U .—The twenty-first letter of the Latin alphabet, which has no equivalent in Hebrew. As a number, however, it is considered very mystical both by the Pythagoreans and the Kabbalists, as it is the product of 3 x 7. The latter consider it the most sacred of the odd numbers, as 21 is the sum of the numerical value of the Divine Name aeie, or eiea, or again aheihe—thus (read backward, aheihe)

                                                          he i he a

                                                          5+1O+5+1=21

In Alchemy it symbolizes the twenty-one days necessary for the transmutation of baser metals into silver.

Uasar (Eg.). The same as Osiris, the latter name being Greek. Uasar is described as the “Egg-born ”, like Brahmâ. “He is the egg-sprung Eros of Aristophanes, whose creative energy brings all things into existence ; the demiurge who made and animates the world, a being who is a sort of personification of Amen, the invisible god, as Dionysos is a link between mankind and the Zeus Hypsistos” (The Great Dionysiak Myth, Brown). Isis is called Uasi, as she is the Sakti of Osiris, his female aspect, both symbolizing the creating, energising, vital forces of nature in its aspect of male and female deity.

Uchchaih-Sravas (Sk.). The model-horse; one of the fourteen precious things or Jewels produced at the Churning of the Ocean by the gods. The white horse of Indra, called the Râjâ of horses.

Uchnîcha, also Buddhôchnîcha (Sk.). Explained as “a protuberance on Buddha’s cranium, forming a hair-tuft ”. This curious description is given by the Orientalists, varied by another which states that Uchnîcha was “originally a conical or flame-shaped hair tuft on the crown of a Buddha, in later ages represented as a fleshy excrescence on the skull itself ”. This ought to read quite the reverse; for esoteric philosophy would say: Originally an orb with the third eye in it, which degenerated later in the human race into a fleshy protuberance, to disappear gradually, leaving in its place but an occasional flame- coloured aura, perceived only through clairvoyance, and when the exuberance of spiritual energy causes the (now concealed) “third eye to radiate its superfluous magnetic power. At this period of our racial development, it is of course the “Buddhas” or Initiates alone who enjoy in full the faculty of the “third eye” , as it is more or less atrophied in everyone else.

Udâna (Sk) Extemporaneous speeches; also Sûtras. In philosophy the term applies to the physical organs of speech, such as tongue, mouth, voice, etc. In sacred literature in general, it is the name of those Sûtras which contain extemporaneous discourses, in distinction to the Sûtras that contain only that subject matter which is introduced by questions put to Gautama the Buddha and his replies.

Udayana (Sk.). Modern Peshawer. “ The classic land of sorcery” according to Hiouen-Thsang.

Udayana Râjâ (Sk.). A king of Kausâmbî, called Vatsarâjâ, who was the first to have a statue of Buddha made before his death; in consequence of which, say the Roman Catholics, who build statues of Madonnas and Saints at every street corner—he “became the originator of Buddhist IDOLATRY”.

Udra Ramaputra (Sk.). Udra, the son of Râma. A Brahman ascetic, who was for some years the Guru of Gautama Buddha.

Udumbara (Sk.). A lotus of gigantic size, sacred to Buddha: the Nila Udumbara or “blue lotus”, regarded as a supernatural omen when ever it blossoms, for it flowers but once every three thousand years. One such, it is said, burst forth before the birth of Gautama, another, near a lake at the foot of the Himalayas, in the fourteenth century, just before the birth of Tsong-kha-pa, etc., etc. The same is said of the Udumbara tree (ficus glomerata) because it flowers at intervals of long centuries, as does also a kind of cactus, which blossoms only at extra ordinary altitudes and opens at midnight.

