Theosophical Society,
H
P Blavatsky
Sanskrit Glossary
Abhedananda,
Swami: A direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, who
spent many
years travelling and teaching Vedanta and Yoga in
Abhyasa:
Sustained spiritual practice.
Adi Purusha: The First or Original Purusha.
Adityas:
Solar deities, the greatest of which is Vishnu.
Advaita:
Non-duality; literally: “not two.”
Agni:
Vedic god of fire.
Ahankara:
Egoism or self-conceit; the self-arrogating principle “I,” “I” am-ness;
self-consciousness. Ahimsa: Non-injury
in thought, word, and deed; non-violence; harmlessness.
Airavata:
The white elephant of Indra that was produced by the
churning of the ocean.
Akasha:
Ether.
Akshara:
Syllable; imperishable Brahman; that which never perishes or decays.
Amrita:
That which makes one immortal. The nectar of immortality that
emerged from the ocean of milk when the gods churned it.
Anahata:
The heart center (chakra); the bell-like sound
emanating from the heart center; “the unstruck (Word)”-usually
in reference to
Ananda:
Bliss; happiness; joy. Anandamayi Ma: One of the major spiritual figures in
twentieth-century
Aparigraha:
Non-possessiveness, non-greed, non-selfishness, non-acquisitiveness Arani: Sacrificial wood stick for creating fire through
friction.
Arya(n): One who is an Arya-literally, “one
who strives upward.” Both Arya and Aryan are
exclusively psychological terms having nothing whatsoever to do with birth,
race, or nationality. In his teachings Buddha habitually referred to
spiritually qualified people as “the Aryas.” Although
in English translations we find the expressions: “The Four Noble Truths,” and “The
Noble Eightfold Path,” Buddha actually said:
“The Four
Aryan Truths,” and “The Eightfold Aryan Path.” Asamprajńata samadhi: Highest superconscious state where the mind and the ego-sense are
completely annihilated. Asana: Posture;
seat.
Ashtanga
Yoga: The “eight-limbed” Yoga of Patanjali consisting
of yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi (see separate entries for each “limb”). Ashwins: Two Vedic
deities, celestial horsemen of the sun, always together, who herald the dawn
and are skilled in healing. They avert misfortune and sickness and bring
treasures.
Asmita:
I-ness; the sense of “I am;” “I exist.”
Asteya:
Non-stealing; honesty; non-misappropriativeness.
Asura:
Demon; evil being (a-sura: without the light).
Aswara:
Without sound, accent, or tone. Ashwattha: The pipal (sacred fig)
tree, the eternal tree of life whose roots are in heaven. The
“world tree” in the sense of the axis of the earth and even of the cosmos. Atma(n): The
individual spirit or self.
Atma vichara: Enquiry into the Self.
Atmic:
Having to do with the atma-spirit or self. Aurobindo Ghosh, Sri: One of India’s greatest yogis and spiritual
writers, he was at first involved in the Indian freedom movement, but came to
see that yoga was the true path to freedom. His ashram in
Bhagavad
Gita: “The Song of God.” The sacred philosophical text often called “the Hindu
Bible,” part of the epic
Mahabharata by Vyasa; the most popular
sacred text in Hinduism.
Bhagavan:
The Lord; the Personal God.
Bhakta:
Devotee; votary.
Bhakti:
Devotion; love (of God). Bhakti Yoga: The yoga of attaining union with God through
the prescribed spiritual discipline of the path of devotion. Bhakti Yogi: One
who practices Bhakti Yoga. Bhaktivedanta
(Swami): The founder of the Hari Krishna movement in
Bhava:
Subjective state of being (existence); attitude of mind; mental attitude or
feeling; state of realization in the heart or mind.
Bhavanam:
Meditation. “Bhavanam is setting the heart on the
Lord Who is designated by
Bija: Seed;
source.
Bija
Mantra: A “seed” mantra from which realization grows as a tree from a seed;
usually a single-syllable mantra that is called “seed” because of its small
size as a dot or point of sound.
Bindu:
Point; dot; seed; source; the point from which the subtle Omkara
arises that is experienced in meditation.
Brahma: The Creator (Prajapati) of the three
worlds of men, angels, and archangels (Bhur, Bhuwah, and Swah); the first of
the created beings; Hiranyagarbha or cosmic intelligence. Brahma Sutras: A treatise by Vyasa on Vedanta philosophy in the form of aphorisms. Also called the Vedanta Sutras or Vedanta Darshana.
