Sanskrit Glossary of Vedantic Terms

Name: Timeless Wisdom of Bhagavad Gita: A Complete Course in Non-Duality
Start: 2024-10-13T13:30:00+11:00
End: 2024-10-13T15:00:00+11:00

Definitions found on this page are from book “A Spiritual Journey” by Sneh Lata Chakraburtty. First influenced by Yoga world, and later discovered Advaita Vedanta via Swami Chinmayananda.

WARNING: The actual spelling of each word is completely off by this author. EG: (by author) Aadarsha > (proper spelling) ādarśa. If spelling is important, see other links below. Otherwise the definitions are satisfactory.

See More Terms.

Aabhaasa: Reflection
Aabhaasam: Effect
Aabhaasavaada: Doctrine holding that creation is reflection of Reality
Aabhaati: Shines or illumines
Aachaara: Right conduct, conduct or practice
Aadarsha: Ideal
Aadesha: Divine command from within
Aadhaara: Support and basis
Aadhibhautika: Elemental
Aadhidaivika: Pertaining to the heaven
Aadhyatmika: Pertaining to the Soul
Aaditya: Sun – a class of celestial beings
Aagama: The Veda as proof
Aahara: Food as an object of senses
Aahuti: Oblation offered in fire sacrifice
Aajna-chakra: Seat of the mind in the sixth lotus of the yogis behind the eyebrows
Aakaanksha: Desire all round
Aakasha: Ether
Aalochana: Deep thinking or reflection
Aananda: Bliss
Aanandamaya-kosha: Karana-sharira or blissful sheath or seed body which contains all potentialities
Aaradhana: Respectable worship
Aasana: Posture or seat
Aashrama: Hermitage or order of life of which there are four, namely., Brahmacharya or studentship, Grahastha or household-life, Vaanaprasta or forest-dwelling, and Sanyaasa or monastic life
Aatma: The Self
Atma-bhava: Feeling that all is the Self
Atma-bodha: Knowledge of the Self
Atma-drishti: Vision of seeing everything as the Sell
Atma-nishta: Established in the Self
Aavarana: Veil of ignorance
Aavarana-shakti: Veiling power of maya
Abhava: Meditating upon Self as zero or without quality
Abhavana: Non-thought
Abheda: Non-difference
Abheda-ahamkara: Ego that identifies itself with Brahman
Abheda-bhava: Sense of non-separateness
Abheda-bhakti: Highest devotion culminating in one-ness
Abheda-buddhi: Intellect that beholds unity
Abheda-chaitanya: Constant thought of identity of soul with Brahman
Abheda-jnana: Knowledge of identity of individual with Absolute
Abhaya: Freedom from fear
Abhinivesha: Instinctive clinging to life
Abhiman: Egoism
Abhivyakta: Manifested
Abhyaasa: Constant practice
Achala: Immovable
Achintya: Unthinkable
Achetana: Unconscious
Achintya shakti: Inscrutable power
Achyuta: Unchanging or indestructible
Aadhaara: Support
Adi Shankara: Philosopher who lived 1500 years ago
Adi Shesha: Primeval serpent who supports the world on its head
Adharma: Contrary to right
Adbhuta: Wonderful
Adhibhuta: Elemental forms of matter
Advaila: Monism or non-duaiity
Ahamkaara: Ego the “Me” and “I”
Adhimatra: Degree of vairagya from sources of pain
Adhisthana: Background or underlying essence or substratum
Adhyatma shastra: Spiritual science
Adrshta: Unseen principle
Adrishtam: Unperceived
Adryshya: That which cannot be perceived
Ahimsaa: Non-violence
Ahuti: Offering an oblation at a solemn rite (usually into fire)
Ajnaa chakra: Seat of command and will between the eyebrows
Agni: Fire
Aghaada: Unfathomable
Agandha: Odorless
Agati: Stability
Aguna: Without quality
Aham: I or ego
Aham atma: I am soul or atma
Aham brahma-asmi: I am God or Brahman
Aham etat na: I am not this
Aham-eva sarvah: I alone am all
Aham Idam: I [and] this
Ahakara: Ego or self-conceit or self-arrogating principle of ‘I airiness’; three types: Rajasic : Dynamic egoism with passion and pride Sattvic: Egoism within sense of goodness and virtue Tamasic: Egoism expressed in ignorance and inertia
Aham-karta: I am the doer
Aham-vritti: Self-arrogating thought
Ahimsa: Non-injury in thought, word, or deed
Aishvarya: Spiritual wealth
Ajaha-lakshana: Amplified or added meaning
Ajapa-gayatri: Ham soham mantra
Ajati vada: Theory of non-evolution
Aja: Unborn
Ajnana: Ignorance
Akaara: First letter fundamental to sound or first letter of alphabet
Akarma: Inaction
Akarta: Non-doer
Akaasha: Fifth element or sky or space
Akhanda: Continuous or Indivisible
Akhanda-kara: Of indivisible nature
Akhanda-ananda: Unbroken bliss
Akhanda-brahmacharya: Unbroken celibacy
Akhanda-mauna: Unbroken silence
Akhanda-samadhi: Unbroken meditation in oneness
Akshaya: Undecaying or everlasting
Alakshana: Without distinctive marks
Alinga: Without mark
Amalam: Free of impurities of Maya
Amara: Immortal or deathless
Ainatra: Having no sign
Amrita: Nectar
Anabhidya: Non-coveting of other’s goods; not brooding over injuries received from others
Anaadi: Beginningless
Anaadi-kaala: Eternity or beginningless time
