Y.—The twenty-fifth letter of the English alphabet, and the tenth of the Hebrew—the Yod. It is the litera Pythagorœ the Pythagorean letter and symbol, signifying the two branches, or paths of virtue and vice respectively, the right leading to virtue, the left to vice. In Hebrew Kabbalistic mysticism it is the phallic male member, and also as number ten, the perfect number. Symbolically, it is represented by a hand with bent forefinger. Its numerical equivalent is ten.

Yâdaya (Sk.). A descendant of Yadu; of the great race in which Krishna was born. The founder of this line was Yadu, the son of King Yayâti of the Somavansa or Lunar Race.It was under Krishna— certainly no mythical personage—that the kingdom of Dwârakâ in Guzerat was established; and also after the death of Krishna (3102 B.c.) that all the Yâdavas present in the city perished, when it was submerged by the ocean. Only a few of the Yâdavas, who were absent from the town at the time of the catastrophe, escaped to perpetuate this great race. The Râjâs of Vijaya-Nâgara are now among the small number of its representatives.

Yah (Heb.). The word, as claimed in the Zohar, through which the Elohim formed the worlds. The syllable is a national adaptation and one of the many forms of the “Mystery name”IAO.
(See “Iaho” and “Yâho ”.)

Yâho (Heb.). Fürst shows this to be the same as the Greek Iao. Yâho is an old Semitic and very mystic name of the supreme deity, while Yah (q.v.) is a later abbreviation which, from containing an abstract ideal, became finally applied to, and connected with, a phallic symbol—the lingham of creation. Both Yah and Yâho were Hebrew “mystery names” derived from Iao, but the Chaldeans had a Yâho before the Jews adopted it, and with them, as explained by some Gnostics and Neo-Platonists, it was the highest conceivable deity enthroned above the seven heavens and representing Spiritual Light (Âtman, the universal), whose ray was Nous, standing both for the intelligent Demiurge of the Universe of Matter and the Divine Manas in man, both being Spirit. The true key of this, communicated to the Initiates only, was that the name of IAO was “triliteral and its nature secret ”, as explained by the Hierophants. The Phœnicians too had a supreme deity whose name was triliteral, and its meanings secret, this was also IAO; and Y-ha-ho was a sacred word in the Egyptian mysteries, which signified “the one eternal and concealed deity” in nature and in man; i.e., the “universal Divine Ideation”, and the human Manas, or the higher Ego.

Yajna (Sk.). “Sacrifice”, whose symbol or representation is now the constellation Mriga-shiras (deer-head), and also a form of Vishnu. “ The Yajna ”, say the Brahmans, “exists from eternity, for it proceeded from the Supreme, in whom it lay dormant from no beginning ”. It is the key to the Trai-Vidyâ , the thrice sacred science contained in the Rig -Veda verses, which teaches the Yajna or sacrificial mysteries. As Haug states in his Introduction to the Aitareya Brâhmana—the Yajna exists as an invisible presence at all times, extending from the Âhavanîya or sacrificial fire to the heavens, forming a bridge or ladder by means of which the sacrificer can communicate with the world of devas, “and even ascend when alive to their abodes”. It is one of the forms of Akâsa, within which the mystic WORD (or its underlying “ Sound ”) calls it into existence. Pronounced by the Priest-Initiate or Yogi, this WORD receives creative powers, and is communicated as an impulse on the terrestrial plane through a trained Will-power.

Yakin and Boaz (Heb.). A Kabbalistic and Masonic symbol. The two pillars of bronze (Yakin, male and white; Boaz, female and red), cast by Hiram Abif of Tyre, called “the Widow’s Son , for Solomon’s supposed (Masonic) Temple. Yakin was the symbol of Wisdom (Chokmah), the second Sephira; and Boaz, that of Intelligence (Binah); the temple between the two being regarded as Kether, the crown, Father- Mother.

