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Gods and Heroes of the Bhagavad Gita

By Geoffrey A. Barborka

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Gods and Heroes of The Bhagavad-Gita P

Pañchajanya The name of K???a’s conch-shell, which he obtained in the following manner: Pañchajana was an elemental of the sea, using the form of a conch-shell (sa?kha). He had seized the son of Sandipani (who had instructed K???a in the use of arms), whereupon K???a attacked and slew Pañchajana, taking the shell for use as his conch.

It is significant and interesting that the word Pañchajana itself means ‘five classes,’ having reference to the five lower classes of beings which in a general way were considered by the ancient Hindus to inhabit the universe. The name therefore could properly be applied to a head of any one such composite group of beings; and to speak of Pañchajana as a ‘demon,’ as Orientalists often do, is to forget the fact that one of the Pañchajanas or five classes of animate beings are men, who can hardly be called ‘demons,’ even in the Hindu mythological sense. (m. lit. descended from Pañchajana. Bh.G. 3)

Pa??u The son of K???a Dvaipayana Vyasa and Ambalika, half-brother of Dh?tara??ra, and parent of the five hero princes Yudhi??hira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva – who were known as the Pa??avas (i.e., sons of Pandu). When Pandu became of age, he was given the throne of Hastinapura by his regent-uncle Bhishma, because Dh?tara??ra was considered unfit to rule the kingdom on account of his blindness. Pandu, however, relinquished the kingdom because of a curse pronounced upon him while hunting, and retired to the Himalayas, where he died. (Bh.G. 2)

Pa??us (or Pa??avas) The sons of Pa??u, referring to the five brothers – Yudhi??hira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva – who sought to regain their kingdom of Indraprastha, which had been taken from them by the Kauravas under the leadership of Duryodhana. This led to the great battle at Kurukshetra, in which the Pa??avas were victorious. (Bh.G. 2)

Parabrahman lit. Beyond Brahman, i.e., that which is beyond the summit of a manifested kosmic hierarchy; referred to in Vedic literature as TAT, THAT (the world of manifestation being Idam, This). Parabrahman is very closely connected with Mulaprak?ti (Root-Substance) inasmuch as Mulaprak?ti is the veil of Parabrahman (N.Bh.G. 62). K???a speaks of Parabrahman as his Avyaktamurti because Parabrahman “is unknowable, and only becomes knowable when manifesting itself as the Logos” or Isvara (N.Bh.G. 62). Parabrahman “is the field of Absolute Consciousness, i.e., that Essence which is out of all relation to conditioned existence, and of which conscious existence is a conditioned symbol.” (S.D. I, 15) (comp. para, beyond; Brahman, ’Universal Spirit.’ Bh.G. 71)

Paramatman The Supreme Self. In man Paramatman is the three highest principles, with especial emphasis upon the atman, hence the reference is to the root-base of man. The term may likewise apply to the Root-Base of a hierarchy, and cosmically, to the First or Unmanifest Logos of the Universe. (comp. parama, beyond; atman, Self: hence the SELF which is higher than the Self of the human ego. Bh.G. 96)

Partha Arjuna – Son of P?tha (= Kunti). (Bh.G. I 27)

Paundra The name of the conch-shell of Bhima. (Bh.G. 4)

Pavaka A name applied to one of the eight Vasus (q.v.), the Vasu fire. Also applied to the god of fire, Agni (q.v.). (m. bright, shining. Bh.G. 74)

Pavana An alternative name for the god of the wind, Vayu (q.v.). (Bh.G. 75)

Pi??a Morsel of food. The pi??a-ceremony in which four white rice balls are offered for the ancestors which feed their (invisible) pi??a bodies. (Bh.G. I 42)

Pippala The sacred Indian fig-tree, Ficus religiosa, called in Buddhism the Bo-tree. Mystically the Cosmic World-Tree, or Tree of Life, the Asvattha (q.v.).

Pit?s lit. Fathers: referring to (a) the deceased father, grandfathers, and great grandfathers of a person, and (b), the Progenitors of the human race. To both classes rites are performed (Sraddhas) and oblations presented (Pi??as) – to which the text refers. The Progenitors are of seven groups or classes: the three higher classes are called Arupa-Pit?s – commonly Solar Pit?s or Agnishvatta-Pit?s, i.e., those who have no physical ‘creative fire’ albeit the enlighteners of the mind of man (the Minasaputras of The Secret Doctrine); the four lower classes are called Barhishads – commonly Lunar Pit?s who fashion mankind’s vehicle, i.e.,the Monads undergoing evolution in the Lunar Chain who, transfer their energies to the Earth-chain at the time of its reimbodiment. (See Marichi.)

“The Progenitors of Man, called in India ’Fathers, Pitaras or Pit?s, are the creators of our bodies and lower principles. They are ourselves, as the first personalities, and we are they. … they were ’lunar Beings.’ “ (S.D. II, 88) (Bh.G. 68)

Prahlada The son of Hira?yakasipu of the Daitya race (i.e., Titans), who waged wars with the gods, in one of which they overcame Indra and took possession of Svarga (heaven). Prahlada, however, as a boy, instead of following the Daitya practice, became an ardent worshiper of Vi??u. This was told his father who in anger ordered that his son be killed. But no Daitya weapon could cause his death, nor even the flames of fire, whereupon Prahlada was sent back to his preceptor and he continued his adoration of Vi??u. Because of Prahlada’s persecution, Vi??u took on incarnation as the Narasi?ha (‘man-lion’) Avatara, slaying Hira?yakasipu and expelling the Daityas from heaven. (See under K???a.) They took up their abode in Patala under the rule of Prahlada. At his death Prahlada attained union with Vi??u. The Padma-Pura?a narrates that in a previous birth, as a Brahmana named Sornasarman, he was desirous of uniting himself with Vi??u, but was distracted in his meditations by the Daityas, and so was born again as one of them, (Bh.G.75)

