K.—The eleventh ]etter in both the
English and the Hebrew alphabets. As a numeral it stands in the latter for 20,
and in the former for 250, and with a stroke over it (K) for 250,000. The Kabalists and the
Masons appropriate the word Kodesh or Kadosh as the name of the Jewish god under
this letter.
Ka (Sk.). According to Max Muller, the
interrogative pronoun “who?”—raised to the dignity of a deity without cause or
reason. Still it has its esoteric significance and is a name of Brahmâ in his
phallic character as generator or Prajâpati (q.v.).
Kabah
or Kaaba
(Arab). The name of the famous Mahommedan temple at Mecca, a
great place of pilgrimage. The edifice is not large but very original; of a
cubical form 23 X 24 cubits in length and breadth and 27 cubits high, with only
one aperture on the East side to admit light. In the north-east corner is the
“black stone” of Kaaba, said to have been lowered down direct from heaven and to
have been as white as snow, but subsequently it became black, owing to the sins
of mankind The “white stone”, the reputed tomb of Ismael, is in the north side
and the place of Abraham is to the east. If, as the Mahommedans claim, this
temple was, at the prayer of Adam after his exile, transferred by Allah or
Jehovah direct from Eden down to earth, then the “heathen” may truly claim to
have far exceeded the divine primordial architecture in the beauty of their
edifices.
Kabalist. From Q B L H, KABALA, an
unwritten or oral tradition. The kabalist is a student of “secret science”, one
who interprets the hidden meaning of the Scriptures with the help of the
symbolical Kabala, and explains the real one by these means. The Tanaim were the
first kabalists among the Jews; they appeared at Jerusalem about the beginning
of the third century before the Christian era. The books of Ezekiel, Daniel,
Henoch, and the Revelation of St. John, are purely kabalistical. This
secret doctrine is identical with that of Chaldeans, and includes at the same
time much of the Persian wisdom, or “magic”. History catches glimpses of famous
kabalists ever since the eleventh century. The Mediæval ages, and even our own
times, have had an enormous number of the most learned and intellectual men who
were students of the Kabala (or Qabbalah, as some spell it). The most famous
among the former were Paracelsus, Henry Khunrath, Jacob Böhmen, Robert Fludd, the two
Van Helmonts, the Abbot John Trithemius, Cornelius Agrippa, Cardinal Nicolao
Cusani, Jerome Carden, Pope Sixtus IV., and such Christian scholars as Raymond
Lully, Giovanni Pico de la Mirandola, Guillaume Postel, the great John Reuchlin,
Dr. Henry More, Eugenius Philalethes (Thomas Vaughan), the erudite Jesuit
Athanasius Kircher, Christian Knorr (Baron) von Rosenroth; then Sir Isaac
Newton., Leibniz, Lord Bacon, Spinosa, etc., etc., the list being almost
inexhaustible. As remarked by Mr. Isaac Myer, in his Qabbalah, the ideas of the
Kabalists have largely influenced European literature. “Upon the practical
Qabbalah, the Abbé ,de Villars (nephew of de Montfaucon) in 1670, published his
celebrated satirical novel, ‘The Count de Gabalis’, upon which Pope based his
‘Rape of the Lock’. Qabbalism ran through the Mediæval poems, the ‘Romance of
the Rose’, and permeates the writings of Dante.” No two of them, however, agreed
upon the origin of the Kabala, the Zohar, Sepher Yetzirah, etc. Some show
it as coming from the Biblical Patriarchs, Abraham, and even Seth; others from
Egypt, others again from Chaldea. The
system is certainly very old; but like all the rest of systems, whether
religious or philosophical, the Kabala is derived directly from the primeval
Secret Doctrine of the East; through the Vedas, the Upanishads, Orpheus and
Thales, Pythagoras and the Egyptians. Whatever its source, its substratum is at
any rate identical with that of all the other systems from the Book of the
Dead down to the later Gnostics. The best exponents of the Kabala in
the Theosophical Society were among the earliest, Dr. S. Pancoast, of
Philadelphia, and Mr. G. Felt; and among the latest, Dr. W. Wynn Westcott, Mr.
S. L. Mac Gregor Mathers (both of the Rosicrucian College) and a few others.
(See “ Qabbalah “.)
Kabalistic Faces. These are Nephesch, Ruach and
Neschamah, or the animal (vital), the Spiritual and the Divine Souls in
man—Body, Soul and Mind.
Kabalah (Heb.). The hidden
wisdom of the Hebrew Rabbis of the middle ages derived from the older secret
doctrines concerning divine things and cosmogony, which were combined into a
theology after the time of the captivity of the Jews in Babylon. All the works that fall under
the esoteric category are termed Kabalistic.
Kabiri (Phœn.) or the
Kabirim. Deities and very mysterious gods with the ancient
nations, including the Israelites, some of whom—as Terah, Abram’s
father—worshipped them under the name of Teraphim. With the Christians,
however, they are now devils, although the modern Archangels are the direct
transformation of these same Kabiri. In Hebrew the latter name means “the mighty
ones”, Gibborim. At one time all the deities connected with fire—whether they
were divine, infernal or volcanic—were called Kabirian.
Kadmon (Heb.). Archetypal man.
See.“Adam Kadmon”.
