Abhyasa: practice; cf. vairagya

Acarya (sometimes spelled Acharya in English): a preceptor, coach; cf. guru

Advaita (“nonduality”): the facts and teaching that there is Only 1 Truth (Atman, Brahman), specifically as present in the Upanishads; see also Vedanta

Ahamkara (“I-maker”): the individuation principle, or confidence, which must be transcended; cf. Asmita; see also manas

Ahimsa (“nonharming”): the only most critical moral control (yama)

Akasha (“ether/space”): the very first of the five content components of that the physical universe is made up; also used to employ “inner” house, that is, the space of mind (called cid-akasha)

Ananda (“bliss”): the health of utter enjoyment, which is an essential quality of the greatest Reality (tattva)

Anga (“limb”): significant category of the yogic journey, for example asana, dharana, dhyana, niyama, pranayama, pratyahara, samadhi, yama; also your body (deha, sharira)

Arjuna (“White”): among the five Pandava princes who fought in the great war shown inside the Mahabharata, disciple of the God man Krishna whose teachings are available within the Bhagavad Gita

Asana (“seat”): a physical posture (see also anga, mudra); the next limb (anga) of Patanjali’s eightfold way (astha-anga-yoga); formerly this recommended only meditation position, but subsequently, in hatha yoga, this aspect of the yogic path was greatly developed

Ashrama (“that where energy is made”): a hermitage; also a period of life, including brahmacharya, homeowner, forest dweller, and complete renouncer (samnyasin)

Ashta-anga-yoga, ashtanga-yoga (“eight-limbed union”): the eightfold yoga of Patanjali, composed of moral discipline (yama), self-restraint (niyama), pose (asana), air control (pranayama), physical inhibition (pratyahara), awareness (dharana), relaxation (dhyana), and inspiration (samadhi), leading to liberation (kaivalya)

Asmita (“I-am-ness”): a concept of Patanjali’s eight-limbed yoga, roughly synonymous with ahamkara

Atman (“self”): the transcendental Self, or Nature, which is endless and superconscious; our true nature or identity; occasionally a variation is manufactured between your atman because the personal self and the parama-atman while the transcendental Home; see also purusha; cf. brahman

Avadhuta (“he that has shed [everything]“): a sweeping type of renouncer (samnyasin) who often engages in unusual behavior

Avidya (“ignorance”): the root reason for suffering (duhkha); also called ajnana; cf. vidya

Ayurveda, Ayur-veda (“life science”): among India’s classic techniques of medicine, one other being South India’s Siddha medicine

Bandha (“bond/bondage”): the truth that humans are generally bound by ignorance (avidya), that causes them to guide a lifestyle ruled by karmic habit instead of inner freedom created through information (vidya, jnana)

Bhagavadgita (“Lord’s Song”): the earliest fullfledged yoga book found stuck in the Mahabharata and containing the theories on karma yoga (the path of self-transcending action), samkhya yoga (the road of discriminating the rules of lifestyle effectively), and bhakti yoga (the trail of loyalty), as distributed by the God-man Krishna to King Arjuna on the battlefield 3,500 years or even more ago

Bhagavata-Purana (“Ancient [Custom] of the Bhagavatas”): a spacious tenth-century scripture kept holy by the lovers of the Divine inside the kind of Vishnu, especially in his incarnate form as Krishna; also known as Shrimad-Bhagavata

Bhakta (“devotee”): a disciple practicing bhakti yoga

Bhakti Yoga (“Yoga of devotion”): an important branch of the yoga tradition, utilising the emotion capacity to attach with the final Fact developed being a supreme Person (uttama-purusha)

Bindu (“seed/point”): the creative potency of something where all powers are aimed; the dot (also known as tilaka) utilized on the temple as indicative of the 3rd eye

Brahma (“he that has expanded expansive”): the Author of the universe, the primary rule (tattva) to appear out of the ultimate Reality (brahman)

Brahmacharya (from brahma and acarya “brahmic conduct”): the discipline of chastity, which produces ojas

Brahman (“that which has produced expansive”): the ultimate Truth (cf. atman, purusha)

Brahmana: a brahmin, a part of the highest social class of classic Indian society; also an early on kind of ritual text explicating the traditions and mythology of the four Vedas; cf. Aranyaka, Upanishad, Veda

Buddha (“awakened”): a name of the one who has achieved enlightenment (bodhi) and therefore inner freedom; honorific name of Gautama, the founding father of Buddhism, who lived in the sixth century B.C.E.

