ABHYAS: Practice.
ABHYASI: Aspirant; one who practices yoga in order to achieve union with God.
ADI: Original.
ADI GURU: Original Guru; Lalaji, in Sahaj Marg
ADI TATTVA: Original element.
ADITYA: The Sun.
ADITYA HRIDAYAM: A Sanskrit chant praising the sun; a prayer to the Sun God. (From the Ramayana.)
ADVAITA (ADWAITA): State of unity (Non-duality).
AGAMIC INITIATION: Initiation according to the Agamas. The Agamas are a body of spiritual literature dealing with temple rituals, temple architecture, etc.
AGNI: Fire, the fire element or principle.
AGNI NAADI: The fire naadi (current or channel).
AGYA CHAKRA: See AJNA CHAKRA.
AHAM: The ego; I.
AHAMTA: Egoism.
AHAM BRAHMASMI: I am Brahma.
AHAMKARA (or AHAMKAR): Ego.
AHIMSA: Non-violence.
AIKYA: Oneness, unity.
AIKYA BHAVA: Feeling of oneness.
AJAPA: Meditation without utterance of any mantra.
AJNA CHAKRA (or AGYA CHAKRA): The fire point located between the eyebrows. Trikuti.
AKARTA: Non-doer; one who does not do.
AKASHA: Space, sky. The space element or principle.
AKASHA NAADI: The space, or etheric, naadi.
AKSI: Reflected condition.
ANAADI: Without beginning.
ANAHAT: Sound which cannot be heard. Literally, “not hit.”
ANANDA (or ANANDAM): Bliss.
ANANDAMAYA KOSHA: Sheath of bliss.
ANANT: Infinity or endlessness.
ANANT-KI-OR: Towards Infinity
ANANSUYATMAKA BUDDHI: Mind free of jealousy.
ANASUYA: One who has no jealousy.
ANDA: Egg; Macrocosm.
ANGAS: Limbs.
ANORANIYAN: Smaller than the smallest.
ANNAM: Food.
ANNAMAYA KOSHA: Physical sheath or food sheath (matter).
ANTARYAMI: The God within; the In-Dweller.
ANUBHAVA: Intuitional perception or personal experience in the realm of Nature or God.
ANUBHAVA SHAKTI: Intuitive capacity, capacity acquired by experience.
ANUMANA: Hypothesis, hypothetical.
ANUSHTANAM: Performance of daily rituals.
AP: Water or water principle.
APARA BRAHMAN: Determinate Absolute (see Saguna Brahman).
APARIGRAHA: Non-covetousness.
APPA: Father; affectionate term, like papa. Equivalent to the Hebrew Abba.
ARHAT: One of the qualifications of Gautama the Buddha. One who is fit; one who deserves.
ARJUNA: To whom Krishna gave the Gita in the Mahabharata.
ASAN (or ASANA): Posture.
ASABDA: Soundless, non-verbal.
ASHANTHI: Disquiet, having no peace.
ASHRAM (or ASHRAMA): “Ashram” comes from the Sanskrit “Shreyas” which applies, in the spiritual sense, to the growth of benefits which are connected to the higher level. An ashram is also a kind of refuge, a place of retreat from today's life. Ashrams in Sahaj Marg are dedicated to meditation only, all other activities are normally not allowed in the Ashram. An Ashram is usually charged by the Master, who creates a special atmosphere of spirituality conducive to meditation.
ASHTANGA-YOGA (or ASHTANG-YOGA): Patanjali described yoga as having eight limbs: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi.
ASTHEYAM: Non-stealing.
ASUYA: Jealousy.
ATMA CHAKRA: Heart chakra. In Sahaj Marg, the second, or soul, point.
ATMAN: Soul
ATMANAND: Bliss of soul.
AVADHUTA (or AVADHOOTA): Generally revered as elevated souls, but are really persons with spiritual aspirations who have become “fixed” at a certain level because their development has been arrested.
AVAKASHA: Time.
AVARANA (or AVARAN): Layers of grossness; coverings.
