A

abhaya: absence (a-) of fear (bhaya); fearlessness.

Abhimanyu: he was one of the sons of Arjuna, cousin of Krishna, one of the most heroic warriors of the Pandava side. His name comes from abhi, to destroy, and manyu, which means all evil qualities in mankind.

abhyasa yoga: the yoga of practice of self-discipline.

Achyuta: one of the names of Krishna. It is derived from a "not" and chyuta "deviation"—i.e. "One who is not separated from the body."

adharma: absence (a-) of righteousness (dharma); irreligion.

adhyaya: to read and study; part of a book, viz. a chapter.

advaita vedanta: the philosophy of non-dual realization of the One.

Agni (the deity): the fire-god from ancient Vedic times.

agni (the elemental energy): the fire present in all the seven centers. Its special elemental presence is in the navel (food) center.

ahamkara: this word is made of aham (I) and kara (maker), i.e. the ego, one’s sense of doership.

ahara ("food"): eating, drinking, and sense perception.

ahavaniya agni: the name of the fire in the dorsal (heart) center.

ahimsa: non (a-) violence (himsa), non-injury to others in thought, word or deed.

ajña chakra ("command wheel"): the place of concentration inside the pituitary, i.e. the soul center.

akarya: unwanted work by which the life or prana is not in harmony or peace.

akasha ("ether"): the sky or space; ether.

akrodha: absence (a-) of anger (krodha).

akshara-brahma ("immobile God"): the imperishable indwelling Self.

akuler: helper of the helpless.

alasya: dullness; lacking vitality, and strength. One of the obstacles of yoga.

aloluptva ("non-wavering"): freedom from greed and desire.

amla : acidic food and alcohol.

amrita ("immortal"): nectar which gives immortality; the deathless state.

anahata: non-stopping.

anahata chakra ("wheel of the unstruck [sound]"): the dorsal (heart) center

ananda: bliss

Anantavijaya ("Infinite victory"): the name of king Yudhisthira’s conch.

andaja: creatures born (ja) of eggs (anda).

anganyasa ("placing (nyasa) the limbs (anga)"): practicing God-perception in the different limbs of the body.

apaishunam: aversion to fault-finding; freedom from jealousy.

apana ("down breath"): one of the five main pranas (vital energies), responsible for elimination; metaphorically, apana means "not yet taken or drunk", i.e. the fresh air for inhalation.

apara vidya: knowledge of the phenomenal world or material knowledge.

ardana: to crush or destroy.

arjava ("rectitude"): straightforwardness or simplicity; literally, this is uprightness of the body, mind, senses, and behavior.

Arjuna: one of the five Pandava brothers; he was the third son of Kunti, born mystically through union with the god Indra. His name comes from a (not) rajju (rope) na (not), "One who is not bound by the rope of the world, although he thinks he is at first". His power resides in the food center.

arogyam: a healthy, disease-free body.

artha: material prosperity; to earn wealth in a righteous way; one of the four vital accomplishments in human life.

asad: falsehood.

asamshakti: a stage of samadhi in which a yogi experiences a divine nectar coming down from the fontanel. Yogis perceive tremendous bliss from tasting it, which gives them transcendental joy.

asana ("seat"): sitting; posture; a place to sit for prayer and meditation; the third limb of Patañjali’s ashtanga yoga system.

ashtanga yoga ("eight-limbs yoga"): the path of complete spiritual development propounded by sage Patañjali.

Ashvatthama: The son of Dronacharya, guru to both the Pandavas and the Kauravas. His name comes from a (no) sva (up to tomorrow) tha (existence) ma (no), "That which has existence tomorrow".

astikya ("it-is-ness"): perceiving the power of God in every breath; literal belief in the Vedas and the doctrine of rebirth.

atma or atman ("Self"): the soul.

atmakasha: cosmic-conscious stage at the fontanel; one of the five levels of the subtle vacuum located between the ajña (soul center) and sahasrara (fontanel) chakras.

atom-point: a point of no breadth, no length and no depth, which contains the whole power of creation, maintenance and dissolution of the universe; the fontanel.

atyusna: food that is very hot in temperature.

AUM: the primordial, eternal divine sound heard in deep meditation; it represents the three bodies of every human being or the triple divine qualities: A is the causal body (sound), U is the astral body (vibration), and M is the physical body (light).

avabodhasya: wakefulness—the true seekers of soul always remain alert on God in every mental and emotional state.

avankvak: the talk of the formless.

avyakta ("unmanifest"): beyond the perception of the senses.

ayamatma brahma: "This soul is Brahman"—one of the four great pronouncements of the Vedas.

Ayodhya: a capital city where Lord Rama reigned after his 14 years of exile.

ayuh: life; life span; health.

ayukta: one who is not (a) disciplined (yukta), i.e. not on the path of yoga.

ayurveda: ("life science"): medicine of mind, body and soul; one of the upavedas, divinely revealed sciences in India.

Babaji Maharaj: the great incarnation (mahavatar) of God who re-introduced the lost spiritual science of Kriya Yoga in 1861.

bahu ("that which enables to carry"): arms (upper extremities).

bala: power, strength, vitality, vigor.

bandha ("bond"): one who is in bondage; obstacle.

Bhagavan (or Bhagawan, Bhagwan): God; a title given to a great realized saint, such as Ramana Maharshi, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, etc.

bhakti kanda: pertaining to the yoga of divine love.

bhakti yoga: the yoga of divine love.

Bharata: India; one of the first kings of India; an epithet for Arjuna (sometimes also for Yudhisthira). Bha means divine illumination and rata means engrossed—the state of expansion attained by the life force (prana), in which brilliant divine light is perceived.

bhargah: the almighty father, the real sun of the universe.

bhava: mood; being; feeling.

bhavan: the pronoun ‘You’; the creator.

bhaya: fear. The greatest fears are death and losing happiness.

Bhima: one of the five Pandava brothers; he was the second son of Kunti, born mystically through union with the god Vayu (air). His power resides in the heart and lungs.

Bhishma: the commander-in-chief of the Kauravas. His name means firm determination of mind, but he also has a false sense of prestige and strong will power; he cannot make correct decisions due to his occasional wrong associations.

bhoja: enjoying divine bliss. In this material world, there are many persons who are born for God-realization, but if they remain attached to their ego and whims, their life is not complete and they do not attain the supreme goal.

bhokta, bhoktri: the experiencer.

bhuh-loka: the first of the seven upper spheres of existence (loka). Corresponds to the money (earth) center.

Bhurishrava: one of the warriors on the side of the Kauravas. Bhuri means many, and shrava means to hear. So Bhurishrava means one who is hearing many things about someone or something, so his mind becomes bewildered and indecisive.

bhuta yajña: oblation or offerings to animals, spirits, and the elements.

bhuti: prosperity, wealth, glory.

bhuvah-loka: the second of the seven upper spheres of existence (loka). Corresponds to the procreation (water) center.

bija: seed.

bija mantra ("seed word"): seed-syllable (most basic mantra).

Brahma: soul, Krishna; God in His aspect of Creator; the first of the Vedic trinity.

brahmachari: one who observes the vow of brahmacharya.

brahmacharya: literally means celibacy and sense-control; esoterically brahmacharya means "to roam (char) in God (Brahma)", i.e. to live in constant God-consciousness.

