Cardiff Blavatsky Archive, Wales, UK:- Theosophy Study Resource

THEOSOPHY

H P BLAVATSKY

Cardiff Blavatsky Archive

Cardiff Theosophical Society, 206 Newport Road, Cardiff, Wales, UK, CF24 – 1DL.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

1831 - 1891

THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY

H. P. BLAVATSKY

First Published 1892

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N —The 14th letter in both the English and the Hebrew alphabets. In the latter tongue the N is called Nun, and signifies a fish. It is the symbol of the female principle or the womb. Its numerical value is 50 in the Kabalistic system, but the Peripatetics made it equivalent to 900, and with a stroke over it (900) 9,000. With the Hebrews, however, the final Nun was 700.

Naaseni. The Christian Gnostic sect, called Naasenians, or serpent worshippers, who considered the constellation of the Dragon as the symbol of their Logos or Christ.

Nabatheans. A sect almost identical in their beliefs with the Nazarenes and Sabeans, who had more reverence for John the Baptist than for Jesus. Maimonides identifies them with the astrolaters.

“Respecting the beliefs of the Sabeans”, he says, “the most famous is the book, The agriculture of the Nabatheans”. And we know that the Ebionites, the first of whom were the friends and relatives of Jesus, according to tradition, in other words, the earliest and first Christians, “were the direct followers and disciples of the Nazarene sect”, according to Epiphanius and Theodoret (See the Contra Ebionites of Epiphanius, and also “Galileans” and “Nazarenes”).

Nabhi (Sk.). The father of Bhârata, who gave his name to Bhârata Varsha (land) or India.

Nabia (Heb.). Seership, soothsaying. This oldest and most respected of mystic phenomena is the name given to prophecy in the Bible, and is correctly included among the spiritual powers, such as divination, clairvoyant visions, trance-conditions, and oracles. But while enchanters, diviners, and even astrologers are strictly condemned in the Mosaic books, prophecy, seership, and nabia appear as the special gifts of heaven. In early ages they were all termed Epoptai (Seers), the Greek word for Initiates; they were also designated Nebim, “the plural of Nebo, the Babylonian god of wisdom.” The Kabalist distinguishes between the seer and the magician; one is passive, the other active; Nebirah, is one who looks into futurity and a clairvoyant; Nebi-poel, he who possesses magic powers. We notice that Elijah and Apollonius resorted to the same means to isolate themselves from the disturbing influences of the outer world, viz., wrapping their heads entirely in a woollen mantle, from its being an electric non-conductor we must suppose.

Nabu (Chald.). Nebu or Nebo, generally; the Chaldean god of Secret Wisdom, from which name the Biblical, Hebrew term Nabiim (prophets) was derived. This son of Anu and Ishtar was worshipped chiefly at Borsippa; but he had also his temple at Babylon, above that of Bel, devoted to the seven planets.
(See “ Nazarenes” and “ Nebo”.)

Nâga (Sk.). Literally “Serpent”. The name in the Indian Pantheon of the Serpent or Dragon Spirits, and of the inhabitants of Pâtâla, hell. But as Pâtâla means the antipodes, and was the name given to America by the ancients, who knew and visited that continent before Europe had ever heard of it, the term is probably akin to the Mexican Nagals the (now) sorcerers and medicine men. The Nagas are the Burmese Nats, serpent-gods, or “dragon demons”. In Esotericism, however, and as already stated, this is a nick-name for the “wise men” or adepts in China and Tibet, the “Dragons.” are regarded as the titulary deities of the world, and of various spots on the earth, and the word is explained as meaning adepts, yogis, and narjols. The term has simply reference to their great knowledge and wisdom. This is also proven in the ancient Sûtras and Buddha’s biographies. The Nâga is ever a wise man, endowed with extraordinary magic powers, in South and Central America as in India, in Chaldea as also in ancient Egypt. In China the “worship” of the Nâgas was widespread, and it has become still more pronounced since Nâgarjuna (the “great Nâga”, the “great adept” literally), the fourteenth Buddhist patriarch, visited China. The “Nâgas" are regarded by the Celestials as “the tutelary Spirits or gods of the five regions or the four points of the compass and the centre, as the guardians of the five lakes and four oceans” (Eitel). This, traced to its origin and translated esoterically, means that the five continents and their five root-races had always been under the guardianship of “terrestrial deities”, i.e., Wise Adepts. The tradition that Nâgas washed Gautama Buddha at his birth, protected him and guarded the relics of his body when dead, points again to the Nâgas being only wise men, Arhats, and no monsters or Dragons. This is also corroborated by the innumerable stories of the conversion of Nâgas to Buddhism. The Nâga of a lake in a forest near Râjagriha and many other “Dragons” were thus converted by Buddha to the good Law.