Anaahata chakra: Heart plexus or fourth lotus of the yogis where mystic sounds are heard opposite the heart
Anandamaya kosha: Sheath of joy enveloping the soul
Anna: Food
Annamaya kosha: Gross and outermost food sheath enveloping soul
Antahkarana: Seat of thought or conscience
Ananla: Infinite & endless
Antara: Internal
Antara-dhvani: Internal mystical sound heard by mystics
Ananta-drishti: Unlimited vision
Ananyata: Single-pointed
Aneka: Not one but many
Anga: Step or a limb
Antara kumbhaka: Suspension of breath after full inspiration
Antaratma: Innermost spirit in beings
Ap: Water
Apaana: Lower abdominal control of bodily excretions
Arjuna: Mighty bowman of the Pandava princes
Artha: Wealth as one of man’s pursuits
Anima: Subtlety or reducing mass and density at will
Anitya: Impermanent
Anistha: Not Lord but subjected to or impotent
Annam: Matter or food
Annamaya-kosha: Food sheath or gross physical body
Anugraha: Grace
Anukampaa: Sympathy
Anumana: Inference as a means of proof of knowledge
Anupalabdhi: One of eight proofs of knowledge of the existence of non-existence
Anuparinaana: Atomic in size
Anuraaga: Intense love for God
Anusandhaana: Investigation into nature of Brahman
Anushaya: Residue of karma which forces the soul to take a rebirth
Anusmarana: Constant remembrance of Brahman
Anutva: Smallness or subtlety
Anyal: Another
Anyatha: Separateness or state of being otherwise
Anonya: Mutual
Anonya-abhaava: Mutual non-existence
Anonya-adhyasa: Mutual superimposition
Apah: Water
Apamaana: Disrespect or disgrace
Apaana: Nerve current which governs abdominal region which has its center in the anus
Aparaa: Other or relative
Aparaadha: Fault or mistake
Apara-prakriti: Lower cosmic energy through which God projects all forms in Nature, gross and subtle
Apara-vidya: Intellectual knowledge or lower knowledge of the vedas
Aparigraha: Freedom from covetousness or non-receiving of gifts connective of luxury: one of the primary disciplines of yama
Aparinaami: Changeless
Aparokshaanu-bhava: Essence of intuitive perception and direct realization
Apavaada: Exception; negation; rejection; refuting a wrong belief: as rope believed to be snake or superimposing the real elements with a view of names and forms
Apavaada-yukti: Using logic in apavaada
Apavarga: Liberation or moksha or final emancipation from bondage of embodiment Other three being dharma, artha, and kama
Aprameya: Immeasurable
Apraana: Without prana or life-force
Apunya: Non-meritorious or sinful
Apuma: Imperfect or incomplete
Apurva: Unseen; the hidden power of karma which brings fruits in the future
Archana: Offerings of flowers at times of puja or worship
Archiraadi-marga: Northern path taken by the soul after death through which yogis depart in uttarayana into the world of Brahman
Ardhaangini: Partner in life
Arghya: water offering
Artha: Object of desire or wealth
Arupa: Formless
Asana: Posture; third stage of Yoga
Asal: Unreal
Asmita: Ego
Asthi: Bone
Ashabdam: Without sound while referring to Brahman
Asad-aavarana: Shakti which screens the existence of Brahman which is removed by aparoksha gyana
Asambhavana: Spiritual doubt
Asanga: Non-attachment
Asanga-bhavana: attitude of the mind of non-attachment
Ashanti: Absence of peace of mind
Asat: That which is not or non-being or existence of reality
Asiddha: Not perfected
Asmat: Pertaining to me or us
Asmi: I am or I exist
Asmita: Egoism or I-ness
Asmriti: Forgetfulness
Asparsha: Touchless or name of Brahman
Ashtanga: Yoga Mantra with eight letters: Aum Namo Narayana
Ashtanga Yoga: Raja Yoga of Patanjali: Yoga with eight limbs
Astetya: Non-stealing or one of the five items of yama in ashtanaga-yoga
Asthi: Bone
Asthira: Wavering or unsteady
Asthula: Without grossness
Ashubha: Inauspicious
Ashudha: Not pure
Ashudha: Maya Maya preponderating with rajas
Ashudha sankalpa: Impure resolve
Asura: Evil tendency in man
Asuya: Envy
Ashvata-vrksha: Sacred peepul tree
Atarkya: That which cannot be reasoned out
Atigraha: Object of sense
Atindriya: Beyond reach of the senses
Atithi: Guest
Atyanta: Too much or to the extreme
Avadhuta: Ascetic who has renounced the world
Alma: Supreme Soul
Atharva veda: Deals with magical formulae, tantras and esoteric knowledge
Aum: Like the Latin “Omne” of omniscience
Avastha: Condition of mind
Avidya: Ignorance
Avidya-nivrtli: Removal of Ignorance or moksha
Avikari: Immutable Brahman
Avinashi: Indestructible
Avirodha: Without contradiction
Avyakta: Unmanifest or indivisible when the three gunas are in a state of equilibrium
Avyakta-drshti: View from standpoint of the Infinite Whole
Avyaapti: Exclusion of part of a thing defined
Avyaya: Unchangeable or undiminishing
Ayama: Restraint
Ayurveda: Science of Health
Ayukta: He who has no concentration