Ullambana (Sk.). The festival of “all souls”, the prototype of All Souls’ Day in Christian lands. It is held in China on the seventh moon annually, when both “ Buddhist and Tauist priests read masses, to release the souls of those who died on land or sea from purgatory, scatter rice to feed Prêtas [ classes of demons ever hungry and thirsty] , consecrate domestic ancestral shrines, . . . . recite Tantras . . . accompanied by magic finger-play (mûdra) to comfort the ancestral spirits of seven generations in Nâraka” (a kind of purgatory or Kama Loka) The author of the Sanskrit-Chinese Dictionary thinks that this is the old Tibetan (Bhon) “ Gtorma ritual engrafted upon Confucian ancestral worship,” owing to Dhamaraksha translating the Ullambana Sûtra and introducing it into China. The said Sûtra is certainly a forgery, as it gives these rites on the authority of Sâkyamuni Buddha, and “ supports it by the alleged experiences of his principal disciples, Ânanda being said to have appeased Prêtas by food offerings ”. But as correctly stated by Mr. Eitel, “the whole theory, with the ideas of intercessory prayers, priestly litanies and requiems, and ancestral worship, is entirely foreign to ancient and Southern Buddhism ”. And to the Northern too, if we except the sects of Bhootan and Sikkim, of the Bhon or Dugpa persuasion—the red caps, in short. As the ceremonies of All Saints’ Day, or days, are known to have been introduced into China in the third century (265-292), and as the same Roman Catholic ceremonial and ritual for the dead, held on November 2nd, did not exist in those early days of Christianity, it cannot be the Chinese who borrowed this religious custom from the Latins, but rather the latter who imitated the Mongolians and Chinese.

Uller (Scand.). The god of archery, who “journeys over the silvery ice-ways on skates”. He is the patron of the chase during that period when the Sun passes over the constellation of Sagittarius; and lives in the “ Home of the Light-Elves” which is in the Sun and outside of Asgard.

Ulom (Pœnic.) The intelligible deity. The objective or material Universe, in the theogony of Mochus. The reflection of the ever-concealed deity; the Plerôma of the Gnostics.

Ulphilas (Scand.). A schoolman who made a new alphabet for the Goths in the fourth century—a union of Greek letters with the form of the runic alphabet, since which time the runes began to die out and their secret was gradually lost. (See “ Runes”.) He translated the Bible into Gothic, preserved in the Codex Argenteus.

Ulûpî (Sk.). A daughter of Kauravya, King of the Nâgas in Pâtâla (the nether world, or more correctly, the Antipodes, America). Exoterically, she was the daughter of a king or chief of an aboriginal tribe of the Nâgas, or Nagals (ancient adepts) in pre-historic America—Mexico most likely, or Uruguay. She was married to Arjuna, the disciple of Krishna, whom every tradition, oral and written, shows travelling five thousand years ago to Pâtâla (the Antipodes). The Purânic tale is based on a historical fact. Moreover, Ulûpi, as a name, has a Mexican ring in it, like “ Atlan ”, “ Aclo ”, etc.

Umâ-Kanyâ (Sk.). Lit., “Virgin of Light”; a title ill-befitting its possessor, as it was that of Durgâ Kâli, the goddess or female aspect of Siva. Human flesh was offered to her every autumn; and, as Durgâ, she was the patroness of the once murderous Thugs of India, and the special goddess of Tântrika sorcery. But in days of old it was not as it is now. The earliest mention of the title “Umâ-Kanyâ is found in the Kena-Upanishad; in it the now blood-thirsty Kâlî, was a benevolent goddess, a being of light and goodness, who brings about reconciliation between Brahmâ and the gods. She is Saraswati and she is Vâch. In esoteric symbology, Kâlî is the dual type of the dual soul—the divine and the human, the light and the dark soul of man,

Umbra (Lat.). The shadow of an earth-bound spook. The ancient Latin races divided man (in esoteric teachings) into seven principles, as did every old system, and as Theosophists do now. They believed that after death Anima, the pure divine soul, ascended to heaven, a place of bliss; Manes (the Kâma Rûpa) descended into Hades (Kâma Loka); and Umbra (or astral double, the Linga Sharîra) remained on earth hovering about its tomb, because the attraction of physical, objective matter and affinity to its earthly body kept it within the places which that body had impressed with its emanations. Therefore, they said that nothing but the astral image of the defunct could be seen on earth, and even that faded out with the disintegration of the last particle of the body which had been so long its dwelling.

Una (Sk.). Something underlying; subordinate; secondary also, and material.

Undines (Lat.). Water nymphs and spooks. One of the four principal kinds of elemental spirits, ‘which are Salamanders (fire), Sylphs (air), Gnomes (earth), and Undines (water).

