GLOSSARY OF SANSKRIT TERMS
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Adhvā:
Advaita: Āgama: Ahaṁkāra: Anāhata: Ānanda: Antaḥkaraṇa: Anunāsika: Apāna: Asamprajñāta: Āsana: Asmitā: Aṣṭāṁga: Ātman: Avidyā: Bhairava: Bhairavī: Brahmacarya: Brahmā: Brahman: Buddhi: Caitanya: Cakra: Cit: Dharma: Deva: Dvādaśānta: Guṇa: Guru: Hari: Hiraṇyagarbha: Hṛdaya: Indriyas: Īśvara: Japa: Jīva: Jñāna: Jñānendriya: Kaivalya: Karma: Karmendriya: Kleśa: Kośa: Kṛṣṇa: Kuṇḍalinī: Mahat: Mala: Mantra: Māyā: Mokṣa: Mudra: Nāda: Nāda-bindu: Nāḍī: Netra Tantra: Nirvāṇa: Nirvikalpa: Niyama: Oṁ: Para: Parādevi: Paramātma: Prājña: Prakṛti: Prāṇa: Prāṇāyāma: Prārabdha: Puruṣaḥ: Rajas: Rudra: Sadāśiva: Sādhanā: Samādhi: Samāna: Saṁkalpa: Sāṁkhya: Saṁnyāsa: Saṁnyāsin: Saṁprajñāta: Saṁsāra: Saṁskāra: Saṁyama: Sat: Satcitānanda: Sattva: Savikalpa: Siddha: Siddhi: Suṣumnā: Sūtra: Śaiva: Śakti: Śambhu: Śaṅkara: Śāntā: Śiva: Śrī: Taijasa: Tamas: Tanmātra: Tantra: Tat: Tattva: Trika: Tripura: Triśirobhairava Tantra: Turīya: Turya: Udāna: Upādhi: Upaniṣad: Vaiśvānara: Varṇa: Vāsanā: Vāsudeva: Veda: Vedānta: Vicāra: Vijñāna: Vikalpa: Virāṭ: Visarga: Viṣṇu: Vitarka: Vyāna: Yama: Yoga: |
literally: "course"; specifically the six courses, which is the Śaiva concept of how creation manifests. For a detailed explanation of this concept, go here
non-dual, without duality; peerless, sole sacred text considered to come directly from Śiva literally: "I-making"; the making of self, ego, the conception of self, self-conceit unbeaten, produced without striking bliss literally: "inner organ"; mind consisting of thinking mind (manas) ego (ahaṁkāra) and intellect (buddhi); the seat of thought and feelings The nasal sound designated by the crescent and dot as in the word Oṁ inhalation; vital air or energy associated with elimination without cognitive knowledge posture for meditation the sense of I-ness; egoism; I-sense; one of the mental afflictions literally: "eight limbs"; eight divisions or aspects; eightfold Self; mind; nature ignorance; mistaking non-self for the Self The Highest Reality, Śiva, God Śaktī; the energy, manifestation, and I-consciousness of Bhairava the lifestyle of a spiritual or religious student; celibacy God as the creator; one of the three major Hindu deities The Absolute Reality; God intellect; spiritual wisdom; insight, reason; the first evolute of Prakṛti absolute consciousness; being-awareness literally: "wheel"; centers of prāṇic energy located along the center channel (suṣumnā) pure awareness; consciousness; intelligence righteousness, ethical conduct; virtue; duty; law; practice; religion divine; celestial; effulgent; a god or supreme being literally: "end of 12"; the length equal to the width of 12 fingers. Dvādaśānta is a point of concentration, usually one of three: the chest, between the eyebrows, and the crown of the head characteristic, quality; one of the three constituents of physical nature: Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas teacher, guide; a venerable person Viṣṇu, God literally: "the golden womb"; the Vedic source of the universe; cosmic mind the heart center; the seat of consciousness; the Self five cognitive functions: seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling and the five active functions: speaking, handling, locomotion, excreting, and procreating - making ten in all lord, master; God, supreme being literally: "whispering"; repetition of prayer, mantra, or sacred text individual soul or person; limited being knowledge, wisdom organ or function of knowledge: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell complete detachment; discrimination between non-self and Self; liberation action; work, labor, activity; a religious act or rite; consequences of one’s actions; fate organ or function of action: speech, handling, locomotion, elimination, and procreation literally: "affliction", "pain"; mental fluctuations that lead to bondage and hinder spiritual growth sheath, cover; one of the five sheaths (Food, Prāṇa, Mental, Knowledge, and Bliss) that surround the Self. literally: "black"; the teacher of the Bhagavad Gītā, considered to be an incarnation of Viṣṇu creative energy that rests at the base of the spine like a coiled snake. Through certain Yoga practices, this energy unfolds, energizing the cakras, as it rises to the point at the crown of the head intellect; the first evolute of Prakṛti; (usually Mahat is macro and Buddhi is micro) impurity; limitation literally: "instrument of thought"; speech; a sacred formula; mystical verse; incantation; prayer; hymn illusion, the veiling and projecting power of Brahman liberation, freedom; spiritual emancipation Yoga posture used to aid concentration and bring about higher levels of consciousness to sound, bellow, thunder; the divine sound literally: "seed sound"; the primal sound; Oṁ a subtle channel through which prāṇa flows Agama that describes nine mantras that correspond to the nine elemental principles from Śiva to Prakṛti