Kadosh (Heb.). Consecrated,
holy; also written Kodesh. Something set apart for temple worship.
But between the etymological meaning of the word, and its subsequent
significance in application to the Kadeshim (the “priests” set apart for
certain temple rites)—there is an abyss. The words Kadosh and Kadeshim
are used in II. Kings as rather an opprobrious name, for the
Kadeshuth of the Bible were identical in their office and duties with the
Nautch girls of some Hindu temples. They were Galli, the mutilated priests of
the lascivious rites of Venus Astarte, who lived “by the house of the Lord”.
Curiously enough the terms Kadosh, etc., were appropriated and used- by
several degrees of Masonic knighthood.
Kailasa (Sk.). In metaphysics “heaven”, the
abode of gods; geographically a mountain range in the Himalayas, north of the
Mansaravâra lake, called also lake Manasa.
Kailem (Heb.). Lit., vessels or
vehicles; the vases for the source of the Waters of Life ; used of the Ten
Sephiroth, considered as the primeval nuclei of all Kosmic Forces. Some
Kabalists regard them as manifesting in the universe through twenty-two canals,
which are represented by the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet, thus
making with the Ten Sephiroth thirty-two paths of wisdom. [w. w. w.]
Kaimarath (Pers.). The last of the
race of the prehuman kings. He is identical with Adam Kadmon. A fabulous
Persian hero.
Kakodæmon (Gr.). The evil genius as
opposed to Agathodæmon the good genius, or deity.
A Gnostic
term.
Kala (Sk.). A measure of time; four
hours, a period of thirty Kashthas.
Kala (Sk.). Time, fate; a cycle and a
proper name, or title given to Yama, King of the nether world and
Judge of the Dead.
Kalabhana (Sk.). The same as Taraka (See
Secret Doctrine, Vol. II., p. 382, foot-note).
Kalagni (Sk.). The flame of time. A divine
Being created by Siva, a monster with 1,000 heads. A title of Siva meaning “the
fire of fate”.
Kalahansa or Hamsa (Sk). A
mystic title given to Brahma (or Parabrahman); means “the swan in
and out of time”. Brahmâ (male) is called Hansa-Vahan, the vehicle
of the “Swan”.
Kalavingka (Sk.), also
Kuravikaya and Karanda, etc. “The sweet- voiced bird of
immortality “. Eitel identifies it with cuculus melanoleicus, though the
bird itself is allegorical and non-existent. Its voice is heard at a certain
stage of Dhyana in Yoga practice. It is said to have awakened King Bimbisara and
thus saved him from the sting of a cobra. In its esoteric meaning this
sweet-voiced bird is our Higher Ego.
Kalevala. The Finnish Epic of
Creation.
Kali (Sk.). The “black”, now the name of
Parvati, the consort of Siva, but originally that of one of the seven tongues of
Agni, the god of fire—“the black, fiery tongue”. Evil and wickedness.
Kalidasa (Sk.). The greatest poet and
dramatist of India.
Kaliya (Sk.). The five-headed serpent
killed by Krishna in his childhood. A mystical monster symbolizing the passions
of man—the river or water being a symbol of matter.
Kaliyuga (Sk.). The fourth, the black or iron
age, our present period, the duration of which us 432,000 years. The last of the
ages into which the evolutionary period of man is divided by a series of such
ages. It began 3,102 years B.C. at the moment of Krishna’s
death, and the first cycle of 5,ooo years will end between the years 1897 and
1898.
Kalki Avatar (Sk.). The “White Horse Avatar”,
which will be the last manvantaric incarnation of Vishnu, according to the
Brahmins; of Maitreya Buddha, agreeably to Northern Buddhists; of Sosiosh, the
last hero and Saviour of the Zoroastrians, as claimed by Parsis ; and of the
“Faithful and True” on the white Horse (Rev. xix.,2 ). In his future
epiphany or tenth avatar, the heavens will open and Vishnu will appear
“seated on a milk-white steed, with a drawn sword blazing like a comet, for the
final destruction of the wicked, the renovation of ‘creation’ and the
‘restoration of purity’”. (Compare Revelation.) This will take place at
the end of the Kaliyuga 427,000 years hence. The latter end of every Yuga is
called “the destruction of the world”, as then the earth changes each time its
outward form, submerging one set of continents and upheaving another
set.
Kalluka Bhatta (Sk.). A commentator of the Hindu
Manu Smriti Scriptures; a well-known writer and historian.
Kalpa (Sk.). The period of a mundane
revolution, generally a cycle of time, but usually, it represents a “day” and
“night” of Brahmâ, a period of 4,320,000,000 years.
Kama (Sk.) Evil desire, lust,
volition; the cleaving to existence. Kama is generally identified with
Mara the tempter.
