Talks, Glossary

A
abhasa: reflection
abhichara prayogam: Black magic
abhijna: direct perception
abhimana: attachment
abhisheka: pouring water, etc. over any sacred image
abhyasa: practice
abhyasi: one who practises
achala: unmoving; a hill or a mountain
achamana: sipping water before or after a religious ceremony
achit: not sentient
adhara: support
adhishtana: substratum
adhyaropa: superimposition
adhyasika: superimposed
adyatmika sakti: power of the Self
adhridha: weak, not firm
advaita: non-duality
agami (agamya karma): actions expected to bear fruit in future births
aham: I
aham Brahmasmi: I am Brahman
ahankara: ‘l’ sense; the ego-self
ahimsa: non-violence
ajatavada: the theory of advaita which denies creation
ajnana: ignorance
ajna: direction; injunction
ajnani: the ignorant, one who has not realized the Self
akara: form or shape
akasa: ether; space
akasavani: voice coming from the sky
akhanda: undivided
akhandakara vritti: unbroken experience
akritopasaka: one who has not done upasana or meditation
amrita: immortal
amrita nadi: the name of a yogic nerve
anadi: without beginning
anahata: name of a yogic chakra
ananda: bliss
anandamaya kosa: the sheath of bliss
anandatman: Self in the state of bliss
ananta: infinite; endless
anatman: non-Self
anava: limitation
anichcha: involuntary
anitya: transitory
annamaya kosa: sheath of gross matter
antah (antar): internal
antah karanam: the inner organ; the mind
antah pranayama: internal breath-regulation
antardhana: disappearance from sight
antarmukhi manas: inward-turned mind
anu: atom
ap: water
apana: the life-force which goes down
apara: the lower
apara vibhuti: inferior vibhuti
aparoksha: direct; immediate
apavada: removal
ardra: a star in the constellation of Orion
aruna: red
arupa: formless
asamsakti: non-attachment; one of the seven stages of enlightenment
asana: sitting posture; seat
asat: not real
asesha sakshi: witness of all
asrama: stage of life; a place where hermits and sages live
asthira: unsteady
asukavi: one who can versify spontaneously
asuddha: impure
asura: demon
atiasrama (atyasrama): Above the four stages of life
ati jagrat: beyond waking
ati sunya: beyond the void
atita: beyond
ativahika sarira: the subtle body which remains when the physical body
perishes and which carries the individual to other worlds
atma (n): Self
atma Jnani: one who has realized the Self
atma nadi: the name of a yogic nerve
atma nishta: abiding in the Self
atmanusandhana: thinking constantly of the Self
atma vichara: enquiry into the Self
atyanta vairagyam: total dispassion
avarana: covering
avarta: eddy
avastha traya: the three states of consciousness, namely waking, dream
and sleep
avatar: incarnation of God
avidya: nescience; ignorance
avritta chakshus: introverted look
ayatana: repository

B
bahir pranayamam: external breath regulation
bahir mukhi manas: outward going mind
bahudaka: a sannyasin who wanders about
bahya: external
bala: child
bandha: bondage
bandha hetu: cause of bondage
beeja: seed
bhajana: singing God’s praises especially in chorus
bhakta: devotee
bhakti: devotion
bhakti marga: path of devotion
bhashyakara: commentator
bhavana: idea
bhoga: enjoyment
bhoga hetu: cause of enjoyment
bhogyam: that which is enjoyed
bhoga vastu: object of enjoyment
bhokta: enjoyer
bhuma: all-comprehensive; the Absolute
bindu: a term used in Tantrism
brahmachari: a celibate; a student
brahmahatya: the sin of killing a brahmin
brahmaivaham: Brahman am l
brahmajnana: knowledge (realization) of Brahman
brahmajnani: one who has realized the Self
brahman: The Supreme Being; the Absolute
brahmanishta: one who is established in Brahman
brahmacharya: celibacy
brahmakaravritti: concept in the form of Brahman
brahmavid: one who has realised Brahman
brahma-vid-vara: one who is a superior among knowers of Brahman
brahma-vid-varishta: the very best among the knowers of Brahman
brahma-vid-varya: the best among the Knowers of Brahman
buddha: one who is aware
buddhi: intellect