Brahman: God the formless. Derived from the root brih, "to grow" or "to expand".

brahmananda: divine bliss; the perennial joy of God.

brahmanirvana: to be absorbed in soul and to feel that in every action, the soul is doing everything from within.

Brahma Sutras: one of the three fundamental scriptures (known collectively as prasthana trayi) for God-realization, written by Veda Vyasa.

brahmavadi: those who are always after God, truth, and the soul in every thought, word, and deed.

brahma vidya: the knowledge of the Absolute.

brahmin: the first caste in the ancient Vedic social system of priests and teachers; metaphorically those who are on the spiritual path; to be in God (Brahman).

buddhi: the intellect; faculty of decision.

C

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu: a realized master and God-intoxicated monk of fifteenth-century India.

chakra ("wheel"): a spiritual center-plexus in the spinal column and brain. Derived from the root verb char, "to move".

charvya: food which is chewed. One of the four types of food described in the Bhagavad Gita.

chaturanga ("four limbs"): refers to the last four limbs of the ashtanga yoga system.

chaturveda: the four Vedas.

Chekitana: a spiritual warrior on the side of Pandava. Chekitana comes from chekit, which means within a short time, and tana, which means the divine sound and the various melodies which are the inaudible talk of God.

chidakasha: "life force" of human beings in the pituitatry; one of the five levels of the subtle vacuum located between the ajña (soul center) and sahasrara (fontanel) chakras.

chitra: a nerve channel inside the spinal canal which gives extreme attachment and delusion at the navel and heart centers.

chitta: memory. Derived from the root chit, "to be conscious".

choshya: food which is eaten by sucking. One of the four types of food described in the Bhagavad Gita.

coccygeal center: the muladhara chakra located in the bottom center, corresponding to the earth element.

cosmic consciousness: a state in which one is merged in God–free from all bonds. In this state one feels the vacuum, hears divine sound from the high heaven down to the ground, and sees light pervading the universe.

D

daharakasha: "inner fire" born of meditation above the pituitary; one of the five levels of the subtle vacuum located between the ajña (soul center) and sahasrara (fontanel) chakras.

daiva: destiny or providence; God.

dakshina agni ("fire of the south"): fire of the money center.

dama: self-restraint.

Damodara: the name given to Shri Krishna by His adoptive mother Yashoda, meaning "very big belly."

dana: generosity; donation; charity.

darshana ("vision"): holy vision or experience; the path of knowledge; philosophy.

dasha: the ten stages of life in which ego, desires, and attachments gradually develop, from birth to death.

Dasharatha: Lord Rama’s father. Metaphorically, each human body is dasha (ten doors) and ratha (chariot), the chariot of the ten doors of the sense organs, out of which nine doors are open and the tenth door, the fontanel, is closed.

daya ("sympathy"): compassion; da means to give or donate, and ya means motion or the power of God.

deha: the body. Derived from the root dih, "to anoint", "to smear".

dehin ("embodied one"): the indwelling Self.

deva ("shining one"): a god or deity; divine quality.

Devadatta ("God-given"): name of Arjuna’s conch.

Devaki: the wife of Vasudeva, father of Krishna.

devil’s kingdom: when the consciousness remains in the five lower centers below the pituitary.

dhairya: patience and perseverance, calmness.

dhanam: ordinarily means "wealth", but it also represents the six human qualities of birth, death, sorrow, happiness, appetite, and thirst.

Dhanamjaya: derived from dhanam jayati iti—he who conquers the six human qualities (dhanam) of birth, death, sorrow, happiness, appetite, and thirst.

dhanurdharah: one who holds the bow—a metaphor for self-control.

dharana: concentration; the sixth limb of Patañjali’s ashtanga yoga system.

dharma: ordinarily translated as "religion" or "righteousness", dharma comes from dhri, which means the power of receptivity, and man, which means life. Thus dharma means "that which upholds", i.e. the breath. Breath is the true religion.

Dharmakshetra: name of the battlefield where the great Mahabharata war took place. Dharma means the power of breath, and kshetra means place. Dharmakshetra means where our living soul remains.

dhatu ("constituent"): the power that is remaining inside the pituitary; metal; vital energy; semen.

dhri: root; firmness.

Dhrishtadyumna: a great warrior on the side of the Pandavas; the brother of Draupadi and son of Drupada, born fully grown to kill Dronacharya. Dhrishta means obstinacy and restlessness, and dyumna means the power to control the obstinacy which comes from the external world.

Dhrishtaketu: a great warrior on the side of Pandava. His name comes from dhrishtan ketava yakshah. Dhrishtan means without head, having only a body, while ketu is a dragon’s tail. So Dhrishtaketu is always seeking his head. The true seekers of God will always keep their attention focused between the neck cervical junction and the fontanel.

Dhritarashtra: the blind king, representing the mind. He was the eldest brother of king Pandu, and the father of Duryodhana and the 100 evil Kaurava bothers.

dhriti: fortitude; steadiness.

dhruvaniti: established in morality.

dhwani ("sound"): inner sound perceived during and after meditation.

dhyana: meditation; the seventh limb of Patañjali’s ashtanga yoga system.

dirghasutri: a procrastinating person.

divine Kingdom: the fontanel; the cave of the cranium; the abode of the Almighty.

divine Mother: the ever-compassionate God, who teaches the supreme secret with extreme love to the able disciple and obedient child.

divya: light; divine; sky, heaven.

dorsal center: the heart center or anahata chakra.

drashta: a seer.

drashtavyam: object worth of seeing and perceiving.

Draupadeya: the five sons of Draupadi, who is the common wife of the five Pandava brothers. Her sons are the essence, or the atom power, of the five Pandavas.

Draupadi: the wife of the five Pandavas. "Wife" means shakti, or power. Here, Draupadi is the shakti of the five gross elements. Shakti means the life of the plants which comes from the five gross elements (earth, water, light, air, and vacuum), or the five Pandavas.

Dronacharya: the guru of both the Kauravas and the Pandavas. The word Dronacharya comes from the word druban dhatu, which means something that melts quickly. Dronacharya is a person of vacillating temperament who cannot judge right from wrong.

Drupada: the greatest warrior on the side of the Pandavas. Drupada is short for druta pada, which means you are to walk quickly and to finish your duty—to realize the superconsciousness within you.

duhkha ("sorrow"): deviation from one’s real state; to be engrossed in the lower centers, which breeds pain. . Derived from duh "difficult" and kha "space".

duhkhanta: the end (anta) of suffering (duhkha).

Duhshasana: the second oldest son of Dhritarashtra, the blind king. Having disrobed the virtuous queen Draupadi, he symbolizes lust.

Duryodhana: the eldest son of Dhritarashtra the blind king; he is evil-minded, malicious, and always misguided by evil ministers and bad company.

dvesha: hatred, aversion; one of the five causes of afflictions (klesha).

dvija: twice born. The first birth is from the parents, for our physical existence; the second birth is from the spiritual master, for our liberation.

dwapara yuga: the "bronze" age in the Vedic cosmological system of cyclical time.

Dwaraka: the impregnable city founded by Krishna in the middle of the sea. It comes from dwara "door" and ka "where". It symbolizes the fontanel, about which all seekers are asking "Where is the door?"