Yaksha (Sk.). A class of demons, who, in popular Indian folk-lore, devour men. In esoteric science they are simply evil (elemental) influences, who in the sight of seers and clairvoyants descend on men, when open to the reception of such influences, like a fiery comet or a shooting star.

Yama (Heb.). The personified third root-race in Occultism. In the Indian Pantheon Yama is the subject of two distinct versions of the myth. In the Vedas he is the god of the dead, a Pluto or a Minos, with whom the shades of the departed dwell (the Kâmarûpas in Kâmaloka). A hymn speaks of Yama as the first of men that died, and the first that departed to the world of bliss (Devachan). This, because Yama is the embodiment of the race which was the first to be endowed with consciousness (Manas), without which there is neither Heaven nor Hades. Yama is represented as the son of Vivaswat (the Sun). He had a twin-sister named Yami, who was ever urging him, according to another hymn, to take her for his wife, in order to perpetuate the species. The above has a very suggestive symbolical meaning, which is explained in Occultism. As Dr. Muir truly remarks, the Rig -Veda—the greatest authority on the primeval myths which strike the original key-note of the themes that underlie all the subsequent variations—nowhere shows Yama “as having anything to do with the punishment of the wicked ”. As king and judge of the dead, a Pluto in short, Yama is a far later creation. One has to study the true character of Yama-Yamî throughout more than one hymn and epic poem, and collect the various accounts scattered in dozens of ancient works, and then he will obtain a consensus of allegorical statements which will be found to corroborate and justify the Esoteric teaching, that Yama-Yamî is the symbol of the dual Manas, in one of its mystical meanings. For instance, Yama-Yamî is always represented of a green colour and clothed with red, and as dwelling in a palace of copper and iron. Students of Occultism know to which of the human “principles” the green and the red colours, and by correspondence the iron and copper,’ are to be applied. The “twofold-ruler ”—the epithet of Yama Yamî—is regarded in the exoteric teachings of the Chino-Buddhists as both judge and criminal, the restrainer of his own evil doings and the evil-doer himself. In the Hindu epic poems Yama-Yami is the twin- child of the Sun (the deity) by Sanjnâ (spiritual consciousness); but while Yama is the Aryan “lord of the day”, appearing as the symbol of spirit in the East, Yamî is the queen of the night (darkness, ignorance) “who opens to mortals the path to the West ”—the emblem of evil and matter. In the Purânas Yama has many wives (many Yamis) who force him to dwell in the lower world (Pâtâla, Myalba, etc., etc.); and an allegory represents him with his foot lifted, to kick Chhâyâ, the hand maiden of his father (the astral body of his mother, Sanjnâ, a metaphysical aspect of Buddhi or Alaya). As stated in the Hindu Scriptures, a soul when it quits its mortal frame, repairs to its abode in the lower regions (Kâmaloka or Hades). Once there, the Recorder, the Karmic messenger called Chitragupta (hidden or concealed brightness), reads out his account from the Great Register, wherein during the life of the human being, every deed and thought are indelibly impressed-— and, according to the sentence pronounced, the “soul” either ascends to the abode of the Pitris (Devachan), descends to a “hell ” (Kâmaloka), or is reborn on earth in another human form. The student of Esoteric philosophy will easily recognise the bearings of the allegories.

Yamabooshee, or Yamabusi (Jap.). A sect in Japan of very ancient and revered mystics. They are monks “militant” and warriors, if needed, as are certain Yogis in Rajputana and the Lamas in Tibet. This Mystic brotherhood dwell chiefly near Kioto, and are renowned for their healing powers, says the Encyclopœdia, which translates the name “Hermit Brothers”: “They pretend to magical arts, and live in the recesses of mountains and craggy steeps, whence they come forth to tell fortunes (?), write charms and sell amulets. They lead a mysterious life and admit no one to their secrets, except after a tedious and difficult preparation by fasting and a species of severe gymnastic exercise ! ”)

Yasna, or Yacna (Pahl.). The third portion of the first of the two parts of the Avesta, the Scripture of the Zoroastrian Parsis. The Yasna is composed of litanies of the same kind as the Vispêrad (the second portion) and of five hymns or gâthas. These gâthas are the oldest fragments of Zoroastrian literature known to the Parsis, for they are written “in a special dialect, older than the general language of the Avesta” (Darmesteter). (See “ Zend ”.)