AVASTHAS: Conditions, states.
AVATAR: Incarnation of a Divine soul.
AVYAKTA GATI: Undifferentiated state. State where man is completely liberated from Maya limitations. Inexpressible condition.
AVIDYA: Ignorance.
AYODHYA: Birthplace of Lord Rama.
BASANT PANCHAMI: Fifth day of spring in the lunar calendar. It is also Lalaji's birthday.
BHAAVA: Attitude of mind.
BHAJAN: Chanted prayer.
BHAKTA: Devotee.
BHAKTI: Devotion.
BHAMUK: Illusion.
BHANDARA: A spiritual gathering or celebration.
BHARAT (or BHARATA): Lord Rama's brother.
BHAVAS: Expression of an inner condition; attitudes of the mind.
BHISHMA PITAMAH: Grand uncle of the Pandavas and the Kauravas in the Mahabharata epic.
BHOG (or BHOGA, or BHOGAM): Process of undergoing effects of impressions; experience; enjoyment.
BHRUMADHYA: Between the eyebrows.
BHUH: One of the states of consciousness.
BHUMA (or BHOOMA): Absolute; Ultimate; Base.
BHUMIKA: Stage in spiritual evolution.
BHUVAH: One of the states of consciousness.
BISMIL: Auspicious beginning.
BODH: Wisdom.
BRAHMAN (BRAHM): Center; God; Ultimate.
BRAHMACHARYA: Student phase of life; celibacy; literally “like Brahman.”
BRAHMA-GANDHA: Divine smell.
BRAHMAGATI: Divine state, state of Brahman.
BRAHMA-KAMA: Love of God; desire for God.
BRAHMA LOKA: World or realm of the Divine.
BRAHMANDA (or BRAHMAND): Astral world. Cosmos.
BRAHMANDA MANDAL (or BRAHMANDA DESH): Mental sphere, supra-material sphere, cosmic region; sphere where everything manifests under a subtle shape before taking place in the material world.
BRAHMANDI SUR: Celestial vibrations.
BRAHMARANDHRA: A point or opening in the crown of the head.
BRAHMA-RASA: Divine pleasure, enjoyment, or taste.
BRAHMA-SABDA: Divine sound.
BRAHMA-SPARSA: Divine touch.
BRAHMOPADESHA: Initiation; teaching of higher knowledge about Brahman.
BHRUVORMADHYA: Point between the eyebrows, used in certain Yogic systems as a point for concentration.
BUDDHAM SARANAM GACCHAMI: “I seek refuge in the Buddha.”
BUDDHI: Intellect.
CAKRA: See CHAKRA.
CHAITANYATA (or CHETANYATA): Consciousness, including a subtle activity.
CHAKRA: Center of super-vital forces located in different parts of the body; figuratively called lotus.
CHELA: Student or disciple.
CHIT (CHITTA): Consciousness.
CHIT LAKE: Another name for Brahmanda Mandal.
CLEANING: 1. Specific meditation technique prescribed to be practiced at the end of each day by a Sahaj Marg abhyasi, wherein the will power is used to remove subtle distortions (vikshep), coverings (avarana) and impurities (mala) that impede spiritual development.
DAKSHINA: South; also offering by disciple to Guru for training received.
DAKSHINAYANA: The six months of the sun's southern path.
DAM: Control of senses and indriyas.
DARSHAN: Vision of someone's inner Reality.
DEVA VANI: Divine voice.
DEVATA: A god; cosmic personality.
DEVI UPSAKA: A Devi (Mother-Goddess) worshipper. Tantrik worship.
DHARANA (or DHARNA): Mental focus (sixth limb of Patanjali's yoga).
DHARMA: A term with many applications, depending on the context: duty; righteousness; destined way; truth; virtue; that which upholds.
DHARMAJA: One born of righteousness. Also, first-born child.
DHARMAKAYA: The dharma body, body built of righteousness.
DHOTI: A long cloth worn by men around the waist.