F

fire ceremony: when one feels that every breath is an oblation to the fire in the fontanel for the love of God.

food-center: manipura chakra; also called the navel center, where the fire of digestion takes place.

formless stage: the state of vacuum and nothingness, where there is no feeling of body or worldly sense.

G

Ganesha: the elephant-faced deity, remover of obstacles and incarnation of wisdom. It corresponds to the money (earth) center.

gayatri mantra: the 24-syllable Vedic mantra for spiritual evolution and liberation.

ghee: clarified butter.

Gheranda Samhita: a classical treatise on yoga as taught by sage Gheranda.

Girish Ghose: a householder devotee of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, who was completely transformed from extreme negativity to deepest spirituality.

Gita ("song"): usually refers to the Bhagavad Gita, "The song of the Lord".

God-consciousness: every thought, word, and action are God-oriented; there are no other thoughts.

God-realization: a state of constant peace, bliss, and joy.

goraksha: consists of two parts: go and raksha. Go means the world, i.e. the body land; raksha means its maintenance. Thus when the senses and the mind are well regulated and trained, the body is maintained and protected. Another meaning of go is tongue, so goraksha also refers to the control of the tongue that a student of Kriya Yoga practices. Goraksha is also another name of Gorakhnath, the great hatha yogi.

Govinda: one of the names of Krishna. It is derived from go, vin and da. Go means the whole world, vin means energy and pleasure, and da means to give to the entire universe. Govinda is the one who gives energy and pleasure to the entire universe.

granthi: knot; attachment.

grihapati agni ("fire of the householder"): the fire in the sacral (second) center used in household activities.

Gudakesha: another name of Arjuna; derived from gudaka and Isha. Gudaka means sloth, idleness and sleep, Isha means conqueror. Arjuna is the conqueror of sleep–always wakeful to the presence of Krishna, the soul.

guhya: the secret in each human being, hidden in the cranium.

guhyavidya ("secret science"): Kriya Yoga, which is personally from the teacher to the qualified disciple.

gunas ("strand" or "quality"): the three qualities of nature known as: tamas (idleness and sloth), rajas (extreme activity and restlessness) and sattvas (spirituality).

gunatita ("transcending the qualities"): beyond the play of the three qualities of nature (gunas).

gunatraya: the triple qualities (gunas) of nature.

guru ("weighty one"), gurudev(a): spiritual preceptor. It is made of two syllables: gu is the invisible soul body, and ru is the luster of the physical body. This luster is remaining because the indwelling Self is inhaling from within. This is guru consciousness. See also hamsa.

H

ham: the gross body or instrument of the soul. The soul is the doer and the gross body is the instrument. Ham also refers to the ego.

ham-ksha: the last two letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, representing the individual self and the supreme Self in the pituitary.

hamsa: the material perishable body is ham. The power by which you inhale through your nose is sa, which means your own soul. In the hamsa stage you forget your existence and only feels that sa, inhalation, is the life of the gross body.

hamsa sadhana: ham denotes the physical which cannot survive without sa the soul. Ham, which is absorbed in the biological body gradually comes up into the pituitary where sa abides.

Hanuman: the son of air and faithful servant of Lord Rama, in the form of a mighty monkey. According to mythology, he was a half-brother to Bhima.

hatha yoga ("union (yoga) of the sun (ha) and moon (tha) [principles]"): a branch of yogic discipline, designed to regulate the energy in the body and mind.

heart-center: see dorsal center.

himsa ("harm"): maliciousness, injury.

homa ("offering"): a fire ceremony to achieve a specific aim.

hridaya: the heart. Derived from hri, "to receive", da, "to give", and ya, "Godl".

Hrishikesha: derived from hrishika, which means each body part and the five senses, and isha, which means soul. So Hrishikesha means the one who is the conductor of our five sense telephones and of each of our body parts.

I

ida: a nerve channel on the left side of the sushumna in which the vital air passes through. The ida corresponds to the tamasic quality of nature.

Ikshwaku: a king of the solar dynasty. Solar means ‘from the sun’, but the soul is the real sun.

ikshwaku nadi: a small cord (nadi) in the spinal canal near the neck center which gives extreme attachment and delusion in the heart center.

indriyas ("difficult to control"): the sense organs.

Isha ("ruler"): the Lord.

Ishana ("ruler"): one of the names of Lord Shiva.

Isha Upanishad: one of the principal Upanishads.

Ishvara ("foremost ruler"): the ruler of the universe.

ishvarabhava: lordliness; metaphorically this describes your relationship with God and the soul—to love God and accept His sovereignty in every aspect of life.

J

Jagadisha Gita: A commentary of the Bhagavad Gita by Jagadisha Chandra Ghosh.

Jamuna river: see Yamuna.

janah-loka: the fifth of the seven upper spheres of existence (loka). Corresponds to the neck (ether) center.

Janaka: a sage and great king, father of Sita, the wife of Lord Rama.

Janardana: a name of Krishna. It is derived from jananan and ardana. Jananan means a demonic power that is always in every human being; ardana means to crush or to destroy.

janman: birth or life. Every inhalation brings birth or life.

japa ("recitation"): chanting and remembering the holy name of God, as in a mantra.

jarayuja: mammals born of wombs.

Jayadratha: derived from jaya, which means to win, and drath, which means to bluff with eloquent words. Jayadratha was an uncultured person. He was always bluffing, and people were convinced by his exaggerations.

jayati: victory, success.

-ji: a suffix attached to a person’s name or title, connoting love and respect. Example: Swamiji.

jijñasu: a true spiritual seeker who has constant desire for God-realization.

jit: to conquer, to win.

jivanmukta ("living liberated"): one who is liberated while still abiding in the physical body.

jiva tattva: the principle of the individual Self. Jiva means "life" or "alive", and tattva "thatness".

jñana: knowledge of the essence, secret, and significance of all the holy books. Spiritual knowledge is also obtained from personally listening to the words of a realized master.

Jñana Sankalini Tantra: a classical treatise on the knowledge of the Self.

jñana yajña: one who closes all the doors of the body, who comes up from the lower centers and sits in the fontanel and offers the whole mind, thought, intellect, ego, body sense, and worldly sense to the fire of knowledge, is practicing jñana yajña; the discussion of scriptural truth by the teacher and the student.

jñana yoga: the path of reasoning and discrimination; yoga of knowledge.

jñanayogavyavashitis: one who is established in the knowledge of the Self.

jñanendriyas ("cognitive senses"): the five instruments of perception: eyes, ears, mouth, skin, and nose.

jñata: someone who is truly willing to know God.

jñeya: perceiving only God, perceiving God in everything at all times and in all places.

jyotis ("light"): illumination; see also: navadwara-ruddha mudra.

jyoti mudra: the process of regulating, controlling, and channeling the energy of the nine doors.

K

Kaitabha: the destroyer.

kaivalya ("aloneness"): the highest state of God-consciousness; the Supreme.

kala: time; death.

Kali: the divine Mother.

Kaliya: a pond in Vrindavan that contained a venomous snake, which was tamed by Krishna.

kali yuga: the dark or "iron" age in the Vedic cosmological system of cyclical time.

Kamadhenu: the divine wish-fulfilling cow, a metaphor for the soul which is in the body or the power of God that has entered into all the creation. Anything that you ask from her will be given to you immediately.