Yati (Sk) A measure of three feet.

Yâtus, or Yâtudhânas (Sk.). A kind of animal-formed demons. Esoterically, human animal passions.

Yazathas (Zend). Pure celestial spirits, whom the Vendidâd shows once upon a time sharing their food with mortals, who thus participate in their existence.

Years of Brahmâ. The whole period of “Brahma’s Age” (100 Years). Equals 31I,040,000,000,000 years. (See “Yuga ”.)

Yeheedah (Heb.). Lit., “Individuality ”; esoterically, the highest individuality or Âtmâ-Buddhi-Manas, when united in one. This doctrine is in the Chaldean Book of Numbers, which teaches a septenary division of human “principles”, so-called, as does the Kabalah in the Zohar, according to the Book of Solomon (iii.,Io4a so as translated in I. Myer’s Qabbalah). At the time of the conception, the Holy “sends a d’yook-nah, or the phantom of a shadow image” like the face of a man. it is designed and sculptured in the divine tzelem, i.e., the shadow image of the Elohim. “ Elohim created man in his (their) tzelem ” or image, says Genesis (i. 27). It is the tzelem that awaits the child and receives it at the moment of its conception, and this tzelem is our linga sharira. “ The Rua’h forms with the Nephesh the actual personality of the man ”, and also his individuality, or, as expressed by the Kabbalist, the combination of the two is called, if he (man) deserves it, Yeheedah. This combination is that which the Theosophist calls the dual Manas, the Higher and the Lower Ego, united to Âtmâ-Buddhi and become one. For as explained in the Zohar  (i., 205b, 206a, Brody Ed.): “Neshamah, soul (Buddhi), comprises three degrees, and therefore she has three names, like the mystery above: that is, Nephesh, Rua’h, Neshamah “, or the Lower Manas, the Higher Ego, and Buddhi, the Divine Soul. “It is also to be noted that the Neshamah has three divisions;” says Myer’s Qabbalah, “the highest is the Ye-hee-dah ”—or Âtmâ-Buddhi-Manas, the latter once more as a unit; “the middle principle is Hay-yak “—or Buddhi and the dual Manas; ”and the last and third, the Neshamah, properly speaking ”—or Soul in general. “They manifest themselves in Ma’hshabah, thought, Tzelem, phantom of the image, Zurath, prototypes (mâyâvic forms, or rûpas), and the D'yooknah, shadow of the phantom image. The D’mooth, likeness or similitude (physical body), is a lower manifestation” (p. 392). Here then, we find the faithful echo of Esoteric science in the Zohar and other Kabbalistic works, a perfect Esoteric septenary division. Every Theosophist who has studied the doctrine sketched out first in Mr. Sinnett’s Occult World and Esoteric Buddhism, and later in the Theosophist, Lucifer, and other writings, will recognise them in the Zohar. Compare for instance what is taught in Theosophical works about the pre- and post-mortem states of the three higher and the four lower human principles, with the following from the Zohar: “ Because all these three are one knot like the above, in the mystery of Nephesh, Rua’h, Neshamah, they are all one, and bound in one. Nephesh (Kâma-Manas) has no light from her own substance; and it is for this reason that she is associated with the mystery of guff, the body, to procure enjoyment and food and everything which it needs.