Baahya: External
Baahya kumbhaka: Pause at end of expiration
Bandha: To close
Bhaagatyaaga-lakshana: Expression to define Upanishadic Statements that if the literal appearance is removed, the identity is revealed
Bhagavad Gita: Song of the Divine
Bhagavan: Lord Narayana or Vishnu of the Trinity
Bhaagvata: Adorer of Bhagavan
Bhagvatam: Puranic scriptural text about Vishnu
Bhakti: Worship in adoration
Bhautika: Material or elemental or composed of physical matter
Bhaavana: Feeling of devotion and unity
Bhaava: Attitude expressing relationship with God
Bhaya: Fear
Bheda: Difference or splitting
Bhoga: Worldly pleasures
Bhiksha: Alms
Bhikshu: Monk
Bhokta: Subjective experience of enjoyment
Bhram: Delusion or illusion
Bhrashta: Fallen from the way of yoga
Bhrumadhya-drishti: Gaze at the space between eyebrows
Bhraanti: Erroneous knowledge or vision
Bhrumadhya: Gaze in between eyebrows
Bhuh: Earthplane: the first of three worlds
Bhuvah: Ether: the second of three worlds
Bij: Seed
Brahma-muhurta: Ninety minutes before sunrise
Bija mantra: Mystic syllable uttered mentally in meditation
Brahma: Creator of the Trinity
Brahmacharya: Self-restraint; also celibacy
Brahman: God or the all-pervading Spirit from which Universe has emerged
Brahmanadi: Main channel of sushumna going towards Spirit
Buddhi: Intellect or judgment

Chaitanya: Consciousness that knows itself and knows others as absolute consciousness
Chhanda: Neurotransmitters and neuro-hormones that form a feedback system with the centers of awareness and consciousness within the brain and the spinal cord
Chakra: Wheel or plexus; seat of psychic energy in the human body Energy or prana flows through body through three channels Sushumna or spinal cord; Ida or parasympathetic moves up towards left nostril; Pingala or sympathetic moves up towards right nostril; These three nadis intersect at various chakras to regulate the body mechanisms.
Chakshu: Eye
Chit: Consciousness or individual Soul
Chitta: Awareness or a Sense of feeling through the mind, intellect and ego collectively
Chaturyuga: Four ages ol the Hindu world-cycle: satya, treta, dvapara, and kali
Cheshta: Effort or endeavor
Chala: Quibble
Chidabhasa-chaitanya: Reflection of Consciousness from Kutastha-chaitanya
Chidakasha: Brahman in Its aspect as limitless knowledge and intelligence
Chinmaya: Full of Consciousness
Chintana: Reflecting
Chit: Universal Intelligence
Chitta: Mind-stuff' or subconscious mind
Chitta-vidya: Psychology
Chittavi-mukti: Freedom from bondage of the mind

Daitya: Mighty beings with diabolic qualities; demons of Puranas
Darshana: A vision or discernment
Daiva: Lord who control all beings and gives them their due fate, destiny, justice, or controlling powers
Daivavani: Heavenly voice
Daivi: Divya or divine
Daivisampat: Divine wealth or qualities
Daksha: Expert or wise and intelligent
Dama: Control of outer senses or one of six-fold virtues of Niyama of Raja Yoga of Patanjali
Danda: Staff of a mendicant
Daana: Charity or giving
Darpa: Arrogance
Darshana: Insight
Dayaa: Mercy or compassion
Deha: Physical body
Deha-adhyaasa: False identification of the body
Deha-shuddhi: Purity or purification of the body
Deha-vidya: Physiology
Dehi: One conscious of being an embodied self
Devaloka: World of the celestials or higher subtler worlds
Devata: Deity who receives worship and gives them what they desire
Devayaana: Path of the gods after the soul leaves the body
Dhairya: Boldness or courage
Dhana: Wealth
Dhaaraa: Stream or continuous repetition
Dhaarana: Concentration with complete attention before dhyana and samadhi
Dharma: Moral merit or virtue of a thing or righteous way of living as enjoined by scriptures; characteristic or virtue
Dharma-megha-samadhi: Cloud of virtue; state of superconsciousness or samadhi; immortality through knowledge of Brahman when all vasanas are destroyed
Dharma-parishat: Assembly of the wise
Dharmi: Substratum of dharma
Dhatu: Metal or element; conservation of life-force through celibacy and development of Ojas and Tejas
Dhira: Steadfast
Dhriti: Patience -spiritual
Dhyana: Meditation
Dhvani: Tone or sound; the subtle vital shakti in Jiva as vibration
Doshaa: Fault
Dukha: Sorrow
Dvesha: Dislike
Dhyana: Meditation and contemplation
Dhyeya: Object of meditation or purpose of meditation
Diksha: Initiation or consecration
Dina: Humble or helpless
Dina-bandhu: Friend of the poor
Dinacharya: Daily conduct or activity
Dishtam: Unseen power in karma that links up the act with the fruit; destiny or fate
Divya: Divine or heavenly; sacred or luminous or supernatural
Divya-chakshu: Divine eye
Divya-drishti: Divine vision
Divya-gandha: Superphysical scent or smell
Dosha: Shortcoming or defect
Drdha: Unshaken or firm
Drk: Perceiver
Droha: Treachery
Drshta: Visible
Drshya: Perceived
Dvaanda-shaanta: Twelfth center or the pituitary center (Six centres within the brain and six below the brain)
Dvaita-advaita-vivarjita: Beyond monism and dualism
Dvaita-bhaava: Feeling of duality
Dvandvataa: State of duality
Dvayam: Two or a pair
Dvesha: Repulsion or hatred or dislike
Dvija: Twice born in baptism

Eka: One
Ekadashi: Eleventh day of the lunar fortnight
Ekaagrata: One-pointedness
Ekam-eva-advitiyam: One alone without second or Brahman
Ekaanta: Solitude
Ekanta-bhava: Feeling of solitariness
Ekataa: Oneness or absoluteness
Ekatva: Unity or oneness
Evam: Thus or so; in this manner

Gagana: Sky
Gambhira: Deep and dignified or grave
Gambhirya: Gravity of demeanor
Ganapati: Ganesh of Cosmic Intelligence; deity of Hindus
Gandha: Smell
Garbha: Foots
Gayatri: Mother of Vedas; also a vedic hymn
Garva: Pride or arrogance
Gita: Sing
Gotra: Family lineage
Gu: First syllable of “guru”; darkness
Guda: Anus
Guha: Cave
Guhya: Secret or genital
Guna: Quality or dispositions bom of Nature or Prakriti Sattva or good, pious, noble, calm, and tranquil Rajas or passionate, agitated, authoritative, and assertive.
Gunatita: Beyond the three gunas
Guru: Remover of darkness or spiritual preceptor
Guru-krpaa: Guru’s grace
Guru-mantra: Guru given mantra at initiation

Hamsa-mantra: Automatic and involuntary utterance of hamsa-soham with every act of inspiration and expiration
Ham’saa: “I am He” used in pranayama
Hanuman: Powerful deity of Hindus; son of the wind-god; devotee of Rama; famous monkey who helped Rama fight with Ravana
Hari: Narayana or Krishna who destroys evil
Hatta yoga: Self-realization through physical discipline
Hetu: Cause or reason
Himsaa: Injury
Hiranyagarbha: Universal Soul invested in a subtle body; another name for Brahman as born from a golden egg; Cosmic Intelligence; Ganesh
Hrdayam: The heart of a being
Hrdaya-gran th i: Knot of the heart of avidya, kaama, and karma
Hri: Modesty

Icchaa: Desire
Ida: Psychic cooling nerve-current flowing through left nostril
Idam: This here
Indra: Lord of the senses, mind-soul; chief of the celestials
Indriya: Senses of perception and sense organ; external karma-indriyas or organs of action; or internal gyana-indriyas for cognition, knowledge or perception
Ishta: Object of desire
Ishtadevata: Chosen deity
Ishvara: God or Brahman
Itihaasas: Historical anecdotes centering around life and deeds of heroes as in the Ramayana and Mahabharata

Jada: Insentient
Jagad-guru: World preceptor
Jagat: World; changing
Jagrat: Waking condition
Janma: Coming into being or birth
Japa: Prayer
Japamala: Rosary
Jaati: Specie
Jaya: Conquest
Jiva: Individual
Jivan-mukta: Liberated in this life
Jiva-atina: Individual soul
Jnaana: Knowledge or wisdom of Reality
Jyestha: Eldest or best
Jyoti: Illumination or effulgence