C
chaitanya: Consciousness
chakshus: eye
chamara: a fly whisk made of the bushy tail of Bos grunniens used as a
badge of royalty
chanchala: changing, fickle
chidvyoman (chitta vyoman): expanse of consciousness
chinmaya: full of Consciousness
chinta: thought or idea
chintamani: wish-fulfilling gem
chit: Consciousness
chitta: memory; mind
chitta-nirodha: control of mind
chitta suddhi: purity of mind
chitta vilasa: play of mind
chittaikograta: one-pointedness of mind

D
daharakasa: ether of the heart
dana: gift
darsan(a): seeing; vision
dasi: courtesan
deha(m): body
dehatma buddhi: I-am-the-body consciousness
dehavasana: attachment to the body
devas: celestial beings
dharana: concentration of mind; one of the eight stages of Raja Yoga
dharma sastri: one who is well-versed in the scriptures relating to dharma
dhriti: steadfastness
dhyana: meditation; contemplation
dikpalas: gods who protect the various quarters
diksha: spiritual instruction
divya chakshus: divine eye
drashta: seer
dridha: firm
drik: he who sees; the subject
drishti: look
drishti srishti: simultaneous creation
drisya: that which is seen; the object
drisyanuviddha: associated with something seen
drisya vilaya: the disappearance of the objective world
dukha: misery; frustration
dvaita: duality
dvandva: pair of opposites
dvividha (dwividha): two-fold

E
eka: one
ekagrata: concentration

G
ganja: a narcotic, hashish
gayatri: a well-known Vedic mantra
gopuram: temple tower
granthi: knot
grihastha: householder
grihini: housewife
gunas: the three fundamental qualities, tendencies or stresses which underlie
all manifestations
gunatita: one who has transcended the gunas
guru: a spiritual master; teacher

H
halahala: the poison which came up when the milky ocean was churned
hamsa: a sannyasi who has advanced to a high stage
hasta: hand
hatha yoga: a form of yoga involving bodily postures
hetu: cause
hiranyagarbha: universal consciousness; totality of minds
homa: sacrifice in fire
hridaya: heart; the spiritual centre in the body
hridaya granthi: knot of the heart
hrit: heart
hrit pundarika: the heart lotus

I
ichcha: desire
idam: this
indriyas: senses
ishta devata: the god whom one likes to worship or contemplate
isvara: God, the Supreme Being in His aspect as the Lord of all creation
isvara anugraha: God’s grace
isvara aradhana: worship of God
isvara drishti: Seeing everything as God
lsvara prasada: God’s grace

J
jada: inert
jagat: world
jagrat: waking state
jagrat sushupti: wakeful sleep
jai: victory
jala: water
janma: birth
japa: repetition of a sacred word or syllable or a name of God
japa karta: one who does japa
jirna: decayed
jiva: the individual soul; the ego
jivanmukta: one who is liberated even when he is alive
jivanmukti: liberation while one is alive
jivatman: the individual self
jnana(m): knowledge
jnana bhumikas: stages of knowledge of which there are seven
jnana chakshus: eye of wisdom
jnana drishti: eye of wisdom
jnanagni: fire of wisdom
jnana lakshana: sign of wisdom
jnana marga: the path of knowledge
jnana yoga: the method of realizing the Absolute through knowledge
jnanendriya: organ of knowledge
jnani: the Self-realized sage
jothi (jyothi): light; effulgence