Rua’h (the Spirit) is that which rides on that Nephesh (the lower soul) and rules over her and lights (supplies) her with everything she needs [ with the light of reason], and the Nephesh is the throne [ of that Ru’ah. Neshamah (Divine Soul) goes over to that Rua’h, and she rules over that Rua’h and lights to him with that Light of Life, and that Rua’h depends on the Neshamah and receives light from her, which illuminates him. . . When the ‘upper’ Neshamah ascends (after the death of the body), she goes to . . . the Ancient of the Ancient, the Hidden of all the Hidden, to receive Eternity. The Rua’h does not [go to Gan Eden [ because he is [ up with] Nephesh the Rua’h goes up to Eden, but not so high as the soul, and Nephesh [ animal principle, lower soul] remains in the grave below [ Kâmaloka]

(Zohar, ii., 142a, Cremona Ed., ii., fol. 63b col. 252). It would be difficult not to recognise in the above our Âtmâ (or the “upper” Neshamah), Buddhi (Neshamah),. Manas (Rua’h), and Kâma-Manas (Nephesh) or the lower animal soul; the first of which goes after the death of man to join its integral whole, the second and the third proceeding to Devachan, and the last, or the Kâmarûpa, “remaining in its grave”, called other wise the Kâmaloka or Hades.

Yênê, Angânta. The meaning of the Angânta Yênê is known to all India. It is the action of an elemental (bhût), who, drawn into the sensitive and passive body of a medium, takes possession of it. In other words, angânta vênê means literally “obsession”. The Hindus dread such a calamity now as strongly as they did thousands of years ago. “No Hindu, Tibetan, or Sinhalese, unless of the lowest caste and intelligence, can see, without a shudder of horror, the signs of ‘mediumship’ manifest themselves in a member of his family, or without saying, as a Christian would do now, ‘ he hath the devil’. This ‘gift, blessing, and holy mission’, so called in England and America. is, among the older peoples, in the cradle-lands of our race, where longer experience than ours has taught them more spiritual wisdom, regarded as a dire misfortune.”

Yesod (Heb.). The ninth Sephira; meaning Basis or Foundation.

Yetzirah (Heb.). The third of the Four Kabbalistic Worlds, referred to the Angels; the “World of Formation”, or Olam Yetzirah. It is also called Malahayah, or “of the Angels ”. It is the abode of all the ruling Genii (or Angels) who control and rule planets, worlds and spheres.

Yeu (Chin.). “Being”, a synonym of Subhâva; or “the Substance giving substance to itself ”.

Yggdrasil (Scand.). The “World Tree of the Norse Cosmogony; the ash Yggdrasil ; the tree of the Universe, of time and of life”. It has three roots, which reach down to cold Hel, and spread thence to Jotun heim, the land of the Hrimthurses, or “ Frost Giants ”, and to Midgard, the earth and dwelling of the children of men. Its upper boughs stretch out into heaven, and its highest branch overshadows Waihalla, the Devachan of the fallen heroes. The Yggdrasil is ever fresh and green, as it is daily sprinkled by the Norns, the three fateful sisters, the Past, the Present, and the Future, with the waters of life from the fountain of Urd that flows on our earth. It will wither and disappear only on the day when the last battle between good and evil is fought ; when, the former prevailing, life, time and space pass out of life and space and time. Every ancient people had their world-tree. The Babylonians had their “tree of life”, which was the world-tree, whose roots penetrated into the great lower deep or Hades, whose trunk was on the earth, and whose upper boughs reached Zikum, the highest heaven above. Instead of in Walhalla, they placed its upper foliage in the holy house of Davkina, the “great mother” of Tammuz, the Saviour of the world—the Sun-god put to death by the enemies of light.

Yi-King. (Chin.). An ancient Chinese work, written by generations of sages.

Yima (Zend). In the Vendîdâd, the first man, and, from his aspect of spiritual progenitor of mankind, the same as Yama (q.v.). His further functions are not given in the Zend books, because so many of these ancient fragments have been lost, made away with, or otherwise prevented from falling into the hands of the profane. Yima was not born, for he represents the first three human Root-races, the first of which is “not born”; but he is the “first man who dies”, because the third race, the one which was informed by the rational Higher Egos, was the first one whose men separated into male and female, and “man lived and died, and was reborn”. (See Secret Doctrine, II., pp. 60 et seq.)