Brahmacharya:
Continence; self-restraint on all levels; discipline.
Brahmajyoti:
The Light of God. Brahmaloka:
The world (loka) of God (Brahman); the infinite
consciousness of God.
Brahman:
The Absolute Reality; the Truth proclaimed in the Upanishads; the Supreme
Reality that is one and indivisible, infinite, and eternal; all-pervading,
changeless Existence;
Existence-knowledge-bliss
Absolute (Satchidananda); Absolute Consciousness; it
is not only all-powerful but all-power itself; not only all-knowing and
blissful but all-knowledge and all-bliss itself.
Brahmana:
See Brahmin.
Brahmarandhra: “The hole of Brahman,” the subtle (astral) aperture in the crown
of the head. Said to be the gateway to the Absolute (Brahman) in the thousand-petaled lotus (sahasrara) in the
crown of the head. Liberated beings are said to exit the physical body through
this aperture at death. Brahmin (Brahmana): A knower of Brahman; a member of the highest
Hindu caste consisting of priests, pandits,
philosophers, and religious leaders. Brihaspati: The guru-priest and teacher-of the gods.
Buddhi:
Intellect; understanding; reason; the thinking mind. Chakra: Wheel. Plexus;
center of psychic energy in the human system, particularly in the spine or
head. Chaitanya:
The consciousness that knows itself and knows others; absolute consciousness. Chandra: Presiding deity of the moon or the
astral lunar world (loka).
Chidakasha:
Brahman in Its aspect as limitless knowledge; unbounded intelligence. This is a
familiar concept of the Upanishads. It is not meant that the physical ether is
consciousness. The Pure Consciousness (Cit) is like the ether (Akasha), an
all-pervading continuum. Chintana: Thinking; reflecting.
Chitraratha:
The chief of the gandharvas.
Chitshakti:
Power of consciousness or intelligence.
Chitta: The
subtle energy that is the substance of the mind. Daityas: Demons who
constantly war with the gods. Sometimes “races” or nationalities who acted contrary to dharma and fought against the “aryas” were also called demons (daityas
or asuras).
Dakshinamurti: A name for Lord Shiva as the silent teacher. Vedic Religion declares that in every cycle of
creation God manifests as Dakshinamurti and becomes
the guru of the first human beings-those who were most spiritually evolved in
the previous creation-teaching them the path to liberation (moksha).
Damaru: A
small, handheld drum with two heads that is sounded by twisting the wrist and
causing a ball tied to its middle to rhythmically strike the heads alternately. Darshan: Literally “sight”
or “seeing.” Darshan is the seeing of a holy being as
well as the blessing received by seeing such a one.
Dayananda (Maharishi Swami): A leading reformer within Hinduism in the
nineteenth century and the founder of the Arya Samaj.
Deva: “A
shining one,” a god-greater or lesser in the evolutionary hierarchy; a
semi-divine or celestial being with great powers, and therefore a “god.” Sometimes called a demi-god.
Dharana:
Concentration of mind; fixing the mind upon a single thing or point.
Dharma:
The righteous way of living, as enjoined by the sacred scriptures and the
spiritually illumined; characteristics; virtue.
Dharma shastras: Scriptures which set forth the rules for society
and individuals, including spiritual observances. Manu Smriti
is the most authoritative-and the foundation-of all the dharmashastras
of
Dhyana:
Meditation; contemplation. Dwesha: Aversion/avoidance for something, implying a
dislike for that. This can be emotional (instinctual) or intellectual.It
may range from simple nonpreference to intense
repulsion, antipathy and even hatred. See Raga.
Ekakshara: A common term for
Gandharva:
A demigod-a celestial musician and singer.
Ganges (Ganga): The sacred river-believed to be of divine
origin-that flows from high up in the Himalayas, through the plains of Northern
India, and empties into the Bay of Bengal. Hindus consider that bathing in the
Garuda: A
great being who can assume bird form, and therefore considered the king of
birds. Often depicted as an eagle, he is the vehicle of Vishnu.
Gaudapada:
The guru of Shankara’s guru, Govindapada. Gayatri Mantra: A
Rig Vedic mantra in the gayatri meter invoking the
solar powers of evolution and enlightenment.
Gayatri Meter: A meter found only in the Rig
Veda, consisting of three lines of eight syllables each. It is considered
especially appropriate for mantric invocation of
deities before worship.
