Mahabhoga, Maha-bhoga, Mahābhoga: 12 definitions
Introduction:
Mahabhoga means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.
In Hinduism
Shaktism (Shakta philosophy)
Mahābhogā (महाभोगा) refers to “she who is the great enjoyment”, according to the Lalitāsahasranāma.—Lalitā’s thousand names are eulogized in the Lalitāsahasranāma, describing the goddess’s spiritual beauty on the analogy of physical, sensuous beauty. [...] She embodies ultimate reality conceived as supreme bliss—ānanda. This bliss is embodied in her. It is the ‘passion that makes her eyes roll’ (lolākṣī-kāmarūpiṇī) (454). She is “the form of desire in women”. This is not the Advaitin’s ānanda, which is just a covert counter-correlate of Samsaric suffering (duḥkha), it is positive bliss generated by the union of opposites. She embodies the great play of intercourse between herself and her partner (mahārati) (218). Similarly, she is the Great Enjoyment (mahābhogā) (219). [...]
Shakta (शाक्त, śākta) or Shaktism (śāktism) represents a tradition of Hinduism where the Goddess (Devi) is revered and worshipped. Shakta literature includes a range of scriptures, including various Agamas and Tantras, although its roots may be traced back to the Vedas.
Vedanta (school of philosophy)
Mahābhoga (महाभोग) refers to “great enjoyments”, according to the Aṣṭāvakragītā (5th century BC), an ancient text on spirituality dealing with Advaita-Vedānta topics.—Accordingly, [as Aṣṭavakra says to Janaka]: “[...] The spontaneous unassumed behaviour of the wise is noteworthy, but not the deliberate, intentional stillness of the fool. The wise who are rid of imagination, unbound and with unfettered awareness may enjoy themselves in the midst of many goods (mahābhoga), or alternatively go off to mountain caves. [vilasanti mahābhogairviśanti girigahvarān] [...]”.
Vedanta (वेदान्त, vedānta) refers to a school of orthodox Hindu philosophy (astika), drawing its subject-matter from the Upanishads. There are a number of sub-schools of Vedanta, however all of them expound on the basic teaching of the ultimate reality (brahman) and liberation (moksha) of the individual soul (atman).
In Buddhism
Mahayana (major branch of Buddhism)
Mahābhoga (महाभोग) refers to “great comforts”, according to the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā: the eighth chapter of the Mahāsaṃnipāta (a collection of Mahāyāna Buddhist Sūtras).—Accordingly, “How then, son of good family, does the Bodhisattva collect all qualities of the Buddha by thorough practice (yoniśaḥprayoga)? ‘Thorough (yoniśas)’ means the entrance into dependent origination. Why is that? As is the cause and conditions (hetupratyaya), thus the fruit (phala) is produced (abhinirvṛtta). The generosity (dāna) is the cause of great comforts (mahābhoga), and the Bodhisattva, having transferred that giving (tyāga) into omniscience (sarvajñatā), fulfils the perfection of giving (dānapāramitā). [...]
Mahābhoga (महाभोग) refers to “great revenues”, according to the Vajratuṇḍasamayakalparāja, an ancient Buddhist ritual manual on agriculture from the 5th-century (or earlier), containing various instructions for the Sangha to provide agriculture-related services to laypeople including rain-making, weather control and crop protection.—Accordingly, “Now there lived a Brahmin called Viṣṇudatta in Navanagara. He was wealthy with great riches, great revenues (mahābhoga); he was endowed with copious acquisitions and means of subsistence. He had mastered the Vedas and Vedāṅgas. He was a mantra-reciter and mantra-practitioner. He summoned Nāgas again and again. He sacrificed fire oblations. [...]”.
Mahayana (महायान, mahāyāna) is a major branch of Buddhism focusing on the path of a Bodhisattva (spiritual aspirants/ enlightened beings). Extant literature is vast and primarely composed in the Sanskrit language. There are many sūtras of which some of the earliest are the various Prajñāpāramitā sūtras.
Languages of India and abroad
Pali-English dictionary
mahābhoga : (adj.) having great wealth.
mahābhoga (မဟာဘောဂ) [(pu) (ပု)]—
[mahanta+bhoga]
[မဟန္တ+ဘောဂ]
[Pali to Burmese]
mahābhoga—
(Burmese text): (၁) မျာစွာသော စည်းစိမ်ဥစ္စာ အသုံးအဆောင်။ (တိ)(၂) မျာစွာသော စည်းစိမ်ဥစ္စာ အသုံးအဆောင်ရှိသော၊ သူ။ (၃) ကြီးသော ကိုယ်ရှိသော (နဂါး)။
(Auto-Translation): (1) Various decorative items for use. (2) Someone who has various decorative items for use. (3) A large body (dragon).
Pali is the language of the Tipiṭaka, which is the sacred canon of Theravāda Buddhism and contains much of the Buddha’s speech. Closeley related to Sanskrit, both languages are used interchangeably between religions.
Sanskrit dictionary
Mahābhoga (महाभोग).—
1) a great enjoyment.
