-008_Glossary.htm

GLOSSARY

abhyāsa		Practice.
ādhāra (Adhar)		Vessel, receptacle—the system of mind, life and body considered as a receptacle of the spiritual consciousness and force.
ahaitukī bhakti		Devotion not depending on anything; absolute devotion.
ājna cakra		Will centre. See cakra.
anāhata		See cakra.
ānanda (Ananda)		Bliss, delight—the divine or spiritual bliss.
ānandamaya		Full of delight.
anityamasukham		Transient and unhappy.
antarātman (Antaratman)		Inner self, soul.
anumantā (Anumanta)		The giver of sanction.
aparā prakrti (Apara Prakriti)		The inferior nature, Nature in the lower manifestation of the Ignorance.
ārādhanā (Aradhana)		Worship of the Divine.
ātman (Atman)		Self.
avatāra (Avatar)		The descent of the Divine in a human form.
avidyā (Avidya)		The cosmic principle of Ignorance.
bhakta		Devotee.
bhakti		Devotion.
brahman		The spiritual Reality, universal and supreme.
brahmā (Brahma)		God as Creator, one of the Trinity,

brahmānda (Brahmanda)		Cosmos, universe.
brāhmika consciousness (Brahmic Consciousness)		The absolute consciousness.
buddheh paratah		In the higher mental planes.
buddhi (Buddhi)		Intelligence.
caitya purusa (Chaitya Purusha)		Psychic being.
cakra (Chakra)		Centre, nodus, plexus; the seven psychological centres in the subtle body.
cakra ājna		Centre between the eye-brows.
— anāhata		Centre in the heart.
— hrdpadma		Heart-lotus; same as anāhata.
— manipura		Centre at the navel.
— mūlādhāra		Centre at the bottom end of the spine.
— nābhipadma		Same as manipura.
— sahasradala		See sahasradala.
— svādhifthana		Centre abdominal.
— viśuddha		Centre in the throat.
damana		Suppression.
devī (Devi)		Goddess; the Supreme Power
dharma (Dharma)		The Law of being.
Durgā (Durga)		The Divine Mother as Protector and Fosterer.
ganeśa (Ganesh)		The Power that removes obstacles by the force of Knowledge.
guna (Guna)		Quality, mode of Nature.
guru		Spiritual Master.
guruvāda (Guruvada)		The cult of the Guru.
hrdpadma		See cakra.

joda		Inert.
jagannātha (Jagannath)		The Lord of the world.
japa		Repetition of set sounds or words or a name as prayer or invocation.
jīva (Jiva)		The Jivatman; the living being.
jīanmukta (Jivanmukta)		Liberated in life
jīvātman (Jivatman)		The individual self.
jnana (Jnana)		Wisdom; Knowledge.
karma		Action, work: the resultant force of action done in the past, especially in past lives.
karma yoga		The system of spiritual discipline which takes work (dedicated to the Divine) as its basis
kārtikeya (Kartikeya)		The god commander of the divine host, victor over the hostile powers.
karunā		Grace.
kundalinī śakti (Kundalini Shakti)		The Power that lies coiled or involved in the lowest centre at the bottom of the spine; it is awakened by Yoga and rises to join the Divine Power or Presence in the sahasradala (seventh centre).
laya		Dissolution of the individual being, merging in the one Self-Existence.
līlā (Lila)		Play (of the Divine).
mahākāli (Mahakali)		The Divine Mother as the Omnipotent Force.
manipura		See cakra.

mantra		Set words or sounds having a spiritua significance and power.
māyavādin (Mayavadin)		One who holds the world as Illusion: Illusionist.
moksa (Moksha)		Spiritual liberation from the sense of personal being; release from cosmic existence.
mūlādhāra		See cakra.
nābhipadma		See cakra.
nirvāna (Nirvana)		Spiritual extinction of the separate individual self.
om		The primal sound representing the supreme spiritual reality.
parā prakrti		The higher or divine Nature.
pātāla (Patala)		The nether world.
prakrti (Prakriti)		Nature, the active and executive Energy as distinguished from the witnessing and sustaining soul or conscious being.
pralaya		The dissolution of the cosmos; any dissolution of the created things.
prāna		Life.
prārabdha karma		The chain of action already set in motion.
purusa (Purusha)		The soul or conscious being supporting the action of Nature.
purusottama (Purushottama)		The Supreme Being.
rādhā (Radha)		The personification of the absolute love for the Divine (from the highest spiritual to the most material part of the being.)

rajas		One of the three gunas, fundamental qualities or modes of Nature; the kinetic principle in Nature characterised by desire, action and passion.
rājasika (Rajasic)		Full of the quality of rajas, the kinetic principle.
raksasa (Rakshasa)		Power of Darkness.
rāksasi māyā (Rakshasi Maya)		Illusions created by the Powers of Darkness.
ripus (Ripus)		(The vital) enemies; passions.
śakti (Shakti)		The Divine Power, the Conscious Force of the Divine.
śama (Shama)		Quiet, rest—the principle of calm and peace in the higher or divine Nature.
śiva (Shiva)		(1) God, as destroyer, the third of the Trinity. (2) The Lord of Renunciation and of supreme good.
śunya		Void.
saccidānanda (Sachchidananda)		The Supreme Reality as self-existent Being, Consciousness and Bliss.
sahasradala		The thousand-petaled lotus, the seventh centre at the crown of the head.
samarpana (Samarpana)		Entire self-giving, surrender, dedication.
samatā		Equality.
samskaras (Sanskaras)		Fixed mental formations; impressions of past habits, experiences stored up in the subconscious parts.
sattva (Sattwa)		One of the three gunas, fundamental qualities or modes of Nature; the principle of light and harmony in Nature.

sādhaka (Sadhak)		One who practises the discipline of Yoga.
sādhanā (Sadhana)		The discipline of Yoga as a means of realisation; practice of the Yoga.
sāttvika (Sattwic)		Full of the quality of sattva, the principle of light and harmony.
siddhi		Realisation, fulfilment; also, an occult power gained by Yoga.
suksma deha		The subtle body.
svabhāva (Swabhava)		Self-nature.
svādhisthāna		See cakra.
swarūpa		(Own) essential form.
tamas		One of the three gunas, fundamental qualities or modes of Nature; the principle of obscurity and inertia in Nature.
tantra		A path of spiritual discipline based upon the principle of Consciousness Power (conceived as the Mother) as the supreme Reality.
tapas		Energy of Consciousness-—the principle of spiritual power and force in the higher or divine Nature.
tapasyā (Tapasya)		Spiritual effort by concentration of the energies in a spiritual discipline or process.
tāmasika (Tamasic)		Full of the quality of tamas, the principle of obscurity and inertia in Nature.
trātaka (Tratak)		Focussing the eyes upon a single point, to make the consciousness one-pointed.
vairāgya		Detachment; turning away from life.
vedānta (Vedanta)		The system of philosophy and spiritual discipline in accordance with the

		"Book of Knowledge" that forms the Jatter portion of the Vedas (the Vedas are the ancient Indian Scriptures)—the earlier portion being known as the "Book of Works."
vijnāna (Vijnana)		(1) Knowledge as comprehension as opposed to Prajnana or apprehending knowledge. (2) Gnosis, Supermind.
viśuddha		Lit. pure. See cakra.
yoga		Union with the Divine; the discipline by which one enters through an awakening into an inner and higher consciousness.
yoga-śakti (Yoga-Shakti)		The Power that comes with the awakening of the inner and higher consciousness.
yoga-siddhi		Fulfilment or realisation of the aims of the Yoga.

Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo