Maha Kumbha Abishegam, Mahadevas, Mahapralaya, Mahasamadhi, Mantra, Mariamman,Goddess, Materialistic, Mauna, Maya, Meditation, Mind's Eye, Moksha, Monism / Monistic, Monotheistic, Muktas, Murthi, Murugan,Lord, Muyalakan, My guru

Maha Kumbha Abishegam: The consecration ceremony done to open a new, or newly renovated temple for public worship. The ceremony energizes the temple and the deity within it through forging connections between the temple and the heavens. A temple’s maha kumbha abishegam can last anywhere between two weeks to a month, depending on how many deities are enshrined within the temple. It involves many priest who perform long hours of elaborate homas–fire ceremonies. On the final day, the kumbhas that were setup for the homas to represent the different deities in the temple are dismantled and the sanctified water within them are poured over the deities and the temple towers to empower them with spiritual energy. The final day of the ceremony is considered the most auspicious and devotees throng to the temple on this day to be sprinkled by the water from the kumbhas especially as it flows down from the temple towers.

Mahadevas: Great devas. They live in the highest heaven and are God’s closest helpers in the governance of the universe. They may be equated to Archangles, or angles of the highest rank. They include Lords Ganesha, Murugan, Hanuman, Indra, Varuna.

Mahapralaya: The great dissolution. This is the time when the entire creation (the physical universe as well as the spiritual universe) is reabsorbed back into God. After mahapralaya only God exists until He issues forth creation again. According to traditional Hindu calculations of the yugas, there is yet billions of years before the next mahapralaya.

Mahasamadhi: Samadhi is a meditative state that is achieved when the awareness of the meditator merges with God. It is through this state that the meditator gains God Realization and enlightenment. Mahasamadhi is a term used to address the physical death of a spiritually enlightened person such as a guru. It denotes that the soul of the guru has achieved moksha and has realised its goal of total union with God.

Mantra: Mystic formula. A sound, syllable, word or phrase endowed with special power, usually drawn from scripture. Mantras are usually in sanskrit, though they may be crafted from other languages. They are mainly used in Hindu prayers and the practice of japa yoga.

Mariamman, Goddess: A form of Goddess Shakti, who is commonly worshipped in small village temples in South India. She is a Healer and used to be the main deity worshipped to cure incidence of small pox (now a successfully eradicated disease.)

Materialistic: Of or to do with materialism. Materialism is a philosophy of life much like the philosophy of a religion or social-structure-philosophies like democracy or communism. The philosophy of materialism stems from the belief that the physical world is probably the only real world, and the materialistic goal of life is to gather as much worldly wealth and enjoy as much worldly pleasure as one can before death. Materialism does not necessarily deny the existence of God or spiritual worlds or experiences, instead it prioritizes material wealth and worldly position over all other goals in life. Therefore a materialist may still belong to a religion and be quiet an ardent devotee, however his motivations for prayer is to seek God's help solely to attain his or her materialistic goals. To a certain extent even the most spiritual devotee does pray to God for help to meet their material needs. This is not considered unspiritual or wrong. The difference between a spiritually minded devotee praying to God for material fulfillment compared to a materialistic devotee's prayer is in the conduct of their life. A spiritually minded devotee always leads a life in line with dharma and his conscience. Whereas a materialistic devotee, while he prays to God will not limit his conduct to a moral code of ethics to achieve his ends. Some examples of materialistic devotees are like corrupt politicians who may even think that they can bribe God to cleanse them off their sins by giving a portion of their corrupt earnings for charity. Unfortunately God's law of karma will not be on their side!

Mauna: Silence. It is the practice of remaining silent or not speaking for a specific period of time as a form of penance.

Maya: “The principle of manifestation.” It is the energy from Parashakti that evolves into all forms spiritual and physical elements and laws within Creation. It is also one of the three bonds that binds the soul to the world. The three bonds are anava, karma and maya. Maya is God’s creative substance that forms the spiritual and physical worlds. It is sometimes erroneously translated as illusion. However according to Hindu teachings the world and experiences within it are not an illusion. It is instead defined as being a relative reality that is subject to change. This is compared to God, who is absolute reality and not subject to change. Maya however has the illusionary effect of making the world seem permanent and not subject to change, therefore causing the soul to form attachments in the world.

