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What Is Deity Yoga? Deity yoga involves two stages, the generation stage and the completion stage. In the generation stage, one dissolves the mundane world and visualizes one’s chosen deity (yidam), its mandala and companion deities, resulting in identification with this divine reality.[2] In the completion stage, one dissolves the visualization of and identification with...
What Is Divine Retribution? Divine retribution is supernatural punishment of a person, a group of people, or everyone by a deity in response to some action. Many cultures have a story about how a deity exacted punishment upon previous inhabitants of their land, causing their doom. An example of divine retribution is the story found in...
Fear of God The Fear of God refers to fear or a specific sense of respect, awe, and submission to a deity. People subscribing to popular monotheistic religions might fear divine judgment, hell or God’s omnipotence. Bahá’í In the Bahá’í Faith, “The heart must be sanctified from every form of...
What Is Avatar? An avatar (अवतार, avatāra), a concept in Hinduism that means “descent”, refers to the material appearance or incarnation of a deity on earth.[1][2] The relative verb to “alight, to make one’s appearance” is sometimes used to refer to any guru or revered human being.[3][4] The word avatar does not appear in the Vedic literature,[5] but appears in verb forms...
What Is Ishvara? Ishvara (ईश्वर) is a concept in Hinduism, with a wide range of meanings that depend on the era and the school of Hinduism.[1][2] In ancient texts of Indian philosophy, depending on the context, Ishvara can mean supreme soul, ruler, lord, king, queen or husband.[1] In medieval era Hindu texts, depending on the...
Set (Deity) Set or Seth (Setesh, Sutekh,[1] Setekh, or Suty) is a god of chaos, the desert, storms, disorder, violence, and foreigners in ancient Egyptian religion.[2] In Ancient Greek, the god’s name is given as Sēth (Σήθ). Set had a positive role where he accompanies Ra on his solar boat to repel Apep, the serpent of Chaos.[2] Set had a vital role as...
Devi Devī (देवी) is the Sanskrit word for “goddess“; the masculine form is Deva. Devi – the feminine form, and Deva – the masculine form, mean “heavenly, divine, anything of excellence”, and are also gender specific terms for a deity in Hinduism. The concept and reverence for goddesses appears in the Vedas, which were...
What is Ilah? Ilāh (إله; plural: آلهة ʾālihah) is an Arabic term meaning “deity” or “god“. The feminine is ʾilāhah (إلاهة, meaning “goddess“); with the article, it appears as al-ʾilāhah – الإلاهة. The Arabic word for God (al-Lāh) is thought to be derived from it.1]2] ʾIlāh is cognate to Northwest Semitic ʾēl and Akkadian ilum. The...
Elohim Elohim (אֱלֹהִים) in the Hebrew Bible refers to deities, and is one of the many names or titles for God in the Hebrew Bible. The word is identical to the usual plural of el, meaning gods or magistrates, and is cognate to the ‘l-h-m found in Ugaritic, where it is used for the pantheon of Canaanite gods, the children of El,...
El (deity) ’Ēl (’Il, אל; ܐܠ; إل or إله, ilu) is a Northwest Semitic word meaning “god” or “deity”, or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities. A rarer form, ‘ila, represents the predicate form in Old Akkadian and in Amorite.[2] The word is derived from the Proto-Semitic archaic biliteral ʾ‑l, meaning...
Orisha Òrìṣà (original spelling in the Yoruba language), known as orichá or orixá in Latin America, are the human form of the spirits (Irunmọlẹ) sent by Olodumare, Olorun, Olofi in Yoruba traditional identity. The Irunmọlẹ are meant to guide creation and particularly humanity on how to live and succeed on Earth (Ayé). Most Òrìṣà are said to be deities previously existing in...
Bhagavan Bhagavān (भगवान्, Bhagavān) is an epithet for deity, particularly for Krishna and other avatars of Vishnu in Vaishnavism, as well as for Shiva in the Shaivism tradition of Hinduism,[1][2] and is used by Jains to refer to the Tirthankaras, more particularly Mahavira and is used by Buddhists to refer to...
Goddess A goddess is a female deity. Goddesses have been linked with virtues such as beauty, love, motherhood and fertility (Mother-goddess cult in prehistoric times). They have also been associated with ideas such as war, creation, and death. In some faiths, a sacred female figure holds a central place in religious prayer and worship....
What Is The Meaning of Lord? Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others acting like a master, a chief, or a ruler.[1][2] The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are entitled to courtesy titles. The collective “Lords” can...
What Is Deity? A deity [1] is a supernatural being considered divine or sacred.[2] The Oxford Dictionary of English defines deity as “a god or goddess (in a polytheistic religion)”, or anything revered as divine.[3] C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as “a being with powers greater than those of ordinary humans, but who interacts with humans, positively or negatively, in ways...
What Is Shangdi? Shangdi (上帝; pinyin: Shàngdì; Wade–Giles: Shang Ti), also written simply, “Emperor” (帝; pinyin: Dì), is the Chinese term for “Supreme Deity” or “Highest Deity” in the theology of the classical texts, especially deriving from Shang theology and finding an equivalent in the later Tian (“Heaven” or “Great Whole”) of Zhou theology.[1] Although in Chinese religion the usage of “Tian” to...
Baal Baal (Baʿal), was a title and honorific meaning “owner,” “lord” in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied to gods.[6] Scholars previously associated the theonym with solar cults and with a variety of unrelated patron deities,...
Solar Deity A solar deity (also sun god or sun goddess) is a sky deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The Sun is sometimes referred to by...
Creator Deity A creator deity or creator god (often called the Creator) is a deity or god responsible for the creation of the Earth, world, and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator. A number of monolatristic traditions separate a secondary creator from a primary transcendent being, identified as a primary creator.[1] Monotheism Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, and Atenism teach that creation is the...
What Is The Gender of God? The gender of God can be viewed as a literal or as an allegorical aspect of a deity. In polytheistic religions, gods are more likely to have literal sexes which would enable them to interact with each other, and even with humans, in a sexual...
