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8 words found.

		Word	Meaning
1		Pilgrimage	To undertake travel for the sole purpose of visiting religious places is 'Pilgrimage'. 'The Pilgrimage To SELF' indicates that the true religious destination is not situated in the outer physical world of space and time. 'IT IS' enshrined within oneself. Only our hoary ignorance distracts us from this fact. Thus, in terms of distance 'The Destination' is indeed closest to each one of us!
2		Pooja	Worshipping with an utmost sincerity, one's chosen deity by offering water, incense, lamp, flowers and fruits, daily at a prescribed time, usually the early morning and/or at the sun-set hours, is called as 'Pooja'. These above mentioned five items have a very deep religious symbolic relevance. They are: Water=Purity, Incense=Ambience, Lamp=Inner-attention aflame, Flowers=To open up inwardly, Fruits=Fructification in consciousness. Over and above to these five, camphor is lit and waved before the deity. Perhaps, camphor is the only known material when burnt, does not leave behind any residue. This is to symbolize that one's EGO has to be burnt, without retaining any residue behind! Pooja can be such an intense and as well an integrated orientation, in search for TRUTH.
3		Prajna	The essential quality of being alive is to be conscious. But, this seems to be not sufficient for actualizing the full potential of we humankind. Apart from the knowledge through various levels of skills and also the intelligence based on information, it is essential for us to have WISDOM, which comes when there is an appropriate sense of discrimination applied in our daily inter-active life. A fine sense of discernment is indeed essential for us to evolve further to actualize our full potentials. Such wisdom is named as 'Prajna'.
4		Pranava	'OM' ('AUM'), the sacred uncaused primordial sound is also called as 'Pranava'. It is also referred as 'Nada-Brahman' ('The Creative reverberation of the SOURCE). The word 'Pranava' gets composed as follows: 'Pra' = Source, Origin, Excess, Intensity + 'Nava', 'Va' = Fire, Air, Wind, Fresh, Auspicious, Dwelling. Thus, the excessive expanding energy, which spreads sound, wind and fire, dwelling ever fresh in the auspicious SOURCE is 'AUM'.
5		Prayer and Penance	However primitive a religion may be, prayer and penance are the inevitable ingredients. But the object of prayer and the objective for the penance makes the quantum difference, between religions. There are infinite stages of human minds, differing in their grasp and clarity. Within a single human being, with the passage of time, understandings of various depth can occur. Notwithstanding their apparent differences, all human beings are born with 'Aham' (Sense of 'I' and 'ME'). Thus all of us experience a sense of incompleteness in the very depth of our BEING, which compel us to exert towards seeking fulfillment. The uncertainty of securing our satisfaction and fulfillment instigates fear in the very depth of our mind. Thus, DESIRE for satisfaction and FEAR of not being fulfilled, is the functioning rhythm of our mind. Such an anxious inner condition is driven to seek consolation, so as to restore some semblance of "order" , within! Such a source of anchorage for the struggling human mind is 'Prayer' and 'Penance'. Religion is not a redundant luxury, as some unevolved "Intellectuals" arrogate. For humankind, religion is the psychological necessity. As food and water is for the upkeep of one's body, religion is needed for one's psychic health and behavioral balance. Human mind, which is inherently, gripped by fear and desire rhythm, at the very outset it needs a good-deal of metaphysical reassurances. This is exactly the popular version of religion imparts. All religions have worked out extensive prayers and demanding penances, to be undertaken by the faithful. Persons who are overcome by deep anguish of longings and also possessing strong religious faith, if they undertake the prescribed prayer and penance, they will surely derive a palpable relief. Such relief, are therapeutic in their function. This enables people to reattempt their pursuits with renewed vigor and gusto. However, these relief's can offer only temporary inner ease. This because, human propensity for desires, really has no end. Even if some fulfillments happen through prayer and penance, the human sense of 'I' and 'ME' (Ahamkar) comes up with endless demands! Thus the fear and desire chain link in human mind continues. There is yet another level of prayer and penance, which addresses the human predicament from a radically different angle. To undertake this approach, the individual should have got sufficiently prepared by the vicissitudes of worldly life. When one's attention gets spontaneously drawn to the fact of ever multiplying contradictory desires within oneself and also to the inevitable law of LIFE by way of FLUX, which has the ultimate say, as to, 'What should be?' then one's attention wants to unravel the very mystery behind this very odd situation! The emphasis gets drastically shifted from the mere egoistic self-fulfillment. The human intelligence begins to climb the higher spirals on the evolutionary path, where it wants to understand "ITSELF"! The center of 'Awareness' gets shifted to a higher vantage point. One cannot afford to treat this, 'Wanting to understand ONESELF', in the same level of intensity, as the other wants, which we at random pursue blindly in our life. This undertaking demands much more commitment than a mere passing interest of a shallow inspiration. It is indeed an arduous challenge. One has to swim against the current of one's own habit ridden mind. The deep-rooted fears, desires and urges shall surely crop up time-and-again as hindrances. To counter this psychological gravitational pull, one needs a different quality of prayer and penance. In this prayer, the person should be able to surrender totally one's sense of egoistic individuality to the inscrutable power of LIFE. Though this POWER cannot be fully and easily described as an objective reality, the earnestness in one's being gives sufficient insights into this subtler higher realm. The seeker in quest should invoke profound faith and surrender one's ego through prayer to this 'ALL Governing Realm'. The sense of humility should fill one's being, for ushering the state of surrender. Ego is the most difficult to handle enigma. It is the past master of million tricks and a sharpshooter of many encounters. The only penance that can outwit such an enigma is self-denial through skeptical negation. All impulsive promptings and emotional blackmails of one's egoistic state, has to be Choicelessly watched and negated, by grasping the cunning ways of our habitual ignorance. One should have the healthy inner resilience, to stay free of the social value pressure. This is perhaps the most difficult penance of all other penances! Under these aseptic conditions, the unconditional inner let go happens. Enduring steadfastly to prayer and penance can surely lead us to freedom through realization. The delusion of ego cannot be cast out without the help of such prayer and penance. Without the dissolution of ego, there can be no peace and freedom. Thus, "Prayer and Penance' play a very important role in a human being's life. It is the raft, which will surely help us cross the choppy sea of our own inner ignorance.