Nâgadwîpa (Sk.). Lit., “the island of the Dragons”; one of the Seven Divisions of Bhâratavarsha, or modern India, according to the Purânas. No proofs remain as to who were the Nâgas (a historical people however), the favourite theory being that they were a Scythic race. But there is no proof of this. When the Brahmans invaded India they “found a race of wise men, half-gods, half-demons”, says the legend, men who were the teachers of other races and became likewise the instructors of the Hindus and the Brahmans themselves. Nagpur is justly believed to be the surviving relic of Nâgadwîpa. Now Nagpur is virtually in Râjputana near Oodeypore, Ajmere, etc. And is it not well known that there was a time when Brahmans went to learn Secret Wisdom from the Râjputs? Moreover a tradition states that Apollonius of Tyana was instructed in magic by the Nâgas of Kashmere.

Nagal. The title of the chief Sorcerer or “medicine man” of some tribes of Mexican Indians. These keep always a daimon or god, in the shape of a serpent—and sometimes some other sacred animal—who is said to inspire them.

Nâgarâjas (Sk.). The usual name given to all the supposed “guardian Spirits” of lakes and rivers, meaning literally “Dragon Kings”. All of these are shown in the Buddhist chronicles as having been converted to the Buddhist monastic life : i.e , as becoming Arhats from the Yogis that they were before.

Nâgârjuna (Sk.). An Arhat, a hermit (a native of Western India) converted to Buddhism by Kapimala and the fourteenth Patriarch, and now regarded as a Bodhisattva-Nirmanakaya. He was famous for his dialectical subtlety in metaphysical arguments; and was the first teacher of the Amitâbha doctrine and a representative of the Mahayâna School. Viewed as the greatest philosopher of the Buddhists, he was referred to as “one of the four suns which illumine the world”. He was born 223 B.C, and going to China after his conversion converted in his turn the whole country to Buddhism.

Nagkon Wat (Siam.). Imposing ruins in the province of Siamrap (Eastern Siam), if ruins they may be called. An abandoned edifice of most gigantic dimensions, which, together with the great temple of Angkorthâm, are the best preserved relics of the past in all Asia. After the Pyramids this is the most occult edifice in the whole world. Of an oblong form, it is 796 feet in length and 588 in width, entirely built of stone, the roof included, but without cement like the pyramids of Ghizeh, the stones fitting so closely that the joints are even now hardly discernible. It has a central pagoda 250 feet in height from the first floor, and four smaller pagodas at the four corners, about 175 feet each. In the words of a traveller, (The Land of the White Elephant, Frank Vincent, p. 209) “in style and beauty of architecture, solidity of construction, and magnificent and elaborate carving and sculpture, the great Nagkon Wat has no superior, certainly no rival, standing at the present day.” (See Isis Unv., Vol. I. pp. 561-566.)

Nahash (Heb.). “The Deprived”; the Evil one or the Serpent, according to the Western Kabalists.

Nahbkoon (Eg) The god who unites the “doubles”, a mystical term referring to the human disembodied “principles”.

Naimittika (Sk.). Occasional, or incidental; used of one of the four kinds of Pralayas (See “Pralaya”).

Naїn (Scand.). The “Dwarf of Death”.

Najo (Hind.). Witch; a sorceress.

Nakshatra (Sk.). Lunar asterisms.

Namah (Sk.). In Pali Namo. The first word of a daily invocation among Buddhists, meaning “I humbly trust, or adore, or acknowledge” the Lord; as: “Namo tasso Bhagavato Arahato” etc., addressed to Lord Buddha. The priests are called “Masters of Namah”—both Buddhist and Taoist, because this word is used in liturgy and prayers, in the invocation of the Triratna (q.v.), and with a slight change in the occult incantations to the Bodhisvattvas and Nirmânakâyas.

Nanda (Sk.). One of the Kings of Magadha (whose dynasty was overthrown by Chandragupta q.v.).

Nandi (Sk.). The sacred white bull of Siva and his Vâhan (Vehicle).

Nanna (Scand.). The beautiful bride of Baldur, who fought with the blind Hodur (“ he who rules over darkness ”) and received his death from the latter by magic art. Baldur is the personification of Day, Hodur of Night, and the lovely Nanna of Dawn.