Meditation: Dhyana in Sanskrit. It is a goal in the practice of yoga. Meditation is a state of consciousness that is achieved through sustained concentration of the mind on a specific subject such as God, upon which new knowledge and insights on the subject are revealed from within oneself. The Patanjali Yoga Sutras (a scripture written by Sage Patanjali, which is a definitive guide on Ashtanga Yoga) describes dhyana as a state of concentration when the meditator and his/her subject of meditation become one. When this happens the meditator's awareness is lifted into the plane of God Consciousness, which is Omniscient. From this plane of superconsciousness intricate knowledge of meditator's subject flows into the meditators mind. It is through this process that much of the truths in Hinduism were discovered by the gurus, the ardent meditators. When the meditator's subject is God and the state of meditation, dhyana is achieved, the meditator then Realizes God and thus achieves enlightenment. In the Patanjali Yoga Sutras this state is called samadhi. Samadhi is a Hindu spiritual seekers most sought after goal.

Mind’s Eye: The third eye, or the soul’s eye. Situated between the eyes on the forehead is a mystical eye. It allows us to see images we visualize as well as to see when we dream or meditate–that is with our eyes closed. 

Moksha: Liberation. In Hinduism the salvation of the soul is defined as freedom from the cycle of reincarnation on the physical plane–Earth. After moksha the soul abides eternally in heaven until vishvagrasa when the soul achieves undifferentiated union with God. Before moksha the soul will enter heaven or hell temporarily between births, depending on the merits or demerits it accrues in the form of karmas during it’s life on Earth. Moksha is in a sense a graduation from having to live life on Earth. It is achieved after the soul has fulfilled all of it’s desires for life on Earth and has Realized God. It is synonymous with the word mukti.

Monism / Monistic: The theology of oneness. Any philosophy that teaches inherent unity between man or the soul and God. Monistic philosophies–which is of monism, state that there exists a dimension within man or the soul that is God. There is generally two types of monism. Pure monism, that is known as Vedanta in Hinduism, teaches that God is the only true existence and that other realities such us the world and the existence of the soul and man are ultimately an illusion. Qualified monism, that is known as Siddhanta in Hinduism, accepts both the oneness of God and creation and also the reality of a distinct albeit temporary identiy between the soul and God. It also does not deny the realities of the existence or experience of the world. Hinduism and most Eastern religions are basically qualified monism or have elements of monism in their theology.

Monotheistic: The belief in One Supreme Godhead, who is the Creator of the Universe. Most of the major religions of the world today including Hinduism are monotheistic, though Hinduism is sometimes mistaken to be a polytheistic religion.

Muktas: Plural for mukta. A mukta is a person who has achieved moksha while still living his or her final life on Earth.

Murthi: A respectful way to address the deity or statue of God or the Mahadevas in a temple. Mainly used by Tamil speaking Hindus.

Murugan, Lord: Murugan is a Mahadeva (akin to an arch angle) who is worshipped among devotees of the Saivite sect. He is also known as Kartikkeya, Senadipathi, Palani, Arumugam and Subramaniam. In the Hindu mythical pantheon Lord Murugan is the youngest son of Lord Shiva (the elder being Lord Ganesha). In the Hindu myths, Lord Murugan was born from a seed that issued from God Shiva's third eye. Thus Lord Murugan's duty as the remover of ignorance and the Lord of the Kundalini shakti. He is seen as the warrior of righteousness and special Lord for yogis, mystics and monks. His special weapon is the vel, a lance that has a leaf shaped tip which symbolizes the power to discern between right action and wrong action and the dispeller of darkness or ignorance. In some temples Lord Murugan is worshipped as the vel.

Muyalakan: The demon that is under the foot of Lord Nataraja. Often mistaken for a child, the demon is actually a dwarf with immense power that had set out to destroy Lord Shiva. The demon is actually representative of the lower or animalistic natures of man such as anger, hatred, malice and so forth. The symbol is a teaching that if mankind suppresses the lower natures, then divinity will arise within them.

My guru: Refers to the late Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami who is the guru of the author. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami was an American born Hindu spiritual leader (1927-2001). Affectionately addressed by his disciples as Gurudeva, he was recognized as a Jagadacharya, or world teacher by the World Hindu Federation for his outstanding missionary work in promoting, preserving and protecting Hinduism globally. Gurudeva was an enlightened spiritual master who taught his devotees the path to Self Realization. He founded Kauai Aadheenam, a monastery and temple complex in the Hawaian Island of Kauai. He also founded the global Hindu magazine, Hinduism Today. For more information on Gurudeva and his publications visit the following website: www.gurudeva.org