Giriraja.org.au ~ Glossary ~ A

click above for Home page

Glossary of Sanskrit Terms

Abhidheya- comes from the verbal root abhidha, which means “to set forth or explain,” and the word abhidheya literally means “that which is worthy of explanation.” The means by which krsna-prema can be achieved is the fundamental truth (tattva) that is most worthy of explanation. The means by which the ultimate goal is achieved, is the practice of sadhana-bhakti.
Abhimana - egoism; the self-conception with which one identifies.
Acarya - spiritual preceptor, one who teaches by example.
Acchadita-cetana - covered consciousness. This refers to living beings such as trees, creepers, shrubs, stones, and other non-moving beings whose consciousness is barely detectable.
Acira-sthayi - unenduring, impermanent.
Acit-vastu - unconscious objects.
Adharma - irreligion; failure to carry out one’s socio-religious duties prescribed in the sastra.
Adhikara - eligibility or authority by conduct and temperament to perform a particular kind of work.
Adhina-tattva - the fundamental truth concerning the jivas who, being eternally related to Sri Bhagavan as parts to the whole, are adhina (subordinate) to His will; one of the aspects of sambandhajnana.
Advaita-jnana - knowledge of non-duality. Although in the true sense this refers to the Supreme Absolute Personality of Godhead who is devoid of all duality, the Mayavada conception of advaitajnana is that the ultimate substance, brahma, is devoid of form, qualities, personality, and variegatedness.
Advaita-siddhi - the perfectional stage of oneness aspired for by those who cultivate an awareness of indistinct brahma.
Advaita-vada - the doctrine of non-dualism, monism - the doctrine that emphasizes the absolute oneness of the living entities with God. This is often equated with the Mayavada theory that everything is ultimately one; that there is no distinction whatsoever between the Supreme Absolute and the individual living entities; that the Supreme is devoid of form, personality, qualities, and activities; and that perfection is to merge oneself into the all-pervading impersonal brahma. This doctrine was propagated by Sri Sankaracarya.
Advaita-vadi - one who advocates the doctrine of monism (see advaita-vada).
Agama - is a part of Veda which deals with the science of Tantra.
Ahankara - lit. ahan ("I") kara (am the doer) i.e. the false ego.
Ahanta - literally means ‘I-ness’; egoism; self-consciousness.
Aihika - that which relates to iha (the here and now); that which relates to this material world.
Aihika-sukha - material enjoyment pertaining to this world.
Aisi-sakti - divine potency, which is known as tatastha-sakti. Aisi comes from the word Isa the Supreme Lord, Master or Controller (see tatastha-sakti).
Aisvarya - opulence, splendor, magnificence, majesty, supremacy. In regard to bhakti this refers to devotion which is inspired by the opulence and majesty of the Lord especially in His feature as Lord Narayana. This type of devotion restricts the intimacy of exchange between Sri Bhagavan and His bhaktas.
Akarma - the non-performance of auspicious activities or prescribed duties.
Akhanda - undivided, uninterupted, without a break, like the flow of a stream of honey.
Akincana - one who considers he has nothing but Krsna. Having nothing at all, utterly destitute materially. When referring to a Vaisnava, this usually denotes an ascetic who is devoid of the spirit of material enjoyment and accepts only the bare necessities for his maintenance. Vaisnavas like the Pandavas who live in the midst of family and material opulence only for the service of Bhagavan and who are devoid of any desire for material enjoyment consider that nothing belongs to them. Everything belongs to Sri Bhagavan. They are akincana Vaisnavas.
Alam al-mashal - an Islamic term for the spiritual world.
Alankara - ornaments, embellishments etc.
Alankara-sastra - books concerning the literary embellishment of worldly poetry, etc.
Amnaya - the teachings of the Vedas received through guru-parampara are known as amnaya.
Amutrika-sukha - enjoyment which pertains to the next life, particularly enjoyment in the celestial planets yet to be attained after the performance of pious activities.
Ana al-ƒaqq - the Islamic equivalent of the Vedic aphorism aham brahmasmi, “I am brahma.”
Anadi-bahirmukha - the condition of the jivas in material existence of being diverted from Krsna from a time without beginning.
Ananda - spiritual bliss, ecstasy, joy, happiness; that which Sri Bhagavan relishes through His hladini-sakti (see hladini).
Ananya - having no other object; undistracted; devoted to only one worhipable Lord, no one else.
Ananya-bhakti - exclusive or pure devotion; devotion which is not mixed with any other desires and has no objective other than Sri Krsna.
Anartha - unwanted desires in the heart which impede one’s advancement in bhakti. These anarthas are of four types: (1) duskrtottha, those arising from past sins; (2) sukrtottha, those arising from previous pious activities; (3) aparadhottha, those arising from offenses; and (4) bhakty-uttha, those arising in relationship to bhakti.
