P – Esoteric Glossary

< < O      Q > >

Padma

The Sanskrit term for the Lotus. The term also refers to the various chakras, which take the form of lotus blossoms in etheric realms.

Padma Asana

The lotus position (asana), which is utilised by med­itators to assist in the obtaining of their realisa­tions.

Padmapani

The lotus bearer. A name of Avalokites­vara.

Padmasambhava

The great Buddhist Tantric scholar/saint that brought Bud­dhism to Tibet in the eighth century A.D. and founded the first monastery there.

Pan

(Meaning the All.) The God of Nature, thus the term panthe­ism, be­lief in a multiplicity of Gods. He was Zeus’s foster-brother and was born with horns, a beard, tail and goat legs. He was said to have seduced several nymphs, such as Echo, as well as Selene (the Moon Goddess), and thus he was a precursor of the various forces and entities, the devic life, associated with the astral plane and its etheric counterpart. He was the inventor of the pan pipes, and thus rules his domain by means of the magic of Sound.

Panchadasha

(Panchadaa) The number fifteen.

Parabrahm

(Also Parabrahman.) That which is beyond (para) Brahma. Thus Absolute or unconditioned space.

Parafohat

The highest aspect of fundamental, or primary psychic energy. Fohat or cosmic electricity, as it relates to the higher cosmic planes.

Paramartha

Absolute existence, the most sub­lime Truth.

Paramatman

The supreme Soul, or “I-ness” in the Universe.

Paramitas

Para = the universal, that which is beyond, and mita = moving (beyond) by measured steps. The Paramitas are the ten steps, virtues, perfections, or paths attain­able by a Bodhisattva.

Paranirvana

See Nirvana. That which is beyond (para) Nir­vana. The Buddha was said to have attained Nirvana under the Bodhi tree, and paranirvana when He “died”, thus complete extinction of or re­lease from all attachment to the form. Technically, the relin­quishing of the permanent atoms associ­ated with the three peri­odical vehicles that allows the Soul to incar­nate. If Nirvana is associated with the attain­ment of the fourth Initiation, then paranirvana relates to the state be­yond that, specifically the sixth Initiation.

Paranishpanna

That which issues or comes forth from the Abso­lute.

Parashakti

(Or parasakti.) This is the great universal (para) force or psy­chic power (shakti) and concerns the complete awakening of the fires at the base of the spine, with all the related implications.

Paratantra

That which has no existence of or by itself. It exists through an interdependent chain of causation.

Pasha

From pash = to bind, a noose. This is the sa­cred noose (a form of the ankh-tie) held in one of the left hands of Shiva, and which strangles all the unworthy elements in a yogi’s char­acter, which pre­vent him from obtaining union with the Supreme.

Patala

The nether world.

Pavaka

Or Parvaka. Electric fire. The term means “shining, bril­liant, bright.”

Pavamana

Fire by friction.

Pegasus

This is the winged horse that sprang forth from the Gor­gon Medusa’s blood that was spilled when Perseus cut off her head, who then mounted this horse as his steed, and flew off into spiritual heights to fulfill his mission. Here Pegasus sym­bolises the archetypal or higher mind.

Permanent atoms

These are the atoms of substance of the various planes of perception, viewed esoterically, that are permanently retained by both the Soul and Monad, and through which they retain their links with the phenomenal worlds. The karma of the individuals concerned are stored within the constitution (spirillae) of these permanent atoms. They are thus the mechanism that allows the Soul to repeatedly project its Purpose into new incarnations of the personality nature. The permanent atoms are the points of atomic life that allow the various sheaths of a per­sonality to be built because of the magnetic attraction of other atoms of like nature. The Devas work with these to build or weave the related karma of the vehicles into the personality equipment. Each per­manent atom (one for each sheath) thus contains the “genetic code” for the sum of the qualities of the sheath for which it is responsible. See also atoms.

