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Saint Padre Pio



    (1887-1968) Saint Padre Pio was the first stigmatized priest in the history of the Christian Church. He bore the stigmata for fifty years. Among His other divine gifts were perfume (imparting the spiritual experience of various types of fragrance), prophecy, conversion (ability to generate faith in and practice of Christ's teachings), and spiritual healing. Devotees are still being cured through His intercession in ways that cannot be explained by contemporary medicine or modern science. He led a life of hardship, but bore it with courage and spent His life in Blissful worship. His "strength" came from his burning love for the teachings of Christ and Mother Mary. Padre Pio performed ritualistic worship daily and prayed the rosary many times during the day. A foundation named after Him was established in 1977, to promote devotion to the teachings of Padre Pio. The foundation is active in spreading His teachings and Spirituality, and training devotees for priesthood.

Pagan
    A pagan is someone who practices a religion other than Christianity, Judaism or Islam, especially the polytheistic religions of the ancient Romans and Greeks. Paganism also refers to a group of practices originating from pre-Christian Europe, which include the worship of nature, polytheism and the female deity (The Goddess).

H. H. Pagnis Maharaj
    H. H. Pagnis Maharaj is the disciple of H. H. Gulavani Maharaj. In 1988 He recited Gurucharitra - a Hindu Holy scripture - for a month at the origin of Hiranyakeshi, at the base of the mountain of Hanuman. Then He started performing sacrificial fires as per the guidance in the book of sacrificial fires written by Kinjavdekar Shastri and Vishnushastri Bapat. Till today H. H. Pagnis Maharaj has done 560 Gayatri sacrificial fires, 11 Maruti Kavach’s sacrificial fires and now 11 Hanuman kavach at Bhimapurwadi. From these sacrificial fires He has obtained divine sacramental idols. Due to His supernatural powers (siddhis), many attendees have witnessed the manifestation of the divine sacramental statues from time to time.

Palm Sunday
    Palm Sunday occurs the Sunday before Easter Sunday in the Western Christian religious calendar year. It signals the upcoming end of Lent and the beginning of the holy week of Easter. The day commemorates the spreading of palms and clothing in Jesus' path as He entered Jerusalem prior to His crucifixion.

Panchadevata
    The five principle deities which constitute the components necessary for the creation of the universe from The Supreme God and its blending with Him, that is, its dissolution:

1. Prajapati – The thought of creation and its occurence accordingly,
2. Brahma – Merging with The Supreme God again and experiencing Bliss from it
3. Shiva – Frequencies of absolute purity, spiritual knowledge, austeries (spiritual practice) which are required to merge into The Supreme God, that is, dissolution
4. Vishnu – Sustenance of creation for sometime
5. Minakshi – Multiplication of creation

Panchakshara
    Having five letters, according to the Sanskrut (Sanskrit) alphabet.

Panchamahabhutas or Panchatattva
    The five Cosmic Elements or Principles.
    All objects in the universe can be recognized by five basic characteristics: smell, taste, form, touch and sound. These correspond to the five basic principle elements that constitute every object in the universe, namely, the absolute earth element (pruthvi), the absolute water element (apa), the absolute fire element (tej), the absolute air element (vayu) and the absolute ether element (akash). Ether is the subtlest of them all and the earth element is the most gross. 

    Inferior spiritual experiences correspond to the five Cosmic Principles as follows:

 
Principle Spiritual Experience
Akash (ether) subtle sound
Vayu (air) subtle touch
Tej (fire) subtle vision
Apa (water) subtle taste
Pruthvi (earth) subtle fragrance

    (The experience of Bliss is a superior spiritual experience.)

Panchamrut
    A mixture of milk, curds, honey, sugar and pure ghee (clarified butter).

Panchamukhi Hanumatkavach
    A sacrificial fire, or yadnya, done to invoke the blessings and protection of the five-faced Lord Hanuman.

Pandavas
    The five princes, who are at the center of the Epic Mahabharata. They were the sons of King Pandu and fought the evil rule of the Kauravas to establish Righteousness (Dharma).

Pandharpur
    A town in Maharashtra, India. It is the seat of Lord Vitthal's temple, visited by thousands of pilgrims every year.

Pandit
    Scholar

Lord Pandurang
    Another Name for Lord Vitthal, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

Panini
    The Sage who wrote the authoritative guide to Sanskrut (Sanskrit) grammer.

Para
    In the Para mode of speech, One experiences non-duality (advait) with the Name.

Shri Paramahansa Yogananda

    (1893-1952) A famous Saint Who came to America in 1920 and introduced the basic principles of Yoga to many in the western world. His well-known book, Autobiography of a Yogi, has inspired many to begin spiritual practice.

Paratpar Guru
    Guru at the highest (90% to 100%) spiritual level.

Parechcha
    'Par' means others, 'echcha' means wish. Thus, doing as per another's wish.

Swami Parmananda
    A Hindu Saint residing in Mumbai, India.

Goddess Parvati
    A female deity and wife of Lord Shiva, mother of Lord Ganapati.

Pasch
    In Greek language the Pascha staurosimon - the passage to death - that happened on Friday, and the Pascha anastasimon - the passage to life or Resurrection - that happened on Sunday.

Pashyanti
    Derived from the Sanskrit word ‘pashya’ which means ‘to see’. Repeating (chanting) the Name of the Lord in pashyanti mode is akin to that of seers who have knowledge of the past, present and future. This mode of chanting occurs at a spiritual level of 70%.