Kamadeva (Sk.). In the popular notions the
god of love, a Visva-deva, in the Hindu Pantheon. As the Eros of Hesiod,
degraded into Cupid by exoteric law, and still more degraded by a later popular
sense attributed to the term, so is Kama a most mysterious and metaphysical
subject. The earlier Vedic description of Kama alone gives the key-note to
what he emblematizes. Kama is the first conscious, all embracing
desire for universal good, love, and for all that lives and feels, needs
help and kindness, the first feeling of infinite tender compassion and mercy
thathttp://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/world/middleeast/19mideast.html?th&emc=tharose in the consciousness of
the creative ONE Force, as soon as it came into life and being as a ray from the
ABSOLUTE. Says the Rig Veda, “Desire first arose in IT, which was the
primal germ of mind, and which Sages, searching with their intellect, have
discovered in their heart to be the bond which connects Entity with non-Entity”,
or Manas with pure Atma-Buddhi. There is no idea of sexual love in
the conception. Kama is pre-eminently the divine
desire of creating happiness and love; and it is only ages later, as mankind
began to materialize by anthropomorphization its grandest ideals into cut and
dried dogmas, that Kama became the power that gratifies
desire on the animal plane. This is shown by what every Veda and some
Brahmanas say. In the Atharva Veda, Kama is represented as the
Supreme Deity and Creator. In the Taitarîya Brahmana, he is the child of Dharma,
the god of Law and Justice, of Sraddha and faith. In another account he springs
from the heart of Brahmâ. Others show him born from water, i.e., from primordial
chaos, or the “Deep”. Hence one of his many names, Irâ-ja, “the
water-born”; and Aja, “unborn” ; and Atmabhu or “Self-existent”.
Because of the sign of Makara (Capricornus) on his banner, he is also
called “ Makara Ketu”. The allegory about Siva, the “Great Yogin ”, reducing
Kama to ashes by the fire from his central (or third) Eye, for
inspiring the Mahadeva with thoughts of his wife, while he was at his
devotions—is very suggestive, as it is said that he thereby reduced Kama to his
primeval spiritual form.
Kamadhâtu (Sk.). Called also Kamâvatchara, a
region including Kâmalôka. In exoteric ideas it is the first of the Trailâkya—or
three regions (applied also to celestial beings) or seven planes or degrees,
each broadly represented by one of the three chief characteristics; namely,
Kama, Rupa and Arupa, or those of desire, form and formlessness.
The first of the Trailokyas, Kamadhâtu, is thus composed of the
earth and the six inferior Devalokas, the earth being followed by Kamaloka
(q.v.). These taken together constitute the seven degrees of the material
world of form and sensuous gratification. The second of the Trailôkya (or
Trilôkya) is called Rupadhâtu or “material form” and is also composed of seven
Lokas (or localities). The third is Arupadhâtu or “immaterial lokas”.
“Locality”, however, is an incorrect word to use in translating the term dhâtu,
which does not mean in some of its special applications a “place” at all. For
instance, Arupadhâtu is a purely subjective world, a “state” rather than
a place. But as the European tongues have no adequate metaphysical terms to
express certain ideas, we can only point out the difficulty.
Kamaloka (Sk.). The semi-material
plane, to us subjective and invisible, where the disembodied “personalities”,
the astral forms, called Kamarupa remain, until
they fade out from it by the complete exhaustion of the effects of the mental
impulses that created these eidolons of human and animal passions and desires;
(See “Kamarupa”.) It is the Hades of the ancient Greeks and the Amenti of the
Egyptians, the land
of Silent Shadows; a division of the first group of the Trailôkya. (See
“Kamadhâtu”.)
Kamarupa (Sk.). Metaphysically, and in our
esoteric philosophy, it is the subjective form created through the mental and
physical desires and thoughts in connection with things of matter, by all
sentient beings, a form which survives the death of their bodies. After that
death three of the seven “principles”—or let us say planes of senses and
consciousness on which the human instincts and ideation act in turn—viz., the
body, its astral prototype and physical vitality,—being of no further use,
remain on earth; the three higher principles, grouped into one, merge into the
state of Devachan (q.v.), in which state the Higher Ego will remain until
the hour for a new reincarnation arrives; and the eidolon of the
ex-Personality is left alone in its new abode. Here, the pale copy of the man
that was, vegetates for a period of time, the duration of which is variable and
according to the element of materiality which is left in it, and which is
determined by the past life of the defunct. Bereft as it is of its higher mind,
spirit and physical senses, if left alone to its own senseless devices, it will
gradually fade out and disintegrate. But, if forcibly drawn back into the
terrestrial sphere whether by the passionate desires and appeals of the
surviving friends or by regular necromantic practices—one of the most pernicious
of which is medium- ship—the “spook” may prevail for a period greatly exceeding
the span of the natural life of its body. Once the Kamarupa has learnt the way
back to living human bodies, it becomes a vampire, feeding on the vitality of
those who are so anxious for its company. In India these eidolons are
called Pisâchas, and are much dreaded, as already explained
elsewhere.
Kamea (Heb.). An amulet,
generally a magic square.
Kandu .(Sk.). A holy sage of the second
root-race, a yogi, whom Pramlôcha, a “nymph” sent by Indra for that purpose,
beguiled, and lived with for several centuries. Finally, the Sage returning to
his senses, repudiated and chased her away. Whereupon she gave birth to a
daughter, Mârishâ. The story is in an allegorical fable from the
Purânas.
Kanishka (Sk.). A King of the Tochari, who
flourished when the third Buddhist Synod met in Kashmir, i.e., about the middle
of the last century B.C., a great patron of Buddhism, he built the finest
stûpas or dagobas in Northern India and Kabulistan.
Kanishthas (Sk.). A class of gods which will
manifest in the fourteenth or last manvantara of our world—according to the
Hindus.