K
kaivalya: the state of liberation
kala: a term used in Tantrism
kalpana: idea
kama: desire; lust
kantha: throat
kanthabharana: ornament worn round the neck
kanya: virgin
karana: cause
karana sarira: causal body
karma: action; work; deeds; also result of action
karma samya: good and bad actions in equal proportions
karma traya: the three kinds of karma, namely sanchita, agami and prarabdha
karma yoga: the spiritual path of action
karmendriya: organ of action
karpura arati: the waving of lighted camphor during puja
karta: he who does an act
kartrtva: doership
kartrtva buddhi: the sense of doership
kashaya: latent impurity
kashaya: ochre coloured garment
kasiyatra: pilgrimage to Kasi; part of the marriage rites among Brahmins
kasturi: musk
kayakalpa: a medicinal preparation for prolonging life
kayasiddhi: making the body proof against injury
kevala kumbhaka: sudden stoppage of breathing, whether in the midst of
inhaling or exhaling
kevala samadhi: samadhi in which activities of body and mind are only
merged
khanda: division
krama mukti: liberation by degrees
krama srishti: gradual creation
kshetra: temple; field; the body
kshipta: active
khyati: theory
kousalam: skill
krida: play, pastime
kritopasaka: one who has done upasana or meditation
krodha: anger
kumbha: a pot used for keeping water
kumbhaka: retention of breath
kundalini: yogic power called the serpent power
kumkuma: vermilion powder applied to the forehead
kutichaka: a sannyasin who lives permanently in a hut
kuvasana: bad tendency

L
laghu: light; easy
lakshana: sign
lakshya: aim, target, goal
lakshyartha: implied meaning
laya: dissolution
lila (leela): play or sport
linga: symbol
linga sarira: subtle body
loka: world; that which is seen
loukika: worldly

M
madhya: centre; mixed; middling
madhyama: a stage in uttering sounds
maharshi: great rishi (seer or sage)
mahasunya: great void
mahatma: enlightened person
mahavakyas: the four main sentences proclaiming the truth of Brahman, one
taken from each Veda

malaparipaka: complete removal of impurity
malina: impure
manana: thinking over what has been heard
mani: jewel
manolaya: (temporary) subsidence of the mind
manomaya kosa: sheath of mind
manonasa: extinction of the mind
manta: thinker
mantra: cosmic sound forms of the Vedas used for worship and prayer; also
seed letters for meditation on the form of the Lord; ritual incantation
mantra japa: repetition of a mantra
marga: path
maru marichika: mirage seen in a desert
mati: thinking power
maya: illusion; the power inherent in Brahman by which it manifests the world
maya vada: the doctrine of maya
medha: intellect
moda: joy which is higher than priya
moksha: Liberation; spiritual freedom
moodha: dull
moola: root; source
mooladhara: One of the yogic centres of the body
mouna (mowna): Silence
mriga trishna: water of mirage
mukta: one who is liberated
mukti: Liberation; spiritual freedom
mulavidya: primal ignorance
mumukshu: one who aspires for Liberation
mumukshutva: the desire for Liberation
muni: sage
muppazh: three voids

N
na medhaya: not by the intellect
nada: subtle sound accompanied by an effulgence, a term used in Tantrism
nabhi: navel
nadaswaram: the pipe of the South Indian piper
nadi: yogic nerve
naham: I am not
naishtika brahmacharya: lifelong celibacy
nama: name; the name of God
nama japa: repetition of the name of God
nama sankirtan: Singing the names of God
nama smarana: remembering and repeating the name of God
namaskar (a): prostration before God or Guru
nana: diversity
naraka: hell
nasa: destruction
nava: new
nididhyāsana: the last of the 3 stages of vedantic realization; uninterrupted contemplation
nijananda: true bliss
nirakara upasana: meditation on the formless
nirguna: without attributes
nirguna upasana: meditation on the attributeless Brahman
nirodha: control
nirvana: Liberation
nirvikalpa samadhi: the highest state of concentration in which the soul loses
all sense of being different from the universal Self, but a temporary state
from which there is a return to ego-consciousness
nishkama karma: acts done without a motive
nitya: always; eternal
nitya siddha: ever present
nivritti: destruction
nivritti marga: The path of renunciation
niyama: law, rule