Nannak (Chald.), also Nanar and Sin. A name of the moon; said to be the son of Mulil, the older Bel and the Sun, in the later mythology. In the earliest, the Moon is far older than the Sun.

Nara (Sk.). “Man”, the original, eternal man.

Nârâ. (Sk.). The waters of Space, or the Great Deep, whence the name of Nârâyana or Vishnu.

Nara Sinha (Sk.). Lit., “Man-lion”; an Avatar of Vishnu.

Nârada (Sk.). One of the Seven great Rishis, a Son of Brahmâ This “Progenitor” is one of the most mysterious personages in the Brahmanical sacred symbology. Esoterically Nârada is the Ruler of events during various Karmic cycles, and the personification, in a certain sense, of the great human cycle; a Dhyan Chohan. He plays a great part in Brahmanism, which ascribes to him some of the most occult hymns in the Rig Veda, in which sacred work he is described as “of the Kanwa family”. He is called Deva-Brahmâ, but as such has a distinct character from the one he assumes on earth—or Pâtâla. Daksha cursed him for his interference with his 5,000 and 10,000 sons, whom he persuaded to remain Yogins and celibates, to be reborn time after time on this earth (Mahâbhârata). But this is an allegory. He was the inventor of the Vina, a kind of lute, and a great “lawgiver”. The story is too long to be given here.

Nâraka (Sk.). In the popular conception, a hell, a “prison under earth”. The hot and cold hells, each eight in number, are simply emblems of the globes of our septenary chain, with the addition of the “eighth sphere” supposed to be located in the moon. This is a transparent blind, as these “hells” are called vivifying hells because, as explained, any being dying in one is immediately born in the second, then in the third, and so on; life lasting in each 500 years (a blind on the number of cycles and reincarnations). As these hells constitute one of the six gâti (conditions of sentient existence), and as people are said to be reborn in one or the other according to their Karmic merits or demerits, the blind becomes self-evident. Moreover, these Nârakas are rather purgatories than hells, since release from each is possible through the prayers and intercessions of priests for a consideration, just as in the Roman Catholic Church, which seems to have copied the Chinese-ritualism in this pretty closely. As said before, esoteric philosophy traces every hell to life on earth, in one or another form of sentient existence.

Nârâyana (Sk.). The “mover on the Waters” of space: a title of Vishnu, in his aspect of the Holy Spirit, moving on the Waters of Creation. (See Mânu, Book II.) In esoteric symbology it stands for the primeval manifestation of the life-principle, spreading in infinite Space.

Nargal (Chald.). The Chaldean and Assyrian chiefs of the Magi (Rab Mag).

Narjol (Tib.). A Saint; a glorified Adept.

Naros or Neros (Heb.). A cycle, which the Orientalists describe as consisting of 600 years. But what years? There were three kinds of Neros : the greater, the middle and the less. It is the latter cycle only which was of 600 years. (See “Neros”.)

Nâstika (Sk.). Atheist, or rather he who does not worship or recognize the gods and idols.

Nâth (Sk.). A Lord: used of gods and men; a title added to the first name of men and things as Badrinath (lord of mountains), a famous place of pilgrimage; Gopinath (lord of the shepherdesses), used of Krishna.

Nava Nidhi (Sk.). Lit., “the nine Jewels”; a consummation of spiritual development, in mysticism.

Nazar (Heb.). One “set apart”; a temporary monastic class of celibates spoken of in the Old Testament, who married not, nor did they use wine during the time of their vow, and who wore their hair long, cutting it only at their initiation. Paul must have belonged to this class of Initiates, for he himself tells the Galatians (i. x5) that he was separated or “set apart” from the moment of his birth ; and that he had his hair cut at Cenchrea, because “he had a vow” (Acts xviii.18), i.e., had been initiated as a Nazar; after which he became a “ master-builder” (i Corinth. iii.10). Joseph is styled a Nazar (Gen. xlix. 26). Samson and Samuel were also Nazars, and many more.

