The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1557 page)

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

see
SHINTAI
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Mithra
.

God worshipped in four different religions: in Hinduism (as
Mitra
); in Zoroastrianism (Mithra); in Manichaeism (Mithra), and in the Roman Mithraic mysteries (Mithras). Why this Zoroastrianized Indo-Iranian deity was the focus of a cult in the enemy empire of Rome remains something of a historical puzzle. The reconstruction of Mithraic belief and practice is difficult, because no specifically Mithraic texts have survived, only inscriptions and accounts by outsiders, notably
Porphyry
. The main source of evidence is hundreds of excavated temples (Mithraea) and their statuary. The cult explicitly claimed to have been founded by
Zoroaster
and became known as the Persian mysteries. There were seven grades of initiation. The main cult relief (tauroctony) depicted Mithras slaying the bull, a scene thought to have soteriological significance, understood at least in part in astrological terms. The death of the bull appears to have been thought of as a unique inimitable act of the god himself, who is described in one inscription as having saved the initiates by the shedding of the eternal blood. Mithraism appears from the inscriptions to have been a very respectable cult, inculcating a disciplined, ascetic, and arduous life.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

see
MAITHUNA
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(Skt., ‘false’). According to the philosophy of
Advaita
Ved
nta, the phenomenal world perceived by the senses, which is ‘false’ (
mithy
). The world cannot be determined as either existent or non-existent. According to Advaita Ved
nta, the illumined sage sees the world as the Absolute,
Brahman
, undifferentiated consciousness, existence, and bliss. Yet the world,
qua
world, is perceived by the unillumined. Hence the phenomenal world is ‘false’, and its ontological status is indeterminable (
sadasadbhy
m anirvacan
ya
).