Ymir (Scand.). The personified matter of our globe in a seething condition. The cosmic monster in the form of a giant, who is killed in the cosmogonical allegories of the Eddas by the three creators, the sons of Bör, Odin, Wili and We, who are said to have conquered Ymir and created the world out of his body. This allegory shows the three principal forces of nature—separation, formation and growth (or evolution) conquering the unruly, raging “giant” matter, and forcing it to become a world, or an inhabited globe. it is curious that an ancient, primitive and uncultured pagan people, so philosophical and scientifically correct in their views about the origin and formation of the earth, should, in order to be regarded as civilized, have to accept the dogma that the world was created out of nothing!

Yod (Heb.). The tenth letter of the alphabet, the first in the four fold symbol of the compound name
Jah-hovah (Jehovah) or Jah-Eve, the hermaphrodite force and existence in nature. Without the later vowels, the word Jehovah is written IHVH (the letter Yod standing for all the three English letters y, i, or j, as the case may require), and is male-female. The letter Yod is the symbol of the lingham, or male organ, in its natural triple form, as the Kabalah shows. The second letter He, has for its symbol the yoni, the womb or “ window-opening” as the Kabalah has it ; the symbol of the third letter, the Vau, is a crook or a nail (the bishop’s crook having its origin in this), another male letter, and the fourth is the same as the second—the whole meaning to be or to exist under one of these forms or both. Thus the word or name is pre-eminently phallic, it is that of the fighting god of the Jews, “ Lord of Hosts” ; of the “aggressive Yod” or Zodh, Cain (by permutation), who slew his female brother, Abel, and spilt his (her) blood. This name, selected out of many by the early Christian writers, was an unfortunate one for their religion on account of its associations and original significance ; it is a number at best, an organ in reality. This letter Yod has passed into God and Gott.

Yoga (Sk.). (1) One of the six Darshanas or schools of India; a school of philosophy founded by Patanjali, though the real Yoga doctrine, the one that is said to have helped to prepare the world for the preaching Buddha, is attributed with good reasons to the more ancient sage Yâjnawalkya, the writer of the Shatapatha Brâhmana, of Yajur Veda, the Brihad Âranyaka, and other famous works. (2) The practice of meditation as a means of leading to spiritual liberation. Psycho-spiritual powers are obtained thereby, and induced ecstatic states lead to the clear and correct perception of the eternal truths, in both the visible and invisible universe.

Yogâchârya (Sk.). (1) A mystic school. (2) Lit., a teacher (âchârya) of Yoga, one who has mastered the doctrines and practices of ecstatic meditation—the culmination of which are the Mahâsiddhis. It is incorrect to confuse this school with the Tantra, or Mahâtantra school founded by Samantabhadra, for there are two Yogâchârya Schools, one esoteric, the other popular. The doctrines of the latter were compiled and glossed by Asamgha in the sixth century of our era, and his mystic tantras and mantras, his formularies, litanies, spells and mudrâ would certainly, if attempted without a Guru, serve rather purposes of sorcery and black magic than real Yoga. Those who undertake to write upon the subject are generally learned missionaries and haters of Eastern philosophy in general. From these no unbiassed views can be expected. Thus when we read in the Sanskrit -Chinese Dictionary of Eitel, that the reciting of mantras (which he calls “ spells”!) “ should he accompanied by music and distortions of the fingers (mudrâ), that a state of mental fixity (Samâdhi} might he reached ‘—one acquainted, however slightly,. with the real practice of Yoga can only shrug his shoulders. These distortions of the fingers or ,mudrâ are necessary, the author thinks, for the reaching of Samâdhi, “characterized by there being neither thought nor annihilation of thought, and consisting of six-fold bodily (sic) and mental happiness (yogi) whence would result endowment with supernatural miracle-working power”. Theosophists cannot be too much warned against such fantastic and prejudiced explanations.

Yogi (Sk.). (1) Not “a state of six-fold bodily and mental happiness as the result, of ecstatic meditation” (Eitel) but a state which, when reached, makes the practitioner thereof absolute master of his six principles”, he now being merged in the seventh. It gives him full control, owing to his knowledge of SELF and Self, over his bodily, intellectual and mental states, which, unable any longer to interfere with, or act upon, his Higher Ego, leave it free to exist in its original, pure, and divine state.