Patal
    Hell. The lowest level of bhuvalok (the netherworld) is subdivided into the seven levels of patal. Here, only suffering of increasing degree is experienced. Mantriks from these regions are currently troubling seekers to an increasing degree.

Sage Patanjali
    A fourth century sage and author of the Yoga Sutras. It is the basic scripture for the path of Raja yoga, which explains different methods for attainment of Samadhi. Of the 195 verses, only 7 are about God; in the remaining 188 verses, there is no mention of god at all. Following the disciplines explained in these sutras will definitely result in spiritual progress of the seeker.

H. H. Swami Pattabhi
    H. H. Swami Patthabi is a disciple of H. H. Swami Rama and is on the Path of Devotion (Bhaktiyoga) and Knowledge (Dnyanyoga).

H. H. Parulekar Maharaj
    A Saint on the Path of Bhaktiyoga, with chanting The Lord's Name being the main form of His spiritual practice. He lives in Sindhudurg, Maharashtra, India.

Philokalia
   The Philokalia is a collection of texts written between the fourth and 15th centuries by spiritual masters of the Orthodox Christian tradition. First published in Greek in 1782, translated into Slavonic and later into Russian, The Philokalia has exercised an influence far greater than that of any book, other than the Bible, in the recent history of the Orthodox Church.

Pinda
    Subtle body

Pindi
    A symbol of Lord Shiva.

Pingla
    The Surya (sun) nadi, i.e., the channel that runs to the right of the Sushumna nadi of the Spiritual energy flow system (Kundalini),. The energy that flows through this channel is action promoting Spiritual energy, i.e. predominantly rajasik (activity) and tamasik (inertia).

Ponda
    A city in the state of Goa.

Puranic Period
    The period when Spirituality was taught to the masses through mythological stories (purans).

Prachar
    The spread of Spirituality.

Prahlad
    Son of King Hiranyakashipu, and great devotee of Lord Vishnu. It was Prahlad, who, due to his intense devotion to The Lord, was rescued by Lord Narasinha, the half-lion, half-man incarnation of Lord Vishnu, from being killed by his father.

Prajapati
    The Principle of Creation. One of the five principle deities (Panchadevata).

Prajapati frequencies
    Out of all the frequencies to hit the earth – prajapati, yama and surya – prajapati frequencies are the most sattvik. Sanyuka frequencies are combinations of all three. The prajapati sanyuka frequencies occur when there is a higher proportion of prajapati frequencies.

Prakruti
    Basic nature or personality. It is the primeval Nature created by Supreme Brahman, comprising of the three basic components, i.e., Trigunas. 

Pran
    One of the five vital energies.

Pranayam
    Regulation of breath and control of the body's vital energies.

Pranshakti
    The vital life sustaining energy of both the individual body and the Universe. There are five types:

1. Pran : Energy for the activity of inhalation
2. Udan : Energy for the activity of exhalation and speech.
3. Saman : Energy for the activity of the stomach and intestines.
4. Vyan : Energy for the voluntary and involuntary movements of the body.
5. Apan : Energy for urination, excretion, ejaculation, childbirth, etc.

Prarabdha
    The Destiny that is experienced in this birth.
    Every action creates a reaction. So whenever one does a good deed or a bad deed an account is created which has to be settled. This accumulated give and take account is called Sanchit. If this account contains 100 units, approximately 6 units out of this account are undergone in each birth. This is what is called Prarabhda (Destiny) and controls 65% of the events in our lives. We have no control over changing or escaping these accounts. Whenever we have no control over a certain event in our lives then it is termed as Destiny. Since each one's actions are different, the destiny that each one has to undergo is also different from others. We do have control over some portion (i.e., 35%) of our lives by way of willful action (Kriyaman).

Prasad
    Offering of food made to God or consecrated food or left-overs of the meals of the spiritually evolved (Saints). Blessings in the form of any material thing or a divine gift by Saints.

Pratisthapana
    Installation.

Pratyahar
    Withdrawal of the sense organs from the sense objects.

Praying the rosary
    Repeating holy verses on the Catholic string of beads, used for chanting.

Prembhav
    Spiritual love

Prescription chants
    Seekers are advised to chant the Names of the Saptadevatas (Seven deities) for protection from negative energy. See the Weekly Online Issue 124, Message to Seekers for more information on these chants. In addition, collective chanting is also advised as part of daily spiritual practice.

Priti
    Unconditional spiritual love.

Protestant Christianity
    Christian denominations (sects) not members of the church of Rome (Catholics) or the Eastern Orthodox church.

Pruthvi
    Absolute earth. One of the five cosmic elements (Panchmahabhutas).

Puja
    Performing ritualistic worship.

Purnatva
    Awareness of Absoluteness.

Puranas
    Hindu mythological scriptures.

Purascharan
    
1. The worship of a deity performed with a tantra, mantra and chanting and the prescribed rituals done to enable the mantra to give the expected results, before commencing the chanting of the mantra.
2. Particular quantity of chanting for the acquisition of the desired result of a mantra. Refer to the Sanatan's publication, Volume 6: Path of Chanting The Lord's Name (Namasankirtanyoga) and Path of Mantra (Mantrayoga) for details.

Purush
   The Supreme Brahman (God principle), Spirit or Soul.

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