Kanya (Sk.). A virgin or maiden. Kanya
Kumârî “the virgin- maiden” is a title of Durga-Kali, worshipped by the
Thugs and Tantrikas.
Kapila Rishi (Sk.). A great sage, a great adept
of antiquity; the author of the Sankhya philosophy.
Kapilavastu (Sk.). The birth-place of the Lord
Buddha; called “the yellow dwelling”: the capital of the monarch who was the
father of Gautama Buddha.
Karabtanos (Gr.). The spirit of
blind or animal desire; the symbol of Kama-rupa. The Spirit “without sense or
judgment” in the Codex of the Nazarenes. He is the symbol of matter and stands
for the father of the seven spirits of concupiscence begotten by him on his
mother, the “Spiritus” or the Astral Light.
Karam (Sk.). A great festival in honour of
the Sun-Spirit with the Kolarian tribes.
Kârana (Sk.). Cause
(metaphysically).
Kârana Sarîra (Sk.). The “Causal body”. It is dual
in its meaning. Exoterically, it is Avidya, ignorance, or that which is the
cause of the evolution of a human ego and its reincarnation ; hence the lower
Manas esoterically—the causal body or Kâranopadhi stands in the Taraka Raja yoga
as corresponding to Buddhi and the Higher “ Manas,” or Spiritual
Soul.
Karanda (Sk.). The “sweet-voiced bird,” the
same as Kalavingka (q.v.)
Kâranopadhi (Sk.). The basis or upadhi of
Karana, the “causal soul”. In Taraka Rajayoga, it corresponds with both Manas
and Buddhi. See Table in the Secret Doctrine, Vol. I, p.
157.
Kardecists. The followers of the
spiritistic system of Allan Kardec, the Frenchman who founded the modern
movement of the Spiritist School. The Spiritists
of France differ from the American and English Spiritualists in that their
“Spirits” teach reincarnation, while those of the United States and Great
Britain denounce this belief as a heretical fallacy and abuse and slander those
who accept it. “When Spirits disagree...”
Karma (Sk.). Physically, action:
metaphysically, the LAW OF RETRIBUTION, the Law of cause and effect or Ethical
Causation. Nemesis, only in one sense, that of bad Karma. It is the eleventh
Nidana in the concatenation of causes and effects in orthodox Buddhism ;
yet it is the power that controls all things, the resultant of moral action, the
meta physical Samskâra, or the moral effect of an act committed for the attainment of something which
gratifies a personal desire. There is the Karma of merit and the Karma of
demerit. Karma neither punishes nor rewards, it is simply the one
Universal LAW which guides unerringly, and, so to say, blindly, all other laws
productive of certain effects along the grooves of their respective causations.
When Buddhism teaches that “Karma is that moral kernel (of any being) which
alone survives death and continues in transmigration ‘ or reincarnation, it
simply means that there remains nought after each Personality but the causes
produced by it ; causes which are undying, i.e., which cannot be eliminated from
the Universe until replaced by their legitimate effects, and wiped out by them,
so to speak, and such causes—unless compensated during the life of the person
who produced them with adequate effects, will follow the reincarnated Ego, and
reach it in its subsequent reincarnation until a harmony between effects and
causes is fully reestablished. No “personality”—a mere bundle of material atoms
and of instinctual and mental characteristics—can of course continue, as such,
in the world of pure Spirit. Only that which is immortal in its very nature and
divine in its essence, namely, the Ego, can exist for ever. And as it is that
Ego which chooses the personality it will inform, after each Devachan, and which
receives through these personalities the effects of the Karmic causes produced,
it is therefore the Ego, that self which is the “moral kernel” referred
to and embodied karma, “which alone survives death.”
Karnak (Eg.). The ruins of the
ancient temples, and palaces which now stand on the emplacement of ancient
Thebes. The most magnificent representatives of the art and skill of the
earliest Egyptians. A few lines quoted from Champollion, Denon and an English
traveller, show most eloquently what these ruins are. Of Karnak Champollion writes :— “The
ground covered by the mass of remaining buildings is square; and each side
measures 1,800 feet. One is astounded and overcome by the grandeur of the
sublime remnants, the prodigality and magnificence of workmanship to be seen
everywhere. No people of ancient or modern times has conceived the art of
architecture upon a scale so sublime, so grandiose as it existed among the
ancient Egyptians; and the imagination, which in Europe soars far above our
porticos, arrests itself and falls powerless at the foot of the hundred
and forty columns of the hypostyle of Karnak! In one of its halls, the Cathedral
of Notre Dame might stand and not touch the ceiling, but be considered as a
small ornament in the centre of the hall.”
Another writer exclaims:
“Courts, halls, gateways, pillars, obelisks, monolithic figures, sculptures,
long rows of sphinxes, are found in such profusion at Karnak, that the sight is too much for
modern comprehension.” Says Denon, the French
traveller: “It is hardly possible to believe, after seeing it, in the reality of
the existence of so many buildings collected together on a single point, in
their dimensions, in the resolute perseverance which their construction
required, and in the incalculable expenses of so much magnificence! It is
necessary that the reader should fancy what is before him to be a dream, as he
who views the objects themselves occasionally yields to the doubt whether he be
perfectly awake. . . . There are lakes and mountains within the periphery of
the sanctuary. These two edifices are selected as examples from a list
next to inexhaustible. The whole valley and delta of the Nile, from the cataracts to the
sea, was covered with temples, palaces, tombs, pyramids, obelisks, and pillars.