DHI: An element of samadhi; sama, meaning balance, and adhi, meaning original or ancient. See samadhi.
DHRUVAGATI: State of Dhruva (see DHRUVA).
DHRUVA (DHRUV PAD): Highly evolved soul. First or lowest level of cosmic functionary. Below the Dhruvadhipati.
DHRUVADHIPATI: Godly functionary of great caliber who directs the work of the Dhruvas. Below the Parishad.
DHYANA (or DHYAN): Meditation (seventh limb of Patanjali's yoga).
DIKSHA: Initiation.
DURGA CHAKRA: Durga plexus.
DVAITA: Duality.
DVANDVA: Dualities; the pairs of opposites (e.g., good-bad, pleasure-pain).
EKAGRA VRITTI: Tendency to fix our attention on one thing at a time.
FANA: A spiritual condition. Also, destroyed or sacrificed.
GADDI: A mattress for sitting on the floor. In politics, the expression “to aspire for the gaddi” means to seek to be the leader of an organization.
GAYATHRI: One of the mantras.
GAYATHRI UPADESH: Teaching of the Gayathri mantra.
GITA: Divine knowledge given to Arjuna by Lord Krishna in the Mahabharata. Also, the Bhagavad Gita, or “Song of God,” an essential scripture of Hinduism, containing a portion of the epic Mahabharata.
GRANTHI: Knot.
GRIHASTHA (or GRAHASTHA): One who leads a worldly life, a householder.
GRIHASTHA ASHRAMA: Conditions or circumstances of a household life.
GUNAS: The three qualities of nature in Hindu philosophy: sattva, rajas and tamas.
GURU: Master who transmits light, knowledge; a spiritual teacher.
GURU DAKSHINA: Fee offered to the guru for training received, generally at the end of the training.
GURUMAT: Disciples who obey the commands of the Master in all matters and try to submit to his will in all possible ways. Note: Do not confuse with GURU MATA which is the common name given to the Guru's wife.
GURU PASHU: People who become devoted to the Master's physical form.
GURU STHAN: The place where the guru sits during satsangh.
GYANA: See JNANA.
GYANI: See JNANI.
HANUMAN: Lord Rama's faithful servant in the Ramayana.
HARIJAN: Children of God; fifth caste.
HATHA YOGA: The first four stages of Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga. The practice of yoga concerning the body.
HAVAN: Offering of an oblation with fire. Also called Homa.
HINDI: Language of North India, but commonly spoken throughout most of the country.
HIRANYA GARBHA: A golden fetus; the name of Brahma the Creator; a soul invested with sukshma-sharira, or the subtle body.
HYLEM SHADOW: Spiritual shadow located on the right side of the sternum.
HRIDAYA CHAKRA: Heart plexus.
INDRIYAS: Ten sense-organs of Indian philosophy, subdivided as jnana and karma indriyas. The former are five senses pertaining to perception, knowledge or wisdom, while the latter are five senses pertaining mainly to action.
INVERTENDO: Term coined by Babuji to describe the apparent inversions Truth undergoes as it moves through higher levels of abstraction.
ISHA: God, as Ruler.
ISHWARA (or ISHWAR): Determinate Absolute. God as Existence endowed of all the most subtle attributes.
ISHWARI MANDAL: Region of the Determinate Absolute.
JADA SAMADHI: Lower levels of samadhi.
JAGAT GURU: World teacher.
JALA: Water; the water element or principle.
JAL-DAN: Prayerful offering of water.
JANAH: One of the states of consciousness.
JANMA: Birth.
JAPA: Repetition of a mantra.
JAYANTHI: Birth anniversary.
JIVA (or JIVATMA): Individual incarnated soul. Life.
JIVAN MOKSHA: Liberation while alive in the physical body.
JNANA: Supreme Wisdom or Knowledge leading to Realization.
JNANA BHUMIKA: Stage or state of knowledge.
JNANA HINATA: Absence of knowledge or un-knowledge.
JNANI: Gnostic; one who is wise; one who has Divine knowledge.