Nazarenes (Heb.). The same as the St. John Christians; called the Mend or Sabeans. Those Nazarenes who left Galilee several hundred years ago and settled in Syria, east of Mount Lebanon, call themselves also Galileans ; though they designate Christ “a false Messiah” and recognise only St. John the Baptist, whom they call the “Great Nazar”. The Nabatheans with very little difference adhered to the same belief as the Nazarenes or the Sabeans. More than this— the Ebionites, whom Renan shows as numbering among their sect all the surviving relatives of Jesus, seem to have been followers of the same sect if we have to believe St. Jerome, who writes: “ I received permission from the Nazaræans who at Beræa of Syria used this (Gospel of Matthew written in Hebrew) to translate it.... The Evangel which the Nazarenes and Ebionites use which recently I translated from Hebrew into Greek.’ (Hieronymus’ Comment. to Matthew, Book II., chapter xii., and Hieronymus’ De Viris Illust. cap 3.) Now this supposed Evangel of Matthew, by whomsoever written, “exhibited matter”, as Jerome complains (bc. cit.), “not for edification but for destruction”(of Christianity). But the fact that the Ebionites, the genuine primitive Christians, “rejecting the rest of the apostolic writings, made use only of this (Matthew’s Hebrew) Gospel” (Adv. Hær., i. 26) is very suggestive. For, as Epiphanius declares, the Ebionites firmly believed, with the Nazarenes, that Jesus was but a man “of the seed of a man” (Epiph. Contra Ebionites). Moreover we know from the Codex of the Nazarenes, of which the “Evangel according to Matthew” formed a portion, that these Gnostics, whether Galilean, Nazarene or Gentile, call Jesus, in their hatred of astrolatry, in their Codex Naboo-Meschiha or “ Mercury”. (See “ Mendæans”). This does not shew much orthodox Christianity either in the Nazarenes or the Ebionites; but seems to prove on the contrary that the Christianity of the early centuries and modern Christian theology are two entirely opposite things.

Nebban or Neibban (Chin.). The same as Nirvâna, Nippang in Tibet.

Nebo (Chald.). The same as the Hindu Budha, son of Soma the Moon, and Mercury the planet.
(See “Nabu”.)

Necromancy (Gr.). The raising of the images of the dead, considered in antiquity and by modern Occultists as a practice of black magic. Iamblichus, Porphyry and other Theurgists have deprecated the practice, no less than did Moses, who condemned the “witches” of his day to death, the said witches being only Necromancers—as in the case of the Witch of Endor and Samuel.

Nehaschim (Kab.). “The serpent’s works.” It is a name given to the Astral Light, “the great deceiving serpent” (Mâyâ), during certain practical works of magic. (See Sec. Doc. II. 409.)

Neilos (Gr.). The river Nile; also a god.

Neith (Eg.). Neithes. The Queen of Heaven; the moon-goddess in Egypt. She is variously called
Nout, Nepte, Nur. (For symbolism, see “Nout”.)

Neocoros (Gr.). With the Greeks the guardian of a Temple.

Neophyte (Gr.). A novice; a postulant or candidate for the Mysteries. The methods of initiation varied. Neophytes had to pass in their trials through all the four elements, emerging in the fifth as glorified Initiates. Thus having passed through Fire (Deity), Water (Divine Spirit), Air (the Breath of God), and the Earth (Matter), they received a sacred mark, a tat and a tau, or a + and a ┬. The latter was the monogram of the Cycle called the Naros, or Neros. As shown by Dr. E. V. Kenealy, in his Apocalypse, the cross in symbolical language (one of the seven meanings)“+ exhibits at the same time three primitive letters, of which the word LVX or Light is compounded. . . . The Initiates were marked with this sign, when they were admitted into the perfect mysteries. We constantly see the Tau and the Resh united thus ♀. Those two letters in the old Samaritan, as found on coins, stand, the first for 400, the second for 200 = 600. This is the staff of Osiris.” Just so, but this does not prove that the Naros was a cycle of 600 years; but simply that one more pagan symbol had been appropriated by the Church.
(See “Naros” and “Neros” and also “I. H. S.”)

Neo-platonism. Lit.,“The new Platonism” or Platonic School. An eclectic pantheistic school of philosophy founded in Alexandria by Ammonius Saccas, of which his disciple Plotinus was the head (A.D. 189-270). It sought to reconcile Platonic teachings and the Aristotelean system with oriental Theosophy. Its chief occupation was pure spiritual philosophy, metaphysics and mysticism. Theurgy was introduced towards its later years. It was the ultimate effort of high intelligences to check the ever-increasing ignorant superstition and blind faith of the times; the last product of Greek philosophy, which was finally crushed and put to death by brute force.

Nephesh Chia (Kab.). Animal or living Soul.

Nephesh (Heb.). Breath of life. Anima, Mens, Vita, Appetites. This term is used very loosely in the Bible. It generally means prana “life”; in the Kabbalah it is the animal passions and the animal Soul. Therefore, as maintained in theosophical teachings, Nephesh is the synonym of the Prâna-Kâmic Principle, or the vital animal Soul in man. [H. P. B.]