Buddhi (“she who is aware, awake”): the larger brain, that will be the fit of intelligence (vidya, jnana); cf. manas

Cin-mudra (“consciousness seal”): a standard hand touch (mudra) in yoga (dhyana), that is produced by taking the recommendations of the index finger as well as the thumb together, whilst the remaining fingers are kept right

Cit (“consciousness”): the superconscious ultimate Truth (view atman, brahman)

Citta (“that that will be conscious”): normal consciousness, the mind, in place of cit

Darshana (“seeing”): perspective inside the literal and metaphorical sense; a system of philosophy, such as the yoga-darshana of Patanjali; cf. drishti

Deva (“he who’s shining”): a male deity, such as Shiva, Vishnu, or Krishna, possibly within the impression of the greatest Truth or possibly a high angelic being

Devi (“she who’s shining”): women deity such as Parvati, Lakshmi, or Radha, sometimes in the feeling of the best Reality (in its female pole) or possibly a large angelic being

Dharana (“holding”): awareness, the sixth branch (anga) of Patanjali’s seven-limbed yoga

Dharma (“bearer”): a period of various meanings; often found in the perception of “law,” “lawfulness,” “virtue,” “righteousness,” “norm”

Dhyana (“ideating”): relaxation, the seventh branch (anga) of Patanjali’s seven-limbed yoga

Diksha (“initiation”): the act and issue of induction to the hidden facets of yoga or possibly a certain lineage of instructors; all traditional yoga is initiatory

Drishti (“view/sight”): yogic gazing, such as in the hint of the nose or even the place involving the eyebrows; cf. darshana

Duhkha (“bad axle space”): suffering, a fundamental fact of living, caused by prejudice (avidya) of our true nature (i.e., the Self or atman)

Gayatri-motto: a renowned mantra recited notably at sunrise: tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi dhiyo yo no pracodayat

Gheranda samhita (“[Sage] Gheranda’s Compendium”): among three important guides of classical hatha yoga, created in the seventeenth century; cf. Hatha-Yoga- Shiva, Pradipika -Samhita

Goraksha (“Cow Protector”): typically reported to be the founding adept of hatha yoga, a disciple of Matsyendra

Granthi (“knot”): anybody of three frequent obstructions inside the key process (sushumna-nadi) avoiding the full ascent of the snake power (kundalini-shakti); the three troubles are generally known as brahma-granthi (at the lowest psychoenergetic center of the delicate body), the vishnu-granthi (in the middle), and the rudra-granthi (in the forehead center)

Guna (“quality”): a phrase that’s numerous meanings, including “virtue”; generally describes the three primary “qualities” or components of nature (prakriti): tamas (the principle of inertia), rajas (the dynamic rule), and sattva (the principle of lucidity)

Expert (“he who’s large, weighty”): a religious teacher; cf. acarya

Expert-bhakti (“teacher devotion”): a disciple’s home-transcending commitment towards the guru; see also bhakti

Pro-Gita (“Guru’s Song”): a text in encouragement of the guru, often chanted in ashramas

Guru-Yoga (“Yoga [referring to] the teacher”): a yogic technique that makes the guru the fulcrum of a disciple’s training; all traditional types of yoga include a solid section of guru-yoga

Hamsa (“swan/gander”): apart from the literal meaning, this term also refers to the breath (prana) since it moves in the body; the individuated consciousness (jiva) propelled from the breath; notice jiva-atman; see also parama-hamsa