Anartha-nivrtti - the clearing of all unwanted desires in the heart. This is the third stage in the development of the creeper of bhakti, which occurs by the influence of sadhu-sanga and bhajana-kriya.
Anga - limb, division, part; the various practices of bhakti such as hearing and chanting are referred to as angas (of bhakti).
Anitya - temporary; not permanent or eternal.
Anitya-dharma - impermanent religion; does not accept the existence of the Supreme Lord or the eternality of the soul.
Antaranga-sakti - Sri Bhagavan’s internal potency (see svarupasakti).
Antarmukha - the inward tendency. Having one’s attention focused inwards towards the soul and spiritual enlightenment.
Antyaja - a person of the lowest class, outside of the varnasrama system; literally antya means ‘born last’ and ja means ‘those people’.
Anubhava - one of the five essential ingredients of rasa. The actions which display or reveal the spiritual emotions situated within the heart are called anubhavas. The anubhavas are thirteen in number: 1) nrtya (dancing), 2) vilunthita (rolling on the ground), 3) gita (singing), 4) krosana (loud crying), 5) tanu-motana (writhing of the body), 6) hunkara (roaring), 7) jrmbhana (yawning), 8) svasa-bhua (breathing heavily), 9) loka-anapeksita (giving up concern for public image), 10) lalasrava (salivating), 11) atta-hasa (loud laughter), 12) ghurna (staggering about), and 13) hikka (a fit of hiccups).
Anu-caitanya - infinitesimal spiritual consciousness, represented by the jivas.
Anu-cit-vastu - infinitesimal spiritual substance; the jivas, who are conscious entities but minute in size.
Anudita-viveka - one whose spiritual discrimination is not awakened; the spiritually unconscious.
Anukalpa - refers to acceptance by the bhakta of anu (a small amount) kalpa (for minimum capability), meaning a quantity of food (which is not in the category of grains, beans etc.) to maintain sufficient energy for hari-seva.
Anu-padartha - infinitesimal object.
Anuraga - (1) attachment in general. (2) spiritual attachment. (3) a specific stage in the development of prema which has been defined in Ujjvala-nilamani (14.146) as follows: “Despite regularly meeting and being already well-acquainted with the beloved, an everfresh sentiment of intense attachment causes the beloved to be newly experienced at every moment as if one had never before any experience of such a person. The attachment which inspires such a feeling is known as anuraga.”
Anusilana - constant practice, study, or cultivation, especially the culture of spiritual activities.
Aparadha - offenses committed against the holy name, the Vaisnavas, the guru, the sastras, the holy places, the Deity and so on. The verbal root radha means to give pleasure or satisfy and the prefix apa means taking away. Thus the word aparadha signifies all activities that are displeasing to Bhagavan and His bhaktas.

Apara-sakti - Sri Bhagavan’s inferior or material potency. Apauruseya - that which is not created by (purusa) man; divine; that which is transcendental in nature, emanating directly from Sri Bhagavan; the Vedas.
Aprakrta - transcendental, beyond the influence of material nature, beyond the perception of the mind and senses, not created by any human, beyond the material world, situated in Krsna’s transcendental abode, extraordinary, divine, pure, or consisting of spiritual consciousness and bliss.
Aprarabdha-karma - the accumulated stock of reactions to activities which are lying in a dormant condition and waiting to bear fruit at some time.
Apurva - unprecedented, extraordinary, unparalleled.
Apsara - the heavenly wives of the Gandharvas; exceptionally beautiful dancing girls in the court of Indra.
Apurna-jagat - the finite world; the material world.
Arati - the ceremony of offering articles to a Deity, such as incense, lamp, flowers, and a fan, accompanied by the chanting of devotional hymns.
Arcanam - to worship the Deity in a temple with all different types of paraphernalia. When this worship is conducted internally, it is known as manasi-puja. Arcanam is one of the nine primary angas of bhakti.
Aropa-siddha-bhakti - endeavors which by nature are not purely constituted of bhakti. The performer of aropa-siddha-bhakti imposes bhakti onto his activities, meaning he is performing an activity that isn’t one of the nine limbs of bhakti (navadha-bhakti), or that isn’t pure enough to be classified as suddha-bhakti, but he is thinking that his activity is bhakti. Examples of personalities performing aropa-siddha-bhakti are: Harischandra and Maharaja Sibhi.
Artha-pancaka - Sri Ramanuja’s views on the following five subjects 1) sva-svarupa (the constitutional nature of the individual self), 2) para-svarupa (the constitutional nature of the individual self in relation to other living beings), 3) upaya-svarupa (the means of achieving the highest goal of life - bhakti), 4) purusartha-svarupa (the highest goal of life) and 5) virodhi-svarupa (the hinderances to spiritual life).