Kaivalya: Transcendental state; moksha; final beatitude
Kaala: Time
Kaala-chakra: Wheel of time
Kaali: Black
Kali-yuga: Age of Kali
Kalpa: A day of Brahma the Creator or code of rituals
Kalpana: Imagination or Creation
Kaama: Lust, passion or desire
Kaamya-karma: Action with desire for fruit of action
Kaanda: Root source
Kantha: Throat or neck
Kapha: Phlegm: one of three homours or doshas in Ayurveda
Karana: Cause or the unmanifested potential; cosmic energy in a potential condition
Kapaala: Skull
Kapaala-bhaati: Clearing the sinuses or Kriya yoga
Karma: Action. Action is of three kinds. (a) Sanchita accumulated actions of all previous births (b) Praarabha or portion to be worked in this life (c) Agaami or current karma being freshly performed; Law of Karma or cause and effect binding the jiva to the wheel of birth and death
Karma doctrine: Law of Justice of cause and effect Is intertwined with the Doctrine of Reincarnation
Karma-band ha: Bondage caused by karma
Karma-bhumi: Land of action on earth-plane
Karmakanda: Section of vedas dwelling on rituals in the samhitas and Brahmanaas of the Vedas
Karma-para: dependent on karma
Karma-phala: Fruit of action
Karma-shaya: Aggregate of works done
Karma-vaada: Doctrine of karma upholding that each deed [good or bad] is inevitably followed by pain or pleasure
Karma-yoga: Yoga of selfless action
Karmendriya: Organs of action: tongue, hands, feet, genital, and anus
Kaarya: The physical body in contrast to causal body, the karana
Kaarya-brahma: The causal world or Hiranya-garbha
Kathaa: Narrative tale
Kaaya: Physical body
Kendra: Heart center
Kevala: Independent Absolute
Khyaati: Reputation; knowledge
Kirtana: Singing hymns of glory
Klesha: Affliction
Kosha: Sheaths; five concentric sheaths starting at the center: bliss, intellect, mind, life-force, gross-body
Krama: Rules of rituals
Kratu: Sacrifice or yagna
Kriya: Physical action; Cleansing rite in hatta yoga
Kriya-advaita: Oneness in action
Kriyaa-nivrtti: Relief from action
Kriya-yoga: Yoga of action of self-purification
Krodha: Anger
Krishna: Lord of all Yogas
Kshama: Forgiveness
Kshana: Moment
Kshara: World
Kshaya: Annihilation
Kshetra: Holy place; field; the physical body from a philosophical sense
Kshctrajna: Supreme Soul
Kshina: Powerless
Kula-dharma: Particular duty pertaining to the family
Kumbha: Chalice
Kumbhaka: Intervals between inspiration and expiration; retention and suspension of breath
Kundalini: Coil of Primordial Energy lying dormant in the lowest Chakra; Making three and a half coils, it is said to lie dormant “like a coiled serpent” with the head towards the muladhara chakra. It is another term for Life-force roused with spiritual efforts. It rises up the sushumna and into the brahmanadi towards the sahasrahara
Kusha: Grass used in rites
Kutastha: Changeless Absolute found in all creatures from the Creator to the ant Who ‘shines’ and dwells as witness to the intellect of all creatures
Kutastha-chaitanya: Individual Consciousness free of all egoism; Universal Intelligence; Krishna or Christ Center

Laghimaa: Lightness; one of eight siddhis of Yoga practice
Lajjaa: Shame or shyness
Lakshya: Target
Laukika: Worldly , .
Laya: Dissolution
Laya-yoga: Absorption of individual soul into Supreme Soul
Lilaa: Cosmos looked upon as a divine play
Lina: Merged
Linga: Symbol
Linga-deha: Astral body
Linga-sharira: Psychic body that becomes active during dream state; intellect, emotion and life-force constitute this body
Linga-atman: The subtle self
Lobha: Greed
Loka: World of names and forms

Mada: Pride
Madhura: Emotion between lover [devotee] and beloved [God]
Maha-bhuta: Primordial element
Mahad-brahma: Hiranyagarbha; Cosmic Intelligence; Ganesh
Maha-pralaya: The great deluge with destruction of the world at the end of a Cosmic Cycle or Yuga
Maha-rishi: Great sage
Mahat: Cosmic Intelligence in a Seed form; first product of prakriti according to Sankhyan Philosophy, Intellect
Mahavakya: Great Sentences (a) Prajnanam Brahma; Consciousness is Brahman (b) Aham Brahma-asmi: I am Brahman (c) Tat Tvam Asi: That Thou Art (d) Ayam Atma Brahma: This self is Brahman
Maheshvara: Shiva
Mahimaa: Glory
Mai tri: Friendliness
Makara: Mystic ‘m’: the third letter that concludes Aum
Majja: Marrow
Maala: Impurity of the mind
Maalaa: Rosary
Mama-kara: Thought ‘this is mine’
Mamataa: Mine-ness
Maana: Respect
Manana: Constant reflection
Manas: Mind
Manda: Dull or thick
Manipura-chakra: Third yogic center in the navel region
Mantra: Sacred syllable or words which through repetition one attains perfection
Mantra-shakti: Potency of any mantra
Mantra-siddhi: Mastery over devata of a mantra for grace whenever invoked
Marga: Path
Mati: Thought directed towards revealing knowledge
Matsarya: Jealousy
Mamsa: Flesh
Mahabharata: Voluminous epic classified as Itihasa; composed bv Valmiki in 24,000 stanzas 98 times the size of Odessey
Medas: Fat
Meru-danda: Spinal column
Mimaamsa: Logical inquiry into Vedic Knowledge
Mithyaa: false
Moha: Infatuation or delusion
Moksha: Liberation
Mrtyu: Death or Lord Yama
Mrtyun-jaya: Conqueror of death
Mudra: Sealing posture
Muhurtam: Auspicious moment; a period of 48 minutes
Mukhya: Primary or chief
Mukhya-vritti: Power of words
Mukti: Liberation
Mula: Root
Muladhara chakra: Nerve plexus situated above the anus
Mula-prakriti: Ultimate subtle cause of matter
Muni: A sage
Murti: Idol