O
owpacharika: in a worldly sense

P
padarthabhavini: absolute non-perception of objects; one of the seven stages
of enlightenment
panchakshari: a mantra of five syllables sacred to Siva
panchikarana: division of the five elements and combining the parts in
particular proportions
para: higher; in Tantrism unmanifest sound
param: transcendental
paramahamsa: a sannyasin who has attained Self-realization
paramarthika: absolute
paramarthika satyam: absolute reality
paramatma (n): the Supreme Self
paranchi khani: outgoing
para nadi: the name of a yogic nerve
para vibhuti: superior vibhuti
pareccha: by another’s will
parinama vada: the theory of Brahman changing into the world
paroksha: hearsay or indirect
pasyanti: a stage in uttering sound
phala: fruit; the result of an act
phala chaitanyam: knowledge
phala data: dispenser of the results of our acts
phala sruti: description of the result of an act
pisachas: demons
poorna: full
pradakshina: going round a sacred person or place
pradeepta: Shining brightly
prajna: the individual being in sleep
prajnana: full consciousness
prajnana ghana: full consciousness
prakriti: nature, Maya
pralaya: dissolution (of the world)
pramana: means of valid knowledge
pramata (r): knower; cogniser
pramoda: joy which is higher than moda
prana: vital air; life-force; breath; the air which goes up
pranamaya kosa: sheath of prana or the vital air
pranasakti: the power of the vital forces
pranava: another term for OM
pranayama: regulation of breathing
prapatti: surrender
prapti: attainment
prarabdha: that part of one’s karma which is to be worked out in this life
prasad (a): grace; food etc., which has been offered to God and afterwards
distributed among the devotees
prasthana traya: the threefold scripture
pratibhasika satya: illusory reality as it appears to a particular individual
pratikam: symbol
pratikriya: remedy
pratyabhijna: recognition
pratyahara: one of the steps in Raja Yoga; withdrawal
pratyaksha: direct; immediate
pravritti marga: path of action
prayaschitta: a rite for expiating sin
prayatna: effort
prema: love
prithvi (prthvi): earth
priya: joy; dear
puja: ceremonial worship with flowers, water etc.
punya: merit
puraka: inhalation
purana: old; an ancient book of stories embodying religious symbolism
puri: city
puriashtaka: subtle body consisting of eight phases
purna: full
purusha: man; applied sometimes to God
purushakara: personal effort
purva paksha: arguments advanced by the opponent
purva samskara: latent tendency

R
raja Yoga: the principal system of Yoga as taught by Patanjali
rajas: one of the three primal qualities, described as red, the principle of
activity
rajju-sarpa: rope-snake; a rope looking like a snake in a dim light
rasa: bliss
rasasvada: taste of bliss in the absence of thoughts
ravi marga: path of the sun
rechaka: exhalation
rishi (rshi): a seer; a sage

S
sabdanuviddha: associated with sound
sad guru: true guru
sadhak (a): a spiritual aspirant; one who follows a method of spiritual
discipline
sadhana: method of spiritual practice
sadhana-chatushtaya: the four qualifications expected in an aspirant
sadhu: ascetic; sage
sadhu seva: service rendered to sages
sadyomukti: immediate Liberation
saguna: with attributes
saguna upasana: meditation on Brahman with attributes
sahaja: natural; one’s natural state
sahaja samadhi: samadhi which comes naturally and is present always
sahasrara: the highest yogic centre located in the brain
sajatiya: of the same kind
sakshatkaram: direct realization
sakshi: witness; the Self
sakti: power
sakti pata: descent of divine power on a person
sama: equal; common
samanya: common; general; ordinary
samashti: whole
samatva: equality
samjnana: awareness; perception