Gerua: The
brownish orange mud used to dye the clothng of Hindu monastics; the color produced by dyeing with gerua. Gita: The
Bhagavad Gita.
Guna:
Quality, attribute, or characteristic arising from nature (Prakriti)
itself; a mode of energy behavior. As a rule, when “guna”
is used it is in reference to the three qualities of Prakriti,
the three modes of energy behavior that are the basic qualities of nature, and
which determine the inherent characteristics of all created things. They are:
1) sattwa-purity, light, harmony; 2) rajas-activity,
passion; and 3) tamas-dullness, inertia, and
ignorance. Guru: Teacher; preceptor.
Hansa:
Literally “swan,” for the swan can separate milk from water, and the realized
soul can perceive the Real behind the unreal and separate the consciousness of
spirit from consciousness of matter. Hansa also means
“I am [aham] He [sa]” in the sense of conscious identity with God. Hari: Vishnu.
Hiranyagarbha: Cosmic intelligence; the Supreme Lord of the universe; also
called Brahman. Indra:
King of the lesser “gods” (demigods).
Isha: The
Lord; Ishwara.
Ishwara: “God”
or “Lord” in the sense of the Supreme Power, Ruler, Master, or Controller of
the cosmos. “Ishwara” implies the powers of
omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience.
Ishwarapranidhana: Offering of one’s life to
God (Ishwara).
Japa:
Repetition of a mantra.
Jiva:
Individual spirit.
Jivanmukta:
One who is liberated in this present life.
Jivanmukti:
Liberation in this life.
Jivatma(n): Individual spirit. In Theosophy the Group
Soul or Lifewave of the
Jnana:
Knowledge; wisdom of the Reality or Brahman, the Absolute.
Kabir: An
Indian mystic of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Kaivalya:
Transcendental state of Absolute Independence;
Moksha; isolation; final
beatitude; emancipation. Kala: Time measure,
as in the time required to recite a mantra. It also sometimes means levels of
creation or manifested beings.
Kalpa: A
Day of Brahma-4,320,000,000 years. It alternates with a Night of Brahma of the
same length. In the Day of Brahma creation is manifest and in the Night of
Brahma is it resolved into its causal state. In Theosophy this is the length of
one round of a chain of seven Earth Globes or Cosmic Eras.
Kamadhenu: Wishfulfilling cow produced at the churning of the milk
ocean.
Kapila: The
great sage who formulated the Sankhya philosophy
which is endorsed by
Karma: The
law of action and reaction, the metaphysical equivalent of the principle: “For
every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7). It is
karma operating through the law of cause and effect that binds the jiva or the individual soul to the wheel of birth and
death. Karttikeya:
See Subramanya.
Klesha: Literally,
taints or afflictions. The kleshas are:
ignorance,
egotism, attractions and repulsions towards objects, and desperate clinging to
physical life from the fear of death. (See Yoga Sutras 2:2-9.) Kosha: Sheath; bag; scabbard; a sheath enclosing the soul;
body. There are five such concentric sheaths or bodies: the sheaths of bliss,
intellect, mind, life-force and the physical body-the anandamaya,
jnanamaya, manomaya, pranamaya and annamaya
bodies respectively.
Kubera: The
god of wealth.
Kumbhaka:
Retention of breath; suspension of breath.
Kumkum: Red-colored powder used for making a
ritual mark between the eyebrows.
Kundalini:
The primordial cosmic energy located in the individual; it is usually thought
of as lying coiled up like a serpent at the base of the spine. Lahiri Mahasaya: One of the greatest yogis of nineteenth-century
Laya Yoga:
Process of absorption of the individual soul into the Supreme Soul;
concentration of the mind with a view to dissolve it; that kind of yogic
meditation where the mind is carried on progressively from grosser to subtler
ideas until it is dissolved in the Unmanifested or
Para Brahman; the yoga sometimes known as Omkaralayacintana-the
merging of the consciousness into Om.
Linga:
Mark; gender; sign; symbol. Loka: World
or realm; sphere, level, or plane of existence, whether physical, astral, or
causal. Mahabharata: The world’s longest
epic poem (110,00 verses) about the Mahabharata (Great
Indian) War that took place about three thousand years ago. The Mahabharata
also includes the Bhagavad Gita, the most popular sacred text of Hinduism. Mahasamadhi:
Literally “the great union [samadhi],” this refers to
a realized yogi’s conscious departure from the physical body at death.
