SANSKRIT CONCEPTS

in TANTRA, VEDA, PRAJNAPARAMITA,

PATANJALI, BHAGAVAD GITA, and SHANKARA


advaita - not two
agni - fire
ahimsa - non-violence
akaasha - space
ananda - bliss
arjuna - name of the great archer
artha - mission, purpose
ashram - place where students and teacher live
atma - soul
atman - God in your essence
avelokitishvara - God who comes into your now
avidya - without vision
bakhti yoga - union through prayer
brahma - a name for God
brahmin - a person of the priest caste
brahmacharya - a way of life for the devotee of Brahma
brahman = brahma
buddha - bud, sprout, sprig
chakra - a wheel, one of the centers of the body
charya - dear one
citta - the mind
deva - a sense, hence a God
Dharma - The Tao, The Wyrd, Mother Nature
dik - focus of attention, direction
ganga - to go, as Ganges
gate gate paragate parasamgata bodhi svaha! - the heart sutra
gita - song
gunas - raja, tamas, sattwa
guru - heavy, a person whom a chakra revolves around
hatha yoga - union through good deeds
hridaya - the heart
ida - a nerve in the back for conducting kundalini
indra - a name of God
shvara - a name for God, the creator
jambudviya - rose-apple island (India)
jnana - knowledge
kaivalya - freedom
kali - time, goddess of death
kalpa - a very long period of time
kama - desire
karma - work, creation
koti - a very large number
krishna - an avatar, God made a person
kundalini - bodily energy arising from the base of the spine
lila - the game of life
loka - right here, the universe
maya - the world of illusion
mn - mind / hand (manual) / man
mantram - a holy name, for repeating
nam - name, a stage in creating
nirguna - a very large number
nirvana - a place transcending desire
pada - foot
pashu - a person who lacks courage
pingala - a nerve connecting the flow of kundalini
prajna - wisdom
prajnaparamita - writing which is the perfection of wisdom
prakriti - Nature
prana - air, energy
pratyahara - the process of returning attention to the object
pudgala - the essential person
purana - general earthly writing
raja yoga - union through all paths
rajas - raw energy / tamas - destruction / sattwa - growth
samadhi - a state of transcendence
samsara - the world of manifestation
samskara - a scar in the memory
sankalpa - a seed of thought
shakti - a form of God
shankara - a medieval scholastic philosopher
shanti - peace
shiva - God the creator and destroyer
siddhi - a perfection, accomplished through practice
skandhas - coverings of a person's essence
sloka - a verse in a sutra
smriti - commentary on scripture
soma - psychoactive drug / body
sri - honored one
sruti - scripture (to have heard)
sunyata - emptiness
sutra - string, as in suture
tantra - worship of the Goddess (literally "weaving")
tapas - heat, hence austerity
tat tvam asi - that am I
trichiliocosm - the threefold universe
uma - goddess of the himalayas
upanishad - essence of the four vedas
vak - to speak
vayu - water
veda - rig, sama, yajur, arthava
vedanta - the perfection of the Vedas
vidya - vision
vira - hero
vishnu - a form of God
vritti - waves in the citta (mind)
yagya - fruit
yoga - union
yogastah kuru karmani - established in union, go forth into action
yuga - a very long epoch of time