Deities and sacred beings
Deities, sages, kings, places and principles compiled from the Puranas. Search, filter and open each profile.
45 beings · page 2 of 3
Anvikshiki (the science of inquiry)
आन्वीक्षिकीAnvikshiki is the 'science of inquiry' of ancient India's curriculum — reasoned examination of truth, counted among the classical vidyas in …
Avidya (nescience)
अविद्याAvidya is a root conception of Vedanta: the ignorance-power that veils the self and projects superimposition. SB 1.3.33: the imposition of '…
Ashvamedha Yajna
अश्वमेध यज्ञThe Ashvamedha is the most important and elaborate of the Vedic shrauta sacrifices: a horse is released to wander freely for a year, and the…
Tulasi
तुलसीTulasi is the most sacred plant of the Vaishnava tradition, indispensable in the worship of Vishnu and Krishna; His forest-garland and the w…
Virat-Purusha
विराट्पुरुषThe Virat-Purusha, or Vairaja Purusha, is the Lord's gross universal form in which the entire cosmos is His body — the Puranic expansion of …
Pranava
प्रणवThe Pranava, Om, is the threefold supreme syllable (a-u-m) which the Veda holds to be the sound-form of Brahman; in the Upanishads it is at …
Dharana
धारणाDhāraṇā is the sixth limb of the eightfold yoga — the binding of the mind to a single place — coming after withdrawal of the senses and befo…
Shishumara-chakra
शिशुमार-चक्रThe Śiśumāra-cakra is the arrangement of planets and constellations which the Puranas see in the sky in the shape of a śiśumāra, a dolphin o…
Ahankara
अहङ्कारAhaṅkāra is that principle of the Sāṅkhya system which arises from the mahat and from which the whole of further creation proceeds; its natu…
Akasha
आकाशĀkāśa is the first and subtlest of the five gross elements, whose quality is sound. In both Sāṅkhya and Vedānta it is the element that gives…
Vayu
वायुVāyu is the second of the gross elements, whose quality is touch, and which, arising from ether, carries the quality of sound as well. As a …
Tejas
तेजTejas is the third of the five gross elements, whose quality is form, and which by inheritance carries touch and sound as well. It is the pr…
Jala
जलJala or āpaḥ is the fourth of the five gross elements, whose quality is taste, and which by inheritance carries form, touch and sound as wel…
Prithvi
पृथ्वीPṛthvī is the last and grossest of the five elements, whose quality is smell, and which by inheritance possesses taste, touch, sound and for…
Kala
कालKala is Time, named by the Bhagavata as the agent of the Yadus' destruction. At SB 3.4.29 Shuka says: 'brahma-shApa apadeshena kAlena amogha…
Manas
मनManas, mind, is the principle produced from the vaikarika division of ahamkara in the Sankhya sequence. At SB 3.5.30 Maitreya gives the aham…
Abhimana
अभिमानAbhimana, self-identification, is the principle which enters the self of the cosmic Person and causes the apprehension of what is to be done…
Dandaniti
दण्डनीतिDandaniti is the discipline of governance, which the Bhagavata places alongside varta, livelihood. At SB 3.7.32 Vidura asks for 'vArtAyA daN…
Tapas
तपस्याTapas is the practice of austerity, whose fruit the Bhagavata sets as negligible against the granting of fearlessness to the jiva. At SB 3.7…
Vidya
विद्याVidya, knowledge, is the principle which the Bhagavata pairs with austerity and describes as having the Lord as its resort. At SB 3.9.30 the…