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Soham (Sanskrit)
''Soham or Sohum'' ( ') is a Hindu mantra, literally meaning "That (is) I" in Sanskrit, implying "I am that".Mariasusai Dhavamony (1999), Hindu Spirituality, GB Press, , page 129 In Vedic philosophy it means identifying Brahman with the universe or ultimate Brahman. The mantra is also inverted from ' (the sandhi of ') to '. The combination of ' has also been interpreted as "I am Swan", where the swan symbolizes the Atman. Etymology The term ' is related to , and the phrase translates to "That (is) I", according to Monier-Williams. Interpreted as a nominal sentence, it can also be read as "I am the absolute" or "Great truth". The term is found in Vedic literature, and is a phrase that identifies "One with the universe or the ultimate one reality". History This phrase is found in Principal Upanishads such as the Isha Upanishad (verse 16), which ends: : (...) तेजो यत्ते रूपं कल्याणतमं तत्ते पश्यामि य� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified by adherence to the concept of ''dharma'', a Ṛta, cosmic order maintained by its followers through rituals and righteous living, as expounded in the Vedas. The word ''Hindu'' is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, it has also been described by the modern term ''Sanātana Dharma'' () emphasizing its eternal nature. ''Vaidika Dharma'' () and ''Arya dharma'' are historical endonyms for Hinduism. Hinduism entails diverse systems of thought, marked by a range of shared Glossary of Hinduism terms, concepts that discuss God in Hinduism, theology, Hindu mythology, mythology, among other topics in Hindu texts, textual sources. Hindu texts have been classified into Śruti () and Smṛti (). The major Hin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoga Upanishads
Yoga Upanishads are a group of minor Upanishads of Hinduism related to Yoga. There are twenty Yoga Upanishads in the anthology of 108 Upanishads listed in the Muktika anthology. The Yoga Upanishads, along with other minor Upanishads, are generally classified separate from the thirteen major Principal Upanishads considered to be more ancient and from the Vedic tradition. The Yoga Upanishads deal with the theory and practice of Yogic techniques, with varied emphasis on methodology and meditation, but with some shared ideas. They contrast from other groups of minor Upanishads, such as the Samanya Upanishads which are of a generic nature, the Sannyasa Upanishads which focus on the Hindu renunciation and monastic practice, the Shaiva Upanishads which highlight aspects of Shaivism, the Vaishnava Upanishads which highlight Vaishnavism, and the Shakta Upanishads which highlight Shaktism. Date The composition date of each Yoga Upanishad is unclear, and estimates on when they were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swara Yoga
''Shiva Swarodaya'' is an ancient Sanskrit tantric text. A comment and translation termed as swara yoga has been made by Satyananda Saraswati in 1983. It is also termed "Phonetical astrology": the "sound of one's own breath" and is written as a conversation between Shiva and Parvati. This ancient scripture has 395 sutras. Introduction The script starts with the conversation between Parvati and Shiva, where Shiva starts introducing the scripts and explaining about the need for maintaining secrecy and also stating the astrological value of the text. Its fundamental application is to realize the breath as being the medium of cosmic life force, through practising "''Swara Yoga''" (special mode of analysis & practising of breath). According to Mukti Bodhananda, the book enables us to understand nature of breath and its influence on the body as different modes of breathing leads to different types of actions; physical, mental and spiritual. Guruji Prem Nirmal says Swara yoga is an anc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dnyaneshwar