Kamsa: the evil maternal uncle of Krishna who tried to kill him.

kanda ("bulb"): a branch.

kapidhwaja: derived from kapi, "son of air" (i.e. Hanuman), and dhwaja, "banner". On Krishna and Arjuna’s chariot was a banner bearing the emblem of Hanuman. The principal meaning is that Krishna (soul) is the life of every human being, constantly pulling the air through our nose (inhalation).

Kapila: kapila means copper color; in meditation, one perceives this copper color. Kapila was a perfect being, realized from the moment of his birth.

karana: the twelve instruments or organs—five organs of action (vocal chords, hands, feet, rectum, and sex organ), five organs of perception (touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing), and the mind and intellect.

Karar Ashram: founded by Swami Shriyukteshwarji in the holy city of Puri, on the east coast of India.

karishye: the promise to do or accomplish something.

karma(n): action; duty; the law of cause and effect.

karma-phala: fruition of actions.

karma sannyasa: to renounce attachment to action—to remain calmly in the fontanel and compassionately detached while doing any kind of work and perceiving that the soul is the real doer in your body.

karma yoga: the yoga of action—to offer every action as worship to God.

karmendriyas ("action organs"): the five organs of action: vocal chords, feet, hands, rectum, and genitals.

Karna: eldest son of Queen Kunti, the most powerful warrior among all the armies of both the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Karna, in Sanskrit, means ears. Our ears want to hear melodious song, sweet words, praise, flattery, and soothing talk.

karna rasayana: holy word, mantra, divine sound, pleasing to the ears.

karta: the agent of action—the cause by which the body is activated.

karya: duty, real activity. The work that should be undertaken, in other words, the practice of Kriya—pranakarma is the real work to be done.

Kashiraja: literally, the king (raja) of Kashi (another name for Benares, or Varanasi). Metaphorically, it comes from kashyate which means "to illuminate" and rajyam, "kingdom". This is the kingdom of brilliant illumination, i.e. the human body.

katu: a pungent, disagreeable taste.

Kaunteya: "son of Kunti", i.e. Arjuna. Kunti means sharp intelligence. Arjuna is the son of sharp intelligence because he is always seeking the truth and striving to fix his attention in the pituitary and above.

Kaurava: the evil warriors opposed to the Pandavas in battle. Kaurava comes from kuru, or kur, and rava. Kur means to do work, and rava means disposition given by the soul from above for the delusion of human beings. So the Kaurava party represents the millions of cells, tissues, and atoms in our gross body which are forcing us to commit evils, giving us delusion and illusion.

keshi: the delusive power or negative qualities.

kevali kumbhaka ("absolute retention"): a special breathing technique.

Kena Upanishad: one of the principal Upanishads.

Keshava: another name of Krishna that means the Lord of creation, preservation, and dissolution, but this word has a special significance. Keshava is made of ka (in the head)+ isha (lord) + va (abode).

khechari: a special mudra practiced in yoga. It is derived from kha ("space") and char ("to roam")—to roam in the vacuum of meditation.

kri: any work, activity or action.

Kripa ("grace"): name of the guru of the Kauravas and Pandavas.

Krishna: made of krishi, "cultivation" (of the body land) and na, the power of God. Lord Krishna, the divine incarnation, represents the indwelling Self who is conductor of the body.

kriya: action.

Kriya Yoga: the science of self-control and Self-realization through meditation.

krodha: anger, one of the "gates to hell".

kshama ("patience"): forgiveness.

kshanti ("forbearance"): forgiveness, accommodation.

kshara ("mobile"): perishable.

kshatriya: the second caste of warriors in the ancient Vedic social system; metaphorically, those who constantly fight with lower qualities to reach the divine goal.

kshayam: complete elimination or destruction.

kshetra: the body land; a holy place of pilgrimage.

kshetrajña: the knower of the body field; the one who is the director, conductor, evolver, and protector of the body.

Kubja: a very ugly hunchback who decorated Krishna with sandal paste, thereby obtaining His grace.

kulakshaye: the word kulakshaye is composed of kula and kshaye. Kula means "dynasty" or "family" (akuler kul means helper of the helpless—so God is the only helper of every helpless person). Kshaye means destruction. Kulakshaye means that one who is not seeking God will find spiritual destruction and will be deprived of joy, peace, and bliss.

kumbhaka ("potlike"): retention of breath.

kundalini: serpent power; tremendous life-force energy centered at the base of the spine.

Kunti: mother of the five Pandava brothers and of Karna. The power that is remaining inside the pituitary is called kun (dhatu) ti; kun means atom–the finest atom point in the soul.

Kuntibhoja: one of the warriors on the Pandavas’ side. His name is derived from kunti (pinpointed attention in the soul) and bhoj (enjoying divine bliss)—one who is constantly absorbed in God and in divine bliss. Kuntibhoja also means one who holds his attention, like the needle of a compass, in the pituitary.

Kuru: the ancestor to both the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Kuru means "to do"—to do work.

kurukshetra: contains the words kuru and kshetra. Kuru means "to do", and kshetra means "field". Every human life is a work field. But the doer of the body field is soul, Krishna. Kurukshetra is also a holy place where the Mahabharata war took place. The battle also occurs in the body of each human being.

Kurunandana: a descendant from the line of Kuru; a name of Arjuna; metaphorically, one who is very active in selfless soul culture.

kutastha ("anvil"): changeless; metaphorically, designates the soul center, the unchanging ‘anvil’ on which the different life experiences are molded.

L

Lahiri Mahasaya: the beloved disciple of Babaji Maharaj, who brought back the ancient forgotten science of Kriya Yoga to the modern world.

lam, long: the seed sound in the first center (four-petaled lotus) which means earth.

lavana: salty.

laya ("dissolution", "absorption"): dissolution; the experience of the formless state.

lehya: food which is licked with the tongue. One of the four types of food described in the Bhagavad Gita.

lobha: greed, possessiveness.

loka ("realm"): plane of existence.

lumbar center: the spinal center in the abdomen known as the manipura (food) chakra.

M

madbhakta ("My devotee"): a devotee of God; one who constantly inquires about God and searches for Him.

Madhava ("Lakshmi’s husband"): one of the name of Vishnu, Krishna.

Madhusudana: another name for Krishna. Madhu was a demon symbolizing delusion and error, and sudana means "destroyer"; Krishna as the destroyer of delusion.

madhyama: the middle.

Madri: second wife of King Pandu, and mother of Nakula and Sahadeva.

maha: great.

maha bahu ("mighty-armed"): the person who can perceive soul through each action is called maha bahu, which means the best seeker of God.

Mahabharata ("great [epic of] the Bharatas"): the great Indian epic which includes the Bhagavad Gita.

mahabhuta ("great elements"): the gross elements.

mahad-brahma: refers to the great Brahma, the prakriti in every human being.

Mahadeva ("Great Lord"): a name of Lord Shiva.

mahah-loka: the fourth of the seven upper spheres of existence (loka). Corresponds to the emotion (air) center.

Mahakala: the supreme time; destiny; a name of Lord Shiva.

mahakasha: "great emptiness", the wisdom stage of nirvikalpa samadhi; one of the five levels of the subtle vacuum located between the ajña (soul center) and sahasrara (fontanel) chakras.

mahamudra ("great seal"): the yogic technique of physical, astral and causal purification.

Mahaprabhu: see Chaitanya.

mahaprana: the supreme spirit hiding in each human being.

maharshi ("great seer"): a person of right vision.

mahavakyas ("great sayings"): the four great pronouncements which make up the essence of the Upanishads: 1) "Wisdom is Brahman (the Absolute God)." 2) "I am Brahman." 3) "That thou art." 4) "This soul is Brahman."

Maheshvara: another name of Lord Shiva.

mala ("garland"): a rosary, made of beads stringed together.

manas ("mind"): the faculty of discursive thinking.

manasa tapasya: inner purity of thought and mind, a gentle and divine mood, silence and self-control; silent meditation with the tongue pointing to God.

mandali: a group; association.

manipura chakra ("wheel of the jeweled city"): the lumbar (stomach) center.

manipushpaka: the name of Sahadeva’s conch. Its name refers to the divine sound of the bee heard in meditation at the bottom center.

manisha: knowledge; conviction; understanding.

mantavyam: to recollect and remember.

mantra: a holy syllable or prayer; formula of mystic power. Derived from man "to think" and tra "instrument".

Manu: the father of mankind; the Noah of Indian mythology.

manyu: sin, evil, malice and all other evil qualities which keep human beings from God-realization.

mardava: gentleness.

Mathura: a holy city in India where Lord Krishna was born.

matrikanyasa ("placing (nyasa) the little mothers (matrikas)": placing the 50 letters of the Sanskrit alphabet (matrikas) in the whole body; to experience calm and God perception throughout the whole body.

maya ("she who measures"): the cosmic delusive force.

moha: delusion, dejection, and infatuation.

moksha: liberation; the state of complete soul-awareness, emancipation, and samadhi; freedom from the bondage and attachment that arise from delusion.

money-center: see coccygeal center.

muddha: a dull state of mind.

mudra ("seal"): a Kriya Yoga technique or posture.

mukti ("release"): liberation; freedom.

muladhara chakra ("wheel of the root (mula) foundation (dhara)"): the coccygeal (money) center.

mulam: root; base; cause.

muni ("sage"): one who seeks truth; man of meditation.

N

na: not; no.

nada brahma, shadba brahma: the continuous, non-stopping aum or amen sound; manifestation of the Absolute in the form of sound.

nadi ("conduit" or "artery")): pranic channel.

naiskritika: someone insulting and torturing others.

Nakula: one of the five Pandava brothers; he was the first son of Madri, born mystically through union with the twin gods Ashwins. His power resides in the sexual center.

Narayana ("He Who is man’s (nara) abode"): the Lord who is the cause of all life; a name of Lord Vishnu.

nari: woman; the female element representing the gross body which unites with the male element (the soul).

natimanita: freedom from pride, humility.

navadwara-ruddha mudra: the process of regulating, controlling, and channeling the energy of the nine doors. See also: jyoti mudra.

navel-center: manipura chakra (Arjuna’s abode); also known as the food center.

neck-center: vacuum center; cervical center.

neti: composed of na "not" and iti "thus"; neti neti ("not this, not that") is a vedantic process of arriving at the ultimate Reality by denying the accuracy of any description of the Real.

nihsangata ("non-contact"): complete cessation of all activities; the pulseless, breathless stage.

nimitta karana: instrumental cause.

nirguna ("without (nir) attributes (guna)"): the formless Reality or God, beyond the triple qualities of maya.

nirvikalpa samadhi ("without (nir) conceptualization (vikalpa) ecstasy"): the state of no pulse and no breath, the state of cessation of all activities of the body, mind, thought, intellect, and ego—merged and absorbed in God.

nispriha: desirelessness.

nisudana: the complete destroyer.

nitya karmani: daily duties of oblation and prayer.

nivritti ("cessation"): the path of renunciation and detachment; a state of dispassion, which is the cause of liberation.

niyama ("restraint"): principles of self-restraint; the second limb of Patañjali’s ashtanga yoga system.

niyata: always.

nriyajña: serving mankind.

nyasa ("casting"): renunciation; elimination; metaphorically, watching the power of God in every activity.

O

ojas: power; derived from the root verb vaj, "to be strong".

om: also written as AUM—this represents the three bodies of every human being or the triple divine qualities. A is the causal body (sound), U is the astral body (vibration), and M is the physical body (light).

omkara: the syllable "om"

P

pada: the feet; the world.

padartha bhavini samadhi: a state of samadhi.

padma: lotus; chakra.

paksha: side; fortnight.

pancha: five.

pancha bhutas: the five basic elements or constituents.

Panchajanya: the name of Krishna’s conch. He obtained it by killing a demon named Panchajanya. Metaphorically, pancha means five and janya means being born of. Panchjanya means the divine sound that is due to the combined effect of five elements of the five chakras.

pancha klesha: the five afflictions as described in sage Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras.

pancha mahabhuta: the five gross elements: bhumi (earth), apa (water), anala (fire), vayu (air), kham (ether).

pancha pandava: the five Pandava brothers.

panda: all the qualities born of knowledge.

Pandavas: those who remain in knowledge, consciousness, superconsciousness, and cosmic-consciousness are the Pandavas. The Pandavas are the friends of Krishna and the soul. They are always at war with the Kauravas or negative qualities.

para, param: supreme.

paradharma: literally, the duty or religion of others; metaphorically, attachment to the sense organs and the external world. No matter what someone is doing, if proper attention is not given to the breath and the soul, it is paradharma.

parakasha: "nothingness", superconsciousness state below the fontanel; one of the five levels of the subtle vacuum located between the ajña (soul center) and sahasrara (fontanel) chakras.

paramahamsa, paramhansa ("supreme swan"): the swan is the only creature that is capable of separating milk from water once they have been mixed together. Similarly, a paramahamsa is the realized master who, having attained the supreme yogic state, or nirvikalpa samadhi, can always distinguish between the Real (sa) from the unreal (ham).

Paramahamsa Hariharananda: the greatest living realized master in Kriya Yoga, is a legend among the spiritual seekers and has attained nirvikalpa samadhi.

Paramahamsa Yogananda: the foremost disciple of Swami Shriyukteshwarji, who brought the message of Kriya Yoga from India to the West in 1920. Author of the Autobiography of a Yogi.

paramatmakasha: the wisdom above the fontanel, where the soul is merged with God in the pulseless state of nirvikalpa samadhi.

parabrahman ("supreme absolute"): the Absolute—indestructible, imperishable, and supreme.

paramtapa: composed of param shatrun tapati. Param means supreme, shatrun means enemy, and tapati means one who can burn. The real meaning of paramtapa is one who can easily burn the supreme enemy, the delusion and error hidden within us.

Parashara: a great sage, father of Veda Vyasa.

paravastha ("supreme (para) stage (avastha)"): super-conscious state above the perishable body; the state of extreme tranquillity.

Partha ("son of Prithi", Prithi being the former name of Queen Kunti): a name of Arjuna. Its name comes from the root verb prath which means to be renowned through one’s own effort.

parushyam: harshness (cruelty, stiffness, insolence).

paryusitam: stale, contaminated food.