Upâdâna (Sk.). Material Cause; as flax is the cause of linen.

Upâdâna Kâranam (Sk.). The material cause of an effect.

Upâdhi (Sk.). Basis; the vehicle, carrier or bearer of something less material than itself: as the human body is the upâdhi of its spirit, ether the upâdhi of light, etc., etc.; a mould; a defining or limiting substance.

Upadvîpas (Sk.). The root (underlying) of islands; dry land.

Upanishad (Sk.). Translated as “esoteric doctrine ”, or interpretation of the Vedas by the Vedânta methods. The third division of the Vedas appended to the Brâhmanas and regarded as a portion of Sruti or “revealed” word. They are, however, as records, far older than the Brâhmanas the exception of the two, still extant, attached to the Rig -Veda of the Aitareyins. The term Upanishad is explained by the Hindu pundits as “that which destroys ignorance, and thus produces liberation” of the spirit, through the knowledge of the supreme though hidden truth; the same, therefore, as that which was hinted at by Jesus, when he is made to say, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free ” (John viii. 32). It is from these treatises of the Upanishads—themselves the echo of the primeval Wisdom-Religion―that the Vedânta system of philosophy has been developed. (See “Vedânta”.) Yet old as the Upanishads may be, the Orientalists will not assign to the oldest of them more than an antiquity of 600 years B.C. The accepted number of these treatises is 150, though now no more than about twenty are left unadulterated. They treat of very abstruse, metaphysical questions, such as the origin of the Universe; the nature and the essence of the Unmanifested Deity and the manifested gods the connection, primal and ultimate, of spirit and matter ; the universality of mind and the nature of the human Soul and Ego.

The Upanishads must be far more ancient than the days of Buddhism, as they show no preference for, nor do they uphold, the superiority of the Brahmans as a caste. On the contrary, it is the (now) second caste, the Kshatriya, or warrior class, who are exalted in the oldest of them. As stated by Professor Cowell in Elphinstone’s History of India——“they breathe a freedom of spirit unknown to any earlier work except the Rig Veda. . . The great teachers of the higher knowledge and Brahmans are continually represented as going to Kshatriya Kings to become their pupils.” The “ Kshatriya Kings” were in the olden times, like the King Hierophants of Egypt, the receptacles of the highest divine knowledge and wisdom, the Elect and the incarnations of the primordial divine Instructors—the Dhyâni Buddhas or Kumâras. There was a time, æons before the Brahmans became a caste, or even the Upanishads were written, when there was on earth but one “lip ”, one religion and one science, namely, the speech of the gods, the Wisdom-Religion and Truth.  This was before the fair fields of the latter, overrun by nations of many languages, became overgrown with the weeds of intentional deception, and national creeds invented by ambition, cruelty and selfishness, broke the one sacred Truth into thousands of fragments.

Upanita.(Sk.). One who is invested with the Brahmanical thread; lit., “brought to a spiritual teacher or Guru”.

Uparati (Sk) Absence of outgoing desires; a Yoga state.

Upâsaka (Sk.). Male chelas or rather devotees. Those who without entering the priesthood vow to preserve the principal commandments.

Upâsikâ (Sk.). Female chelas or devotees.

Upasruti (Sk.). According to Orientahists a “supernatural voice which is heard at night revealing the secrets of the future ”. According to the explanation of Occultism, the voice of any person at a distance—— generally one versed in the mysteries of esoteric teachings or an adept—— endowed with the gift of projecting both his voice and astral image to any person whatsoever, regardless of distance. The upasruti may “reveal the secrets of the future ”, or may only inform the person it addresses of some prosaic fact of the present; yet it will still be an upasruti—the “double” or the echo of the voice of a living man or woman.

Upekshâ (Sk.). Lit., Renunciation. In Yoga a state of absolute indifference attained by self-control, the complete mastery over one’s mental and physical feelings and sensations.

Ur (Chald.). The chief seat of lunar worship; the Babylonian city where the moon was the chief deity, and whence Abram brought the Jewish god, who is so inextricably connected with the moon as a creative and generative deity.