The execution of the sculptures is beyond praise. The mechanical perfection with
which artists wrought in granite, serpentine, breccia, and basalt, is wonderful,
according to all the experts animals and plants look as good as natural, and
artificial objects are beautifully sculptured; battles by sea and land, and
scenes of domestic life are to be found in all their
bas-reliefs.”
Karnaim (Heb.). Horned, an
attribute of Ashtoreth and Astarte; those horns typify the male element, and
convert the deity into an androgyne. Isis also is at times horned.
Compare also the idea of the Crescent Moon—-symbol of Isis—as horned.
[w.w.w.]
Karneios (Gr.). “Apollo
Karneїos,” is evidently an avatar of the Hindu “Krishna Karna”. Both were
Sun-gods; both “Karna” and Karneios meaning “radiant”. (See the Secret
Doctrine II., p. 44. note.)
Karshipta (Mazd.). The holy bird of
Heaven in the Mazdean Scriptures, of which Ahura Mazda says to Zaratushta that
“he recites the Avesta in the language of birds” (Bund. xix. et
seq.). The bird is the symbol of “Soul” of Angel and Deva in every old
religion. It is easy to see, therefore, that this “holy bird” means the divine
Ego of man, or the “Soul”. The same as Karanda (q.v.).
Karshvare (Zend). The “seven
earths” (our septenary chain) over which rule the Amesha Spenta, the
Archangels or Dhyan Chohans of the Parsis. The seven earths, of which one only,
namely Hvanirata—our earth—is known to mortals. The Earths (esoterically), or
seven divisions (exoterically), are our own planetary chain as in Esoteric
Buddhism and the Secret Doctrine. The doctrine is plainly stated in
Fargard XIX., 39, of the Vendidad.
Kartikeya (Sk), or Kartika.
The Indian God of War, son of Siva, born of his seed fallen into the
Ganges. He is also
the personification of the power of the Logos. The planet Mars. Kartika is a
very occult personage, a nursling of the Pleiades, and a Kumâra. (See Secret
Doctrine.)
Karunâ-Bhâwanâ (Sk.). The meditation of pity and
compassion in Yoga.
Kasbeck. The mountain in the Caucasian
range where Prometheus was bound.
Kasi (Sk.). Another and more ancient name
of the holy city of Benares.
Kasina (Sk.). A mystic Yoga rite used to
free the mind from all agitation and bring the Kamic element to a dead
stand-still.
KâsiKhanda (Sk.). A long poem, which forms a
part of the Skanda Purâna and contains another version of the legend of
Daksha’s head. Having lost it in an affray, the gods replaced it with the head
of a ram Mekha Shivas, whereas the other versions describe it as the head
of a goat, a substitution which changes the allegory considerably.
Kasyapa (Sk.). A Vedic Sage; in the words of
Atharva Veda, “The self-born who sprang from Time”. Besides being the
father of the Adityas headed by Indra, Kasyapa is also the progenitor of
serpents, reptiles, birds and other walking, flying and creeping
beings.
Katha (Sk.) One of the
Upanishads commented upon by Sankarâchârya.
Kaumara (Sk.). The “Kumara Creation”, the
virgin youths who sprang from the body of Brahmâ.
Kauravya (Sk.). The King of the Nagas
(Serpents) in Pâtâla, exoterically a hall. But esoterically it means something
very different. There is a tribe of the Nâgas in Upper India; Nagal is
the name in Mexico of the chief medicine men to this day, and was that of the
chief adepts in the twilight of history; and finally Patal means the
Antipodes and is a name of America. Hence the story that Arjuna travelled to
Pâtàla, and married Ulupi, the daughter of the King Kauravya, may he as
historical as many others regarded first as fabled and then found out to be
true.
Kayanim (Heb.). Also written
Cunim; the name of certain mystic cakes offered to Ishtar, the Babylonian
Venus. Jeremiah speaks of these Cunim offered to the “Queen of Heaven”, vii. 18.
Nowadays we do not offer the buns, but eat them at Easter. [w.w.w.]
Kavyavahana (Sk.). The fire of the
Pitris.
Kchana (Sk.). A second incalculably short:
the 90th part or fraction of a thought, the 4,500th part of a minute, during
which from 90 to 100 births and as many deaths occur on this earth.
Kebar-Zivo (Gnostic). One of the
chief creators in the Codex Nasaræus.
Keherpas (Sk.). Aerial form,
Keshara (Sk.). “Sky Walker”, i.e., a Yogi
who can travel in his astral form.
Kether (Heb.). The Crown, the
highest of the ten Sephiroth; the first of the Supernal Triad. It corresponds to
the Macroprosopus, vast countenance, or Arikh Anpin, which differentiates into
Chokmah and Binah. [w.w.w.]
Ketu (Sk.). The descending node in
astronomy; the tail of the celestial dragon who attacks the Sun during the
eclipses; also a comet or meteor.