Mahashakti:
The Great Power; the divine creative energy.
Mahat Tattwa: The
Great Principle; the first product from Prakriti in
evolution; intellect. The principle of Cosmic Intelligence or
Buddhi; universal Christ Consciousness, the “Son of God,” the “Only Begotten of
the Father,” “the firstborn of every creature.” Maheshwara:
The Great Ishwara; Shiva.
Mahout:
Trainer-handler of an elephant.
Manana:
Thinking, pondering, reflecting, considering. Manas: The sensory mind; the perceiving
faculty that receives the messages of the senses.
Mantra:
Sacred syllable or word or set of words through the repetition and reflection
of which one attains perfection or realization of the Self. Literally,
“a transforming thought” (manat trayate).
A mantra, then is a sound formula that transforms the
consciousness. Mantric:
Having to do with mantra(s)-their sound or their power.
Manu: The
ancient lawgiver, whose code, The Laws of Manu (Manu Smriti)
is the foundation of Hindu religious and social conduct.
Marichi:
The chief of the Maruts.
Maruts: The
presiding deities of winds and storms.
Math: A monastery.
Matra:
Letters of the alphabet or their sounds.
Mauna(m):
Silence-not speaking. Maya: The illusive
power of Brahman; the veiling and the projecting power of the universe, the
power of Cosmic Illusion..
Mayic:
Having to do with Maya. Meru: The mountain, of supreme
height, on which the gods dwell, or the mountain on which Shiva is ever seated
in meditation. Said to be the center of the world, supporting heaven itself. Obviously a yogic symbol.
Moha: Delusion-in relation to something,
usually producing delusive attachment or infatuation based on a completely
false perception and evaluation of the object.
Moksha: Release; liberation; the term is
particularly applied to the liberation from the bondage of karma and the wheel
of birth and death; Absolute Experience.
Mridanga: A drum used exclusively in
devotional music, also known as a khol.
Mukti: Moksha.
Mulaprakriti:
The Root [Basic] Energy from which all things are formed. The
Divine Prakriti or Energy of God. Mumukshutwa:
Intense desire or yearning for liberation (moksha).
Nada:
Sound; mystic inner sound; the primal sound or first vibration from which all
creation has emanated; the first manifestation of the unmanifested
Absolute; Omkara or Shabda
Brahman. The continuous sound of
Nanak
(Guru): Founder of the Sikh religion in the fifteenth century.
Narada: A
primeval sage to whom some of the verses of the Rig Veda are attributed.
Narayana: A
proper name of God-specifically of Vishnu. The term by etymology means a Being
that supports all things, that is reached by them and that helps them to do so;
also one who pervades all things.
Nataraja: “King
of the Dance,” a title of Shiva the Cosmic Dancer.The
whole creation is is the dance of Shiva. Neem Karoli Baba: One of
Nirakara:
Without form.
Nirguna:
Without attributes or qualities (gunas). Nirguna Brahman:
The impersonal, attributeless Absolute beyond all
description or designation. Nirodha: Restraint; suppression; dissolving. Nirvana: Liberation; final emancipation; the
term is particularly applied to the liberation from the bondage of karma and
the wheel of birth and death; Absolute Experience. See Moksha.
Nirvikalpa
Samadhi: Samadhi in which there is no objective experience or experience of “qualities”
whatsoever, and in which the triad of knower, knowledge and known does not
exist; purely subjective experience of the formless and qualitiless
and unconditioned Absolute.
Nityananda
(Avadhuta Paramhansa): A great
Master of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the most renowned Pranava yogi of our times. His Nitya
Sutras contain some of the most profound statements on the Pranava
and Its application by the yogi.
Niyama:
Observance; the five Do’s of Yoga: 1) shaucha-purity,
cleanliness; 2) santosha-contentment, peacefulness;
3) tapas-austerity, practical (i.e.,
result-producing) spiritual discipline; 4) swadhyaya-self-study,
spiritual study; 5) Ishwarapranidhana-offering of one’s
life to God Om: The Pranava
or the sacred syllable symbolizing and embodying Brahman.
Omkara:
Panchabhuta:
The Five Elements: ether, air, fire, water, and earth.
Parabrahman:
Supreme Brahman.
Paramatma(n): The Supreme Self, God.