6		Purnatva	Fullness and Completeness are the nearest meanings in the English language for this word. But, 'Purnatva' goes far beyond these meanings. 'Fullness' can indicate a state of satiation and the word 'Completeness' can denote a state arrived through the 'Sum of the parts'. But 'Purnatva' is far from these two conditional states. 'Purnatva' is a state of profound realization, when the sense of limitation, as "Individuality" drops off, as a redundant vestige from one's consciousness. Any extent of acquisition OR renunciation cannot hasten the arrival of 'Purnatva'! When the microcosm totally dissolves into the state of Macrocosm, as a sugar doll dissolves into water, 'Purnatva' is THAT non-verbalized state. Following peace invocation 'Sloka' in the 'Isavasya Upanishad' most brilliantly conveys the total import of 'Purnatva'. "Om Purnamadah purnamidam purnaat purnamudachyate Purnasya purnamaadaaya Purnamevaavasishyate" "THAT is Whole; this is Whole; from the Whole the whole becomes manifest. From the Whole, when the whole is negated, what remains is again the Whole." In this Sloka, the word 'THAT' indicates the totality of Macrocosm. The word 'that' indicates the infinitely teeming microcosm. Thus, if one substitutes accordingly, the whole stunning import of WHOLENESS is revealed! 'Poornatva' is such all devouring FULLNESS!
7		Purusha and Prakriti	These two Sanskrit words sum up both the manifest and the unmanifest. They between them, compress the quintessence of the Absolute TOTALITY. 'Puru' = Abundant, Excessive. 'Purusha' = CONSCIOUSNESS, The ALL pervading universal passive substratum. This is referred as "Male" principle, which is simultaneously both immanent and as well transcendent, with regards to the whole of creation. 'Prakriti' = Origin, 'Source-Material-cause' contains three Gunas (Qualities) of 'Satva' 'Rajas' and 'Tamas' and five elemental-quotients ('Bhoo-Tatva'). They are, Space (Ether), Air, Fire, Water and Earth. Everything that is seen and as well sensed is derived out of these five elemental-quotients, combined in some intrinsic permutation and combination. This is referred as the "Female" principle and looked upon as divine delusion (MAYA). Divine because, it is the most primordial reality, almost uncaused! 'The Science of Yoga' describes, that a human being is made of five layers of 'Prakriti'. These layers are called as 'Kosha'. They are: 'Annamaya Kosha' (Gross body), 'Pranamaya Kosha' (In coming and outgoing breath), 'Manomaya Kosha' (Emotions), 'Vijnanamaya Kosha' (Intellect) and 'Anandamaya Kosha' (Bliss). All these are deemed as gross state. The non-dual 'Purusha' is beyond all these five sheaths. 'Atman' being same as 'Purusha', is also beyond these five sheaths! These five sheaths are categorized under three heads: The physical body, the astral body and the causal body. But all of them are only bodies, meaning gross and inert in nature! The Life-principle ('Purusha') is beyond this realm. 'Prakriti' is solely dependent on the immutable 'Purusha'. It arises from and merges back into the all-supporting principle. Though ALL supporting, the changeless substratum remains uninvolved in the ever changing play of three Gunas. "Purusha' is inexhaustible, because it is uninvolved. IT is blemishless, due to the neutral-state. This is a potent clue for us to lead a life free of undue involvement, so as to live without feeling the exhaustion! Seen and Unseen, Manifest and Unmanifest, Phenomenon and Noumenon, Finite and Infinite, Ephemeral and Eternal, Relative and Absolute, Perishable and Imperishable are some of the verbal indicators of the state 'Purusha' and 'Prakriti'. The 'Creatrix', is not just limited to the obviously visible! "IT" is much more grander than that. Sensing this hidden dimension can usher in us a quantum change!
8		Purushartha	Full efforts with firm determination.

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