A Popilar Dictionary of Hinduism Karel Werner

42 A POPULAR DICTIONARY OF HINDUISM
the on-looker or looker-on, an expression, used mainly in
Vedāntic literature, for the true self as the silent witness of the actions of the
external personality of man.
, Dravidian the name for the non-Āryan population (and languages) of
India, of ancient Mediterranean origin, who once formed the bulk of the
Harappan population before the Āryan invasion. They are now prevalent only in
South India, although there is a pocket of people speaking Brahui, a Dravidian
language, in Baluchistan. There are four main Dravidian nationalities and
languages in South India: Tamil, Kannada (Kanarese), Telagu and Malayalam.
Dreaming, or sleep with dreams (svapna or supti), in which one perceives
another world and moves in space with objects and other beings in it, is used in
the and Vedāntic texts as an illustration of the capacity of the mind to
project its own images as a seemingly independent external reality outside
oneself, by implication rendering the world in the waking state (jāgarita sthāna)
equally dependent on the mind. Some texts even regard the dreaming state as
superior to the waking one and point to methods of mastering the dream process
and thereby entering into another dimension of reality with the ability to act
consciously and purposefully in it.
the one who sees, a Vedāntic expression for the true self of man.
view, point of view, opinion; vision.
Durgā (‘the one who is difficult to approach’) one of the many names or forms of
the Goddess, this one being a ferocious one, said to have been created (or
evoked) by the gods to rid themselves of
, the buffalo-demon, a
usurper of their position and their oppressor. She killed him and thereby earned
for herself the name .
Durgāpūjā (also: Mahānavamī; cf. Daśahrā) a festival which is celebrated from
the first till the ninth day of the bright half of the month Āśvina (September/
October), in most parts of India, but particularly in Bengal. It commemorates the
victory of Durgā over the buffalo-demon
and it culminates on the
tenth day in a procession at the end of which the goddess is immersed in a river
or in the sea.
Dussehra see Daśahrā.
dvaita duality.
Dvaitādvaita see Bhedābheda.
Dvaita Vedānta the school of thought based on the teachings of Madhva which
is called dualistic, because it recognizes the eternal existence of the absolute
dimension of the divine on the one hand and of the relative material sphere of
existence on the other. It is a further development of the philosophy of Rāmānuja
in total opposition to
Advaita Vedānta. The school recognizes
brahman as the Absolute and identifies it with the Supreme Lord, God .
The world was created by God out of matter, a kind of subtle substance which is
eternal. Individual selves (‘souls’) are also eternal and retain their separate, albeit
God-dependent, existence even in the state of salvation which is granted as
God’s grace, but only to those who live pure lives. The best path to God is