Philosopher’s Stone

This is the “stone” that could convert all base sub­stances into gold once in the hands of the possessor. Its fab­rication was the objective of the practitioners of the ancient sci­ence of Alchemy. For this purpose they used alembics and care­fully controlled experi­ments with the element Mercury. The art really concerned the transmu­tation of the base elements within oneself into the essence of the en­lightenment consciousness, which was indeed the most precious of all substances, hence “gold”.
Once the internal gold is discovered then the external “stone” that could convert base substances could also be found and utilised, for that which is within is also without, and vice versa. However, once found, the initiate or philosopher will have elimi­nated concepts of selfishness and materialistic ambitions from within, and thus such a physical plane “stone” has little value to him. Indeed, all Initiates of the higher degrees possess such “philosopher’s stones” and could literally “make gold” if it served a purpose other than to satiate the idle curiosity of those around.

Phoenix

Derived from the Egyptian religion. An embodiment of Ra, the Sun God, and was viewed as heron-like, and later as a large form of the eagle. It was fabled to live for 500 years (the number of the mind) and then to be consumed by fire by its own act, only to later be resurrected from its ashes. It is a symbol of rebirth, and regeneration of the con­sciousness-aspect after each cycle of the death of the form.

Pingala Nadi

The right hand (male) nadi stream, that which con­cerns the evocation of the con­sciousness-aspect and the flowing of the related pranas through­out the body. It is the second of the triple cord (Sushumna, Pin­gala, and Ida) that runs up the spinal column from the base of the spine centre to the Head centre and to all other chakras in the body.

Pistis Sophia

A Gnostic text teaching the doctrine of the Aeons. It the ve­hicle for the spreading of the Divine Wisdom (Sophia). The evocation of Wisdom being considered feminine in nature to the Gnostics – that to which they endeavoured to be married.

Pitris

The ancestors or creators of the human forms. There are seven classes of which three are incorporeal or arupa, (thus building our atmic, bud­dhic, and manasic sheaths) and four are corporeal (rupa). The builders of our lower mental, astral etheric, and dense physical sheaths. They are also called the lu­nar ancestors. They are the “Fathers” who build the types of the forms that we incarnate into during each of the great epochs, races and rounds of evolution.

Pixies

Tiny elemental Devic lives that embody the greenery of the plant kingdom.

Plane of perception

There are seven of these to Systemic space . (The zone of Logoic activity enclosed from cosmic Space by the Thought Form of a Solar Logos, into which He has Incarnated and through which He lives out the duration of that Life.) To each of these planes there are seven subplanes, making 49 sub­planes in all. These planes are termed adi, anupadaka, atma, buddhi, manas (mental), astral and dense physical, and are the fields of perception through which we evolve by means of the evolution of the five senses and their transmuted correspon­dences, to gain conscious understanding of the related qualities thereof. They can also be viewed in terms of higher dimensions of realisation.
These seven planes are but the seven subdivisions of the cosmic Dense Physical plane, the higher four (adi, anupadaka, atma, and bud­dhi) are expressions of the four cosmic Ethers, and the lower three (the mental, astral, and dense physical) can be considered as the gaseous, liq­uid, and concrete subdivisions of the cosmic Dense Physical Plane, and thus have a similar re­lation to the various Logoi as the airy, liquid, and dense spheres have to our incarnate personalities evolving upon the Earth.

Planetary Spirit

The (involutionary) Entity that embodies the sum ­total of the elementary lives upon our planet. It can be consid­ered the Corpo­real, or formed, aspect of the Planetary Logos.

Planetary Logoi

The Logoi (or Deities) informing the various plan­etary Spheres. They are Regents of all the lesser Lives evolving through that particular School of endeavour. They are the Ray Lives that are the Brothers to our Planetary Logos, and are gen­erally given Astrological designations, but it is best for the stu­dent to read Esoteric Astrology and A Treatise on Cosmic Fire by A.A. Bailey for detailed information. They form the Chakras or Flowers within the Body of a Solar Logos. See Planetary Scheme, Deity.

Planetary Rulers

See Planetary Logoi.