Sant Dnyaneshwar (Marathi pronunciation: ̪ɲaːn̪eʃʋəɾ, (Devanagari : सन्त ज्ञानेश्वर), also referred to as Jñāneśvara, Jñānadeva, Dnyandev or Mauli or Dnyaneshwar Vitthal Kulkarni (1275–1296 (living samadhi)), was a 13th-century Indian Marathi saint, poet, philosopher and yogi of the Nath and Varkari tradition. In his short life of 21 years, he authored '' Dnyaneshwari'' (a commentary on the ''Bhagavad Gita'') and ''Amrutanubhav''. These are the oldest surviving literary works in the Marathi language, and considered to be milestones in Marathi literature. Sant Dnyaneshwar's ideas reflect the non-dualistic Advaita Vedanta philosophy and an emphasis on Yoga and bhakti towards Vithoba, an incarnation of Vishnu. His legacy inspired saint-poets such as Eknath and Tukaram, and he is one of the founders of the Varkari ( Vithoba-Krishna) Bhakti movement tradition of Hinduism in Maharashtra. Dnyaneshwar undertook samadhi at Alandi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gorakshanath
Gorakhnath (also known as Gorakshanath (Sanskrit: ''Gorakṣanātha'') (Devanagari : गोरक्षनाथ / गोरखनाथ), c. early 11th century) was a Hindu yogi, mahasiddha and saint who was the founder of the Nath Hindu monastic movement in India. He is considered one of the two disciples of Matsyendranath. His followers are known as Jogi, ''Gorakhnathi'', ''Darshani'' or ''Kanphata''. He was one of nine saints, or Navnath, and is known in Maharashtra, India. Hagiographies describe him to be a person outside the laws of time who appeared on earth during different ages. Historians agree that Gorakhnath lived sometime during the first half of the 2nd millennium CE, but there is some disagreement about which century he lived. Estimates based on archaeological and textual evidence range from Briggs' estimate of the 11th to 12th century to Grierson's estimate of the 14th century. Gorakhnath is considered a ''Maha-yogi'' (or "great yogi") in Hindu tradition. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matsyendranath
Matsyendranātha, also known as Matsyendra, Macchindranāth, Mīnanātha and Minapa (early 10th century) was a saint and yogi in a number of Buddhism, Buddhist and Hinduism, Hindu traditions. He is considered the revivalist of hatha yoga as well as the author of some of its earliest texts. He is also seen as the founder of the natha ''sampradaya'', having received the teachings from Shiva. He is associated with Kaula (Hinduism), Kaula Shaivism. He is also one of the eighty-four mahasiddhas and considered the guru of Gorakshanath, another known figure in early hatha yoga. He is revered by both Hindus and Buddhists and is sometimes regarded as an incarnation of Avalokiteśvara. In the Siddhar tradition of Tamil Nadu, Matsyendranath is revered as one of the 18 Siddhars of yore, and is also known as Machamuni. The Kasi Viswanathar Temple in Thiruparankundram, Madurai, Tamil Nadu is home to his Jiva, Jeeva Samadhi. Early life Little is known about the life of Matsyendra: he is also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hatha Yoga
Hatha yoga (; Sanskrit हठयोग, International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''haṭhayoga'') is a branch of yoga that uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some hatha yoga style techniques can be traced back at least to the 1st-century CE, in texts such as the Hindu Itihasa, Sanskrit epics and Buddhism's Pali canon. The oldest dated text so far found to describe hatha yoga, the 11th-century ''Amritasiddhi, Amṛtasiddhi'', comes from a Tantra, tantric Buddhist milieu. The oldest texts to use the terminology of ''hatha'' are also Vajrayana Buddhist. Hindu hatha yoga texts appear from the 11th century onward. Some of the early hatha yoga texts (11th-13th c.) describe methods to raise and conserve bindu (vital force, that is, semen, and in women ''rajas –'' menstrual fluid). This was seen as the physical esse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nath
Natha, also called Nath (), are a Shaivism, Shaiva sub-tradition within Hinduism in India and Nepal. A medieval movement, it combined ideas from Buddhism, Shaivism, Tantra and Yoga traditions of the Indian subcontinent.Natha: Indian religious sect Encyclopedia Britannica (2007) The Naths have been a confederation of devotees who consider Shiva as their first lord or guru, with varying lists of additional gurus. Of these, the 9th or 10th century Matsyendranatha and the ideas and organization mainly developed by Gorakhnath are particularly important. Gorakhnath is considered the originator of the Nath Panth. The Nath tradition has an extensive Shaivism-related theological literature of its own, most of which is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vakya Vritti