Nephilim (Heb.). Giants, Titans, the Fallen Ones.

Nephtys (Eg.). The sister of Isis, philosophically only one of her aspects. As Osiris and Typhon are one under two aspects, so Isis and Nephtys are one and the same symbol of nature under its dual aspect. Thus, while Isis is the wife of Osiris, Nephtys is the wife of Typhon, the foe of Osiris and his slayer, although she weeps for him. She is often represented at the bier of the great Sun-god, having on her head a disk between the two horns of a crescent. She is the genius of the lower world, and Anubis, the Egyptian Pluto, is called her son. Plutarch has given a fair esoteric explanation of the two sisters. Thus he writes:

Nephtys designs that which is under the earth, and which one sees not (i.e., its disintegrating and reproducing power), and Isis that which is above earth, and which is visible (or physical nature). . . . The circle of the horizon which divides these two hemispheres and which is common to both, is Anubis.” The identity of the two goddesses is shown in that Isis is also called the mother of Anubis. Thus the two are the Alpha and Omega of Nature.

Nergal (Chald.). On the Assyrian tablets he is described as the “giant king of war, lord of the city of Cutha”. It is also the Hebrew name for the planet Mars, associated invariably with ill-luck and danger. Nergal-Mars is the “shedder of blood”. In occult astrology it is less malefic than Saturn, but is more active in its associations with men and its influence on them.

Neros (Heb.). As shown by the late E. V. Kenealy this “Naronic Cycle” was a mystery, a true “secret of god”, to disclose which during the prevalence of the religious mysteries and the authority of the priests, meant death. The learned author seemed to take it for granted that the Neros was of 600 years duration, but he was mistaken. (See “Natos”.) Nor were the establishment of the Mysteries and the rites of Initiation due merely the necessity of perpetuating the knowledge of the true meaning of the Naros and keeping this cycle secret from the profane; for the Mysteries are as old as the present human race, and there were far more important secrets to veil than the figures of any cycle. (See “Neophyte” and “I. H. S.”, also “Naros”.) The mystery of 666, “the number of the great heart” so called, is far better represented by the Tau and the Resh than 600.

Nerthus (Old Sax.). The goddess of the earth, of love and beauty with the old Germans; the same as the Scandinavian Freya or Frigga. Tacitus mentions the great honours paid to Nerthus when her idol was carried on a car in triumph through several districts.

Neshamah (Heb.). Soul, anima, afflatus. In the Kabbalah, as taught in the Rosicrucian order, one of the three highest essences of the Human Soul, corresponding to the Sephira Binah.

Nesku or Nusku (Chald.). Is described in the Assyrian tablets as the “holder of the golden sceptre, the lofty god”.

Netzach (Heb.). “Victory”. The seventh of the Ten Sephiroth, a masculine active potency.

Nidâna (Sk.). The 12 causes of existence, or a chain of causation, “a concatenation of cause and effect in the whole range of existence through 12 links”. This is the fundamental dogma of Buddhist thought, “the understanding of which solves the riddle of life, revealing the insanity of existence and preparing the mind for Nirvâna”. (Eitel’s Sans. Chin. Dict.) The 12 links stand thus in their enumeration. (1) Jail, or birth, according to one of the four modes of entering the stream of life and reincarnation—or Chatur Yoni (q.v.), each mode placing the being born in one of the six Gâti (q.v.). (2) Jarârnarana, or decrepitude and death, following the maturity of the Skandhas (q.v.). (3) Bhava, the Karmic agent which leads every new sentient being to be born in this or another mode of existence in the Trailokya and Gâti. (4) Upâdâna, the creative cause of Bhava which thus becomes the cause of Jati which is the effect; and this creative cause is the clinging to life. ( 5) Trishnâ, love, whether pure or impure. (6) Vêdâna, or sensation; perception by the senses, it is the 5th Skandha. (7) Sparsa, the sense of touch. (8) Chadâyatana, the organs of sensation. (9) Nâmarûpa, personality, i.e., a form with a name to it, the symbol of the unreality of material phenomenal appearances. (10) Vijnâna, the perfect knowledge of every perceptible thing and of all objects in their concatenation and unity. (11) Samskâra, action on the plane of illusion. (12) Avidyâ, lack of true perception, or ignorance. The Nidânas belonging to the most subtle and abstruse doctrines of the Eastern metaphysical system, it is impossible to go into the subject at any greater length.

