All form issues from God and eventually returns to Him.

All form issues from God and eventually returns to Him. See: Maheshvara, Nataraja. abstain: To hold oneself back, to refrain from or doing without. To avoid a desire, negative action or habit. See: yama-niyama. abyss: A bottomless pit. The dark states of consciousness into which one may fall as a result of serious misbehavior; the seven chakras (psychic centers), or talas (realms of consciousness), below the muladhara chakra, which is located at the base of the spine. See: chakra, Naraka, loka.

accelerate: To increase the speed of a thing; to intensify its rate of progress. accordant: In agreement or harmony with. achara: (Sanskrit) "Conduct, mode of action, behavior; good conduct." Also, custom, tradition; rule of conduct, precept. acharya: (Sanskrit) "Going toward;" "approaching." A highly respected teacher. The wise one who practices what he preaches. A title generally bestowed through diksha and ordination, such as in the Sivacharya priest tradition. See: diksha.

acosmic pantheism: "No-cosmos, all-is-God doctrine." A Western philosophical term for the philosophy of Shankara. It is acosmic in that it views the world, or cosmos, as ultimately unreal, and pantheistic because it teaches that God (Brahman) is all of existence. See: Shankara, shad darshana. actinic: Spiritual, creating light. Adjective derived from the Greek aktis, "ray." Of or pertaining to consciousness in its pure, unadulterated state.

Describes the extremely rarified superconscious realm of pure bindu, of quantum strings, the substratum of consciousness, shuddha maya, from which light first originates. Actinic is the adjective form of actinism, defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as: "1) the radiation of heat or light, or that branch of philosophy that treats of it; 2) that property or force in the sun's rays by which chemical changes are produced, as in photography." See: actinodic, kala, kosha, odic, tattva.

actinodic: Spiritual-magnetic. Describes consciousness within shuddhashuddha maya, which is a mixture of odic and actinic force, the spectrum of the anahata chakra, and to a certain degree the vishuddha chakra. See: tattva. adept: Highly skilled; expert. In religion, one who has mastered certain spiritual practices or disciplines. An advanced yogi. See: siddha yoga. adharma: (Sanskrit) "Unrighteousness." The opposite of dharma. Thoughts, words or deeds that transgress divine law.

Irreligiousness; demerit. See: dharma, papa, sin Vaishnavism, victors and vanquished.