Hatha Yoga (“Forceful Yoga”): a significant department of yoga, manufactured by Goraksha as well as other adepts c. 1000 C.E., and focusing the actual facets of the major path, somewhat positions (asana) and washing techniques (shodhana), but in addition breathing control (pranayama)

Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika (“Light on Hatha Yoga”): among three traditional guides on hatha yoga, published by Svatmarama Yogendra within the fourteenth century

Hiranyagarbha (“Golden Germ”): the mythical founder of yoga; the very first cosmological principle (tattva) to appear out of the infinite Fact; also called Brahma
Ida-nadi (“pale conduit”): the prana existing or arc ascending to the left side of the key route (sushumna nadi) associated with the parasympathetic nervous system and having a chilling or soothing influence on your head when activated; cf. pingala-nadi

Ishvara (“ruler”): God; mentioning possibly for the Creator (see Brahma) or, in Patanjali’s yoga-darshana, to a particular transcendental Home (purusha)

Ishvara-pranidhana (“dedication to the Lord”): in Patanjali’s nine-limbed yoga among the practices of selfrestraint (niyama); see also bhakti yoga

Jaina (often Jain): related to the jinas (“conquerors”), the liberated adepts of Jainism; a part of Jainism, the religious tradition founded by Vardhamana Mahavira, a contemporary of Gautama the Buddha

Japa (“muttering”): the recitation of mantras

Jiva-atman, jivatman (“individual self”): the individuated mind, as opposed to the best Home (parama-atman)

Jivan-mukta (“he who’s liberated while alive”): an adept who, while still embodied, has obtained freedom (moksha) videha-mukti

Jnana (“knowledge/wisdom”): both worldly information or earth-transcending information, with respect to the situation; see also prajna; cf. avidya

Jnana-Yoga (“Yoga of wisdom”): the road to liberation centered on information, or the strong instinct of the transcendental Self (atman) through the continual application of understanding between your True along with the unreal and renunciation of what has been identified as unreal (or inconsequential towards the accomplishment of liberation)

Kaivalya (“isolation”): their state of complete independence from conditioned lifestyle, as defined in ashta-anga-yoga; within the nondualistic (advaita) cultures of India, this is usually called moksha or mukti (meaning “release” from your fetters of prejudice, or avidya)

Kali: a Goddess embodying the fierce (dissolving) facet of the Divine

Kali-yuga: the dark era of religious and meaningful decline, considered current now; kali doesn’t consult with the Goddess Kali but for the dropping throw of a die

Kama (“desire”): the hunger for sexual enjoyment stopping the path to true satisfaction (ananda); the sole need favorable to freedom will be the impulse toward liberation, called mumukshutva

Kapila (“He who is red”): a fantastic sage, the quasi-mythical founder of the Samkhya tradition, who is thought to have constructed the Samkhya-Sutra (which, however, seems to be of the much later date)

Karman, karma (“action”): task of any kind, including ritual acts; reported to be binding only as long as involved in a self centered technique; the “karmic” consequence of one’s actions; destiny

Karma Yoga (“Yoga of action”): the liberating path of self-transcending action

Karuna (“compassion”): worldwide concern; in Buddhist yoga the match of information (prajna)

Khecari-mudra (“space-walking seal”): the Tantric exercise of curling the language back against the top taste so that you can seal the life power (prana); see also mudra

Kosha (“casing”): any one of five “envelopes” surrounding the transcendental Home (atman) and so blocking its lighting: anna-maya-kosha (“envelope made-of food,” the actual body), prana-maya-kosha (“envelope made from living force”), mano-maya-kosha (“envelope made of mind”), vijnana-maya-kosha (“envelope made-of consciousness”), and ananda-maya-kosha (“envelope made of bliss”); some older cultures respect the past kosha as identical with all the Self (atman)

Krishna (“Puller”): an incarnation of God Vishnu, the God man whose theories are available in the Bhagavadgita along with the Bhagavata-Purana/p”>>