samrajya: empire
samsara: the cycle of births and deaths
samskara: innate tendency
samvit: consciousness; knowledge
samyamana: one-pointedness of mind
sanchita (sanchita karma): accumulated karma of former births
sandeha: doubt
sanga: association
sankalpa: intention, thought; the ostensible motive of doing a ritual uttered
before it is begun
sannidhi: presence
sannyasi: an ascetic, one who belongs to the fourth stage of life
santi: peace
sarira: body
sariri: dweller in the body
sarira traya: the three bodies namely the physical, subtle and causal
sarva: all
sarvajna: omniscient
sarvajnatvam: omniscience
sastra: scripture; science
sat: good; existence
satya: true; the real
satyam: truth; reality
sat-cit-ananda: being consciousness-bliss
sat sanga: association with the wise
sattva: purity; one of the three primal qualities described as white, the
principle of purity and goodness
sattvapatti: realization; one of the seven stages of enlightenment
sattvik: pure; relating to sattva, one of the three constituents of prakriti
savikalpa samadhi: a state of concentration in which the distinction between
the knower. knowledge and known is not yet lost
shadadhara: the six yogic centres
siddha: one who has acquired supernatural powers and is capable of working
miracles; also a state of accomplishment
siddhi: supernatural powers; realization; attainment
sishya: disciple
sivoham: I am Siva
sloka: a stanza in Sanskrit
smriti: memory; scriptures based on the Vedas
soham: I am He (Brahman)
sparsa: touch
sphurana: manifestation
sraddha: faith
sravana: hearing of the truth from the guru
srishti drishti: gradual creation
srota: hearer
srotra: ear
sruti: scripture
sthitaprajna: one who is established in wisdom
sthula: physical
sthula sarira: physical body
sthiti: being
stotram: a hymn of praise
subhechcha: desire for enlightenment; one of the seven stages of
enlightenment
suddha: pure
sukha: happiness
sukha asana: easy and comfortable posture of sitting
sukshma: subtle
sukshma sarira: the subtle body
sunya: blank; void
sushumna: the name of a yogic nerve
sushupti: dreamless sleep
sutra: string; aphorism
suvasana: good tendency
svagata: within itself
svapna: dream
svarga: heaven
svaroopa (swarupa): nature; real form
swaraj: independence
swatantra: independence
swechcha: of one’s own will

T
taijasa: the individual being in dream
tamas: darkness; ignorance; one of the three primal qualities described as
black; the principle of inertia
tanha: thirst (for living)
tanmatras: elements in their subtle forms
tanmaya: full of the Self
tanumanasa: tenuous mind; one of the seven stages of enlightenment
tapas (tapasya): austerity
tapobhrashta: one who has fallen away from his austerities
tapta-aya-pindavat: like a red hot iron ball
tattva: truth, essence of a thing
tejas: effulgence
tejomaya: full of light
tejo rupa: of the form of light
tirtha: a sacred river or tank
triputi: triad like seer, seen and seeing
turavu (Tamiḷ): renunciation
turya (turiya): the fourth state beyond waking, dreaming and sleeping
turyaga: beyond words; one of the seven stages of enlightenment
tyaga: giving up

U
udasinam: indifference
upadesa: spiritual instruction
upadhi: limiting adjunct
upasaka: one who meditates
upasana: meditation
upasana sthana: seat of meditation

V
vachyartha: literal meaning
vada: theory; disputation
vaikhari: one of the stages in the formation of sound; audible sound
vaikuntha: the abode of Vishnu
vairagya: dispassion; non-attachment
vaishnavite: a worshipper of Vishnu
varnasrama dharma: dharma of the various castes and stages of life
vasana: habit of the mind; latent tendency or impression
vasana kshaya: cessation of vasanas
vastutah: in reality
vayu: air
vibhakti: separation
vibhuti: sacred ashes; God’s glory; supernatural power
vichara: enquiry
vichara marga: the spiritual path of enquiry
vicharana: investigation; one of the seven stages of enlightenment
videha mukta: one who is liberated after death
videha mukti: liberation after death
vidya: knowledge; learning
vijatiya: of a different kind
vijnana: special knowledge; spiritual knowledge
vijnanamaya kosa: sheath of intellect
vijnanatma: the ignorant Self
vijnata: knower
vikshepa: diversity
vikshipta: distracted
viparita: contrary
virat: totality of gross beings
visesha: particular; special
vishaya: object
visishta: qualified
visishtadvaitin: one who believes in a modified form of non-duality
visranti: repose
visva: the individual being in the waking state
visvarupa (darsana): God seen as the universe
vivechana: discrimination
viyoga: separation
vritti: modification of the mind
vyaptam: pervaded
vyashti: part
vyavahara (vyavaharika): empirical
vyavahara satya: phenomenal existence

Y
yaga: ritualistic sacrifice
yajna: sacrifice
yoga: union (with the Supreme Being)
yogabhrashta: one who has slipped from the yoga
yogarudha: one who has attained yoga
yogiraja: king of yogis
yugapat srishti: simultaneous creationAbhasa