Parameshwara:
The Supreme Lord. Paramhansa:
Literally: Supreme Swan, a person of the highest spiritual realization, from
the fact that a swan can separate milk from water and is therefore an apt
symbol for one who has discarded the unreal for the Real, the darkness for the
Light, and mortality for the Immortal, having separated himself fully from all
that is not God and joined himself totally to the Divine, becoming a veritable
embodiment of Divinity manifested in humanity.
Parampurusha:
The Supreme Spirit; Supreme Person. Paranirvana (Pali: Paranibbana):
The Supreme, Final Nirvana, when the perfectly enlightened individual is
released from physical embodiment, never to return to birth in any world, high
or low.
Patanjali:
The author of the Yoga Sutras.
Pitri: A
departed ancestor, a forefather.
Pradhana: Prakriti; causal matter.
Prahlada: A daitya
prince who rejected his daitya heritage and became a
devotee of Vishnu. His father, the evil Hiranyakashipu,
tortured him and attempted his life because of his devotion and his speaking to
others of divine matters, yet he remained steadfast.
Prajna:
Consciousness; awareness. Prajapati: Progenitor; the Creator; a title of Brahma the
Creator.
Prakriti:
Causal matter; the fundamental power (shakti)
of God from which the entire cosmos is formed; the root base of all elements;
undifferentiated matter; the material cause of the world. Also
known as Pradhana. Prakritilaya:
Absorbed or merged in Prakriti; the state of yogis
who have so identified with the cosmic energy that they are trapped in it as
though in a net and cannot separate themselves from it and evolve onwards until
the cosmic dissolution (pralaya) occurs in which the
lower worlds of men, angels, and archangels (bhur, bhuwah and swar lokas) are dissolved.
Pralaya:
Complete merging; dissolution when the cosmos merges into (I) its unseen
immediate cause, viz., the unmanifested cosmic
energy, or (2) the Ultimate Substratum of Absolute Reality.
Prana:
Vital energy; life-breath; life-force. Prana-pratishta: “Installation of life;” a ritual which is done
to an image when it is set on the altar of a temple at its consecration. This
ritual makes the image alive in a subtle-but no less real-sense. Pranava: A title of
Pranayama:
Control of the subtle life forces, often by means of special modes of
breathing. Therefore breath control or breathing exercises are usually mistaken
for pranayama. Prasad(am): Food or
any gift that has been first offered in worship or to a saint; that which is
given by a saint; literally: “grace.”
Pratyahara:
Abstraction or withdrawal of the senses from their objects, the fifth limb of Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga. Puraka: Inhalation.
Purana:
Literally “The Ancient.” The Puranas are a number of
scriptures attributed to the sage Vyasa that teach
spiritual principles and practices through stories about sacred historical
personages which often include their teachings given in conversations.
Purana Purusha: The Ancient Person; God. Purusha: “Person”
in the sense of a conscious spirit. Both God and the individual spirits are purushas, but God is the Adi
(Original, Archetypal) Purusha, Parama
(Highest) Purusha, and the Purushottama
(Best of the Purushas). Raga: Attachment/affinity for something,
implying a desire for that. This can be emotional (instinctual) or
intellectual. It may range from simple liking or preference to intense desire
and attraction. See Dwesha.
Rajas:
Activity, passion, desire for an object or goal. Rakshasa: There are
two kinds of rakshasas: 1) semidivine,
benevolent beings, or 2) cannibal demons or goblins, enemies of the gods.
Meat-eating human beings are sometimes classed as rakshasas.
Rama: An
incarnation of God-the king of ancient Ayodhya in
north-central
Rama Tirtha: One the key spiritual figures in late nineteenth
and early twentieth century
Ramana Maharshi: A great sage of the twentieth century who lived
in Arunachala in
Ramanuja
(Sri): The great Vaishnava teacherof
the eleventh century who formulated the philosophy known as Vashistadvaita
Vedanta (Qualified Non-Dualism).
Ramdas
(Swami): One of the best-known and most influential spiritual figures of
twentieth-century
Rechaka:
Exhalation of breath.
Rishi:
Sage; seer of the Truth.
Rudra: Shiva.
Rudras:
Vedic deities of destruction for renewal.
Rudraksha: “The Eye of Shiva;” a tree seed
considered sacred to Shiva and worn by worshippers of Shiva, Shakti, and Ganeha, and by yogis,
usually in a strand of 108 seeds. Also used as a rosary to count the number of
mantras repeated in japa.