''Vakya Vritti'' is a Vedantic textbook, a small treatise, that concerns itself with the detailed and elaborate explanation of two Mahāvākyas – aham brahmāsmi and tat tvam asi which great Sruti sentences are intended to give a direct perception of Brahman. The ''Laghu vakya vritti'' deals with the former vakya only. ''Vakya Vritti'' is a text of fifty-two Sanskrit slokas attributed to Adi Shankara and is in the form of a dialogue between an eager student and an enlightened teacher. There exists a very old commentary on this text but the name of its author is not known. Swami Chinmayananda's commentary on this exhaustive exposition of the Mahavakya Tat Tvam Asi was published in 1981. To explain each mantra as lucidly as a Guru (teacher) can is called Vritti. In ''Vakya Vritti'' a student approaches his Guru with a confession that the subject Mahavakya does not add up to any vivid understanding in his mind, and the teacher patiently elucidates what exactly the scripture ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adi Shankara
Adi Shankara (8th c. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya (, ), was an Indian Vedanga, Vedic scholar, Hindu philosophy, philosopher and teacher (''acharya'') of Advaita Vedanta. Reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scant, and his true impact lies in his "iconic representation of Hinduism, Hindu religion and Hindu culture, culture," despite the fact that most Hindus do not adhere to Advaita Vedanta. Tradition also portrays him as the one who reconciled the various Hindu denominations, sects (Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Shaktism) with the introduction of the form of Puja (Hinduism), worship, the simultaneous worship of five deities – Ganesha, Surya, Vishnu, Shiva and Devi, arguing that all deities were but different forms of the one Brahman, the invisible Supreme Being.Klaus Klostermaier (2007), A Survey of Hinduism, Third Edition, State University of New York Press, , p. 40 While he is often revered as the most important Indian philosophy, Indian philosoph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stotras
''Stotra'' (Sanskrit: स्तोत्र) is a Sanskrit word that means "ode, eulogy or a hymn of praise."Monier Williams, Monier Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Article on 'Stotra'' It is a literary genre of Indian religious texts designed to be melodically sung, in contrast to a ''shastra'' which is composed to be recited. 'Stotra' derives from 'stu' meaning 'to praise' A stotra can be a prayer, a description, or a conversation, but always with a poetic structure. It may be a simple poem expressing praise and personal devotion to a deity for example, or poems with embedded spiritual and philosophical doctrines. A common feature of most stotras other than Nama stotras is the repetition of a line at the end of every verse. For example, the last line of every verse in the Mahiṣāsura Mardinī Stotra ends in "Jaya Jaya Hē Mahiṣāsura-mardini Ramyakapardini śailasute." Many ''stotra'' hymns praise aspects of the divine, such as Devi, Shiva, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tantra
Tantra (; ) is an esoteric yogic tradition that developed on the India, Indian subcontinent beginning in the middle of the 1st millennium CE, first within Shaivism and later in Buddhism. The term ''tantra'', in the Greater India, Indian traditions, also means any systematic broadly applicable "text, theory, system, method, instrument, technique or practice". A key feature of these traditions is the use of mantras, and thus they are commonly referred to as Mantramārga ("Path of Mantra") in Hinduism or Mantrayāna ("Mantra Vehicle") and Guhyamantra ("Secret Mantra") in Buddhism. In Buddhism, the Vajrayana traditions are known for tantric ideas and practices, which are based on Indian Tantras (Buddhism), Buddhist Tantras. They include Tibetan Buddhism, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, Japanese Shingon Buddhism and Nepalese Newar Buddhism. Although Southern Esoteric Buddhism does not directly reference the tantras, its practices and ideas parallel them. In Bud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