Uræus (Gr.). In Egyptian Urhek, a serpent and a sacred symbol. Some see in it a cobra, while others say it is an asp. Cooper explains that “the asp is not a uræus but a cerastes, or kind of viper, i.e., a two- horned viper. It is the royal serpent, wearing the pschent . . . the naya hâje.” The uræus is “round the disk of Horus and forms the ornament of the cap of Osiris, besides overhanging the brows of other divinities” (Bonwick). Occultism explains that the uræus is the symbol of initiation and also of hidden wisdom, as the serpent always is. The gods were all patrons of the hierophants and their instructors.

Uragas (Sk.). The Nâgas (serpents) dwelling in Pâtâla the nether world or hell, in popular thought ; the Adepts, High Priests and Initiates of Central and South America, known to the ancient Aryans; where Arjuna wedded the daughter of the king of the Nâgas—Ulûpî. Nagalism or Nâga-worship prevails to this day in Cuba and Hayti, and Voodooism, the chief branch of the former, has found its way into New Orleans. In Mexico the chief “sorcerers ”, the “ medicine men ”, are called Nagals to this day; just as thousands of years ago the Chaldean and Assyrian High Priests were called Nargals, they being chiefs of the Magi (Rab.Mag), the office held at one time by the prophet Daniel. The word Nâga, “ wise serpent ”, has become universal, because it is one of the few words that have survived the wreck of the first universal language. In South as well as in Central and North America, the aborigines use the word, from Behring Straits down to Uruguay, where it means a “chief”, a “teacher and a “ serpent ”. The very word Uraga may have reached India and been adopted through its connection, in prehistoric times, with South America and Uruguay itself, for the name belongs to the American Indian vernacular. The origin of the Uragas, for all that the Orientalists know, may have been in Uruguai, as there are legends about them which locate their ancestors the Nâgas in Pâtâla, the antipodes, or America.

Uranides (Gr.). One of the names of the divine Titans, those who rebelled against Kronos, the prototypes of the Christian “fallen” angels.

Urim (Heb.). See“ Thummim”. The“ Urim and Thummim ”originated in Egypt, and symbolized the Two Truths, the two figures of Ra and Thmei being engraved on the breastplate of the Hierophant and worn by him during the initiation ceremonies. Diodorus adds that this necklace of gold and precious stones was worn by the High Priest when delivering judgment. Thme (plural Thmin) means “ Truth” in Hebrew. “ The Septuagint translates thummim, as Truth ” (Bonwick). The late Mr. Proctor, the astronomer, shows the Jewish idea “derived directly from the Egyptians”. But Philo Judæus affirms that Urim and Thummim were “the two small images of Revelation and Truth, put between the double folds of the breastplate ”, and passes over the latter, with its twelve stones typifying the twelve signs of the Zodiac, without explanation.

Urlak (Scand.). The same as “Orlog” (q.v.). Fate; an impersonal power bestowing gifts “blindly” on mortals; a kind of Nemesis.

Urvasî(Sk.). A divine nymph, mentioned in the Rig-Veda, whose beauty set the whole heaven ablaze. Cursed by the gods she descended to earth and settled there. The loves of Purûravas (the Vikrama), and the nymph Urvasî are the subject of Kâlidâsa's world-famous drama, the Vikramorvasî.

Usanas (Sk.). The planet Venus or Sukra; or rather the ruler and governor of that planet.

Ushas (Sk.). The dawn, the daughter of heaven; the same as the Aurora of the Latins and the hjwvd of the Greeks. She is first mentioned in the Vedas, wherein her name is also Ahanâ and Dyotanâ (the illuminator), and is a most poetical and fascinating image. She is the ever-faithful friend of men, of rich and poor, though she is believed to prefer the latter. She smiles upon and visits the dwelling of every living mortal. She is the immortal, ever-youthful virgin, the light of the poor, and the destroyer of darkness.

Uttara Mîmânsâ (Sk.). The second of the two Mîmânsâs—the first being Pûrva (first) Mîmânsâ, which form respectively the fifth and sixth of the Darshanas or schools of philosophy. The Mîmânsâ are included in the generic name of Vedânta, though it is the Uttara (by Vyâsa) which is really the Vedânta.

Uzza (Heb.). The name of an angel who, together with Azrael, opposed, as the Zohar teaches, the creation of man by the Elohim, for which the latter annihilated both.