Pashupati ("Lord (pati) of animals (pashu)"): a name of Shiva; he who has mastered his animal qualities.

Patañjali: the author of the Yoga-Sutras, a classical text dealing with concentration and its methods in Raja Yoga.

paundra: the name of the conch blown by Bhima, who is remaining in the heart center. Its name refers to the long and continuous sound of the bell.

peya: the type of food which is taken by drinking. One of the four types of food described in the Bhagavad Gita.

pingala: a nerve channel on the right side of the sushumna in which the vital air passes through. It corresponds to the rajasic quality of nature.

pitri yajña: praying for the liberation of diseased and departed souls, especially the parents.

prajña: wisdom.

prajñanam brahmam: one of the four great pronouncements of the Vedas which summarized the essence of the Upanishads, meaning: "Wisdom is Brahman (the absolute God)".

prakriti ("creative force"): the veil of nature, or the material substratum of creation, consisting of the three gunas.

prana ("life"): life-force or breath; one of the five main pranas (vital energies), responsible for absorption; metaphorically, prana refers to exhalation.

prana karma: with every breath, if one perceives the presence of God, the creator of life in the body, then every breath will be an oblation to God with love. This is prana karma, "action" of prana, the real worship of God.

Pranava Gita: an interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Pranavananda, disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya.

pranayajña: offering oblation of breath to the soul fire in the pituitary and to the God fire in the fontanel.

pranayama ("restraint of prana"): regulation of breath through control of the life force (prana); the fourth limb of Patañjali’s ashtanga yoga system.

pranic: that which relates to the life force or breath (prana).

Prapti ("attainment"): wife of Kamsa; her name means one who has immense desire for worldly things.

prasada ("grace", "clarity" or "tranquility"): that which comes from God as His grace, gift, and greetings; consecrated food.

Prashna Upanishad: one of the principal Upanishads. Prashna means "question".

prasthana ("exit"): sacred books for liberation.

prasthana trayi: the three sacred books for liberation, viz. the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita.

pratyahara ("withdrawal"): principles of self-control; the fifth limb of Patañjali’s ashtanga yoga system.

pravritti ("activity"): involvement; attractive delusive desires.

prema: love for God.

puja: ritualistic worship.

punya: auspicious; good; merit.

pura: city; house; metaphorically, the body.

Puranas ("ancient"): scriptures of India.

purnima: full moon day or holi.

Puru: a royal dynasty in India; metaphorically, the body (from pauran).

Purujit: a great king, the maternal uncle of Bhima and the brother of Kunti. The inner meaning of Purujit is derived from puran and jayati. Puran means whole body sense and intellectual sense, and jayati means one who can conquer everything. Thus, Purujit is a powerful and spiritual man who has gone above his body, mind, intellect and senses and who has merged in God.

purusha: the indwelling Self; the conductor of the life-force of every human being.

purushottama ("the supreme (uttama) Self (purusha)"): the supreme almighty father.

Putana: an impure woman, a devil who tried to poison Krishna. The metaphorical meaning of her name comes from puta, which means purity, and na, which means no—"One who has no purity".

R

Radha: a great devotee of Krishna. Krishna and Radha are often pictured together, clasping each other, side by side. Radha symbolizes the gross body of every human being and Krishna represents the soul.

raja: king; royal.

rajarshi: comes from the word raja ca rishi ca. Raja means king, and rishi means a person of right vision. Right vision comes from the spiritual force, which remains in the cranium. Through the practice of Kriya yoga, if you come up near the soul, then you will be a rajarshi, a person of right vision.

rajas: one of the three qualities of nature (guna), expressing extreme activity and restlessness. Derived from the root raj/ranj, "to be colored" or "to be excited, charmed".

rajavidya: the royal science.

raja yoga: the royal science of self-control.

rakshasas: demonic personalities; those who hoard out of greed, and for sense pleasure.

ram (rong): the seed sound in the third center (10-petaled lotus) which represents fire.

Rama, Ramachandra: an incarnation (avatara) of Lord Vishnu, like Krishna.

rasa ("essence"): juice; taste; a play.

rasapurnima: a special spiritual celebration in India which occurs on the full-moon day in the month of August to celebrate the events in Shri Krishna’s childhood in Vrindavan. Rasa means transformation of the inhabitants of Vrindavan into Krishna, and purnima means the full-moon day.

rasya: juicy.

rata: to be engrossed and attached.

ratha: a chariot.

Ratnakara: a murderer and extremely sinful person who, through good company, became highly realized and later became known as Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana.

Ravana: the 10-headed demon king, symbolizing the ego, as described in the Ramayana.

rishi ("seer"): man of right vision and action, also known as a sage.

ruksha: fried and roasted food with butter, oil, or ghee.

rupa: form; beauty.

S

sa: the real doer, the soul.

sacral center: the svadhisthana chakra (sexual center) representing the water element.

sadhaka ("practitioner"): a meditator who treads the path of spirituality.

sadhana ("means of realization"): sincere spiritual endeavor.

sadhubhava ("virtuous mood"): the attitude of a real monk or spiritual person. It is freedom from ego and any negative qualities. This is the divine mood.

sadhu ("virtuous"): literally, a saintly person. The real sadhu is he who keeps his attention on the breath and through every breath loves God.

sadhu mandali: a kind of yogic association.

sahaja ("innate"): easy, natural—and that is the breath. It comes from means saha jayate iti—with birth comes the breath.

Sahadeva: one of the five Pandava brothers; he was the second son of Madri, born mystically through union with the twin gods Ashwins. His power resides in the money (bottom) center.

sahasrara chakra ("thousand-spoked wheel"): the fontanel (God center).

sahasrara padma: the thousand (sahasrara) petalled lotus (padma), i.e. the fontanel.

Saibya: a great spiritual warrior on the side of Pandava. He is very calm and divine. Saibya means one who is just like Shiva, the formless god of ether, air, and sound. Saibya had attained that stage.

sakshin ("witness"): the witnessing consciousness.

sam (song): seed-syllable in the money center.

sama ("same", "equal"): harmony, equality.

samadhi: unity with the almighty father; merged and engrossed in God consciousness; complete freedom from nature’s three gunas; the eighth and last limb of Patañjali’s ashtanga yoga system.

samana: equality; name of one of the five main pranas, responsible for bringing nourishment and balance to all parts of the body.

samidbhavanama agni: the fire of religious ceremony, symbolically remaining in the neck center.

Samjaya: a brahmin minister, and messenger of the blind king Dhritarashtra (the mind). Although the mind takes little interest in spiritual awakening, the inner intelligence, Samjaya, speaks to Dhritarashtra. When one practices meditation and lives a spiritual life, the mind and thoughts become silent. This is the state of samjaya, the power to hear and see inwardly.

samkhya yoga (school of philosophy): the path of knowledge.

samlina: dissolved.

sampad: wealth; prosperity.

samprajñata ("with conscience"): a state of conscious samadhi, corresponding to Vedanta’s savikalpa samadhi.

samskaras: impressions of previous thoughts and actions; latent tendencies.

samuchaya: of equal height.

sannyasa: renunciation; sannyasa is not merely a renunciation of the physical world, it is inner detachment.

sapta loka: the seven higher planes of existence.

sarvam: all; everything.

sat: truth; reality; the soul; the real; the essential; the best; the learned; the excellent; the good; the virtuous man. Sat is the supreme Self, the conductor of everything.

satbhava: harmony; goodwill; good wish.

satguru: a title attributed to a loving spiritual preceptor.

satha: hypocrite; fraud.

satsanga ("association with the real"): good company; spiritual communion; to be established in the Self.

satta: existence.

sattapatti: a stage of samadhi where some superhuman power is obtained—divine sound, divine light, divine vibration are felt.

sattva: one of the three qualities of nature (guna), expressing calmness and spirituality.

sattvika tyaga: spiritual renunciation; in every activity, one perceives the living presence of God, remembers Him, and loves Him constantly.