JYOTI: Splendor, effulgence.
JYOTIMAYA: Form of effulgence.
KABIR: Indian Saint and Poet of the Middle-ages.
KALAKSHAPAKA: A person who wastes time.
KAMA: Desire; love.
KANTHA CHAKRA: Throat plexus.
KARANA SHARIR: Causal body.
KARMA: Action.
KARMA INDRIYAS: Organs or senses of action.
KASBI: Acquired condition.
KAYASTHA: A particular caste in North India.
KOSHA: Sheath. The five sheaths that contain the essence and together comprise a human being are the food-sheath, breath-sheath, mind-sheath, knowledge-sheath, and bliss-sheath.
KRISHNA (or LORD KRISHNA): Most recent incarnation of Vishnu; divine personality in Mahabharata.
KRISHNA-CHAKRA: Lord Krishna's weapon.
KRIYA: Action.
KRODHA: Anger.
KSHIPTA: Disturbed condition of mind due to sensations such as hunger, thirst, anger, sorrow, desire of fame and wealth.
KSHOBH (or KSHOBHA): State of disturbance; loss of equilibrium; stir caused by the will of God to effect creation. The original stir.
KUNDA: Referring to the Kundalini; also, a bowl-shaped vessel.
KUNDALINI: The power which is coiled like a serpent at the base of the spine.
KURUKSHETRA: The battlefield in the Mahabharata.
KUTCHA: Unfinished, raw.
LAGAN: Attachment.
LAYA: Dissolution.
LAYAVASTHA: The state of merging.
LILA: Divine play.
MAHABHARATA: One of the epic stories of India.
MAHAH: One of the states of consciousness.
MAHA KALA CHAKRA (or MAHA KAL CHAKRA) Wheel of the Supreme. (See footnote in Towards Infinity, discussion on Seventh Knot).
MAHAMAYA: Subtle energy used by the Divine — Great Maya or great illusion. The spiritual sphere from which avatars come.
MAHA NIRVANA: Illumined state.
MAHA PARISHAD: The highest cosmic functionary; Ruler of the Universe.
MAHAPRALAYA: State of complete dissolution when everything in existence merges with the Center. The complete dissolution of the whole universe.
MAHA SAMADHI: The final samadhi when a saint renounces his body and enters the brighter world.
MAHATMA: Great soul, saint.
MAHATO MAHIYAN: That which is greater than the greatest.
MAL (or MALA): Impurities.
MANAS: Psyche, mind.
MANASA LAKE (MANASAROVAR): Another name for the Brahmanda Mandal.
MANI PADMA: The jewel in the Lotus.
MANMAT: Disciples who approach a guru for worldly, material goals.
MANOMAYA KOSHA: Mind sheath.
MANTRA (MANTRAM): Recitation of a sacred sound, word, or phrase.
MATH (MUTT, MATHA): Spiritual organization.
MAYA: Phenomenal appearance. It is really a power of God. All manifestation or expansion which seems illusory is the play of Maya. Illusion.
MOKSHA: Liberation or Salvation. But in Sahaj Marg, both are not the same. “Freedom from bondage is Liberation. It is different from Salvation which is not the end of the process of rebirth.” (Reality at Dawn.)
MOODHA: Condition of the mind, including tendencies, which cause laziness, indolence and idleness.
MUDRA: Yogic “seal” or secret practice. Also refers to certain postures and hand gestures.
MUHURTAM: Auspicious moment.
MUKTI: Liberation.
MUMUKSHU: A seeker of the spiritual Truth.
MUNI: See RISHI.
NABHI (NAABHI): Navel.
NADI (NAADHI): Commonly refers to the pulse beat; subtle channels; any physical tubular organs in the body
NAMASTHE (NAMASKARAM): Greeting, a salute to the God within.
NARADA: A Divine sage.
NIRAKAR: Formless.
NIRGUNA: Without attributes or qualities.
NIRGUNA BRAHMA: Indeterminate Absolute. The Ultimate Cause.
NIRMANAKAYA: A created body.