Sad-darshanas: The six orthodox systems of Indian philosophy:
Nyaya, Vaisheshika,
Sankhya, Yoga, Mimamsa, and
Vedanta.
Sadguru:
True guru, or the guru who reveals the Real (Sat-God).
Sadhaka:
One who practices spiritual discipline-sadhana-particularly
meditation. Sadhana: Spiritual practice.
Sadhu:
Seeker for truth (sat); and person who is practicing spiritual disciplines.
Usually this term is applied only to monastics.
Sadhyas: A
group of celestial beings with exquisitely refined natures thought to inhabit
the ether. Saguna:
With attributes or qualities (gunas). Sahasrara: The “thousand-petalled lotus” in the brain that corresponds to the pineal
gland in the center of the head. The highest center of
consciousness, the point at which the spirits (atma)
and the bodies (koshas) are integrated and from which
they are disengaged.
Sakara:
With form.
Samadhi:
The state of superconsciousness where Absoluteness is
experienced attended with all-knowledge and joy; Oneness; here the mind becomes
identified with the object of meditation; the meditator
and the meditated, thinker and thought become one in perfect absorption of the
mind. See Samprajńata Samadhi, Asamprajńata
Samadhi, Savikalpa Samadhi, and Nirvikalpa
Samadhi.
Samprajńata
samadhi: State of superconsciousness,
with the triad of meditator, meditation and the
meditated. Savikalpa samadhi.
Samsara:
Life through repeated births and deaths; the wheel of birth and death; the
process of earthly life. Samskara: Impression in the mind produced by previous
action or experience; prenatal tendency. See Vasana. Sanatana Dharma: “The
Eternal Religion,” also known as “Arya Dharma,” “the
religion of those who strive upward [Aryas].” Sandhya: A ritual done
at the “junctions” (sandhyas) of the day-dawn,
Sankhya:
One of the six orthodox systems of Hindu philosophy whose originator was the
sage Kapila, Sankhya is the
original Vedic philosophy, endorsed by
Sannyasa:
Renunciation; monastic life.
Sannyasi: A
renunciate; a monk. Sarada Devi (“Holy Mother”): The virgin-wife of Sri Ramakrishna,
and a great teacher in her own right, considered by many to be an incarnation
of the Mother aspect of God. Satchidananda: Existence-knowledge-bliss Absolute; Brahman.
Satsanga:
Literally: “company with Truth.” Associaton with godly-minded persons. The company of
saints and devotees. Satya: Truth; the Real; Brahman, or the Absolute;
truthfulness; honesty.
Sattwa:
Light; purity; reality.
Sattwa Guna: Quality of light, purity, harmony, and goodness. Savikalpa Samadhi:
Samadhi in which there is objective experience or experience of “qualities” and
with the triad of knower, knowledge and known. Savitri Gayatri: A mantra of the Rig Veda which is recited for
unfoldment of the intellectual powers leading to enlightenment.
Shabda:
Sound; word; Vedas: Omkara. Shabda Brahma:
Word-God; Brahman in the Form of Sound; Omkara or the
Veda.
Shakti:
Power; energy; force; the Divine Power of becoming; the apparent dynamic aspect
of Eternal Being; the Absolute Power or Cosmic Energy.
Shankara: Shankaracharya; Adi (the first) Shankaracharya: The great reformer and re-establisher of
Vedic Religion in
Shaucha:
Purity; cleanliness.
Shiva: A
name of God meaning “One Who is all Bliss and the giver of happiness to all.”
Although classically applied to the Absolute Brahman, Shiva can also refer to
God (Ishwara) in His aspect of Dissolver and
Liberator (often mistakenly thought of as “destroyer”).
Shraddha:
Faith.
Shyama Charan Lahiri: See Lahiri Mahasaya. Sivananda (Swami): A
great twentieth-century Master, founder of the world-wide Divine Life Society,
whose books on spiritual life and religion are widely circulated in the West as
well as in
Siddha: A
perfected being, an adept, a seer, a perfect yogi.
Siddhi:
Perfection; psychic power.
Skanda: See
Subramunya.
Smarana:
Remembrance (of God).
Smriti:
Memory.
Sphatika:
Clear quartz crystal. Sphota: The Sanskrit original of our English word “spot;” manifester; the idea which bursts or flashes-including the Pranava which burst or flashes forth from the Absolute and
becomes transformed into the Relative. Sri
Vaishnava: A worshipper of Vishnu according to the
philosophical
Sthiti:
Steadiness; condition or state; existence; being; subsistence; preservation.