Naada: Inner mystical sound
Nadi: Psychic channels through which energy flows
Naivedya: Edible offering to deity at altar
Naama: Name
Narasimha: Man-lion manifestation of Vishnu
Narayana: Being that supports all beings or God
Neti: Hatta Yogic Kriya for cleansing nostrils
Neti-neti: ‘Not this-Not this’; Progressive analytical negation of names and forms in order to arrive at the eternal underlying Truth
Nidi-dhyaasana : Meditation; Third step in Vedantic sadhana after hearing and reflection
Nidra: Sleep or yoga-maya
Nirakaara: Formless
Niraa-lamba: Supportless
Niranjana: Spotless
Nirvana: Liberation from existence
Nirbhaya: Fearless
Nirbija: Seedless
Nirguna: Without attributes
Nirmala: Without impurity
Nirvikalpa: Without modification of the mind
Nischaya: Conviction
Nish-kaama: Without desire
Nish-kriya: without action
Nitya: Eternal
Nitya-mukta: Eternally free
Nivrtti: Renunciation
Niyama: second step of observances in Raja Yoga; internal and external purification, contentment, mortification, study, and worship
Nyaya: Logic

Ojas: Physical essence or spiritual energy and vitality developed through the creative power of celibacy
Om: Pranava or sacred syllable symbolizing Brahman
Om-tat-sat: Benediction of divine blessing when invoked

Pada: Foot or one quarter
Padartha: Substance or material
Padma: Lotus
Padmasana: Lotus pose or sitting cross-legged
Padya: One of 16 modes of formal worship: water for washing feet of deity
Pancha: Five
Pancha-akshara: Lord Shiva’s mantra of five letters: [Om] Na-mah-shi-vaa-ya
Pancha-kosha: Five sheaths of ignorance enveloping the Self
Panchi-karana: Quintuplation of 5 elements in the universe to form gross units of names and forms in the physical universe
Pandita: Scholar
Papa: Sin
Para: Supreme
Parama: Highest
Paramatma: Supreme Spirit
Parameshvara: Supreme Lord
Paraprakriti: Higher cosmic energy through which Brahman appears as individualized soul
Parpuma: Self-contained
Paroksha: Indirect
Parvati: Incarnation of Cosmic Mother; Shiva’s consort
Pashu: Cattle
Pashupati: Shiva as Lord of individuals
Pashyanti: Second subtle state of sound manifesting as physical sound
Patanjali: Propounder of the Yoga Philosophy and author of The Yoga Sutras
Pavana: Wind-god
Phala: Fruit or effect
Pingala nadi: Sympathetic channel starting in the right nostril; ascends to the ajnaa of the brain and then descends towards the base of the spine
Pippala: Holy fig tree
Pitr: Departed ancestor
Pitrloka: Heaven occupied by divine hierarchy of ancestors
Pitryana: Path taken by souls who have done meritorious works; they ascend to the region of the moon to enjoy fruits of their action in dhuma-marga or path of the smoke
Pitryagna: Oblations for gratifying departed ancestors
Prabhu: Lord
Pradakshina: Circumambulation around holy site or person
Pradhana: Prakriti according the sankhyan philosophy; the root base of all elements. Undifferentiated matter; material cause of world. Corresponds to Maya in Vedanta
Prajapati: Progenitor or Creator or Brahma
Pragnya: Awareness
Pragnya-atma: Intelligent self
Prakriti: Nature or Causal Matter
Pralaya: Dissolution with the merging of the cosmos into the unseen cosmic energy
Pramana: Proof or authority
Prameya: Object of proof or subject of inquiry
Prana: Breath or energy or soul
Pranamaya-kosha: Prana sheath enveloping the Self
Pranava: Aum
Pranayama: Regulation and restraint of breath; fourth limb of Ashtanga Yoga of Raja Yoga
Praapti: One of eight major siddhis
Prarabdha: Karma that determines present life
Prasad: Food dedicated to deity and shared with faithful devotees as grace
Pratima: Image
Pratishta: Reputation or installation
Pratyahara: Withdrawal of mind from senses and organs of action; fifth limb of Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga
Prayojana: Result
Prema: Divine love
Premabhava: Feeling of love
Prerana: Urging or prompting
Priya: Bliss derived from beloved object
Puja: Worship
Punya: Merit
Puraka: Inhalation
Purna: Full or complete
Purusha: Supreme Being lying in all hearts of all things; Universal psychic principle
Purusha-artha: Human effort: dharma, artha, kama, and moksha. Four aims of life: Ethics-Wealth-Desire-Liberation
Purushotama: Lord of Universe
Pushan: Sun-god
Pushti: Nourishment
Purana: Texts divided into 3 categories dealing with Creation destruction and renovation of worlds