NIRODHA: Tendency which brings the mental to a state of perfect self-control, free of all complexity and perturbation.
NIRVANA: Illuminated state.
NIRVIKALPA SAMADHI : Samadhi in which we are not conscious; ecstasy with the loss of the world-consciousness; consciousness of abstract.
NISHKAM: Desireless.
NISHKAM KARMA: Desireless action.
NISHKAM UPASANA: Desireless devotion.
NIVRITTI: Retrogression; destructive return or withdrawal.
NIYAMA (or NIYAM): Subjected laws which must be followed. They are purity, contentment, austerity, self study, self abandonment (devotion to God).
NYASA: Something entrusted to another, put in trust.
OJAS: Splendour.
OMKAR: The sacred syllable “Aum” (OM).
OM SHANTI (OM SANTIH): Invocation of peace.
PANCH AGNI VIDYA: Wisdom of the five fires (see footnote in Towards Infinity, discussion on Fifth Knot).
PANCHA BHUTAS: The five elements or principles in Hindu cosmology: earth, water, fire, air, and space.
PANCHAMAKAARA: The left-hand path, also called Vaamchaara — an esoteric and occult practice of Tantrik schools. They use Matsya (fish), Mamsa (meat), Madhya (alcohol), Mudra (position of fingers during religious worship), Maithuna (copulation) — all beginning with “M” or “Ma,” and since there are five of them it is called the Pancha-makaara, or “Five Ma's.”
PANDAL: Tent.
PANDIT: Learned person, well versed in any subject.
PARA BRAHMAN (or PAR BRAHMA): Indeterminate Absolute; God as the Ultimate Cause of Existence.
PARA BRAHMANDA: Supra-cosmic consciousness.
PARA BRAHMANDA MANDAL: Supra-cosmic region of the mind.
PARAMANUS: Subtle particles.
PARISHAD: Cosmic functionary below the Maha Parishad who directs the work of the Dhruvadipatis.
PASUS: Generally refers to all living things; specifically, to animals; most specifically, to cows.
PATANJALI: Ancient Indian scholar who wrote the Yoga Sutras.
PINDA (PIND): Material or gross existence, that which exists in the gross or material state.
PINDA DESH (or PINDA PRADESH): Material sphere; the heart region.
PITRI BHAVA: Paternal feeling.
PRABHU: Master; God.
PRABHU-PRAPANNA: Spiritual condition experienced as being both the Master and one who has surrendered.
PRADESHAS: Conditions, states.
PRAKRITI: Nature.
PRALAYA: State of dissolution, applied not to the whole universe but only to a part of it.
PRAMANA: Authority, or valid means of knowledge.
PRANA: Life, breath.
PRANAHUTI: Process of yogic transmission; derived from prana meaning life and ahuti meaning offering. Offering of the life force by the Guru into the disciple's heart.
PRANAM: Respectful salutation; obeisance.
PRANAMAYA KOSHA: Breath sheath.
PRANA PRATISHTA (or PRAN PRATISHTA): Power to infuse a spiritual force into a picture or idol.
PRANAVA: The syllable “Aum.”
PRANAVA JAPA: Chanting the “Aum,” or pranava.
PRANAYAMA: Derived from prana (life, vital force) and from ayama (to restrain). The regulation of Prana.
PRAPANNA: A spiritual stage; also, one who has surrendered.
PRAPTI-VIRODHIS: Enemies of our attainment.
PRARABDHA: Fate, destiny.
PRASAD (PRASADAM): Divinized food, usually sweet; an offering to Master or God.
PRASTHANA TRAYEE: The three orthodox scriptural books of the Hindus; viz., the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutras.
PRATYAHARA (or PRATYAHAR): The inner withdrawal of the mind (fifth branch of Patanjali's Yoga).
PRATYAKSA: Present before one's vision or eyes.
PRAVRITTI: Progress (constructive); upward growth.
PRECEPTOR: An abhyasi chosen, prepared, and permitted by the Master to impart spiritual training through the utilization of pranahuti or yogic transmission.
