Five Years of Theosophy

by Unknown

Padarthas, predicates of existing things, so called in the
"Vaiseshikha," or atomic system of philosophy, founded by Kanad
(Sanskrit).
Padma sana, a posture practised by some Indian mystics it
consists in sitting with the legs crossed one over the other and
the body straight.
Pahans, village priests.
Panchakosha, the five sheaths in which is enclosed the
divine monad.
Panchikrita, developed into the five gross elements.
Parabrahm, the supreme principle in Nature; the universal
spirit.
Paramarthika, one of the three states of existence according
to Vedanta; the true, the only real one.
Paramatma, time Supreme Spirit, one of the six forces of
Nature; the great force.
Parasakti, intellectual apprehension of a truth.
Pataliputra, the ancient capital of the kingdom Magadha, in
Eastern India, a city identified with the modern Patna.
Patanjali, the author of "Yoga Philosophy," one of the six
orthodox systems of India and of the Mahabhashya.
Peling, the name given to Europeans in Tibet.
Phala, retribution; fruit or results of causes.
Pho, animal soul.
Pisacham, fading remnants of human beings in the state of
Kama Loka; shells or elementaries.
Piyadasi, another name for Asoka (q.v.)
Plaster or Plantal, Platonic term for the power which
moulds the substances of the universe into suitable forms.
Popol-Vuh, the sacred book of the Guatemalans.
Poseidonis, the last island submerged of the continent of
Atlantis.
Pracheta, the principle of water.
Pragna, consciousness.
Prajapatis, the constructors of the material universe.
Prakriti, undifferentiated matter; the supreme principle
regarded as the substance of the universe.
Pralaya, the period of cosmic rest.
Prameyas, things to be proved, objects of Pramana or proof.
Prana, the one life.
Pranamaya Kosha, the principle of life and its vehicle; the
second sheath of the Divine monad (Vedantic).
Pranatman, the eternal or germ thread on which are strung,
like beads, the personal lives. The same as Sutratma.
Pratibhasika, the apparent or illusory life.
Pratyaksha, perception.
Pretya-bhava, the state of an ego under the necessity of
repeated births.
Punarjanmam, power of evolving objective manifestation;
rebirth.
Puraka, in-breathing, regulated according to the system of
Hatha Yoga.
Puranas (lit. "old writings"). A collection of symbolical
Brahmanical writings. They are eighteen in number, and are
supposed to have been composed by Vyasa, the author of the
Mahabharata.
Purusha, spirit.
Rajas, the quality of foulness; passionate activity.
Rajarshi, a king-adept.
Raj Yoga, the true science of the development of psychic
powers and union with the Supreme Spirit.
Rakshasas, evil spirits; literally, raw-eaters.
Ramayana, an epic poem describing the life of Rama, a
deified Indian hero.
Ram Mohun Roy, the well-known Indian Reformer, died 1833.
Rechaka, out-breathing, regulated according to the system of
Hatha Yoga.
Rig Veda, the first of the Vedas.
Rishabham, the Zodiacal sign Taurus, the sacred syllable
Aum.
Rishis (lit. "revealers"), holy sages.
Ruach, one of the souls, according to the Kabala; second
three principles in the human septenary.

Sabda, the Logos or Word.
Saketa, the capital of the ancient Indian kingdom of
Ayodhya.
Sukshma sariram, the subtile body.
Sakti, the crown of the astral light; the power of Nature.
Sakuntala, a Sanskrit drama by Kalidasa.
Samadhana, incapacity to diverge from the path of spiritual
progress.
Sama, repression of mental perturbations.
Samadhi, state of ecstatic trance.
Samanya, community or commingling of qualities.
Samma-Sambuddha, perfect illumination.
Samvat, an Indian era which, is usually supposed to have
commenced 57 B.C.
Sankaracharya, the great expositor of the monistic Vedanta
Philosophy, which denies the personality of the Divine Principle,
and affirms its unity with the spirit of man.
Sankhya Karika, a treatise containing the aphorisms of
Kapila, the founder of the Sankhya system, one of the six schools
of Hindu philosophy.
Sankhya Yog, the system of Yog as set forth by Sankhya
philosophers.
Sannyasi, a Hindu, ascetic whose mind is steadfastly fixed
upon the Supreme Truth.
Sarira, body.
Sat, the real, Purusha.
Sattwa, purity.
Satva, goodness.
Satya Loka, the abode of Truth, one of the subjective
spheres in our solar system.
Shamanism, spirit worship; the oldest religion of Mongolia.
Siddhasana, one of the postures enjoined by the system of
Hatha Yoga.
Siddhi, abnormal power obtained by spiritual development.
Sing Bonga, sun spirit of the Kolarian tribes.
Siva, one of the Hindu gods, with Brahma and Vishnu, forming
the Trimurti or Trinity; the principle of destruction.
Sivite, a worshipper of Siva, the name of a sect among the
Hindus.
Skandhas, the impermanent elements which constitute a man.
Slokas, stanzas (Sanskrit).
Smriti, legal and ceremonial writings of the Hindus.
Soham, mystic syllable representing involution; lit. "that
am I."
Soonium, a magical ceremony for the purpose of removing a
sickness from one person to another.
Soorya, the sun.
Souramanam, a method of calculating time.
Space, Akasa; Swabhavat (q.v.)
Sraddha, faith.
Sravana, receptivity, listening.
Sthula-Sariram, the gross physical body.
Sukshmopadhi, fourth and fifth principles (Raja Yoga.)
Sunyata, space; nothingness.
Suras, elementals of a beneficent order; gods.
Surpa, winnower.
Suryasiddhanta, a Sanskrit treatise on astronomy.
Sushupti Avastha, deep sleep; one of the four aspects of
Pranava.
Sutra period, one of the periods into which Vedic literature
has been divided.
Sutratman, (lit. "the thread spirit,") the immortal
individuality upon which are strung our countless personalities.
Svabhavat, Akasa; undifferentiated primary matter;
Prakriti.
Svapna, dreamy condition, clairvoyance.
Swami (lit. "a master"), the family idol.
Swapna Avastha, dreaming state; one of the four aspects of
Pranava.