Subramanya:
The god of war and son of Shiva and Parvati. Sushumna: A subtle
passage in the midst of the body extending from the perineum to the crown of
the head, the Brahmarandhra, through which subtle,
awakened powers arise to produce higher awareness in the yogi.
Sushupti:
The dreamless sleep state. Sutra: An
aphorism with minimum words and maximum sense; a terse sentence.
Swara:
Sound; accent; tone.
Swadhyaya:
Introspective self-study or self-analysis leading to self-understanding.
Swayambhu:
Self-existent or self-generated. Taimni, I. K.: A professor of chemistry in India. He wrote
many excellent books on philosophy and spiritual practice, including The
Science of Yoga, a commentary on the Yoga Sutras. For many years he was the
spiritual head of the Esoteric Section of the Theosphical
Society headquartered in Adyar, Madras (Tamilnadu),
and traveled the world without publicity or notoriety, quietly instructing many
sincere aspirants in the path to supreme consciousness. Tamas: Dullness,
inertia, folly, and ignorance. Tantra: A manual of or a particular path of sadhana laying great stress upon japa
of a mantra and other esoteric practices relating to the powers latent in the
human complex of physical, astral, and causal bodies in relation to the cosmic
Power usually thought as the Divine Feminine. Tantric: Pertaining
to Tantra. Tapas (tapasya): Austerity,
practical (i.e., result-producing) spiritual discipline; spiritual force.
Literally it means the generation of heat or energy, but is always used in a
symbolic manner, referring to spiritual practice and its effect, especially the
roasting of karmic seeds, the burning up of karma.
Taraka:
Deliverer.
Taraka
Mantra: From the root word tara-that which crosses. The Taraka
Mantra is that which enables its invokers to cross over the ocean of samsara and attain liberation. Taraka Nama: The Delivering Name; Om. Tejas: Radiance;
brilliancy (especially spiritual); the element of fire; Agni; heat. Tilak: A sacred mark
made on the forehead or between the eyebrows denoting what form of God the
person worships. Tirtha:
A sacred place of pilgrimage; a river or body of water in which it is
auspicious and spiritual beneficial to bathe; the water offered in ritual
worship and then sprinkled on or drunk by the devotees.
Trataka:
Steady gazing; the process of fixing the gaze on a small dot, point, yantra, etc. Turiya: The state of pure consciousness. A
Ramakrishna-Vedanta Wordbook defines it as: “The superconscious;
lit., ‘the Fourth,’ in relation to the three ordinary states of
consciousness-waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep-which it transcends.”
Turiya-Turiya: The Absolute Consciousness of God, the Consciousness behind our
individualized consciousness (turiya).
Tyaga:
Literally: “abandonment.” Renunciation-in the Gita, the
relinquishment of the fruit of action. Tyagi: A renouncer, an ascetic. Uchchaishravas: The
name of Indra’s horse (or the horse of the Sun god, Surya), that was born of the amrita that was churned from
the ocean by the gods. The name means “high-sounding” and refers to the power
of mantra. Udgitha:
The Pranava [Om] when it is
sung aloud in Vedic recitation.
Upanishads:
Books (of varying lengths) of the philosophical teachings of the ancient sages
of India on the knowledge of Absolute Reality. The upanishads
contain two major themes: (1) the individual self (atman) and the Supreme Self
(Paramatman) are one in essence, and (2) the goal of
life is the realization/manifestation of this unity, the realization of God
(Brahman). There are eleven principal upanishads: Isha, Kena, Katha,
Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittiriya, Aitaryeya, Chandogya, Brihadaranyaka, and Svetashvatara,
all of which were commented on by Shankara, thus
setting the seal of authenticity on them.
Ushmapas: A
class of ancestors (pitris) which live off subtle
emanations or vapors.
Vachaka:
That which is denoted by speech.
Vachya:
That which is denoted by speech.
Vaikhari:
Sound that is spoken and heard. Vaikuntha: The celestial abode (loka)
of Vishnu and His devotees.
Vairagya:
Non-attachment, detachment, dispassion, absence of desire, or indifference. Indifference towards and disgust for all worldly things and
enjoyments. Vaishnava:
A devotee of Vishnu.
Vak:
Speech.
Vakya: Word
or statement.