Nidhi (Sk) A treasure. Nine treasures belonging to the god Kuvera—the Vedic Satan—each treasure being under the guardianship of a demon; these are personified, and are the objects of worship of the Tantrikas.

Nidhogg (Scand.). The “Mundane” Serpent.

Nidra (Sk.). Sleep. Also the female form of Brahmâ.

Nifiheim (Scand.). The cold Hell, in the Edda. A place of eternal non-consciousness and inactivity. (See Secret Doctrine, Vol. II., p. 245).

Night of Brahmâ. The period between the dissolution and the active life of the Universe which is called in contrast the “Day of Brahmâ”.

Nilakantha (Sk.). A name of Siva meaning “ blue throated”. This is said to have been the result of some poison administered to the god.

Nile-God (Eg.). Represented by a wooden image of the river god receiving honours in gratitude for the bounties its waters afford the country. There was a “celestial” Nile, called in the Ritual Nen-naou or “primordial waters”; and a terrestrial Nile, worshipped at Nilopolis and Hapimoo. The latter was represented as an androgynous being with a beard and breasts, and a fat blue face ; green limbs and reddish body. At the approach of the yearly inundation, the image was carried from one place to another in solemn procession.

Nimbus (Lat.). The aureole around the heads of the Christ and Saints in Greek and Romish Churches is of Eastern origin. As every Orientalist knows, Buddha is described as having his head surrounded with shining glory six cubits in width; and, as shown by Hardy (Eastern Monachism), “his principal disciples are represented by the native painters as having a similar mark of eminence”. In China, Tibet and Japan, the heads of the saints are always surrounded with a nimbus.

Nimitta (Sk.). 1. An interior illumination developed by the practice of meditation. 2. The efficient spiritual cause, as contrasted with Upadana, the material cause, in Vedânta philosophy. See also Pradhâna in Sankhya philosophy.

Nine. The “Kabbalah of the Nine Chambers” is a form of secret writing in cipher, which originated with the Hebrew Rabbis, and has been used by several societies for purposes of concealment notably some grades of the Freemasons have adopted it. A figure is drawn of two horizontal parallel lines and two vertical parallel lines across them, this process forms nine chambers, the centre one a simple square, the others being either two or three sided figures, these are allotted to the several letters in any order that is agreed upon. There is also a Kabbalstic attribution of the ten Sephiroth to these nine chambers, but this is not published. [w.w.w.]

Nirguna (Sk.). Negative attribute; unbound, or without Gunas (attributes), i.e., that which is devoid of all qualities, the opposite of Saguna, that which has attributes (Secret Doctrine, II. 95), e.g.,
Parabrahmam is Nirguna; Brahmâ, Saguna. Nirguna is a term which shows the impersonality of the thing spoken of.

Nirmânakâya (Sk.). Something entirely different in esoteric philosophy from the popular meaning attached to it, and from the fancies of the Orientalists. Some call the Nirmânakâya body “Nirvana with remains” (Schlagintweit, etc.) on the supposition, probably, that it is a kind of Nirvânic condition during which consciousness and form are retained. Others say that it is one of the Trikâya (three bodies), with the “power of assuming any form of appearance in order to propagate Buddhism” (Eitel’s idea); again, that “it is the incarnate avatâra of a deity” (ibid.), and so on. Occultism, on the other hand, says:that Nirmânakâya, although meaning literally a transformed “body”, is a state. The form is that of the adept or yogi who enters, or chooses, that post mortem condition in preference to the Dharmakâya or absolute Nirvânic state. He does this because the latter kâya separates him for ever from the world of form, conferring upon him a state of selfish bliss, in which no other living being can participate, the adept being thus precluded from the possibility of helping humanity, or even devas. As a Nirmânakâya, however, the man leaves behind him only his physical body, and retains every other “principle” save the Kamic—for he has crushed this out for ever from his nature, during life, and it can never resurrect in his post mortem state. Thus, instead of going into selfish bliss, he chooses a life of self-sacrifice, an existence which ends only with the life-cycle, in order to be enabled to help mankind in an invisible yet most effective manner. (See The Voice of the Silence, third treatise, “The Seven Portals”.) Thus a Nirmânakâya is not, as popularly believed, the body “in which a Buddha or a Bodhisattva appears on earth”, but verily one, who whether a Chutuktu or a Khubilkhan, an adept or a yogi during life, has since become a member of that invisible Host which ever protects and watches over Humanity within Karmic limits. Mistaken often for a “Spirit”, a Deva, God himself, &c., a Nirmânakâya is ever a protecting, compassionate, verily a guardian angel, to him who becomes worthy of his help. Whatever objection may be brought forward against this doctrine; however much it is denied, because, forsooth, it has never been hitherto made public in Europe and therefore since it is unknown to Orientalists, it must needs be “a myth of modern invention”—no one will be bold enough to say that this idea of helping suffering mankind at the price of one’s own almost interminable self-sacrifice, is not one of the grandest and noblest that was ever evolved from human brain.