Prajapati lit. ’Lord of progeny,’ or lord of creation: a title applied originally to several of the Vedic gods, as divinities presiding over the production of worlds and men; later applied to the Hindu Trimurti (Brahma, Vi??u, Siva) especially to Brahma as the chief progenitor, evolver, and producer (as in Manu). Likewise Manu Svayambhuva is termed a Prajapati as the son of Brahma, and as the secondary creator of the ten ??is – the mind-born sons of Brahma from whom mankind is descended, hence termed Prajapatis. These are enumerated as: Marichi, Atri, Angiras, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, Vasi??ha, Prachetas (or Dak?a), Bh?gu, Narada. Occasionally only the first seven are enumerated, and they are made equivalent to the seven great ??is (q.v.). The Prajapatis “are neither gods, nor supernatural Beings, but advanced Spirits from another and lower planet, reborn on this one, and giving birth in their turn in the present Round to present Humanity.” (S.D. II, 611)

“What are all the myths and endless genealogies of the seven Prajapatis, and their sons, the seven ??is or Manus, and of their wives, sons and progeny, but a vast detailed account of the progressive development and evolution of animal creation, one species after the other?” (S.D. II, 253) *pra-jan, to give birth to; pati lord. Bh.G. 85)

Prak?ti Broadly speaking equivalent to Nature – in the sense of the great producer of beings. Through Nature acts the ever-moving Spirit – Brahma or Puru?a. Thus Puru?a is Spirit and Prak?ti is its productive veil or sheath. Although Prak?ti is commonly rendered ‘matter,’ matter is rather the productions that Prak?ti brings about (i.e., the Vik?tis) through the excitation or influence of Puru?a. Some Hindu schools use Prak?ti in the sense of Sakti or Maya (Illusion), the Vedantins, however, teach that every particle of Prak?ti contains Jiva (divine life) and is the sarira (body) of that Jiva which it contains. (comp. pra, forwards, progression; *k? to do, to make; hence lit. production, bringing forth. Bh.G. 65)

Pralaya [from pra away + the verbal root li to dissolve] Dissolving away, death, dissolution, as when one pours water upon a cube of salt or sugar: the cube of salt or sugar vanishes in the water, dissolves, and changes its form. So during a pralaya, matter crumbles or vanishes away into something else which is yet in it, surrounds it, and interpenetrates it. Pralaya is often defined as the state of latency or rest between two manvantaras of great life cycles. During pralaya, everything differentiated, every unit, disappears from the phenomenal universe and is transferred into the noumenal essence which periodically throughout eternity gives birth to all the phenomena of nature. Pralaya is dissolution of the visible into the invisible, the heterogeneous into the homogeneous, relatively or absolutely — the objective universe returns into its one primal and eternally productive Cause, to reappear at the following cosmic dawn. To our finite minds, pralaya is like a state of nonbeing — and so it is for all existences and beings on the lower material planes. (From Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary (ETG)). (BH.G. VII 6)

Pra?ayama [from pra?a breath + ayama restraining, stopping] The fourth of the eight states of yoga, consisting of various methods of regulating the breath. The three forms of pra?ayama are puraka (the inhaling); kumbhaka (the retaining); and rechaka (the exhaling). Any practice of Pra?ayama can be fraught with serious danger, not merely to physical health, but in extreme cases to mental balance or stability. Pra?ayama, when actually practiced according to the exoteric rules, is a very different thing from the excellent and common sense advice given by doctors to breathe deeply, and to fill the lungs with fresh air. Pra?ayama should never be practiced by anyone unless under the guidance of initiated teachers, and these never proclaim themselves as teachers of Pra?ayama, for the adepts use it only in rarest cases for certain pupils who for karmic reasons can be helped in this unusual and extraordinary way. (From Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary (ETG)) (Bh.G. IV 30)

P?tha The name of the daughter of Sura, a Yadava prince, who gave her to his childless cousin Kunti (or Kuntibhoja) by whom he was adopted – hence she was called Kunti (q.v.). She is the mother of the Pa??avas. Throughout the text Arjuna is referred to as the son of P?tha, Partha. (Bh.G. 20)

Purujit A hero on the side of the Pa??avas, brother of Kuntibhoja (q.v.). (m. conquering many. Bh.G. 2)

Puru?a lit. ’Man’: used in the sense of the Ideal Man (i.e., the Primordial Entity of Space), likewise for the Spiritual Man in each human being – equivalent to Spiritual Self. Puru?a also sometimes stands as an interchangeable term with Brahma, the Evolver or ‘Creator.’ In another aspect Puru?a (Spirit) is equivalent to the energic force in the universe of which Prak?ti (Matter) is the other pole. Puru?a and Prak?ti are but the two primeval aspects of the One and Secondless. They produce all things, but they are essentially one and not two. (S.D. I, 281) (Bh.G. 59, see also 96.)

Puru?ottama [from puru?a man, spirit + uttama best, highest, primordial] The best of men; metaphysically, the divinity within the heart of all things, the supreme spirit of the universe. Also a title of Vi??u (Bh.G. X 15)