Satyaki: Krishna’s chariot driver.

satya loka: the seventh of the seven upper spheres of existence (loka). Corresponds to the fontanel (God center).

satyam: truth.

satya yuga: an era where people only practiced ashtanga yoga and chaturanga yoga, which is Kriya Yoga. Through practice of this yoga, all people were divine and powerful.

Saubhadra: the son of Arjuna and nephew of Krishna, also known as Abhimanyu. Saubhadra entered a tunnel of the Kauravas and killed innumerable soldiers.

Saumadatti: the seventh great warrior of the Kauravas. Saumadatti is the son of Somadatta; his name is also Bhurishrava. (See Bhurishrava)

savikalpa ("with (sa) form (vikalpa)"): a state of samadhi in which the state of duality remains.

sayujya mukti: to merge in God.

seed-syllables: all fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet have mystical power (see mantra).

sex(ual) center: the svadhisthana chakra.

shakti (power): energy or power.

Shakti (the deity): the divine Mother.

Shakuni: Queen Gandhari’s brother, and maternal uncle of the Kauravas.

shama: to have control over the heart, making one serene and divine.

shambhavi mudra: an open-eye meditation technique to perceive the divine light.

Shankaracharya: a great 6th century spiritual master, incarnation of Lord Shiva, who revived the monastic tradition in India.

shanti: serenity, peace.

shantipatha: invocation of peace.

sharira: body; the perishable. From the root shri, "to fall apart".

shastras: the holy scriptures.

shatrun: enemy.

shaucha: purity.

shaurya: heroism; the hero is not someone who fights enemies without, but he who is able to maintain his inner strength so he can destroy the enemies within, the weaknesses experienced in human life.

shava: corpse.

Shikhandin: a warrior on the side of the Pandavas, instrumental in bringing the downfall of Bhishma.

shivashraddha: love for Shiva.

shraddhatraya: threefold love or faith—sattvic, rajasic, tamasic.

shravana: attentive listening to sacred teachings.

shri: a name of goddess Lakshmi; as a prefix, a title of respect, like the English "Sir".

Shriyukteshwarji: the great spiritual master, disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya, and preceptor of Paramahamsa Yoganandaji and Paramahamsa Hariharanandaji.

shrotavyam: hearing about soul.

shruti ("heard"): to hear without any utterance; Vedas.

shudra: the lowest caste of servants in the ancient Vedic social system; metaphorically, those who keep their attention below the pituitary.

Shvetashvatara Upanishad: one of the principal Upanishads.

siddhi ("accomplishment"): perfection, namely, attaining the state of nirvikalpa samadhi, becoming merged in God and God-consciousness.

smritis ("remembered"): scriptures of moral rights.

snigdha: fat, creme, soothing, soft. As snigdha jyoti, it means soothing light, like the moon light.

so’ham ("I am He"): the perception of oneness of body and soul; to feel the human being in God and God in the human being.

Somadatta: a great warrior on the side of the Kauravas, father of Saumadatti.

soul: that which maintains the life and does the work; Krishna.

stabdha: rigid, obstinate.

sthira: still; tranquil; protein.

sthita: established; attained.

sthita prajña ("established in wisdom"): one who feels that whatever he sees, thinks, or experiences is the power of God.

sthitih: being completely and firmly established; steadfastness.

sthitosmi ("I am well established"): calm and quiet.

Subhadra: Krishna’s sister who married Arjuna and bore him their son Abhimanyu; a name of the blissful mother nature.

subhechha samadhi: a state of samadhi.

sudana: destroyer.

Suddhambodhi: name of an Indian scripture.

sughosa ("good sound"); name of Nakula’s conch.

sukha: happiness; real happiness is keeping your consciousness in the pituitary and above, in the state of vacuum and nothingness. Derived from su "beautiful" and kha "space".

sundara: beautiful.

Suradhuni Gita: a deep mystical interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita by Suradhuni Devi, wife of Panchanan Bhattacharya, one of Lahiri Mahasaya most prominent disciples.

sushumna nadi: the pranic channel between the ida and pingala which goes up from the bottom of the spine.

sutra: thread or link; aphorisms, as in Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras.

svabhava: innate nature; sva means one’s self, and bhava is one’s perception, expression, and manifestation. Destiny, the aggregated balance sheet of all activities, is this innate nature. It predisposes a person to be either religious, full of activity, or idle.

svadharma: one’s own duty. In the light of Kriya, svadharma means that it is every person’s duty to watch one’s own breath—to become aware of the indwelling Self.

svadhishthana chakra ("wheel of the self (sva) base (adhishthana)"): the lumbar (procreation) center.

svadhyaya: comes from sva (soul) plus adhyaya (culture or study); to study one’s own self is soul culture.

svah-loka: the third of the seven upper spheres of existence (loka). Corresponds to the food (fire) center.

svarodaya: a yogic science based on the principle of the alternating of breath dominance from one nostril to the other.

svedaja: that which is born (ja) of moisture (sveda), such as fungus.

T

Taittiriya Upanishad: one of the principal Upanishads.

Takshavill: a murderer who, after coming to the touch of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, became highly realized.

tamas: one of the three qualities of nature (guna), expressing sloth, restlessness, and idleness.

tana: the body.

tandra ("sloth"): sleep; drowsiness.

tantra: techniques for acquiring supernatural powers.

tapah loka: the sixth of the seven upper spheres of existence (loka). Corresponds to the pituitary (soul center).

tapas: ordinarily this means doing penance and austerities, but the metaphorical meaning is to watch the breath as an oblation in the holy fire that maintains the heat in the body. Tapas means that in every breath one loves God and remains alert.

tapasvin: those who offer oblations to the fire.

tapati: one who can burn.

tapo yajña: to offer ghee in the fire for a long period and to chant some mantra with every oblation. But the metaphorical meaning of tapo yajña is to offer the breath to the soul, which is the divine fire in the cranium.

tat: that.

tava: yours.

tejas: fearlessness, valor—through the power of regular meditation the advanced student develops mental strength and can easily remain in the upper center for a longer periods of time. This powerful quality is called tejas.

third eye: the divine eye, the spiritual eye, also known as the eye of wisdom.

tikta: bitter.

tistha: to stay.

tonumanasa samadhi: a state of samadhi.

treta yuga: the "silver" age in the Vedic cosmological system of cyclical time.

tri: three, triple.

triveda, trayi veda: the three Vedas (Rik, Sama, Yajur).