Nirmathya (Sk.). The sacred fire produced by the friction of two pieces of wood—the “fire” called Pavamâna in the Purânas. The allegory contained therein is an occult teaching.

Nirriti (Sk.). A goddess of Death and Decay.

Nirukta (Sk.). An anga or limb, a division of the Vedas; a glossarial comment.

Nirupadhi (Sk.). Attributeless; the negation of attributes.

Nirvâna (Sk.). According to the Orientalists, the entire “blowing out”, like the flame of a candle, the utter extinction of existence. But in the esoteric explanations it is the state of absolute existence and absolute consciousness, into which the Ego of a man who has reached the highest degree of perfection and holiness during life goes, after the body dies, and occasionally, as in the case of Gautama Buddha and others, during life. (See “Nirvânî”.)

Nirvânî (Sk.). One who has attained Nirvana—an emancipated soul. That Nirvâna means nothing of the kind asserted by Orientalists every scholar who has visited China, India and Japan is well aware. It is “escape from misery” but only from that of matter, freedom from Klêsha, or Kâma, and the complete extinction of animal desires. If we are told that Abidharma defines Nirvâna “as a state of absolute annihilation”, we concur, adding to the last word the qualification “of everything connected with matter or the physical world”, and this simply because the latter (as also all in it) is illusion, mâyâ. Sâkya-mûni Buddha said in the last moments of his life that “the spiritual body is immortal” (See Sans. Chin. Dict.). As Mr. Eitel, the scholarly Sinologist, explains it: “The popular exoteric systems agree in defining Nirvâna negatively as a state of absolute exemption from the circle of transmigration; as a state of entire freedom from all forms of existence; to begin with, freedom from all passion and exertion; a state of indifference to all sensibility” and he might have added “death of all compassion for the world of suffering”. And this is why the Bodhisattvas who prefer the Nirmânakâya to the Dharmakâya vesture, stand higher in the popular estimation than the Nirvânîs. But the same scholar adds that: “Positively (and esoterically) they define Nirvâna as the highest state of spiritual bliss, as absolute immortality through absorption of the soul (spirit rather) into itself, but preserving individuality so that, e.g., Buddhas, after entering Nirvâna, may reappear on earth”—i.e., in the future Manvantara.

Nîshada (Sk.). (1) One of the seven qualities of sound—the one and sole attribute of Akâsa; (2) the seventh note of the Hindu musical scale; (3) an outcast offspring of a Brahman and a Sudra mother;
(4) a range of mountains south of Meru—north of the Himalayas.

Nissi (Chald.) One of the seven Chaldean gods.

Nîti (Sk.). Lit., Prudence, ethics.

Nitya Parivrita. (Sk.). Lit., continuous extinction.

Nitya Pralaya (Sk.). Lit., “perpetual” Pralaya or dissolution. It is the constant and imperceptible changes undergone by the atoms which last as long as a Mahâmanvantara, a whole age of Brahmâ, which takes fifteen figures to sum up. A stage of chronic change and dissolution, the stages of growth and decay. It is the duration of “Seven Eternities”. (See Secret Doctrine I. 371, II. 69, 310.) There are four kinds of Pralayas, or states of changelessness. The Naimittika, when Brahmâ slumbers; the Prakritika, a partial Pralaya of anything during Manvantara; Atyantika, when man has identified himself with the One Absolute synonym of Nirvâna; and Nitya, for physical things especially, as a state of profound and dreamless sleep.

Nitya Sarga (Sk.). The state of constant creation or evolution, as opposed to Nitya Pralaya—the state of perpetual incessant dissolution (or change of atoms) disintegration of molecules, hence change of forms.

Nizir (Chald.). The “Deluge Mountain”; the Ararat of the Babylonians with “Xisuthrus” as Noah.

Nixies. The water-sprites; Undines.

Niyashes (Mazd.). Parsi prayers.