Pleiades

(From the Greek “to sail”.) The seven Sisters, the daugh­ters of Atlas (who holds up the world-sphere in Greek Mythol­ogy) and the nymph Pleione. They were half sisters of the Hyades, and were saved by Zeus from pursuit by the giant Orion by being transformed into a group of celestial doves. They are also called “Virgins of Spring” and “the Stars of Abun­dance”.
In the esoteric philosophy they are part of an important Di­vine triplicity of constellations, forming a golden Triangle, “the Golden Isle”. The seven Sisters are the Source of the primeval substance (Mulaprakriti/Mahat/Cosmic dust) out of which our star system was formed. Hence the Deva Lords of the various planes of perception come under their auspices. The Pleiades represent the Mother aspect of this Triplicity. Sirius, the Dog star represents the Son aspect, and is the Source of Love to our System. Ursa Major, the seven Rishis of the Great Bear, repre­sents the Father aspect. These Rishis are husbands to the sis­ters. They are responsible for the energy of the Will in our Sys­tem, and consequently envitalise the seven Planetary Logoi (Ray Lords).
The names attributed to the seven sisters are: Sterope, or Astreope = lightning, Electra = shining, splendour, and is sometimes equated with the lost Pleiade because she is said to have veiled her face in grief at the burning of Troy, Taygeta = a mountain, Alcyone = a kingfisher, halcyon. (This is the star around which our Solar Logos is said to travel on His in­terstellar journey.) Merope = human, mortal, endowed with speech; having loved a mortal she is said to conceal herself for shame, and is thus the most important contender for the “lost Pleiade”, the in­visible seventh star. Maia = mother, nurse, the Mother of Hermes, the God of Wisdom, and Celaena = the black. The Pleiades had much to do with the Atlantean civilisa­tion.

Pleroma

A Gnostic term that is used to designate the sum of devel­oped Space (the Universal Soul); in short, the Fullness of the Universal Mind that had Created the sum of the manifested Uni­verse, with all as­sociated categories and divisions.

Pluto

The God of the underworld, the realms of hell. The Roman version of the Greek God Hades. In Esoteric Astrology, a non-sacred Planetary Ruler governing the first Ray of Will or Power as it relates to the per­sonality life.

Poseidon

The Greek God of the Waters. See Neptune.

Poseidonis

The last remnant of the Atlantean continent, as men­tioned by Plato in his book, Critias.

Prabhavapyaya

That from which all things origi­nate, and into which all things resolve at the end of the life cy­cle. Basically, the Universal Soul.

Pradhana

Undifferentiated substance, mulaprakriti, primal sub­stance that is the root or base matter utilised by a Creative Deity to build His Body of Manifestation.

Prajna

The Divine Wisdom that comes from identi­fying or being absorbed into the Universal Mind (Alaya Vij­nana). In Buddhism, prajna is the female aspect of the Dhyani Buddhas.

Prajnaparamita

Perfection of Wisdom. Seen as the result of the perfected discriminative awareness of a Buddha, also in the form of the Bodhisattva bhumis (paths). It generally refers to the vast literature presenting the essential aspects of the path to sunyata that is fundamental to Mahayana Buddhism. The personification is a female Buddha, the Mother of all Buddhas.

Prajapatis

The progenitors that gave life to all on the Earth. There are seven of these, synthesised by an esoteric three. They are as­pects of Brahma, the Creative Deity, who is also called Pra­japati. They can also be seen as the Fathers or Ku­maras that em­body manifest space.

Prakriti

The substance matter from which things are cre­ated, per­sonified in terms of the Dævic forces that embody it. It is com­posed of the two roots, pra “to manifest”, and krita “to make”, meaning that which caused the universe to manifest it­self.

Pralaya

A period of obscuration or dissolution, (cosmic Rest), the opposite to a manvantara, or period of Creative Activity.