Key. A symbol of universal
importance, the emblem of silence among the ancient nations. Represented on the
threshold of the Adytum, a key had a double meaning: it reminded the candidates
of the obligations of silence, and promised the unlocking of many a hitherto
impenetrable mystery to the profane. In the “Œdipus Coloneus” of Sophocles, the
chorus speaks of “the golden key which had come upon the tongue of the
ministering Hierophant in the mysteries of Eleusis”, (1051). “The priestess
of Ceres, according to Callimachus, bore a key as her ensign of office, and the
key was, in the Mysteries of Isis, symbolical of the opening or disclosing of
the heart and conscience before the forty-two assessors of the dead”.
(R.
M. Cyc1opædia).
Khado (Tib.). Evil female
demons in popular folk-lore. In the Esoteric Philosophy occult and evil Forces
of nature. Elementals known in Sanskrit as Dakini.
Khaldi. The earliest inhabitants of
Chaldea who were first the worshippers of the Moon god, Deus Lunus, a worship
which was brought to them by the great stream of early Hindu emigration, and
later a caste of regular Astrologers and Initiates.
Kha (Sk.). The same as
“Akâsa”.
Khamism. A name given by the
Egyptologists to the ancient language of Egypt. Khami,
also.
Khanda Kâla (Sk.). Finite or conditioned time in
contradistinction to infinite time, or
eternity—Kala.
Khem (Eg.). The same as Horus.
“The God Khem will avenge his father Osiris”; says a text in a
papyrus.
Khepra (Eg.). An Egyptian god
presiding over rebirth and transmigration. He is represented with a scarabæus
instead of a head.
Khi (Chin.). Lit., “breath”;
meaning Buddhi.
Khnoom (Eg.). The great Deep, or
Primordial Space.
Khoda (Pers.). The name for the
Deity.
Khons, or Chonso. (Eg.)
The Son of Maut and Ammon, the personification of morning. He is the
Theban Harpocrates, according to some. Like Horus he crushes under his foot a
crocodile, emblem of night and darkness or Seb (Sebek) who is Typhon. But in the
inscriptions, he is addressed as “the Healer of diseases and banisher of all
evil”. He is also the “god of the hunt”, and Sir Gardner Wilkinson would see in
him the Egyptian Hercules, probably because the Romans had a god named Consus
who presided over horse races and was therefore called “the concealer of
secrets”. But the latter is a later variant on the Egyptian Khons, who is more
probably an aspect of Horus, as he wears a hawk’s head, carries the whip and
crook of Osiris the tat and the crux ansata.
Khoom (Eg.), or Knooph.
The Soul of the world; a variant of Khnoom.
Khubilkhan (Mong.), or
Shabrong. In Tibet the names given to the
supposed incarnations of Buddha. Elect Saints.
Khunrath, Henry. A famous
Kabalist, chemist and physician born in 1502, initiated into Theosophy
(Rosicrucian) in 1544. He left some excellent Kabalistic works, the best of
which is the “Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom” (1598).
Kimapurushas (Sk.). Monstrous Devas, half-men,
half-horses.
Kings of Edom. Esoterically, the early,
tentative, malformed races of men. Some Kabalists interpret them as “sparks”,
worlds in formation disappearing as soon as formed.
Kinnaras (Sk.). Lit., “What men?” Fabulous
creatures of the same description as the Kim-purushas, One of the four
classes of beings called “Maharajas”.
Kioo-tche (Chin.). An astronomical
work.
Kirâtarjuniya of Bharavi
(Sk.). A Sanskrit epic, celebrating
the strife and prowess of Arjuna with the god Siva disguised as a
forester.
Kiver-Shans (Chin.). The
astral or “Thought Body”.
Kiyun (Heb.). Or the god
Kivan which was worshipped by the Israelites in the wilderness and was
probably identical with Saturn and even with the god Siva. Indeed, as the Zendic
H is S in India
(their “hapta” is “sapta”, etc.), and as the letters K, H, and S, are
interchangeable, Siva may have easily become Kiva and
Kivan.
Klesha (Sk.). Love of life, but literally
“pain and misery”. Cleaving to existence, and almost the same as
Kama.
Klikoosha (Russ.). One possessed by
the Evil one. Lit., a “crier out”, a “screamer”, as such unfortunates are
periodically attacked with fits during which they crow like cocks, neigh, bray
and prophesy.
Klippoth (Heb.). Shells: used in
the Kabbalah in several senses; (1) evil spirits, demons; (2)
the shells of dead human beings, not the physical body, but the remnant of the
personality after the spirit has departed; (3) the Elementaries of some authors.
[w.w.w.]
Kneph (Eg.). Also Cneph
and Nef, endowed with the same attributes as Khem. One of the gods of
creative Force, for he is connected with the Mundane Egg. He is called by
Porphyry “the creator of the world”; by Plutarch the “unmade and eternal deity”;
by Eusebius he is identified with the Logos; and Jamblichus goes so far
as almost to identify him with Brahmâ since he says of him that “this god is
intellect itself, intellectually perceiving itself, and consecrating
intellections to itself; and is to be worshipped in silence”. One
form of him, adds Mr. Bonwick “was Av meaning flesh. He was
criocephalus, with a solar disk on his head, and standing on the serpent Mehen.
