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== In Hinduism == | == In Hinduism == | ||
Aditi is a goddess, personification of the infinite and universal expanse. She is the supporter of the sky, the sustainer of existence, and the nourisher of the earth, often represented as a cow.<ref>Benjamin Walker, ''The Hindu World'', (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., 1968), 2.</ref> She is called Deva-mātri, the "mother of the gods". Eight sons were born from the body of Aditi; she approached the gods with seven but cast away the eight, Mārttānda (the sun). These seven were the Ādityas.<blockquote><ref>John Dowson, ''A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology'', (London, Routedge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1968), 3.</ref></blockquote> | |||
[[Category:Sanskrit terms]] | [[Category:Sanskrit terms]] | ||
Revision as of 19:42, 13 September 2012
Aditi (devanāgarī: अदिति) is a Sanskrit word that means limitless (from a "without" and diti "bound"). In the Vedas Aditi is mother of the gods (devamatri) from whose cosmic matrix the heavenly bodies were born. Aditi is associated with the primal substance (mulaprakriti) in Vedanta. As celestial mother of every existing form and being, the synthesis of all things, she is associated with space (akasa) and with mystic speech (Vāc). She may be seen as a female aspect of Brahmā.
In Theosophy
H. P. Blavatsky writes that Aditi is the abstract aspect of Parabrahman mulaprakriti, both unmanifested and unknowable,[1] although this principle can be related to space in its different aspects or stages of differentiation. For example, Aditi becomes Vâch in its third aspect.[2] According to Blavatsky Aditi-Vâch is the female Logos, or the “word,” Verbum.[3]
In Hinduism
Aditi is a goddess, personification of the infinite and universal expanse. She is the supporter of the sky, the sustainer of existence, and the nourisher of the earth, often represented as a cow.[4] She is called Deva-mātri, the "mother of the gods". Eight sons were born from the body of Aditi; she approached the gods with seven but cast away the eight, Mārttānda (the sun). These seven were the Ādityas.
Notes
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 7.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 430.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 431.
- ↑ Benjamin Walker, The Hindu World, (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., 1968), 2.
- ↑ John Dowson, A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, (London, Routedge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1968), 3.
Further reading
- Āditi at Theosopedia