Prana

Vital breath. The psychic energy or vitality that em­anates from the Sun, or from the heart of all manifest life. “This word is de­rived from the Sanskrit roots “pra”, meaning “forth”, and “na”, meaning “to breathe, move, live”. It is the “breath of life”, the energy drawn to the physical world from the etheric aspect of all phenomenal life, and is the sum total of the vital en­ergy com­posing a body, be it human, Planetary, or Solar, for there are many types of prana. The process of libera­tion from bondage to the dense form is directly concerned with the trans­mutation and right projection of the grossest forms of prana in the body.
Prana is essentially the energy of the “Son” emanating from the Sun, from the heart of that which continually radiates to the Earth the vitality needed for the well-being of all entities. On a microscopic scale it is vital, active, radiatory heat, the sum total of myriads of little pranic lives. Every entity absorbs what it needs and re transmits this energy af­ter it has passed through their systems to all around them. Hence they colour it with their specific characteristics, which have malefic or benefic effects upon those that re-absorb it.
Prana is an attribute of the aura of the Planetary and Solar Christ, the symbolic “blood” that we were asked to drink by the historical Christ at the last supper, and which can cleanse the “robes” or sheaths of our corporeality, making them “white (Rev. 7:14). It is effectively the lower correspondence of bud­dhi, the enlightenment-consciousness, or energy, that sustains the liberated being.” (From The Revelation, Vol. I, by Bodo Balsys, pages 32-3.)
It is the energy that flows through the nadi system, where it takes on five different attributes or qualities, related to the five planes of Mind. It is termed lung in Tibetan, Rauch in Hebrew, and chi in the Taoist terminology. It is either directly absorbed into our systems via certain chakras, by the process of breath­ing, or indirectly via food. In fact, it is that which spells the differ­ence between vital, healthy foods, and that which is debil­itated, sickness-engendering. See also Jiva.

Pranamaya kosha

(Prana-maya-koa) The vehicle of prana, another term for the etheric body.

Pranava

The emanation of the Sacred Word, AUM or OM, so that it is fully imbued with prana. This is necessary for all true forms of Creativity.

Pranayama

The science of breath, or rhythmic breathing, as applied in meditation disciplines. The right channeling of prana, the vi­tal airs, throughout the Nadi system. Let the reader beware, for there are many very danger­ous forms of breathing exercises proffered by irre­sponsible so-called enlight­ened sages and “Gurus”. Such exercises quickly lead to the de­velopment of the lower siddhis, possible obses­sion by astral en­tities and by the dark brotherhood, psychic quirks of all types, insanity, and premature death. Only the awakened heart and pu­rification of the subtle sheaths will allow safety in this area. In any case, once this is accomplished, then rhythmic breathing oc­curs of its own accord, and needs not the hindrance of a wil­ful desire-mind impos­ing itself upon the substance of the subtle desire body.
Much incredible stupidity and foolishness is evident in those who walk towards psycho-spiritual death and into hell states because of de­sire to awaken psychic powers by means.of pranayama combined with yoga. When a physician prescribes healing remedies would one continue intaking poisons with re­gards physical health? Yet these truly spiritu­ally immature beings continually intake psychic toxins in the face of all warning. These breathing exercises are far more dangerous to the individ­ual than any physical poison, for the invoked psychic toxins follow one after the death of the physical body, thus producing hell states.

Pranic Triangle

This consists of a trinity of chakras – the Heart, Di­aphragm, and Splenic Centres, associated with the assimilation, (conversion into jiva) and right direction of pranas within the body. Other chakras involved are the two minor ones at the breasts, the centre between the shoulder blades (the nose centre), and the Sacral centre.

Pratyeka Buddha

One who is said to awaken to Buddhahood by the direct evocation of the Will to travel inwards exclusively. The nature of His enlightenment is such that it apparently draws Him away from the type of Service work (becoming a World-Teacher) that the past Buddha en­acted upon the Earth. The field of Service for such Beings, however, lies elsewhere in the Cosmos. They have simply travelled along a Ray Path that is not directly that of Love-Wisdom. The popular conception is that they are not truly grounded in Compassion, but that is an error, for the Way of Compassion is the basis for all on the White Path.

Pretas

Literally “hungry demons” in Buddhist Philosophy. The residents of one of the six realms associated with the Wheel of birth and death. They are the forms of those who have incar­nated in the lower strata of the as­tral planes after a life of pro­nounced avarice and selfishness.

Primordial Light

The Light that is essentially an aspect of the Mind of God, and thus is that which conditions all substance.It is the Radiance coming from the Heart of the Sun, and the astral Light is its reflection.