PRITHVI: The earth; earth element or principle.
PUCCA: Ripe, complete.
PUJA: Religious traditional practice (in Sahaj Marg, the meditation practice).
PUJYA: Revered, respected; used as an honorific at the beginning of a great man's name.
PUNYA: Righteous or meritorious action.
PURUSHARTHA: The goal of the human effort — applied at the same time to the purely human goals or the supra-human goals.
PURVA KARMA: Past actions, and their effect.
RAJA YOGA (or RAJ YOGA): Ancient system or science followed by the great rishis and saints which helped them to realize the Self or God. Usually used for meditative practices, as distinguished from hatha yoga.
RAJA DASHARATH: (Surya dynasty) Father of Rama.
RAJA JANAK: Father of Seeta (or Sita).
RAJAS: One of the three Gunas. Leads to activity, egoism and selfishness.
RAM (or LORD RAMA): Husband of Seeta in the Indian epic story Ramayana.
RAMAKRISHNA: Saint who lived in Calcutta at the end of the nineteenth century and who was Vivekananda's Master.
RAMANUJA: One of the three acharyas; founder of the Vishishta-advaita system of Vedanta Philosophy.
RAMAYANA: One of the epic stories of India.
REPRESENTATIVE: In Sahaj Marg, a term reserved for that person who is nominated by a Master as successor; the currently incarnated Master and president of Shri Ram Chandra Mission.
RICHA: Cosmic recording of all thoughts and events.
RIG VEDA: One of the Vedas. The others are YAJUR veda, SAMA veda and ARTHARVANA veda.
RISHI: Saint; seer; one who has realized Self.
RUDRA SHAKTI: Destructive power; power possessed by a rudra of whom Shiva is the personification.
SADGURU: Guru capable of giving the knowledge of Truth.
SADHAK: Disciple who practices a sadhana.
SADHANA: Spiritual practice.
SADHANA CHATUSHTAYA: The four-fold spiritual practice: viveka or discrimination; vairagya or detachment; sampatti, meaning to be engrossed in it, and mumukshutva, to seek liberation.
SADHU: Religious or spiritual person.
SAGUNA: With gunas or characteristics, qualities, and attributes.
SAGUNA BRAHMAN (or SAGUNA BRAHMA): God as Existence endowed of all the most subtle attributes. Determinate Absolute.
SAGUNA ISHWARA: Determinate Absolute; having the quality of Ishwara.
SAHAJ AVASTHA: Natural state or condition.
SAHAJ MARG: Natural path, simple path.
SAHAJ SAMADHI: Natural samadhi, considered the highest samadhi: simultaneity of total external awareness with total inner emptiness or absorption.
SAHASRA DAL-KAMAL: Lotus of a thousand petals. Chakra at the top of the head.
SAHEB: A respectful form of address to a man.
SAKAR: Tangible form.
SAKHA: Friend.
SAKHAYA: Friendship.
SAKTI DIVINE: Highest energy.
SAKHYA BHAVA: Friendly feeling.
SALOYA: In the same world as another.
SAMAAN: Similar.
SAMADHAN: State of self-settledness to the Master's will.
SAMADHI: Original balance. State in which we stay attached to Reality. In Sahaj Marg, the return to the original condition, which reigned in the beginning. Babuji split the word into sama, meaning balance, and adhi, meaning original or ancient.
SAMARTH GURU (or SAMARTHA GURU): A perfect guru, who possesses all the qualities. A perfectly balanced guru.
SAMAVASTHA (SAMATVA): A balanced state.
SAMIPYA: Nearness.
SAMPATTI: A type of human realization. In Sahaj Marg it is also the depth of the spiritual realization.
SAMSKARAS (or SANSKARS): Impressions; grossness.
SANDHI GATI: Merging of two states.
SANDHYA: Meeting point between day and night.
SANG-E-BENAMAK: A lump of salt from which saltiness has been taken away.
SANKALPA: An act of will.