Varuna: A
Vedic deity considered the sustainer of the universe and also the presiding
deity of the oceans and water. Often identified with the
conscience. Vasana:
A bundle or aggregate of similar samskaras. Subtle
desire; a tendency created in a person by the doing of an action or by
enjoyment; it induces the person to repeat the action or to seek a repetition
of the enjoyment; the subtle impression in the mind capable of developing
itself into action; it is the cause of birth and experience in general; the
impression of actions that remains unconsciously in the mind.
Vashistadvaita Vedanta: The philosophy of Qualified Non-Dualism formulated by Sri
Ramanuja. Vasus: Eight Vedic deities characterized by radiance.
Vayu: The
Vedic god of the wind. Vedanta:
Literally, “the end of the Vedas;” the Upanishads; the school of Hindu thought,
based primarily on the Upanishads, upholding the doctrine of either pure
non-dualism or conditional non-dualism. The original text of this school is
Vedanta-darshana or the Brahma Sutras compiled by the
sage Vyasa.
Vedanta
Sutras: The Brahma Sutras. Vedas: The
oldest scriptures of India, considered the oldest scriptures of the world, that were revealed in meditation to the Vedic Rishis (seers).
Vedic:
Having to do with the Vedas. Vichara: Enquiry/investigation into the nature of the Self,
Brahman or Truth; ever-present reflection on the why and wherefore of things;
enquiry into the real meaning of the Mahavakya Tat-twam-asi: Thou art That;
discrimination between the Real and the unreal; enquiry of Self. Videhamukti:
Disembodied salvation; salvation attained by the realised
soul after shaking off the physical sheath as opposed to jivanmukti
which is liberation even while living. Vidya: Knowledge; both spiritual knowledge and mundane
knowledge.
Vidyapith(a): A school.
Virya:
Strength; power; energy; courage.
Vishnu: “The
all-pervading;” God as the Preserver.
Vishwa-devas:
A group of twelve minor Vedic deities. Viveka: Discrimination between the Real and the unreal,
between the Self and the non-Self, between the permanent and the impermanent;
right intuitive discrimination; ever-present discrimination between the
transient and the permanent. Vivekananda
(Swami): The chief disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, who brought the message of
Vedanta to the West at the end of the nineteenth century.
Vritti:
Thought-wave; mental modification; mental whirlpool; a ripple in the chitta.
Vyasa: One
of the greatest sages of India, commentator on the Yoga Sutras, author of the
Mahabharata (which includes the Bhagavad Gita), the Brahma Sutras, and the
codifier of the Vedas.
Word-Brahman:
Om; Shabda Brahman. Yajna: Sacrifice;
offering; sacrificial ceremony; a ritual sacrifice; usually the fire sacrifice
known as agnihotra or havan.
Yaksha:
There are two kinds of yakshas: 1) semidivine beings whose king is Kubera,
the lord of wealth, or 2) a kind of ghost, goblin, or demon.
Yama (1):
Restraint; the five Don’ts of Yoga: 1) ahimsa-non-violence, non-injury,
harmlessness; 2) satya-truthfulness, honesty; 3) asteya-non-stealing, honesty, non-misappropriativeness;
4) brahmacharya-continence; 5) aparigraha-non-possessiveness,
non-greed, non-selfishness, non-acquisitiveness Yama
(2): The Lord of Death, controller of who dies and what happens to them after
death. Yoga: Literally, “union.” Union with the Supreme Being, or any practice that makes for such
union. Meditation that unites the individual spirit
with God, the Supreme Spirit. The name of the
philosophy expounded by the sage Patanjali, teaching
the process of union of the individual with the Universal Soul. Yoga Nidra: A state
of half-contemplation and half-sleep; light yogic sleep when the individual
retains slight awareness; state between sleep and wakefulness. Yoga Sutras: The oldest known writing on the
subject of yoga, written by the sage Patanjali, a
yogi of ancient India, and considered the most authoritative text on yoga. Also
known as Yoga Darshana, it is the basis of the Yoga
Philosophy which is based on the philosophical system known as Sankhya. Yoga Vashista: A classical treatise on Yoga, containing the
instructions of the Rishi Vashista to Lord Rama on meditation and spiritual life.
Yogi: One
who practises Yoga; one who strives earnestly for
union with God; an aspirant going through any course of spiritual discipline.
Yogic:
Having to do with Yoga. Yogiraj: “King of Yogis,” a title often given to an
advanced yogi, especially a teacher of yogi.
Theosophical Society,