In his left hand was a viper, and a cross was in his right. He was actively
engaged in the underworld upon a mission of creation.” Deveria writes: “His
journey to the lower hemisphere appears to symbolise the evolutions of
substances which are born to die and to be reborn”. Thousands of years before
Kardec, Swedenborg, and Darwin appeared, the old Egyptians entertained their
several philosophies. (Eg. Belief and Mod. Thought.)
Koinobi (Gr.). A sect which
lived in Egypt in
the early part of the first Christian century; usually confounded with the
Therapeutæ. They passed for magicians.
Kokab (Chald.). The Kabalistic
name associated with the planet Mercury; also the Stellar light.
[w.w.w.]
Kol (Heb.). A voice, in
Hebrew letters QUL. The Voice of the divine. (See “Bath Kol” and “Vâch”.)
[w.w.w.]
Kols. One of the tribes in central
India, much
addicted to magic. They are considered to he great sorcerers.
Konx-Om-Pax (Gr.). Mystic words used
in the Eleusinian mysteries. It is believed that these words are the Greek
imitation of ancient Egyptian words once used in the secret ceremonies of the
Isiac cult. Several modern authors give fanciful translations, but they are all
only guesses at the truth. [w.w.w.]
Koorgan (Russ.). An artificial
mound, generally an old tomb. Traditions of a supernatural or magical character
are often attached to such mounds.
Koran (Arab.), or Quran.
The sacred Scripture of the Mussulmans, revealed to the Prophet Mohammed by
Allah (god) himself. The revelation differs, however, from that given by Jehovah
to Moses. The Christians abuse the Koran calling it a hallucination, and the
work of an Arabian impostor. Whereas,
Mohammed preaches in his Scripture the unity of Deity, and renders honour to the
Christian prophet “Issa Ben Yussuf” (Jesus, son of Joseph). The Koran is
a grand poem, replete with ethical teachings proclaiming loudly Faith, Hope and
Charity.
Kosmos (Gr.). The Universe, as
distinguished from the world, which may mean our globe or earth.
Kounboum (Tib.). The sacred Tree
of Tibet, the “tree of the 10,000 images” as Huc gives it. It grows in an
enclosure on the Monastery lands of the Lamasery of the same name, and is well
cared for. Tradition has it that it grew out of the hair of Tson-ka-pa, who was
buried on that spot. This “Lama” was the great Reformer of the Buddhism of
Tibet, and is regarded as an incarnation of Amita Buddha. In the words of the
Abbé Huc, who lived several months with another missionary named Gabet near this
phenomenal tree: “Each of its leaves, in opening, bears either a letter or a
religious sentence, written in sacred characters, and these letters are, of
their kind, of such a perfection that the type-foundries of Didot contain
nothing to excel them. Open the leaves, which vegetation is about to unroll, and
you will there
discover, on the point of appearing, the letters or the
distinct words which are the marvel of this unique tree! Turn your attention
from the leaves of the plant to the bark of its branches, and new characters
will meet your eyes! Do not allow your interest to flag; raise the layers of
this bark, and still OTHER CHARACTERS will show themselves below those whose
beauty had surprised you. For, do not fancy that these super posed layers repeat
the same printing. No, quite the contrary; for each lamina you lift presents to
view its distinct type. How, then, can we suspect jugglery? I have done my best
in that direction to discover the slightest trace of human trick, and my baffled
mind could not retain the slightest suspicion.” Yet promptly the kind French
Abbé suspects the Devil.
Kratudwishas (Sk.). The enemies of the
Sacrifices; the Daityas, Danavas, Kinnaras, etc., etc., all represented as great
ascetics and Yogis. This shows who are really meant. They were the enemies of
religious mummeries and ritualism.
Kravyâd (Sk.). A flesh-eater; a carnivorous
man or animal.
Krisâswas Sons of (Sk.). The weapons called
Agneyastra. The magical living weapons endowed with intelligence, spoken
of in the Ramayana and elsewhere. An occult allegory.
Krishna (Sk.).. The most celebrated avatar
of Vishnu, the “Saviour” of the Hindus and their most popular god. He is the-
eighth Avatar, the son of Devaki, and the nephew of
Kansa, the Indian King Herod, who while seeking for him among the shepherds and
cow-herds who concealed him, slew thousands of their newly-born babes. The story
of Krishna’s
conception, birth, and childhood are the exact prototype of the New Testament
story. The missionaries, of course, try to show that the Hindus stole the story
of the Nativity from the early Christians who came to India.
Krita-Yuga (Sk.). The first of the four Yugas
or Ages of the Brahmans; also called Satya-Yuga, a period lasting
1,728,000 years.
Krittika (Sk.). The Pleiades. The seven
nurses of Karttikiya, the god of War.
Kriyasakti (Gk.). The power of thought; one
of the seven forces of Nature. Creative potency of the Siddhis (powers)
of the full Yogis.
Kronos (Gr.). Saturn. The God of
Boundless Time and of the Cycles.
Krura-lochana (Sk.). The “evil-eyed”; used of
Sani, the Hindu Saturn, the planet.
Kshanti (Sk.). Patience, one of the
Paramîtas of perfection.
Kahatriya (Sk.). The second of the four castes
into which the Hindus were originally divided.
Kshetrajna or Kshetrajneswara
(Sk.). Embodied spirit, the
Conscious Ego in its highest manifestations; the reincarnating Principle; the
“Lord” in us.