Principles

Literally these are the sheaths encasing the human per­sonality. There are seven of these, but the dense physical body is not considered a principle, because from the esoteric view­point it is purely an automa­ton, totally conditioned by the forces and energies flowing through it from the etheric vehicle. It is an effect and not a conditioning cause, and like all else associated with the material world is ever changing, and consequently part of the Great Illusion (the Sangsara). This fact is diffi­cult for the average personality to comprehend because he so much identi­fies with the outer form and considers it to be real, “himself”, but such observation is based upon false perception, for the only thing that is “real” is the consciousness that utilises this outer casing for the gain­ing of experiences, and which evolves through each change it ob­serves in the phenomenal world. We call this outer encasement of our personalities the “appearance”. The consciousness itself utilises a suc­cession of such “appearances” for its own evolutionary purpose in the process known as reincarnation, or rebirth.
The seven principles are:

1. The etheric vehicle – which houses the nadi and chakra system, the body of energy, and is consequently the true form of a man. The dense physical form is built upon the “blueprint” of this etheric form. All forms of Creative (subjective) Magic, the making of seeming mira­cles by our saints and sages, such as Je­sus, are done by means of the control of the forces flowing through the etheric vehicle, and which au­tomatically affect all aspects of the dense physical universe. This con­cerns the pro­cess whereby one obtains the philosopher’s stone
2. The astral body
3. The lower or concrete mind
4. The higher or abstract mind
5. The Causal Form, or the Soul. This is the true condition­ing principle of the human unit, and the understanding of the nature, and our usage, of the word “man” to describe the quali­ties of the human kingdom lies here, for the Kingdom of Souls is esoterically masculine, whilst its corollary, the Deva kingdom is Feminine. This should be meditated upon by the student
6. Buddhi
7. Atma

Above these stands the Monadic sphere.

Prometheus

In Greek mythology, the bringer of Divine Fire (intelligence) to the Earth and thus also the progenitor of hu­manity, who must bear that principle.

Psychic energy

This is a broad term, referring to everything associ­ated with the field of concern of psychics, to the evoca­tion of the higher Fires associated with Agni yoga. Thus it con­cerns the means of striv­ing upwards along the higher Way, for psy­chic energy is that which will equip one to do the essential work in the fields of service. It is the store of prana that will al­low one to thus labour and awaken to the highest spiritual possi­bilities. It is that which fills the Chalice of the Heart, as well as its lower reflection in the solar plexus.

Psychicism

The field of phenomena that psychics are involved with.

Psychics

From the Greek term psyche. This term basically refers to those who are capable of expressing consciously or uncon­sciously phenom­ena associated with the astral and etheric realms. This incorporates such things as clairvoyance, clairaudi­ence, mediumistic, and telepathic abili­ties, channeling, radion­ics, fortune telling, and the like. They generally have some of the minor chakras related to the solar plexus centre awakened to varying degrees. The field of developing psychic fac­ulties of this nature is one of the great glamours on the path, and is one of the major lures the dark ones use to convert many to travel the left hand path. Those that desire (lower) psychic powers before they have developed the wisdom and love necessary to rightly utilise them are like lambs led to the slaughter. They build for them­selves much karmic woe. There is a great difference between such psychicism, and the developed spiritual perception obtained by the enlightened and the wise, the Initiated members of the Hi­erarchy of Light.

Psychometry

Literally, “Soul-measuring”, the reading or seeing of things by means of the inner sight. To see the past of an object , or its spiri­tual qualities, in a flash of revelation.

Ptah

An Egyptian God, who was the Universal Demiurge who fashioned the world. He was also inventor of the arts, and the “Master Builder”. He was the sovereign God of Memphis, the capital of the North.

Puja

A religious offering, generally to an image of Divinity, or to a sacred cause. Often undertaken in the form of a cere­mony, in­volving food, incense, and sound.

Pundit

In Hinduism, a scholar, specifically one who is engrossed in the study of classical Sanskrit texts.

Puranas

Ancient Hindu scriptures, said to have been composed by Vyasa, the author of the Mahabharata.

Purusha

Essentially the Universal Soul, or Heavenly Man. It is de­rived from the Sanskrit “pura”, which means city or body, and “usha”, a derivative of the verb “vas”, to dwell. See also Narayana.

Purushottama

The Supreme Spirit, an ephitet of Vishnu, or Kr­ishna.

Putra.

A son.

Pymander

A Gnostic term for “Divine Thinking”.

Python

In the Greek mythology, a serpent (of evil) slain by Apollo.

< < O Q > >