SANKIRTANISTS: Those who do sankirtan.
SANKIRTANS: Congregational chants.
SANNYASI (or SANNYASIN): One who has renounced the world and leads a solitary life of celibacy and asceticism.
SANSKRIT: Culture; also name of the ancient language of India.
SANSTHA: Spiritual tradition; organization; group.
SAPTA-BHUMIKA: Seven stages.
SARASWATI: The goddess of learning.
SARUPYATA: State in which we acquire the same form.
SARVAMUKTI: Simultaneous universal emancipation.
SARVAM KHALVIDAM BRAMHA: “All this is but Brahman.” A Vedic statement.
SAT: Being, Reality, Existence.
SATPAD (or SATYAPAD): In Sahaj Marg, state which is neither lightness nor darkness. It is a reflection of the reality which itself is still further.
SATSANGH (SATSANG): 1. Spiritual assembly. 2. Being with reality.
SATSANGHI: One who attends satsangh.
SATTVA: One of the three gunas. Leads to balance or poise. It manifests in virtuous conduct and brings about happiness.
SATTVIC: Pertaining to or that which promotes sattva in the body.
SATYAM: One of the states of consciousness. Also means truth.
SATYODAYAM: The dawn of reality.
SARUPYA: Similarity; become one with; having similar form and appearance.
SAYODAYAM: The dawn of reality.
SAYUJYATA: Close conformity; something identical; become one with.
SHABDA (SHABD or AJAPA): Sound, inner vibration within, as opposed to japa.
SHAKTI: Power.
SHAMA (or SHAM): Peaceful condition of the mind leading to a state of calmness and tranquillity; the first of the shat sampatti.
SHANKAR: Shiva, one of the Trinity in Hinduism, the others being Brahma and Vishnu.
SHANKARACHARYA: Ancient saint of India, who propounded advaita.
SHASTRAS: Holy books (scriptures).
SHAT: Six.
SHAT SAMPATTI: Six forms of spiritual attainments in the third Vedantic Sadhana.
SHATCHAKRAS: The six chakras or plexuses, symbolically denoted as lotuses, situated in the subtle body. They are:
1. Muladhara, or root chakra, at the perineum
2. Svadhidhtana, at the genitals
3. Manipuraka, navel
4. Anahata, heart
5. Vishudha, throat
6. Ajna, center of the eyebrows
SHIKAR (SIKHAR): Crown, top, summit.
SHITHALI: One which endows with coolness.
SHRADDHA: Faith; devotion with faith.
SHRAMDAN: An offering of physical labor.
SHRISHTI: Era of Creation in the Indian calendar.
SIDDHIS: Capacity to do miracles; powers.
SIDDHOPAYA: Readily accessible. Also, ready means.
SIKHAR: Crown, top.
SITTING: A session of meditation, usually lasting from 30 minutes to an hour, in which the Master or a preceptor meditates with a group or an individual for the purpose of cleaning and transmission.
SRUTI: The basis of each musical note. Also, the Vedas, or revealed scripture.
STHITAPRAJNA: One who is established in the Self. Alternatively, one whose consciousness in merged in the Self.
STHULA SHARIR (or STHOOL SHARIR): Gross body.
SUKSHMA SHARIR (or SOOKSMA SHARIR): Astral body, subtle body.
SUDARSHAN CHAKRA: Lord Krishna's finger wheel.
SUDDHA SATTVA BODY: Pure body.
SUPATRA: Well-deserving person.
SUSHUPTI: One of the four states of consciousness. It is described as the consciousness of deep sleep in which a man does not dream. When this state of mind is attained, a man gets in close communion with God, though he remains in a forgetful state.
SVAR: One of the states of consciousness.
SVADISTHANA CHAKRA: The chakra located at the level of the genital organs.
SVADHYAYA: Study of holy scriptures combined with practice.
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA: See VIVEKANANDA.
SWAMI: A Hindu priest. Saint.
TAM: The actual state we were in when the world was born. Real state of being.