Nofir-hotpoo (Eg.). The same as the god Khonsoo, the lunar god of Thebes. Lit., “he who is in absolute rest”. Nofir-hotpoo is one of the three persons of the Egyptian trinity, composed of Ammon, Mooth, and their son Khonsoo or Nofir-hotpoo.

Nogah (Chald.). Venus, the planet; glittering splendour.

Noo (Eg.). Primordial waters of space called “Father-Mother”; the “face of the deep” of the Bible; for above Noo hovers the Breath of Kneph, who is represented with the Mundane Egg in his mouth.

Noom (Eg.). A celestial sculptor, in the Egyptian legends, who creates a beautiful girl whom he sends like another Pandora to Batoo (or “man”), whose happiness is thereafter destroyed. The “sculptor” or artist is the same as Jehovah, the architect of the world, and the girl is “Eve”.

Noon (Eg.). The celestial river which flows in Noot, the cosmic abyss or Noo. As all the gods have been generated in the river (the Gnostic Pleroma), it is called “the Father-Mother of the gods”.

Noor Ilahee (Arab.). “The light of the Elohim”, literally. This light is believed by some Mussulmen to be transmitted to mortals “through a hundred prophet-leaders”. Divine knowledge; the Light of the Secret Wisdom.

Noot (Eg.). The heavenly abyss in the Ritual or the Book of the Dead. It is infinite space personified in the Vedas by Aditi, the goddess who, like Noon (q.v.) is the “mother of all the gods”.

Norns (Scand.). The three sister goddesses in the Edda, who make known to men the decrees of Orlog or Fate. They are shown as coming out of the unknown distances enveloped in a dark veil to the Ash Yggdrasil (q.v.), and “sprinkle it daily with water from the Fountain of Urd, that it may not wither but remain green and fresh and strong” (Asgard and the Gods). Their names are “Urd”, the Past; “Werdandi”, the Present; and “Skuld”, the Future, “which is either rich in hope or dark with tears”. Thus they reveal the decrees of Fate “for out of the past and present the events and actions of the future are born” (loc. cit.).

Notaricon (Kab.). A division of the practical Kabbalah; treats of the formation of words from the initials or finals of the words in every sentence; or conversely it forms a sentence of words whose initials or finals are those of some word [w.w.w.].

Noumenon (Gr.). The true essential nature of being as distinguished from the illusive objects of sense.

Nous. (Gr.). A Platonic term for the Higher Mind or Soul. It means Spirit as distinct from animal Soul—psyche; divine consciousness or mind in man: Nous was the designation given to the Supreme deity (third logos) by Anaxagoras. Taken from Egypt where it was called Nout, it was adopted by the Gnostics for their first conscious Æon which, with the Occultists, is the third logos, cosmically, and the third “principle” (from above) or manas, in man. (See “Nout”.)

Nout. (Gr.). In the Pantheon of the Egyptians it meant the “One- only-One”, because they did not proceed in their popular or exoteric religion higher than the third manifestation which radiates from the Unknown and the Unknowable, the first unmanifested and the second logoi in the esoteric philosophy of every nation. The Nous of Anaxagoras was the Mahat of the Hindu Brahmâ, the first manifested Deity—
“the Mind or Spirit self-potent”; this creative Principle being of course the primum mobile of everything in the Universe—its Soul and Ideation. (See “Seven Principles” in man.)

Number Nip. An Elf, the mighty King of the Riesengebirge, the most powerful of the genii in Scandinavian and German folk-lore.

Nuns. There were nuns in ancient Egypt as well as in Peru and old Pagan Rome. They were the “virgin brides” of their respective (Solar) gods. Says Herodotus, “The brides of Ammon are excluded from all intercourse with men”, they are “the brides of Heaven”; and virtually they became dead to the world, just as they are now. In Peru they were “Pure Virgins of the Sun”, and the Pallakists of Ammon-Ra are referred to in some inscriptions as the “divine spouses”. “The sister of Oun-nefer, the chief prophet of Osiris, during the reign of Rameses II.,” is described as “Taia, Lady Abbess of Nuns” (Mariett e Bey).

Nuntis (Lat.). The “Sun-Wolf”, a name of the planet Mercury. He is the Sun’s attendant,
Solaris luminis particeps. (See Secret Doct. II. 28.)

Nyâya (Sk.). One of the six Darshanas or schools of Philosophy in India; a system of Hindu logic founded by the Rishi Gautama.

Nyima (Tib.). The Sun—astrologically.

Nyingpo (Tib.). The same as Alaya, “the World Soul”; also called Tsang.

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