, the same as Arhat and Arahat which see.

RAMA, in Hindu mythology the seventh Avatar, or manifestation on Earth of the Supreme. He is the hero of the Ramayana, the famous epic poem of India.

RAMAYANA, the twin epic poem of the Mahabharata; the allies of the hero (Rama)

are monkeys, which under the able generalship of Hanuman finally conquer Ravana, the demon-king, and the Rakshasas, or demons and giants of Lanka or Ceylon.

REINCARNATION, rebirth of the soul into human bodies. The oldest belief of the

world, viz., that the Soul or Ego of man has lived on Earth many times previously to the present life, and will be reborn, or incarnated again, many

times in the future, before the full experience attainable on this planet has been gathered, Not to bee confounded with transmigration however, for which it is often mistaken. See Metempsychosis.

RING-PASS-NOT, the limit of possibility in the expansion of consciousness or perception for Man, while he remains such. To cross its border-line is to enter Nirvana, to become one with all and to lose the personality. The circle is broken for all only on the great day Be-with-us, when all go into para-nirvana.

ROUND, the journey of the monad once around the seven globes composing the Earth-chain or any other planetary chain. The word "round" was used

interchangeably with "ring", in the early writings on the subject in Theosophical literature. It is applied generally in respect to the Monad in

human body, although it is the same for all other kingdoms.

SAMARTHYA, to meaning already given add; the attenuation of passion by reflection.

SAMA VEDA, one of the four Vedas of the Hindus.

SAMSKARA, literally means "impression". The name of the initiatory rites of the Brahmans from birth through life, for they, being all priests by birth, have various initiatory ceremonies. With us the samskaras would be the same as sacrament; for baptism or naming the child is one samskara, the first going forth of the child is another, shaving the head, marriage, giving up the world, and so on, are others. A full explanation of the samskaras is given in the Oriental Department of the American Section T.S., in Paper No. 10.

SANKHYA KARIKA, the metaphysical aphorisms of Kapila Rishi.

SAPTAPARNA, the seven-chambered cave, near Buddhagaya, where Buddha initiated and taught his Arhats; also man, because he has seven chambers or principles.

SATCHITANANDA, that which is all truth (sattwa), all intelligence (chit), and

all bliss (ananda). See respectively those words.

SATTWA, the same as Sattva.

SENZAR, the Mystery-language of the ancient Initiated Adepts, known to all

schools all over the world.

SEPHIROTH, the ten emanations of Deity in the Hebrew Kabalah. They are, Kether,

crown; Chokmah, wisdom; Binah, understanding; Chesed, mercy; Geburah, power;

Tiphereth, beauty; Netzach, victory; Hod, splendor; Jesod, foundation; Malkuth,

the kingdom.

SEPTENARY, the collection of six principles synthesized in the seventh or Atman, and constituting man. The first four are given under Quaternary, and the remaining three under Triad. The symbol of the septenary is a square and a

triangle combined.

SHAMBHALA, the town spoken of in the Puranas where the Kalki-Avatar, the Messiah on the White Horse will appear before the end of the Kali-Yuga or Black age. Occultists name its position as in the Himalayas.

SHAMANS, Tartar Magicians and priests, male or female, of the ancient Bhon religion of Thibet. They are found chiefly in Siberia.

SILA, morality.

SROTAPATTI, one who has "entered the stream" which will bear him to the Nirvanic Ocean -- the "Shining Sea".

SUBHAVA, the same as Swabhavat, which see.

SUCCUBUS, the female Incubus, which see; a "spirit bride".

SVABHAVAT, the "world stuff" or substance with energy. The Spirit within substance. That which is the basis of all manifested things. The "create

uncreate".

SWAPNA, the same as Svapna.

SWARGA, the same as Svarga.

SYLPH, an elemental of the Air (Rosicrucian).

TAIJASI, illuminated, radiant. From Tejas -- Fire. See Manasa- Taijasi.

TAPASYA, asceticism, worship, devotion, silent meditation.

TETRAGRAMMATON, the four-lettered name of God with the Greeks.

THEOSOPHY, divine wisdom; the wisdom of the Gods, obtained through the Gods, not however by revelation, but through individual aspiration and experience.

THEURGY, divine Magic, or power to work phenomena through Divine aid or by the aid of the "Gods", or powers of nature. See Magic.

THREAD-SOUL, see Sutratman.

TIPHERETH, (Heb.), beauty. The sixth of the ten Sephiroth of the Kabalah. A male

potency.

TRIAD, the triad consists of Atma-Buddhi-Manas, and is the reincarnating man. It is the upper third of the Septenary; which see. Its symbol is an equilateral triangle.

TRIBHUVANA, the words called Swarga, Bhumi, and Patala; vulgarly heaven, earth, and hell, but in occultism the Terrestrial, Psychic, and Spiritual spheres. See also Tri-Lokas.

TRIMURTI, the name of the Hindu trinity, of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, or creation, preservation, and destruction. In some old pictures the Trimurti is shown appearing on a lotus which springs from Krishna's body.

TRIVENI, the junction of the three minor currents respectively called Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna, called also best of all places of pilgrimage or

Tirtharaja. This is because the discovery of these powers and currents is made by effort or pilgrimage to them, and when the spot is found complete mastery over self becomes possible.

VALLABACHARYA, the founder of a sect of Vaishnavas. His descendants are called

Goswami Maharaj. They are said to be immoral.

VASITA, one of the eight superhuman faculties. The power to subjugate any person

or being by magic. See Vibhuti.

VEHICLE, a carriage. That through which anything expresses itself. Thus the body

is the vehicle of the soul. Same as Vahan.

VENDIDAD, one of the Nosks (works) of the Zend, the first of the fragments collected together in that which is known as the Zend-Avesta.

VIBHUTI, great power, might, dominion, supremacy, dignity; superhuman power,

consisting of the eight faculties of anima, to become minute; laghima, extreme lightness; prapti, power to attain anything; prakamya, irresistible will;

mahima, illimitable bulk; isita, supreme dominion; vasita, subjugation by magic; kamavasayita, power to suppress all desire. Also the name given to the ashes with which Siva besmeared himself.

VIDARSANA, the attaining, by reflection, of wisdom that transcends the normal wisdom of the race.

VIKSHEPA-SAKTI, centrifugal force or power.

VIRAJ, the Logos; the male half of Vach.

VISHWAKARMAN, the artificer and carpenter of the Gods in the Vedas. From this has sprung the idea of Jesus as a carpenter.

WHEEL OF SAINSARA, being reborn on earth over and over again; reincarnation; called a wheel because we whirl about from one life to another so long as we are overcome by desire.

WISDOM-RELIGION, the one religion which underlies all creeds, and which is to be found hidden under the text of all holy books in all nations.

YEAR OF BRAHMA, 360 days and 360 nights of Brahma. 3,110,400,000,000 solar

years.

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