Arundhati-darsana-nyaya - Arundhati is a very small star, which is situated close to the Vasistha star in the Saptarsi constellation (the Great Bear). In order to view it, its location is first determined by looking at a bigger star beside it, then if one looks carefully one can see Arundhati close by.
Aryan - is derived from the Sanskrit verbal root r meaning ‘to go ahead’ or ‘progress’. Thus arya means one who is on the progressive path of spiritual advancement. Those who follow the varnasrama system; those who are advanced in terms of social and religious culture i.e. Hindus.
Asakti - attachment. This especially refers to attachment for the Lord and His eternal associates. Asakti occurs when one’s liking for bhajana leads to a direct and deep attachment for the person who is the object of that bhajana. This is the sixth stage in the development of the creeper of bhakti, which is awakened upon the maturing of one’s ruci for bhajana.
Asampurna - incomplete.
Asrama - (1) one of the four stages of life - student, married, retired, or renounced - in which one carries out corresponding socio-religious duties in the system known as varnasrama. (2) a hermitage, usually in the association of others, which is established to facilitate spiritual practices.
Asraya - (1) shelter, support, refuge, protection, container. (2) the receptacle of prema; Krsna’s bhaktas. Krsna may also become the receptacle of prema for His bhaktas.
Asraya-alambana - the receptacle of love for Krsna, the bhaktas. This is an aspect of vibhava, one of the five essential ingredients of rasa (see vibhava). Although the word asraya also conveys the same meaning as asraya-alambana, it may often be used in the general sense of shelter or support. The word asraya-alambana, however, is specifically used to indicate the receptacle of prema as one of the necessary ingredients of rasa. It is not used in any other sense.
Asta-kaliya-lila - the pastimes which Krsna performs with His associates in eight periods of the day. Sadhakas who are engaged in smarana, or remembrance, meditate on these pastimes. The periods are as follows (times are approximate): 1) nisanta-lila, pastimes at the end of night (3:36 am-6:00 am); 2) prata-lila, pastimes at dawn (6:00 am-8:24 am); 3) purvahna-lila, morning pastimes (8:24 am-10:48 am); 4) madhyahna-lila, midday pastimes (10:48 am-3.36 pm); 5) aparahna-lila, afternoon pastimes (3:36 pm-6:00 pm); 6) sayahna-lila, pastimes at dusk (6:00 pm-8:24 pm); 7) pradosa-lila, evening pastimes (8:24 pm- 10:48 pm); and 8) nakta-lila, midnight pastimes (10:48 pm-3:36 am).
Astanga-yoga - the yoga system consisting of eight parts: yama (control of the senses), niyama (control of the mind), asana (bodily postures), pranayama (breath control), pratyahara (withdrawal of the mind from sensory perception), dharana (steadying the mind), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (deep and unbroken absorption on the Lord in the heart).
Asubha-karma - activities producing inauspicious results.
Asvamedha-yajna - a horse-sacrifice of antiquity in which vast wealth is spent. Formerly the brahmanas were so highly qualified by purity and in the skill of chanting mantras that the life of the animal would be rejuvenated. By performing one hundred such sacrifices one could attain the post of Indra. This sacrifice is forbidden in the age of Kali as there are no qualified brahmanas to perform it properly.
Atattvika-sraddha - unreal faith; faith which is based on a false conception of God, which gives rise to self-interested activities rooted in pride and material desires. Belief which is not rooted in sastra.
Atirikta - separate; apart from.
Atma - the soul; it may also refer to the body, mind, intellect, or the Supreme Self. It usually refers to the jiva soul.
Atma-nivedanam - to offer one’s very self to Krsna. When one offers oneself to the Lord, he no longer acts for his independent pleasure. One engages body, mind, life, and everything in the service of Sri Bhagavan. This is one of the nine primary angas of bhakti.
Atyantiki laghu gopis - are yuthesvaris and also nitya-sakhis. Sakhis such as Kusumika can be called atyantika-laghus, because they are gentle in all respects and they are insignificant in comparision with the other sakhis.
Aupacarika - figurative, metaphorical, attributive (see upacara).
Avaidha - that which is opposed to sastric injunctions.
Avaidha-karma - actions which defy the regulations of sastra.
Avastava-vastu - things which are not eternally existing; worldly phenomena.
Avidya - ignorance, spiritual ignorance, illusion. Ignorance is of four kinds: to mistake that which is impermanent to be permanent, that which is full of misery to be blissful, that which is impure to be pure, and that which is not the self to be the self. Avidya is one of the five types of klesa, or miseries, destroyed by bhakti.
Avistata - being overpowered by something, or deeply absorbed in it. Thus, when the bhakta is completely overpowered with affection for Krsna by the continuous flow of remembrance of His lila, that state is called raga.