Kumbhaka (“potlike”): breathing retention; cf. Recaka, puraka

Kundalini shakti (“coiled power”): according to Tantra and hatha yoga, the serpent power or religious vitality, which exists in possible form in the lowest psycho-energetic heart of the human body (i.e., the mula-adhara-cakra) and which should be awakened and led towards the heart in the top (i.e., the sahasrara-cakra) for full enlightenment that occurs

Kundalini-Yoga: the yogic path concentrating on the process as a means of freedom

Laya Yoga (“Yoga of dissolution”): a sophisticated form or process of Tantric yoga by which the systems linked to the numerous psycho-enthusiastic centers (cakra) of the subtle body are slowly blended through the ascent of the serpent energy (kundalini-shakti)

Linga (“mark”): the phallus like a principle of imagination; a symbol of God Shiva; cf. yoni

Mahabharata (“Great Bharata”): one-of India’s two fantastic ancient epics showing of the fantastic conflict involving the Pandavas as well as the Kauravas and providing like a library for all spiritual and moral lessons

Mahatma (from maha-atman, “great self”): an honorific title (meaning something such as “a wonderful soul”) presented on specially deserving persons, such as Gandhi

Maithuna (“twinning”): the Tantric sexual practice where the individuals see each other as Shiva and Shakti respectively

Manas (“mind”): the low brain, which is destined towards the senses and produces information (vijnana) rather than knowledge (jnana, vidya); cf. buddhi

Mandala (“circle”): a rounded design symbolizing the cosmos and specific to a deity

Concept (from your verbal root male “to think”): a sacred audio or phrase, for example om, sound, or om namah shivaya, that’s a major influence on your brain of the patient saying it; to be finally effective, a rule must be given in an initiatory context (diksha)

Mantra-Yoga: the path utilizing mantras whilst the primary way of freedom

Marman (“lethal [area]“): in Ayurveda and yoga, an essential spot around the physical body where energy is concentrated or blocked; cf. granthi

Matsyendra (“Lord of Fish”): an earlier Tantric master who started the Yogini-Kaula school and it is appreciated being a teacher of Goraksha

Maya (“she who measures”): the deluding or imaginary power of the world; dream by which the world sometimes appears as independent in the final single Reality (atman)

Moksha (“release”): the health of liberty from ignorance (avidya) as well as the binding result of karma; also known as mukti, kaivalya

Mudra (“seal”): a hand touch (such as cin-mudra) or total-body touch (including viparita-karani-mudra); also a designation of the feminine partner in the Tantric sexual ritual

Muni (“he who is silent”): a sage

Nada (“sound”): the interior noise, as it can be seen through the training of nada yoga or kundalini yoga

Nada-Yoga (“Yoga of the [intrinsic] sound”): the yoga or process of making and carefully listening to the inner sound as a means of attention and happy self-transcendence

Nadi (“conduit”): one-of 72,000 or even more simple stations along or whereby living power (prana) moves, which the three most significant people will be the ida-nadi, pingala-nadi, and sushumna-nadi

Nadi-shodhana (“channel cleansing”): the training of cleaning the conduits, particularly in the form of air control (pranayama)

Narada: an excellent sage associated with audio, who taught yoga and it is attributed using 1 of two Bhakti- Sutras’ authorship

Natha (“lord”): appellation of numerous North Indian experts of yoga, specifically adepts of the Kanphata (“Split-ear”) school apparently launched by Goraksha

Neti-neti (“not hence, not thus”): an Upanishadic appearance designed to share that the best Reality is neither this or that, that’s, is beyond all description

Nirodha (“restriction”): in Patanjali’s ten-limbed yoga, the very base of the process of awareness, relaxation, and inspiration; while in the first instance, the reduction of the “whirls of the mind” (citta-vritti)

Niyama (“[self-]restraint”): the next branch of Patanjali’s eightfold path, which includes love (saucha), happiness (samtosha), austerity (tapas), research (svadhyaya), and determination to the Master (ishvara-pranidhana)