Kshetram (Sk.). The “Great Deep” of the Bible
and Kabala. Chaos, Yoni; Prakriti, Space.
Kshira Samudra (Sk.). Ocean of milk, churned by the
gods.
Kuch-ha-guf (Heb.). The astral body
of a man. In Franz Lambert it is written “Coach-ha-guf”. But the Hebrew word is
Kuch, meaning vis, “force”, motive origin of the earthy body.
[w.w.w.]
Kuklos Anagkês (Gr.). Lit., “The
Unavoidable Cycle” or the “Circle of Necessity”-. Of the numerous catacombs in
Egypt and Chaldea
the most renowned were the subterranean crypts of Thebes and Memphis. The former began
on the Western side of the Nile extending toward the Libyan desert, and were
known as the serpents’ (Initiated Adepts) catacombs. It was there that
the Sacred Mysteries of the Kuklos Anagkês were performed, and the
candidates were acquainted with the inexorable laws traced for every disembodied
soul from the beginning of time. These laws were that every reincarnating
Entity, casting away its body should pass from this life on earth unto another
life on a more subjective plane, a state of bliss, unless the sins of the
personality brought on a complete separation
of the higher from the lower “principles” ; that the “circle of necessity” or
the unavoidable cycle should last a given period (from one thousand to
even three thousand years in a few cases), and that when closed the Entity
should return to its mummy, i.e., to a new incarnation. The
Egyptian and Chaldean teachings were those of the “Secret Doctrine” of the
Theosophists. The Mexicans had the same. Their demi-god, Votan, is made to
describe in Popol Vu (see de Bourbourg’s work) the ahugero de colubra
which is identical with the “Serpent’s Catacombs”, or passage, adding that
it ran underground and “terminated at the root of heaven”, into which
serpent’s hole, Votan was, admitted because he was himself “a son of the
Serpents”, or a Dragon of Wisdom, i.e., an Initiate. The world
over, the priest-adepts called themselves “Sons of the Dragon” and “Sons of the
Serpent-god”.
Kukkuta Padagiri (Sk.), called also
Gurupadagiri, the “teacher’s mountain”. It is situated about seven miles
from Gaya, and is
famous owing to a persistent report that Arhat Mahâkâsyapa even to this day
dwells in its caves.
Kumâra (Sk.). A virgin boy, or young
celibate. The first Kumâras are the seven sons of Brahmâ born out of the limbs
of the god, in the so-called ninth creation. It is stated that the name was
given to them owing to their formal refusal to “procreate their species”, and so
they “remained Yogis”, as the legend says.
Kumârabudhi (Sk.). An epithet given to the human
“Ego”.
Kumâra guha (Sk.). Lit., “the mysterious, virgin
youth”. A title given to Karttikeya owing to his strange origin.
Kumbhaka (Sk.). Retention of breath,
according to the regulations of the Hatha Yoga system.
Kumbhakarna (Sk.). The brother of King Ravana of
Lanka, the ravisher of Rama’s wife, Sita. As shown in the Ramayana,
Kumbhakarna under a curse of Brahmâ slept for six months, and then remained
awake one day to fall asleep again, and so on, for many hundreds of years. He
was awakened to take part in the war between Rama and Ravana, captured Hanuman,
but was finally killed himself.
Kundalini Sakti (Sk.). The power of life; one of the
Forces of Nature; that power that generates a certain light in those who sit for
spiritual and clairvoyant development. It is a power known only to those who
practise concentration and Yoga.
Kunti (Sk.). The wife of Pandu and the
mother of the Pandavas, the heroes and the foes of their cousins the Kauravas,
in the Bhagavad-gita. It is an allegory of the Spirit-Soul or Buddhi.
Some think that Draupadi, the wife in common of
the five brothers, the Pandavas, is meant to represent Buddhi: but this is not
so, for Draupadi stands for the terrestrial life of the Personality. As
such, we see it made little of, allowed to be insulted and even taken into
slavery by Yudhishthira, the elder of the Pandavas and her chief lord,
who represents the Higher Ego with all its qualifications.
Kurios (Gr.). ‘The Lord, the
Master.
Kurus (Sk.) or
Kauravas. The foes of the Pandavas in the Bhagavad Gita, on the
plain of Kurukshetra. This plain is but a few miles from Delhi.
Kusa (Sk.). A sacred grass used by the
ascetics of India,
called the grass of lucky augury. It is very occult.
Kusadwipa (Sk.). One of the seven islands
named Saptadwipa in the Puranas. (See Secret Doctrine II.,
p. 404, Note.)
Kusala (Sk.). Merit, one of the two chief
constituents of Karma.
Kusînara (Sk.). The city near which Buddha
died. It is near Delhi, though some Orientalists would
locate it in Assam.
Kuvera (Sk.). God of the Hades, and of
wealth like Pluto. The king of the evil demons in the Hindu Pantheon.
Kwan-shai-yîn (Chin.). The male logos
of the Northern Buddhists and those of China; the “manifested
god”.
Kwan-yin (Chin.). The female
logos, the “Mother of Mercy”.
Kwan-yin-tien (Chin.). The heaven where
Kwan-yin and the other logoi dwell.