Raaga: Attachments
Raga-dvesha: Attraction and repulsion; Likes and dislikes; love and hatred
Rajas: Passion; one of three aspects of or traits of cosmic energy; principle of dynamism in nature bringing about change; quality generates passion and restlessness
Raja yoga: Ashtanga Yoga propounded by Patanjali; system of meditation
Rakta: Blood
Rasa: Taste
Ramayana: Smaller of 2 epics of India which mirror highest ideals of Hindu tradition, culture and civilization; is classified as Itihasa
Ratna: Jewel
Rechaka: Exhalation of breath
Rig veda: contains hymns of praise Oldest book known to man with the ultimate Knowledge
Rishi: Sage
Ru: Second symbol of “guru” or Light
Ruchi: Taste
Rudraksha: Eye of Shiva; Seeds of berries used for rosaries
Rupa: Form

Sabda: Sound or word
Sat-chit-ananda: Absolute existence-knowledge-bliss
Sad-darshana: Six systems of thought or six philosophies of the Hindus: (1) Nyaya, (2) Vaishesika, (3) Sankhya, (4) Yoga, (5) Mimamsa, and (6) Vedanta
Sadhaka: Seeker
Saadhana: Quest or practice
Saadhu: Pious person
Sadvichara: Right inquiry
Sadvikara: Six bodily modifications: existence, birth, growth, change, decay and death
Saguna-brahma: Absolute conceived as mercy, omnipotence, as distinguished from undifferentiated Absolute
Sah: He
Sahaja: True or native
Sahasrahara: Cerebral cavity of a thousand petals
Saakshi: Witness
Sakshi-bhava: Remaining as a witness
Shakti: Power or energy
Shaiva: Pertaining to Shiva
Sama veda: Most voluminous of 4 vedas. Pure liturgical collection of Chants and melodies
Samaadhi: State of Oneness of soul and Spirit
Samadrishti: Equal vision
Samasti: Integrated entity
Samhita: Collection of hymns and formulae from 3das
Sampat: Perfection; virtue
Samsara: Life through repeated births and deaths
Samsari: Transmigrating soul
Samkalpa: Mental resolve
Samskara: Impression; prenatal tendency
Sam-vritti: Relative truth
Samyama: Perfect restraint; a complete condition of balance, repose, concentration, meditation and samadhi
Sanatana Dharma: Faith of Eternal Values or popularly called Hinduism
Sankalpa: Desire
Sankhyan: One of six Hindu philosophies founded by Kapila;
Samshaya: Doubt
Santosha: Contentment
Sanyasa: Renunciation of social ties; last stage of Hindu life; Stage of spiritual meditation
Sanyasi: Monk
Sharanagati: Surrender
Sharira: Body
Sarasvati: Goddess of Learning who sits at the base of tongue
Shastra: Manual of rules
Sruti: God-revealed statements or Vedas
Smriti: Man-realized eternal principles with practical applications according to changing times
Sat: Truth or Supreme Spirit
Satsanga: association with the wise
Sattva: Pure quality
Satya: Truth
Savikalpa: Without doubt
Savikalpa-samadhi: Samadhi with the triad of knower-knowledge-known
Shaucha: Cleanliness
Sidha: Sage
Siddhi: Supernatural powers
Shishya: Pupil
Shivoham: I am Shiva
Shloka: Verse of praise; usually containing 32 letters
Shodashi: Mother Nature conceived as 16 year old maiden
Sneha: Adhesiveness or friendship
Smriti: Memory
So’ham: “He I am” used in pranayama
Sphota: Manifestor
Sphuma: Throbbing or breaking up
Shradha: Faith
Shri: Wealth; Lakshmi
Shrotra: Ear
Shravana: Hearing; first stage of self development
Shubha: Blessed
Shudha: Pure
Shudra: Varna or caste of servant
Sthita prajna: Firm of wisdom
Sthula sharira: Perishable body
Stuti: Praise
Sukshma sharira: Subtle body capable of heaving
Shunya: Empty
Sutra: Short aphorisms about a topic
Sushumna: Main central nervous system channel of energy
Svadhisthana: Chakra above the organs of procreation
Svah: Sky

