Makara : mythical animal, mount of the goddess
Gangâ. The makara is also a decorative design often times
used in south indian temples, mainly those erected by the Chalukya
and Hoysala dynasties. This mythical animal owns paws of a lion
which permit him to walk silently, the body of a pig which allows him to digest any food, an elephant trunk, a formidable
weapon indeed, a crocodile jaw which never releases its prey, very sharp monkey eyes, careful cow ears and finally a
spreaded out peacock tail, a symbol of beauty
Mâlâ : a rosary made of 108 grains, used for the mental
repetition of a mantra (japa -litanies- practices). Being one the Ganesh emblems, the mâlâ has only
50 grains, as many as sanskrit letters, since Ganesh is, among other functions, the Protector of literature.
Used grains are those of the rudraksha fruit (a shrub,
Eleocarpus ganitras), known to be auspicious for Shiva worship (Rudra is one of the Shiva names). In the Vishnu
worship, one uses tulsi (basil) grains
Manu : the first man of the Kali
Yuga period. He was the mythical writer
of the "Manu Laws", the sanskrit corpus of law texts aiming at ruling the religious and social
life; the influence of this text has been effective for a very long time. The
Purâna mention 14 Manu (lawmakers), but seven are still
to come
Mâyâ :
a Vedanta term generally translated by
"illusion", illusory nature or Power of Illusion; this term is used to designate the force, the power, created by the
world of appearances, who deeply modifies the Pure, Unaffected Reality, and leads people to see and feel things
as they are not. Mâyâ is simultaneously cause and effect of ignorance, lack of true knowledge
(avidya). Therefore, Mâyâ is Power of Creation (Shakti). The Power of Mâyâ creates the forms of the manifested world but, by themselves,
these forms don't have any substantial reality, thus being illusory. However, it would be more accurate to consider that
they only exist in a relative reality. Therefore, from the point of view of the Absolute, there is only One
Reality, unknowable, which is named as
Brahman. This Reality is beyond any Manifestation, it has
no qualification and stay permanently under all things which seem to be the Real but are not... All Manifested things
are conditioned; all the phenomenons depend from each other, they are interdependant, and their so-called reality
is only apparent