Nyasa (“placing”): the Tantric practice of infusing various body parts with life force (prana) by pressing or thinking of the respective physical place

Ojas (“vitality”): the simple power produced through practice, particularly the discipline of chastity (brahmacharya)

Om: the ultimate Reality, which will be prefixed to a lot of mantric utterances being symbolized by the initial mantra

Parama-hamsa, paramahansa (“supreme swan”): an honorific title fond of great adepts, such as Ramakrishna and Yogananda

Why Paramahansa Yogananda Was a Person Before His Time see also,

Patanjali: compiler. 150 C.E.

ida-nadi

Prajna (“wisdom”): the other of religious ignorance (ajnana, avidya); one of two method of liberation in Buddhist yoga, one other being skillful means (upaya), i.e., consideration (karuna)

Prakriti (“creatrix”): character, which can be multilevel and, based on Patanjali’s yoga-darshana, contains an endless aspect (called pradhana or “foundation”), degrees of refined lifestyle (called sukshma-parvan), and the physical or aggressive region (called sthula-parvan); each of nature is regarded as spontaneous (acit), and so it will be considered being towards the transcendental Home or Heart (purusha)

Prakriti-laya (“merging into Nature”): a higher-stage state of lifestyle that falls lacking real liberation (kaivalya); the being who has achieved that state

Prana (“life/breath”): existence in-general; the life force retaining the human body; the breathing being an outer manifestation of the simple life force

Pranayama (from prana and ayama, “life/breath extension”): air control, the last leg (anga) of Patanjali’s eigthfold route, consisting of conscious inhalation (puraka) maintenance (kumbhaka) and exhalation (recaka); at an advanced state, breath storage occurs spontaneously for longer amounts of time

Prasada (“grace/clarity”): divine grace; mental clarity

Pratyahara (“withdrawal”): physical inhibition, the fifth leg (anga) of Patanjali’s eightfold path

Puja (“worship”): ritual worship, that will be a significant aspect of many kinds of yoga, notably bhakti yoga and Tantra

Puraka (“filling in”): breathing, a part of air control (pranayama)

Purana (“Ancient [Record]“): a kind of preferred encyclopedia working with noble ancestry, cosmology, philosophy, and schedule; there are eighteen major and a whole lot more minor works of this nature

Purusha (“male”): the transcendental Home (atman) or Heart, a designation that is primarily found in Samkhya and Patanjali’s yoga-darshana

Radha: the God man Krishna’s spouse; a title of the heavenly Mother

Ramayana (“Rama’s life”): among India’s two good national epics showing the tale of Rama; cf. Mahabharata

Recaka (“expulsion”): exhalation, an aspect of breath control (pranayama)

Rig-Veda; see Veda

muni

Sadhana (“accomplishing”): religious discipline ultimately causing siddhi (“perfection” or “accomplishment”); the word is specifically utilized in Tantra

Sahaja (“together born”): an old phrase denoting the truth that the transcendental Fact along with the empirical fact are not really independent but coexist, or with the latter being an element or misperception of the former; generally performed as “spontaneous” or “spontaneity”; the sahaja state could be the natural condition, that’s, enlightenment or understanding

Samkhya (“Number”): one of the major customs of Hinduism, which can be worried about the distinction of the rules (tattva) of lifestyle and their right understanding as a way to distinguish between Soul (purusha) and also the different areas of Character (prakriti); this influential technique became out of the historical (pre-Buddhist) Samkhya-Yoga tradition and was codified in the Samkhya-Karika of Ishvara Krishna (d. 350 C.E.)