blown or put out, as in a lamp or fire; extinguished; liberated from existence; extreme joy, bliss literally: "without vikalpa" (see below); freedom from difference or dichotomizing thoughts observance the sound form of Brahman, pronounced AUM higher, superior; supreme literally: "supreme goddess"; Śakti the Supreme Self literally: "consciousness"; the Self in the state of deep sleep matter; physical nature; the unmanifest universe breath, vital air; life force; exhalation; specific vital air or energy associated with respiration the Yoga practice of controlling the breath literally: "destiny"; that portion of one's karma that is currently bearing fruit the Self; soul; spirit passion, activity, restlessness; one of the three constituents of physical nature literally: "Howler"; God as the destroyer (of the ego and the world at the end of time); Śiva Śiva as divine grace and goodness. The third of 36 tattvas in the Shaivite system; Sadāśiva tattva is dominated by willpower and I-consciousness spiritual or devotional practice absorption concentration; the state of union of mind and Self vital air or energy associated with digestion and assimilation conception, idea, or notion formed in the mind; will, volition; desire; purpose; intention literally: "calculation" or "discrimination"; wisdom; one of the three major philosophical systems in classical India renunciation; throwing down; abandonment one who renounces all worldly concerns; an ascetic, religious mendicant with cognitive knowledge transmigratory existence; the cycle of birth, growth, death, and rebirth latent mental impressions of thoughts, words, and actions literally: "bound together"; Integrated Meditation; the practice of concentration, meditation, and samādhi on a single object being, existence; truth Being-Awareness-Bliss; the nature of Brahman reality, goodness, purity, harmony; one of the three constituents of physical nature with vikalpa (see below) perfected; accomplished; a sage or holy person; a mystic or magician; a semi-divine being perfection; attainment; supernatural or mystic power attained through Yoga practice channel in the center of the spine in which prāṇa flows string, thread, line; aphorism, precept; rule, decree literally: "pertaining to Śiva"; Shaivism, the system or worship of Śiva literally: "power", "energy"; dynamic form and I-consciousness of the Absolute Granter of Happiness; Śiva the giver of happiness or prosperity; Śiva appeased, pacified; tranquil, undisturbed; peaceful Auspicious One; God; static form of the Absolute; one of the three major Hindu deities splendor; beauty; prosperity; majesty; an honorific prefix to names of deities and eminent persons literally: "bright"; the Self in the dream state darkness; inertia, stupor; one of the three constituents of physical nature the five subtle elements: sound as-such, touch as-such, color as-such, flavor as-such, and odor as-such scripture or sacred text; doctrine, science; system that, often used to refer to the Supreme Reality literally: "thatness"; truth; reality; nature; a fundamental element of both the cosmos and the individual non-dual Śaiva philosophy. Name means threefold, referring to the trinity of Śiva, Śakti, and Nara (human) literally: "three cities"; the three states of consciousness: wakefulness, dream, and deep sleep Tantric scripture that summarizes manifestation under three categories: Śiva, Śakti, and Nara (human) literally: "fourth"; the fourth state of consciousness, the state of Being-Awareness-Bliss of the Self same as "Turīya" above vital air or energy associated with speech an ajunct, substitute; phantom; limitation; deception literally: "to sit down near"; teaching, esp. secret or mystical teachings; Vedic scriptures that expound the unity of Brahman and the Self literally: "universal"; universal consciousness, the Self in the wakeful state letter; the practice of listening to Nāda (divine sound) subliminal impressions of experiences that create latent tendencies (vāsu: the spirit within all beings; deva: divine) Divine Self name of the four scriptures that form the basis for Hindu beliefs and practices literally: "end of the Vedas"; the philosophy of the Upaniṣads subtle thought; thought without words; perception; intuition; distinction comprehending, understanding; realized knowledge; science difference in perception; distinction; an idea as different from another, dichotomizing thought; thought-construct; imagination, fantasy the macrocosm; the universal body; the physical universe personified literally: "sending forth"; the sanskrit character "ḥ" or ":" at the end of a word or mantra and pronounced as a short aspiration God as the maintainer and protector; one of the three major Hindu deities gross though; thought with words; argument, reasoning; inference; conjecture vital air or energy associated with circulation restraint; self control literally: "union"; to yoke, join; the system by which the individual self is united with the Absolute |