2) a great coil or hood; great winding.
3) a serpent.
-gā an epithet of Durgā.
Derivable forms: mahābhogaḥ (महाभोगः).
Mahābhoga is a Sanskrit compound consisting of the terms mahā and bhoga (भोग).
Mahābhoga (महाभोग).—1. [adjective] of great extent.
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Mahābhoga (महाभोग).—2. [adjective] having great windings or coils (also vant or bhogin); [masculine] a serpent.
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Mahābhoga (महाभोग).—3. [masculine] great enjoyment; [adjective] causing it.
1) Mahābhoga (महाभोग):—[=mahā-bhoga] [from mahā > mah] 1. mahā-bhoga m. ([from] 1. bhoga) a great curve or coil, gr° hood (of a snake), gr° winding, [Monier-Williams’ Sanskrit-English Dictionary]
2) [v.s. ...] mfn. (a snake) having gr° windings or coils, h° a gr° hood, [Mahābhārata]
3) [v.s. ...] m. a gr° serpent, [Aṣṭāvakra-saṃhitā]
4) [from mahā > mah] 2. mahābhoga (hābh) mfn. having a wide girth, h° a large compass, [Kathāsaritsāgara]
5) [=mahā-bhoga] [from mahā > mah] 3. mahā-bhoga m. ([from] 2. bhoga) gr° enjoyment, [Kathāsaritsāgara]
6) [v.s. ...] mf(ā)n. causing gr° enj°
7) Mahābhogā (महाभोगा):—[=mahā-bhogā] [from mahā-bhoga > mahā > mah] f. Name of Durgā, [Purāṇa]
Mahābhoga (महाभोग):—1. (ma + ā) adj. einen grossen Umfang habend: nyagrodhapādapa [Kathāsaritsāgara 17, 106.] jyotīrasaśilātala [50, 177.]
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Mahābhoga (महाभोग):—2. (ma + 1. bhoga) adj. grosse Windungen habend, grosse Ringe bildend, von einer Schlange [Mahābhārata 1, 1203.] m. eine grosse Schlange [AṢṬĀV. 18, 53.]
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Mahābhoga (महाभोग):—3. (ma + 2. bhoga) m. Hochgenuss [Kathāsaritsāgara 29, 53.]
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Mahābhoga (महाभोग):—4. (wie eben) adj. grosse Genüsse verschaffend; f. ā Beiname der Durgā: mahārthasādhanīdevī mahābhogā tataḥ smṛtā [Devīpurāṇa 45 im Śabdakalpadruma]
Mahābhoga (महाभोग):—1. Adj. einen grossen Umfang habend.
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Mahābhoga (महाभोग):—2. —
1) Adj. grosse Windungen habend , — Ringe bildend (Schlange). —
2) m. eine grosse Schlange.
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Mahābhoga (महाभोग):—3. m. Hochgenuss.
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Mahābhoga (महाभोग):—4. Adj. (f. ā) grosse Genüsse verschaffend (Durgā).
Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.
See also (Relevant definitions)
Partial matches (+0): Maha, Bhoga, Mahanta.
Starts with (+0): Mahabhogakkhandha, Mahabhogakula, Mahabhogapati, Mahabhogasamvattanika, Mahabhogasamvattaniya, Mahabhogata, Mahabhogatara, Mahabhogavant, Mahabhogavat, Mahabhogavati.
Full-text (+4): Mahabhogakkhandha, Mahabhogakula, Mahabhogasamvattaniya, Mahabhogasamvattanika, Mahabhogatara, Mahabhogavat, Sarvajnata, Yonishahprayoga, Svatmarama, Samudanaya, Mahartha, Danaparamita, Yonishas, Abhinirvritta, Kamarupini, Lolakshi, Kamarupin, Lola, Dana, Abhoga.
Relevant text
Search found 8 books and stories containing Mahabhoga, Maha-bhoga, Mahā-bhoga, Mahā-bhogā, Mahābhoga, Mahābhogā, Mahanta-bhoga; (plurals include: Mahabhogas, bhogas, bhogās, Mahābhogas, Mahābhogās). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Shringara-manjari Katha (translation and notes) (by Kumari Kalpalata K. Munshi)
Section 7.5 - pancami devadatta-kathanika < [Sanskrit text]
Brihad Bhagavatamrita (commentary) (by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyana Gosvāmī Mahārāja)
Verse 2.1.169 < [Chapter 1 - Vairāgya (renunciation)]
Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh (early history) (by Prakash Narayan)
Inter-Group Organization < [Chapter 4 - Social Process, Structures and Reformations]
Kautilya Arthashastra (by R. Shamasastry)
Chapter 16 - The Attitude of a Conquered King < [Book 7 - The End of the Six-fold Policy]
The Buddha and His Teachings (by Narada Thera)
Soundarya Lahari of Shri Shankara (Study) (by Seetha N.)
Saundaryalahari as an epitome of Saktism < [Chapter 5 - Shakta-Tantras—Saundaryalahari as an epitome of Shaktism]