Giriraja.org.au ~ Glossary ~ L & M

click above for Home page

Glossary of Sanskrit Terms

Laukika - worldly, mundane, secular, pertaining to the material world.
Laukika-jnana - worldly knowledge, knowledge of worldly phenomena.
Laukika-sraddha - worldly regard; faith which is based on custom or tradition and not on a deep understanding of the sastra.
Lila - divine sportive pastimes. Sri Bhagavan’s activities, whether in the matter of the creation of the material world or in the matter of transcendental exchanges of love with His bhaktas, are never under the influence of karma or material nature. They are all manifestations of His self-willed potencies and are therefore known as lila, divine sport or play. These pastimes are heard, described, and meditated upon by bhaktas as part of the practice of sadhana-bhakti.
Lila-avatara - Krsna’s lila (pastime) manifestations e.g. Nrsimha,Varaha, Kurma etc.
Lila-katha - descriptions or narrations of the Lord’s divine pastimes.
Linga-sarira - the subtle material body consisting of mind, intelligence, and ego.
Lobhamayi-sraddha - means that the bhakta wants to serve Krsna in one of the four rasas: dasya, sakhya, vatsalya or madhurya, following in the footsteps of the vraja-vasis. He should be greedy to attain this. That is called lobhamayi-sraddha.
Lota - a thin steel container for water.

click above for Home page

Madhavi - a fragrant flower which is white when it blossoms and turns pink during the course of the day; the vine of the madhavi flower.
Madhukari - collecting alms from door to door in the manner of a bee who collects honey (madhu) by going from flower to flower.
Madhurya - sweetness or beauty. In regard to bhakti this refers to devotion which is inspired by attraction to Krsna’s sweet and intimate feature as a beautiful young cowherd boy. This type of devotion allows for the greatest exchange of love between Him and His bhaktas.
Madhurya-rati - love or attachment toward Krsna which is expressed in the mood of a lover.
Madhyahna - the third period of the day; mid-day, noon (see astakaliya-lila).
Madhyama-bhakta - the practitioner of bhakti who is on an intermediate level.
Mahabhava - the highest stage of prema or divine love. In Ujjvalanilamani (14.154) mahabhava is defined: “When anuraga reaches a special state of intensity, it is known as bhava or mahabhava. This state of intensity has three characteristics: (1) anuraga reaches the state of sva-samvedya, which means that it becomes the object of its own experience, (2) it becomes prakasita, radiantly manifest, which means that all eight sattvika-bhavas become prominently displayed, and (3) it attains the state of yavad asraya-vrtti, which means that the active ingredient of this intensified state of anuraga transmits the experience of Radha and Krsna’s bhava to whomever may be present and qualified to receive it. This includes both the sadhaka and siddha-bhaktas.”
Mahajana - a great personality who teaches and sets an example for others.
Mahanta - the head of a monastery or temple.
Mahaprabhu - the Supreme Lord, Sri Krsna Caitanya.
Maha-akasa - is the great, unlimited sky or space.
Mahaprasada - see prasada.
Mahatma - magnanimous or great soul; a title of respect offered to those elevated in spiritual consciousness.
Mahavakya - principal statements or utterances of the Upanisads. Pranava (om) is the true mahavakya of the Vedas as established in Chapter Twelve. However, Sri Sankaracarya has widely broadcast four aphorisms as mahavakyas. Therefore, the word mahavakya has come to be associated with these expressions: aham brahmasmi, “I am brahma,” (Brhad-aranyaka Upanisad, 1.4.10); tat tvam asi svetaketo, “O Svetaketo, you are that” (Chandogya Upanisad, 6.8.7); prajnanam brahma, “The supreme knowledge is brahma,” (Aitareya Upanisad, 1.5.3); and sarvam khalv idam brahma, “All the universe is brahma.” (Chandogya Upanisad, 3.14.1.)
Mala - see tulasi-mala.
Malphut - an Islamic term for ignorance.
Malati - a kind of jasmine flower or its plant.
Mamaji - maternal uncle.
Mamata - literally means ‘my-ness’; attachment or possessiveness. Mamata for material objects or persons is the cause of bondage, whereas mamata for guru, Vaisnavas, and spiritual objects is the cause of liberation; in the spiritual world mamata is one of the characteristics of prema.
Mana - consists of the bhavas (such as Srimati Radhika’s jealous anger) that prevent the nayaka and nayika from meeting freely, although they are together, and attracted to each other.
Mantra - a mystical sloka composed of the names of Sri Bhagavan which addresses any individual deity. Mantras are given to a disciple by a guru at the time of diksa. The question may be raised that since bhagavan-nama is independent, how can mantras, which are composed of the names of the Lord (bhagavan-nama), be dependent upon diksa? Srila Jiva Gosvami has discussed this question in Bhakti-sandarbha (Anuccheda 284). He says that mantras are bhagavannamatmika. This means that mantras are composed of the names of Bhagavan. The difference is that mantras also contain some special words like nama, svaha, and klim. Sri Bhagavan and the rsis have invested mantras with special power by which those mantras reveal one’s own specific relationship with Krsna. Therefore it may seem that mantras are endowed with some special potencies that are not invested in nama. A contradiction arises because if bhagavan-nama (which is lacking these special attributes) is able to bestow the supreme object of attainment (parama-purusartha) without any need for diksa, how is it that mantras are dependent on diksa when they are even more powerful than nama?
Srila Jiva Gosvami analyzes that by the constitutional nature of mantras, they are not dependent on diksa. Nonetheless, people in general are influenced by the bodily conception and their hearts are polluted with abominable desires. In order to curb these tendencies, the rsis have established regulations to be followed in the arcana-marga. Otherwise, by constitutional nature, there is no difference between nama and mantra in the matter of their independence of any formalities.
Nama, being non-different from nami, or Bhagavan Himself, is already invested with all potencies. Therefore in actuality, the glory of nama is superior to that of mantras. Yet Jiva Gosvami says that the diksa-mantras are invested with the power to reveal the sadhakas’ specific relationship with the Lord - sri bhagavata samam atmasambandha- visesa-pratipadakas ca (Bhakti-sandarbha, Anuccheda 284). The same thing is stated in Anuccheda 283: divyam-jnanam hy atra srimati mantre bhagavat-svarupa-jnanam tena bhagavata sambandha-visesa-jnanam ca (see diksa). This means that when a guru who is situated on the platform of bhava gives diksa, the mantras are invested with the knowledge of Bhagavan’s svarupa and knowledge of one’s specific relationship with Him. Therefore, those who are desiring to attain the prema-seva of Sri Krsna in Vraja in one of the four relationships of dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, or madhura should accept diksa-mantras from a guru who is established in one of these moods.
Manu-samhita - a religious sastra spoken by the forefather of mankind Manu, delineating the codes of behavior for all human beings.
Maya - illusion; that which is not; Sri Bhagavan’s external potency which influences the living entities to accept the false egoism of being independent enjoyers of this material world.
Maya-sakti - the potency that creates bewilderment, which is responsible for the manifestation of the material world, time, and material activities.
Mayavada - the doctrine of illusion; a theory advocated by the impersonalist followers of Sankaracarya which holds that the Lord’s form, this material world, and the individual existence of the living entitities are maya or false.
Mayavadi - one who advocates the doctrine of illusion (see mayavada).
Maya-vikrama - see maya-sakti.
Mayika-tattva - the fundamental truth concerning Bhagavan’s deluding potency, which relates to the material world. One of the aspects of sambandha-jnana.
Mimamsa - a philosophical doctrine which has two divisions: (1) purva or karma-mimamsa founded by Jaimini, which advocates that by carrying out the ritualistic karma of the Vedas, one can attain the celestial planets, and (2) uttara-mimamsa founded by Badarayana Vyasadeva, which deals with the nature of brahma. (See purvamimamsa and uttara-mimamsa).
Mimamsaka - a philosopher. One who adheres to the mimamsa philosophical doctrine of which there are two divisions. This usually refers to those who follow the karma-mimamsa of Jaimini.
Mimamsa-sastra - (1) a sastra which ascertains fundamental philosophical truths through analytical examination. (2) sastra dealing with a branch of Vedic philosophy (see mimamsa).
Misra - mixed, adulterated.
Mithya-abhimana - false egoism; identification with the gross and subtle material bodies.
Mleccha - derived from the sanskrit root mlech meaning to utter indistinctly (sanskrit) - a foreigner; non-Aryan; a man of an outcaste race; any non-Sanskrit-speaking person who does not conform to the Hindu social and religious customs.
Moksa - see mukti.
Mrdanga - a double-headed clay drum which is used in the performance of devotional songs.
Mujarrad - an Islamic term for spirit or consciousness.
Mukta-dasa - the liberated state.
Mukta-jiva - the liberated soul; those who are liberated from the influence of material nature while still residing in this world, or those who reside in the spiritual world.
Mukti - liberation from material existence. There are five types of liberation: sarupya (obtaining the same form as Bhagavan), samipya (living in close proximity to Bhagavan), salokya (living on the same planet as Bhagavan), sarsti (having the same opulence as Bhagavan), and sayujya (becoming one with Sri Bhagavan either by merging into His body or by merging into His brahma effulgence). The last type is vehemently rejected by the bhaktas. Although the other four types of mukti are sometimes accepted by bhaktas as they are not entirely incompatible with bhakti, they are never accepted by those who are fixed on attaining unalloyed love for Sri Krsna in Vraja.
Mukulita-cetana - budding consciousness. This refers to human beings whose consciousness is superior to that of lower life-forms, but who are devoid of morality and ethics. It also refers to those who have a conventional sense of morality, but who have no faith in God.
Mullah - Muslim religious scholar
Mumuksa - the desire for liberation.
Mumuksu - a person who is seeking liberation.
Murti - the Deity form of Sri Bhagavan.