Tamas: Ignorant or quality of darkness and indolence
Tanmatra: Atom
Tantra: Sadhana emphasizing on esoteric Upanishads
Tantrika: Worshipping of Divine Mother
Tapas: Austerity
Tapatraya: Three sufferings of mortal existence (a) Adhyatmika: from one’s own body (b) Adhibhautika: from beings around him (c) Adhidevika: caused by devas
Tapaloka: Higher worlds
Tara: One form of Divine Mother
Tarka: Logic
Tattva: Element; essence
Tat-tvam-asi: That thou art
Tejas: Brilliance
Trigunamayi: Divine Mother who possesses three
Trpti: Satisfaction
Trshna: Thirsting
Tulasi: Holy basil plant sacred to Vishnu and venerated by Hindus
Tushti: Contentment
Tyaga: Renunciation of ego and vasanas and the world

Udana: Vital air that fills thoracic cavity
Umadevi: Consort of Shiva who imparted knowledge to Indra
Upadhi: Superimposed thing giving a colored view of substance beneath it
Upanishads: End philosophical portions of Vedas – together called Vedanta. 1179 Upanishads exist. 108 are considered authoritative. Of these, 10 are very important. (a) Upavedas: Subordinates to vedas – 4 in number (b) Ayur-veda for science of longevity found in Atharva veda (c) Dhanur-veda: for military science found in Yajur veda (d) Gandharva-veda: for science of music found in Sama veda (e) Stapathya-sastra: for science of mechanics found in Atharva veda

Vaada: Discussion
Vak: Speech
Vaanaprastha: Third stage of life as forest dweller
Vaikutha: Abode of Lord Vishnu
Vairagya: Dispassion
Vaishnava: Worshiper of Vishnu and his avatars
Vaishnavi: Power of Vishnu or Shakti or Energy
Varna: Class or caste
Varuna: Divine Intelligence presiding over water
Vasana: Desire or inclination
Vayu: Wind
Vasudeva: Krishna
Vata: One of three bodily humors
Vedas: Books of Knowledge or Hindu scriptures; four in number
Vedangas: Six in number: (1) siksha or phonetics; (2) vyakarna or grammar; (3) Nirukta or vedic glossary; (4) kalpa or religious rites; (5) Chhandas or prosody; and (6) jyotisha or astronomy
Vedanta: Philosophy of the Vedas located at the end of four vedas
Veda: Books of knowledge or Hindu scriptures; four in number; Essence of vedas classified under six schools based on same teachings
Veda-Upangas : Six in number; (1) nyaya by Gautama deals with Logic; (2) vaisheka by Kanada deals with theory of atoms and universe; (3) sankhya by Kapil deals with Nature and Spirit; (4) yoga by Patanjali deals with mastery of the soul; (5) mimamsa by jaimini deals with ritualism; (6) vedanta by Vyasa deals with philosophy and theology
Vidya: Knowledge of Brahman; there are two kinds of knowledge: Para-vidya and Apara-vidya, that assist in meditation and worship
Vighna: Obstacle
Vignesha: Ganesha
Vigyana: Pure Intelligence with knowledge of the Self
Vikalpa: Imagination or oscillating mind
Vikshepa: Wavering thoughts obstructing concentration
Viniyoga: Application
Virat: Macrocosm as Form of Lord in Manifested Universe
Vishva: Cosmos
Vishuddha chakra: Throat chakra
Viveka: Discrimination between Real and Unreal
Vrata: Resolution or vow
Vritti: Mental whirlpool
Vyana: One of five physiological functions of prana
Vyasa: Sage who wrote the Brahma Sutras
Vyadhi: Sickness

Yagna: Rite
Yajur veda: Contains formulae for rituals and ceremonies
Yama: Lord of death and dispenser of justice
Yatra: Pilgrimage
Yuga: Cycle of Creation
Yoga: Union or to connect soul with Spirit
Yoga Sutra: Classical work written by Patanjali
Yoga-danda: Wooden stick of 2ft with one end of U-shape; used for regulation of breath
Yogi: One who has erased his lower self and is identified with the Higher Self.
Yoga-maya: Power of divine illusion
Yoga-nidra: Yogic sleep when individual retains slight awareness
Yogeshvara: Lord of Yoga or Krishna
Yoni: Womb
Yuga: Divisions of Time. There are four yugas: Kali, Dvapara; Treta; Satya. All four together are known as Chatur-yuga (or one cycle, which is 1.2 million years ^{*different from 4.32 million years per Vedas, hence author is using a different model. Perhaps by Yukteswar in the book ‘Holy Science'}). (1) Kaliyuga is of 12,000 years; (2) Dvapara-yuga is twice as long; (3) Treta-yuga is thrice as long; and (4) Satyayuga is four times as long. ^{*Again, author is using a non-Veda model. Proper model on 4.32 million years.}

Sanskrit Glossary of Vedantic Terms

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