Tulsidas: a 15th century seeker who became realized through good company, and later author of the famous Hindi spiritual treatise Ramacharita Manasa.

turiya samadhi ("fourth stage of ecstasy"): another name for nirvikalpa samadhi.

tyaga ("abandonment"): it refers to renunciation of all action, but not outwardly. Inner detachment is possible only when one is meditating sincerely and surrendering completely to the will of God.

U

ucchista: food that has been taken, touched, or leftover on a person’s plate.

udana ("up-breath"): a special breath taken with an extremely calm, short, and slow respiration; name of one of the five main pranas, responsible for digestion.

udhbija: vegetables and plants.

upadana karana: material cause.

upadrashta: the witness who remains in the north of the body (i.e. the fontanel).

Upanishad: the conclusion portion of the Vedas, also known as vedanta.

uttama: the supreme, the highest, the best.

Uttamauja: a powerful warrior for the Pandavas. Uttama means extremely powerful, and ojas means strength.

uttistha: comes from urdhe, the north of the body (i.e. the fontanel), and tistha, to stay.

V

vacuum (or space, ether) center: vishuddha chakra (neck, religious center).

vaishvanara agni: the fire in the lumbar center.

vaishya: the third caste of merchants and farmers in the ancient Vedic social system; metaphorically, those who cultivate the body land and think carefully how to use precious time for making the most spiritual profit.

vajra ("thunder" or "diamond"): strong determination and willpower.

Valmiki: see Ratnakar.

vam (vong): the seed sound in the second center (6-petaled lotus), which means water.

vanamaya tapasya: worshiping the formless by words and speech, and giving oblation to the ears and hearts of the people—sweet, truthful, beneficial, and pleasant talk.

vanijya: to do business, to work with expectation of profit or reward. Each person, in the beginning of the spiritual life prays or meditates with the expectation of good health, prosperity, or other gain. To undertake any activity with expectation of reward is to work with desire, and thus is vanijya.

varna: color; caste.

varnashankara: the mixture of biological and spiritual force; amalgamation; mix of races; illegitimate child.

Varuna: the deity of water residing in the second center.

Vasishtha: a great sage, guru of Lord Rama.

Vasudeva: Krishna’s father.

vedanta ("the end or last portion (anta) of the Vedas"): the essence or culmination of all the knowledge within the Vedas; a system of philosophy and the science of spirituality, based mainly on the teachings of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahma Sutras.

Vedas: the most ancient recorded scriptures of knowledge of the Self.

vedavid: man of wisdom, a state achieved by deep meditation.

vibhaga: division.

vibhuti ("manifestation"): divine powers or experiences which one gets through spiritual practice: divine glory, siddhis (yogic powers), material prosperity, superhuman power, strength, and holy ash. In many cases, the vibhuti, which are lower spiritual attainments of superhuman qualities, become a spiritual hindrance—all sincere seekers should beware of their allurements.

vicharani samadhi: a state of samadhi.

vid: to know.

vidahina: food that creates a burning sensation, such as mustard, asafoetida, and so on.

vidya: knowledge.

vijñana ("applied knowledge"): the way to reach or realize the truth, which is the application of knowledge, the states of super consciousness and cosmic consciousness.

Vikarna: a soldier of the Kaurava army. He is a dangerous warrior. His name means one who is a strong believer, is malicious, and is addicted to improper works.

vimudhah: the extremely dull, foolish, deluded, ignorant, materialist, and spiritually blind.

Virata: a great warrior and king on the side of Pandava. The metaphorical meaning is derived from vigata, that which is completely free from all body sense, and rat, kingdom (body). Virata means that you are completely free from your mind, intellect, thought and body sense.

virya: strength, vitality, vigor, and valor.

vishada: sorrow; dejection; depression. The state of Arjuna at the beginning of the Mahabharata War.

Vishnu ("pervader"): the preserving or sustaining aspect of God.

vishnu granthi: the knot of the heart.

vishuddha chakra ("pure wheel"): the religion or throat center.

Vishvamitra: a great sage, guru of lord Rama.

vishvarupa: the universal form, the extraordinary glory and beauty of the Lord.

vishvarupa maha agni: the fire present in the crown of the head.

Vivasvan: the first king of the solar dynasty.

vividha chesta: manifold endeavor.

Vrajadham: the place where Krishna spent His childhood, a.k.a. Vrindavan; metaphorically, to perceive Krishna in the whole body and to merge with the divine.

vrata ("vow"): a vow to abide by a moral and spiritual discipline in thought, word, and deed.

Vrindavan: see Vrajadham.

vyaghra: explained in the Sanskrit scriptures as vyajighrati ity vyaghra: "One who has strong smelling power." This is the tiger, a most powerful animal whose power of nose (breath) is very strong. Arjuna, through the power of meditation, has thorough control over his animal qualities, and he devours all his ambitions. He also has a powerful ability to regulate his nose (he has breath control).

vyana: one of the five main pranas (vital energies), supporting the function of inhalation and exhalation.

Vyasa: the divine teacher of spirituality. Author of the Mahabharata and author/compiler of numerous scriptures.

Y

ya: the soul.

yah sah: "he who".

yajña ("sacrifice"): oblation in fire; sacrifice. The breath is constantly offered as an oblation to the soul fire in the cave of the cranium. In a broader sense, every activity of every living being that is in the form of enjoying sense objects, is sacrifice (yajña).

yakshas: deities in charge of protecting wealth.

yam ("to him"): the seed sound in the heart center (12-petaled lotus) which means air.

yama ("restraint"): self-discipline, restraint; the first limb of Patañjali’s ashtanga yoga system.

Yama: the god of death.

Yamuna (or Jamuna) river: one of the three holy rivers of India.

Yashoda: the mother of Krishna.

yoga ("yoking"): to perceive the constant union, unity, or copulation with the divine Self in every breath, in every moment, in every activity, and in every achievement. Yoga is the way one can perceive divinity manifested in the whole universe as well as in the entire body.

yoga maya: mother nature.

yoga nidra: yoga means oneness of body and soul, and nidra means sleep. But yoga nidra does not mean sleep; it is constant awareness of the inner Self or conscious samadhi.

Yoga Sutras: the classical treatise on yoga by sage Patañjali.

yoga yajña: using the power of the yoga of action and knowledge to withdraw all power from the lower centers to the upper center and remain beyond the mind, thought, intellect, ego, and body sense in the formless stage.

yogi: one who is constantly united with the supreme Self.

yoni ("holder"): the place of origin, of procreation; womb; progeny.

yoni mudra: see jyoti mudra.

yudha: war; battle; fight.

Yudhamanyu: a spiritual and powerful warrior on the side of Pandava. The actual meaning of Yudhamanyu is derived from yudha, which means to fight constantly and to subdue; and manyu, which means sin, evil, malice and all other evil qualities which keep human beings far from God-realization.

Yudhisthira: one of the five Pandava brothers; he was the first son of Kunti, born mystically through union with the god Dharma (truth). His name comes from yudha (to fight) and sthira (steady, calm), "One who is calm in the battle of life". His power resides in the neck center.

yuga: the ordinary meaning of this word is "age" or "era", but the real meaning is "dual" or "two". Every breath consists of an inhalation and an exhalation; this is the dual state or yuga.

Yuyudhana: a warrior on the side of Pandava. Yuyudhana means one who has the greatest desire for soul culture and deepest regard for God.

End