as coherent and compelling pictures of
the world.
Muhurta
In traditional timekeeping, a muhurta is
a period of forty-eight minutes, of which
there are thirty during each day. The
Brahma Muhurta is the most auspi-
cious time period, coming directly
before dawn. The time before the
Brahma Muhurta is considered the least
auspicious in the day. This cycle exem-
plifies a pattern in the Indian view of
time. A period of inauspiciousness is
typically followed by a sudden regenera-
tion of fortune.
Mukhalinga
A form of the linga, the pillar-shaped
object symbolizing the god Shiva. A
mukhalinga has one or more faces
(mukha) sculpted on the shaft of the
linga. According to the manuals detail-
ing the form and construction of Hindu
images, the number of faces on the linga
should not exceed the number of door-
ways in the temple. Thus, a temple with
one doorway should have a mukhalinga
with one face, and so on, up to four. The
manuals also specify that these faces
should be placed facing the entrances.
For further information see T. A.
Gopinatha Rao, Elements of Hindu
Iconography, 1981.
Muktananda
(1908–1982) Modern Hindu teacher,
proponent of a religious path named
siddha yoga(“discipline of the adepts”),
and founder of the organization named
SYDA (Siddha Yoga Dham America).
Muktananda left his family at age fifteen
to search for spiritual enlightenment.
His spiritual master (guru) was an
asceticnamed Nityananda, who was
widely believed to be an avadhuta(a
person who has shaken off all attach-
ments). Siddha Yoga’s metaphysics are a
modified form of Kashmir Shaivism.
The organization’s signature teaching is
that the guru’s spiritual power can
immediately awaken the disciple’s latent
kundalini, hastening the process of
spiritual development. This doctrine
emphasizes the importance of the guru,
reinforced by Muktananda’s charismatic
presence. Although his home base was
an ashramjust outside of Bombay,
Muktananda traveled throughout the
world, establishing ashrams and medi-
tation centers in North America,
Europe, and Australia. He was suc-
ceeded by Swami Chidvilasananda. For
further information on Muktananda’s
teaching, see his autobiography, Play of
Consciousness, 2000.Muktibai
(1279–1297?) Poet and saint in the
Varkari Panth, a religious community
centered around the worshipof the
Hindu god Vithoba, at his temple at
Pandharpur in the modern state of
Maharashtra. According to tradition,
Muktibai was the sister of the great
Varkari teacher Jnaneshvar.Muktinath
Temple and sacred site (tirtha) at the
headwaters of the Kali Gandaki River in
Nepal; the temple sits at nearly 13,000
feet at the foot of Annapurna, one of the
highest mountains in Nepal. Muktinath
is a sacred site to both Hindus and
Buddhists; each has a temple there. The
Buddhist temple is built over a vent of
natural gas, which produces a flame
when lit. The Hindu temple, dedicated
to the god Vishnu, is built over a natural
spring that is channelled outside the
temple through 108 spouts shaped like
heads of cows. The Kali Gandaki River is
also religiously important because the
river bed is one of the major sites of fos-
silized black ammonite. Known as the
shalagram, this ammonite is considered
a self-manifestation (svayambhu) form
of Vishnu.Muktiyoga
In the Dvaita Vedanta philosophical
school propounded by Madhva, aMuktiyoga