TAMAS: One of the three gunas. Inertness. It leads to inactivity, sloth or procrastination.
TANUM SWAM VIVERNUTE: "Reveals its own form."
TAPAH: One of the states of consciousness.
TAPASYA (TAPAS): Ascetic practices to purify the soul and attract Divine grace. Literally means “heat,” and indicates the heat generated by the friction of intense spiritual practice.
TARKA: Reasoning.
TATTVAS: Elements or principles in Hindu cosmology. (See PANCHA BHUTAS.)
THAS: Condition of total grossness.
TILAK: Pigment mark on the forehead.
TITIKSHA: State of fortitude or forbearance.
TRIKUTI: The point above the nose between the two eyebrows; one of the points of concentration.
TURIYA: Fourth state of consciousness, the other three being:
1. Jagrat, the waking state,
2. Svapna, the dreaming state,
3. Sushupti, deep sleep.
TURIYA AVASTHA: Fourth state of the soul, when it becomes one with God.
TURIYATITA: Beyond the turiya condition.
UPADAM KARAN: Cause which itself results in effect. Thus it may be explained as root cause. See KSHOBH.
UPADESH: Sermon. Instruction.
UPADESHAK: Instructor, advisor.
UPANAYANAM: Opening of the higher eye.
UPANISHADS: Vedantic part of the Vedas (Jnana Kanda).
UPARATI: Self-withdrawal.
UPASANA (or UPASNA): Devotional practice.
UTSAV: Religious celebration.
UTTARAYANA: Six month's of the sun's northern path.
VAIRAGYA: Renunciation, detachment.
VASANAS: Past impressions.
VASU: Another name for Krishna. Also refers to cosmic functionary below the Dhruva, an elevated person who performs the lowest level of godly work entrusted to him.
VAYU (VAYA): Air or air principle.
VAYU NADI: The air nadi.
VEDAS: Ancient Indian scriptures, in which a superior knowledge is revealed.
VIDYA: Knowledge; science.
VIJNANAMAYA KOSHA: Sheath of knowledge.
VIKSHEPA (or VIKSHEP): Distraction, confusion.
VIKSHIPTA: Refers to the tendency which drives the mind away from sacred thoughts and brings about the haunting of numerous irrelevant ideas at the time of meditation.
VIKRAKTA: Recluse.
VIRAT: Cosmic.
VIRAT DESH: See BRAHMANDA MANDAL.
VIRAT ROOP: Cosmic form.
VIRYAM: Virility; strength.
VISESA: Specific object or quality.
VISHNU: One of the Hindu trinity, God as preserver.
VISHUDDHA CHAKRA: One of the six chakras or plexuses, situated at the base of the throat.
VISHVARUPA DARSHANA: Vision of the Lord's Cosmic form.
VIVEKA: Discernment; discrimination.
VIVEKA SHAKTI: Power of discrimination.
VIVEKACHUDAMANI: A text written by Adi Shankaracharya.
VIVEKANANDA (or SWAMI VIVEKANAND): A great saint of India who lived in the early twentieth century, and was a disciple of Ramakrishna.
VRITTIS: Outward flow of mind; subtle desires or stimuli coming up in the mind causing action; mental tendencies.
VYAVAHARA: Connection between people; behavior.
YAJNAS: Religious rituals, sacrifices.
YAKSHA: A class of semi-divine beings; a living supernatural being.
YAKSHA PRASNA: Series of questions asked by a yaksha to Dharma Putra in the Mahabharata.
YAMA: 1. Self interdiction. Vow of abstinence of violence, falsity, robbery, unchastity, and tendency to acquire. 2. Lord of Death.
YATRA: Voyage; journey; pilgrimage; the inner spiritual process.
YOGA: A system of Hindu philosophy showing means of emancipation of the soul from further migration.
YOGA JA: Intuitive perception of all objects. One who is born from the yoga practice.
YOGI (YOGIN): One who practices yoga; one who achieves union with the Absolute.
YUJ (YUJA, YUJYA): To join or unite; to yoke. |