Samnyasa (“casting off”): the state of renunciation, which can be the fourth and final phase of living (see ashrama) and containing mainly in a interior turning from what’s understood to be limited and secondarily within an external letting go of finite points; cf. vairagya

Samnyasin (“he who has cast off”): a renouncer

Samprajnata-samadhi; see samadhi

Samsara (“confluence”): the finite planet of change, rather than the greatest Truth (brahman or nirvana)

Samskara (“activator”): the subconscious feeling left behind by each act of decision, which, subsequently, leads to renewed psychomental action; the numerous samskaras hidden within the range of your head are ultimately removed merely in asamprajnata-samadhi (view samadhi)

Samyama (“constraint”): the mixed practice of awareness (dharana), relaxation (dhyana), and inspiration (samadhi) regarding the same object

Sat (“being/truth/truth”): the best Reality (atman or brahman)

Lay-sanga (“true organization/company of Truth”): the exercise of frequenting the good company of saints, sages, Self-understood adepts, and their disciples, in whose company the best Truth may be felt more palpably

Satya (“truth/truthfulness”): truth, a designation of the greatest Reality; also the exercise of honesty, which will be an aspect of ethical control (yama)

Shakti (“power”): the greatest Truth in its feminine aspect, or even the power rod of the Heavenly; see also kundalini shakti

Shakti-pata (“descent of power”): the procedure of initiation, or religious baptism, by means of the harmless indication of a sophisticated if not enlightened successful (siddha), which awakens the shakti inside a disciple, thus initiating or improving the method of freedom

Shankara (“He who’s benevolent”): the eighth century adept who had been the greatest proponent of nondualism (Advaita Vedanta) and whose philosophical faculty was likely in charge of the drop of Buddhism in India

Shiva (“He who’s benign”): the Heavenly; a deity that has supported yogins as an archetypal model throughout the ages

Shiva-Sutra (“Shiva’s Aphorisms”): such as the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, a traditional work on yoga, as shown in the Shaivism of Kashmir; authored by Vasugupta (ninth century C.E.)

Shodhana (“cleansing/purification”): significant aspect of all yogic paths; a group of refinement procedures in hatha yoga

Shraddha (“faith”): an important disposition to the yogic path, which must be distinguished from mere idea

Shuddhi (“purification/purity”): their state of love; a synonym of shodhana

Siddha (“accomplished”): a good, generally of Tantra; if entirely Self-understood, the designation maha-siddha or “great adept” is frequently used

Siddha-Yoga (“Yoga of the adepts”): a designation utilized particularly towards the yoga of Kashmiri Shaivism, as educated by Swami Muktananda (twentieth century)

Siddhi (“accomplishment/perfection”): spiritual excellence, the accomplishment of exquisite identity with all the final Fact (atman or brahman); paranormal ability, that the yoga tradition knows many types

Spanda (“vibration”): a vital idea of Kashmir’s Shaivism according to which the supreme Fact itself “quivers,” that is, is naturally creative in place of static (as designed in Advaita Vedanta)

Sushumna-nadi (“very pleased channel”): the key prana current or arc in or along that the snake energy (kundalini shakti) must ascend toward the psychoenergetic center (cakra) at the top of the pinnacle as a way to obtain liberation (moksha)

Tantra (“Loom”): a kind of Sanskrit function containing Tantric theories; the custom of Tantrism, which centers on the shakti part of religious existence and which started in the first post-Christian era and reached its established functions around 1000 C.E.; Tantrism has a “right-hand” (dakshina) or conventional plus a “left-hand” (vama) or unusual/antinomian part, with all the latter applying, among other activities, sexual rituals

Tapas (“glow/heat”): austerity, penance, which will be an ingredient of most yogic techniques, given that they all involve self-transcendence

Tattva (“thatness”): an undeniable fact or reality; a certain sounding lifestyle like the ahamkara, buddhi, manas; the best Truth (see also atman, brahman)

Turiya (“fourth”), also called cathurtha: the transcendental Reality, which meets the three mainstream states of recognition, namely getting, sleeping, and dreaming

Upanishad (“sitting near”): a type of scripture representing the finishing percentage of the exposed literature of Hinduism, therefore the status Vedanta for that lessons of the sacred works; cf. Brahmana, Aranyaka, Veda

prajna

Vairagya (“dispassion”): the attitude of internal ren