(2) Also the name of the devotee who practises Yoga.

Yong-Grüb (Tib.). A state of absolute rest, the same as Paranirvâna.

Yoni (Sk.). The womb, the female principle.

Yudishthira (Sk.). One of the heroes of the Mahâbharata. The eldest brother of the Pândavas, or the five Pându princes who fought against their next of kin, the Kauravas, the sons of their maternal uncle. Arjuna, the disciple of Krishna, was his younger brother. The Bhagavad Gitâ gives mystical particulars of this war. Kunti was the mother of the Pândavas, and Draupadî the wife in common of the five brothers— an allegory. But Yudishthira is also, as well as Krishna, Arjuna, and so many other heroes, an historical character, who lived some 5,000 years ago, at the period when the Kali Yuga set in.

Yuga (Sk.). A 1,000th part of a Kalpa. An age of the World of which there are four, and the series of which proceed in succession during the manvantaric cycle. Each Yuga is preceded by a period called in the Purânas Sandhyâ, twilight, or transition period, and is followed by another period of like duration called Sandhyânsa, “portion of twilight”. Each is equal to one-tenth of the Yuga.  The group of four Yugas is first computed by the divine years, or “ years of the gods”—each such year being equal to 360 years of mortal men. Thus we have, in “divine” years :

      1.  Krita or Satya Yuga      -           -            -        4,000

           Sandhyâ           -           -           -           -           400

           Sandhyansa      -           -           -           -           400

                                                                                 4,800

 

      2.  Tretâ Yuga    -           -           -           -           3,000

           Sandhyâ           -           -           -           -           300

           Sandhyânsa      -           -           -           -           300

                                                                                 3,600

 

      3.  Dwâpara Yuga            -           -           -           2,000

           Sandhya           -           -           -           -           200

           Sandhyânsa      -           -           -           -           200

                                                                                 2,400

     

      4.  Kali Yuga         -           -           -           -       1,000

           Sandhyâ           -           -           -           -          100

           Sandhyânsa  -           -           -           -              100

                                                                                1,200

                                                                  Total    12,000

This rendered in years of mortals equals:

                               4800    X 360      =    1,728,000

                                                                          3600    X 360      =    1,296,000

                                                                          2400    X 360      =       864,000

                                                                          1200    X 360       =      432,000

                                                      Total  4,320,000

The above is called a Mahâyuga or Manvantara. 2,000 such Mahâyugas, or a period of 8,640,000 years, make a Kalpa the latter being only a “day and a night”, or twenty-four hours, of Brahmâ. Thus an “age of Brahmâ”, or one hundred of his divine years, must equal 311,040,000,000,000 of our mortal years. The old Mazdeans or Magi (the modern Parsis) had the same calculation, though the Orientalists do not seem to perceive it, for even the Parsi Moheds themselves have forgotten it. But their “Sovereign time of the Long Period” (Zervan Dareghâ Hvadâta) lasts 12,000 years, and these are the 12,000 divine years of a Mahâyuga as shown above, whereas the Zervan Akarana (Limitless Time), mentioned by Zarathustra, is the Kâla, out of space and time, of Parabrahm.

Yurbo Adonai. A contemptuous epithet given by the followers of the Nazarene Codex, the St. John Gnostics, to the Jehovah of the Jews.

Yürmungander (Scand.). A name of the Midgard snake in the Edda, whose brother is Wolf Fenris, and whose sister is the horrible monster Hel—the three children of wicked Loki and Angurboda (carrier of anguish), a dreaded giantess. The mundane snake of the Norsemen, the monster created by Loki but fashioned by the constant putrid emanations from the body of the slain giant Ymir (the matter of our globe), and producing in its turn a constant emanation, which serves as a veil between heaven and earth, i.e., the Astral Light.