Tama, indifference, dullness.
Tamas, ignorance, or darkness.
Tanha, thirst; desire for life, that which produces re-birth.
Tanmatras, the subtile elements, the abstract counterpart of
the five elements, earth, water, fire, air and ether, consisting
of smell, taste, feeling, sight and sound.
Tantras, works on Magic.
Tantrika, ceremonies connected with the worship of the
goddess Sakti, who typifies Force.
Taraka Yog, one of the Brahmanical systems for the
development of psychic powers and attainment of spiritual
knowledge.
Tatwa, eternally existing "that;" the different principles
in Nature.
Tatwams, the abstract principles of existence or categories,
physical and metaphysical.
Telugu, a language spoken in Southern India.
Tesshu Lama, the head of the Tibetan Church.
The Laws of Upasanas, chapter in the Book iv. of Kui-te on
the rules for aspirants for chelaship.
Theodidaktos (lit. "God taught "), a school of philosophers
in Egypt.
Theosophy, the Wisdom-Religion taught in all ages by the
sages of the world.
Tikkun, Adam Kadmon, the ray from the Great Centre.
Titiksha, renunciation.
Toda, a mysterious tribe in India that practise black magic.
Tridandi, (tri, "three," danda, "chastisement"), name of
BrahmanicaI thread.
Trimurti, the Indian Trinity—Brahma, Vishnu and Siva,
Creator, Preserver and Destroyer.
Turiya Avastha, the state of Nirvana.
Tzong-ka-pa, celebrated Buddhist reformer of Tibet, who
instituted the order of Gelugpa Lamas.

Universal Monas, the universal spirit.
Upadana Karnam, the material cause of an effect.
Upadhis, bases.
Upamiti, analogy.
Upanayana, investiture with the Brahmanical thread.
Upanishads, Brahmanical Scriptures appended to the Vedas,
containing the esoteric doctrine of the Brahmans.
Upanita, one who is invested with the Brahmanical thread
(lit. "brought to a spiritual teacher").
Uparati, absence of out-going desires.
Urvanem, spiritual ego; sixth principle.
Ushtanas, vital force; second principle.

Vach, speech; the Logos; the mystic Word.
Vaishyas, cattle breeders artisans; the third caste among
the Hindus.
Vakya Sanyama, control over speech.
Varuna or Pracheta, the Neptune of India.
Vasishta, a great Indian sage, one of those to whom the Rig
Veda was revealed in part.
Vata, air.
Vayu, the wind.
Vayu Puranas, one of the Puranas.
Vedantists, followers of the Vedanta School of Philosophy,
which is divided into two branches, monists and dualists.
Vedas, the most authoritative of the Hindu Scriptures. The
four oldest sacred books—Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva—revealed
to the Rishis by Brahma.
Vedic, pertaining to the Vedas.
Vidya, secret knowledge.
Vija, the primitive germ which expands into the universe.
Vijnana-maya-kosha, the sheath of knowledge; the fourth
sheath of the divine monad; the fifth principle in man
(Vedanta).
Viraj, the material universe.
Vishnu, the second member of the Hindu trinity; the
principle of preservation.
Vishnuite or Vishuvite, a worshiper of Vishnu, the name of a
sect among the Hindus.
Vrishalas, Outcasts.
Vyasa, the celebrated Rishi, who collected and arranged the
Vedas in their present form.
Vyavaharika, objective existence; practical.

Yajna Sutra, the name of the Brahmanical thread.
Yama, law, the god of death.
Yashts, the Parsi prayer-books.
Yasna, religious book of the Parsis.
Yasodhara, the wife of Buddha.
Yavanacharya, the name given to Pythagoras in the Indian
books.
Yavanas, the generic name given by the Brahmanas to younger
peoples.
Yoga Sutras, a treatise on Yoga philosophy by Patanjali.
Yog Vidya, the science of Yoga; the practical method of
uniting one's own spirit with the universal spirit.
Yogis, mystics, who develop themselves according to the
system of Patanjali's "Yoga Philosophy."
Yudhishthira, the eldest of the five brothers, called
Pandavas, whose exploits are celebrated in the great Sanskrit
epic "Mahabharata."

Zend, the sacred language of ancient Persia.
Zhing, subtle matter; Kama Rupa, or fourth principle
(Chinese).
Zoroaster, the prophet of the Parsis.