Glossary of Sanskrit Terms in Integral Yoga Literature

anushtubh (anushtup)

[the name of a class of Sanskrit metres all of which have eight syllables in each pada], the ordinary epic metre.

anvih

the subtle ones. [Ved.]

anyad

other.

anyadeva

"quite other", other verily. [Isa 10,13]

anyadevatah

other godheads. [Gita 7.20, 9.23]

anyah

other. [Gita 15.17]

apah

see apas

apana

[one of the five pranas]: situated in the lower part of the trunk, it presides over the lower functions, especially over the emission of such parts of the food as are rejected by the body, and over procreation; it is intimately connected with the processes of decay and death; it is the breath of death, for it gives away the vital force out of the body.

apapaviddham

unpierced by evil; pure. [Isa 8]

apara prakrti (Apara Prakriti)

the lower Nature, the external objective and superficial subjective apparent Nature which manifests all minds, lives and bodies.

aparardha

the lower half (of world existence) ; the lower hemisphere.

apara vidya

the lower knowledge, the knowledge of the world.

apas

1. work, activity.

2. the Waters.

3. [one of the five bhutas]: water [see the following, definition 2].

apas, apah

1. the Waters (the Vedic symbol for the seven cosmic principles and their activities).

2. [one of the five bhutas]: water, the materialising or outward flowing principle of continuation represented to our senses in matter as sap, seed, rasa.

apatyam

child, offspring.

apauruseya

[of divine origin, not of the authorship of man].

Apnavana

[the name of a rsi]; the doer of works; he who acts, he who attains or acquires the seer-wisdom. [Ved.]

apo devih, apo divyah

the divine waters. [Ved.]

apo vicetasah

the waters that have perfect knowledge. [RV 1.83.2]

aprakasa

absence of light, obscurity, forgetfulness.

aprakasita graha

unrevealed or unmanifest planet.

apraketam

inconscient. [see the following]

apraketam salilam

inconscient ocean. [see the following]

apraketam salilam sarvam idam

all this was an ocean of inconscience. [RV 10.129.3]

apramatta

free from negligence.

apramattata

[the state of being free from negligence].

aprameya

immeasurable.

apravrtti

inertia, [opposite of pravrtti].

apriya

unpleasant; the unpleasant.

apriyam [nominative]

apsaras (Apsara)

[a celestial damsel], one of the divine Hetairae of Paradise.

apsu surye

in surya and in the waters. [see the following]

apsu surye mahad dhanam

the great wealth which is found in the sun [surya] and in the waters. [RV 8.68.9]

aptakama

satisfied in his desires.

aptavakyam

authority (the recorded opinions of men who had viveka, or traditions and customs founded on an ancient enlightenment).

arabhate karmayogam

engages in the yoga of action. [Gita 3.7]

aradhana

worship of the Divine (love, self-surrender, aspiration to the Divine, calling the name, prayer).

aradhas

[without prosperity or felicity]. [Ved.]

arambha

initiation [i.e. beginning].

arani (Aranis)

the [two] tinders (Heaven and Earth). [Ved.]

Aranyaka

[a class of religious and philosophical writings closely connected with the Brahmanas].

arati

traveller, fighter, worker, pilgrim; the energy that does the great work. [Ved.]

aratih

the powers of undelight. [Ved.]

Arcananas

the name of a rsi, "the pilgrim of the Light", he who travels to the illumination created by the word. [Ved.]

arhat

worthy; exalted; [in Buddhism]: one extremely exalted or one who has risen high above the world; the arya perfected.

ari

a fighter, one's own champion; a hostile fighter, an enemy.

arih krstayah

the fighters, doers of work, the Aryan people, the warlike nations. [Ved.]

arjava

candour, sincerity, clearness, open honour.

arka

sun, light; the Vedic hymn.

arkaih [instrumental plural], by the hymns of illumination. [Ved.]

arocayat

[he illumined or made it to shine].

arodhanam divah

the ascending slope of heaven. [RV 4.8.2,4]

arogyam

[diseaselessness, health].

arogyam utthapana saundaryam vividhanandah iti sariracatustayam

see these words separately

arsa prayoga

["rsi's license": a form of expression, sometimes violating the normal rules of grammar, peculiar to the Vedic rsis].

arta

[one of the four classes of devotees]: the distressed, who turn to the divine help in the sorrow and suffering of existence. [Gita 7.16]

artha

1. [one of the four human interests]: interest; material, economic and other aims and needs of the mind and body.

2. object, thing.

3. meaning, significance [of a word].

4. arthan [accusative plural]

artharthi

[one of the four classes of devotees]: the seeker of personal objects, one who seeks the Divine for fulfilment of desire. [Gita 7.16]

arthasastra (Arthashastra)

[(a book treating of) the science of political economy or political science].

arup [Beng.]

[formlessness, chaos].

arupa

formless.

arvat, arvan

horse, war-horse.

arvatsu [locative plural]

arya

an aspiring soul, one who rises to the noble aspiration and who does the great labour as an offering in order to arrive at the good and the bliss. [Ved.]

aryah [nominative]

arya (Aryan)

the good and noble man; the fighter; he who strives and overcomes all outside him and within him that stands opposed to the human advance; he who does the work of sacrifice, finds the sacred word of illumination, desires the gods and increases them and is increased by them into the largeness of the true existence; he is the warrior of the light and the traveller to the Truth.

aryabhumi

[the country of the arya, India], the Sacred Land.

aryah

see under arya

Aryaman

[Ved.]: the Aspirer; the aspiring power and action of the Truth; the Force of sacrifice, aspiration, battle, journey towards perfection and light and celestial bliss by which the path is created, travelled, pursued beyond all resistance and obscuration to its luminous and happy goal. [Later]: the chief of the Fathers [pitrs].

Aryama [nominative]

aryam varnam (Arya Varna)

[the colour (varna) of the arya]. [Ved.]

Aryan

see arya

aryapatnih

[those (feminine) ] possessed by the arya; wives of the noble ones.

arya sakti

[an Energy of the nature of the arya].

aryavarta

[the abode of the arya, India].

asad atman

[the Self (atman) as non-being]; Universal Non-Being.

asakta-buddhih sarvatra

[having] an understanding unattached everywhere. [Gita 18.49]

asaktam sarvabhrt

unattached, yet all-supporting. [Gita 13.15]

asakti

[attachment].

asambhuti

the Non-Birth, non-Becoming. [Isa 12]

asammudhah...martyesu

unbewildered among mortals. [cf. Gita 10.3]

asana

1. [in hathayoga]: fixed posture, rigidly set position of the body.

2. a place and a fixed position (where the rsis would sit still until they got siddhi).

asanaya mrtyuh

the Hunger which is Death. [Brhad. 1.2.4]

asanti

disquiet, trouble.

asanya (prana)

the chief Breath or Breath of the mouth. [Brhad. 1.3.7]

asat

Non-Being, Non-Existence, Nothingness; that which is not manifested and beyond manifestation and is not contained in the basis of manifestation.

ascaryam

mystery.

asesatah

without omission or remainder. [Gita 7.2 etc.]

asesena

without exception. [Gita 4.35 etc.]

Ashtasiddhi

see astasiddhi

Ashutosha

see asutosa

Ashwa

see asva

Ashwamedha

see asvamedha

Ashwattha

see asvattha

Ashwins

see Asvins

asivam

evil.

aslila

[indecent].

asmajjuhuranam enah

... from us the devious attraction of sin. [Isa 18]

asmakebhih nrbhih

by our men. [Ved.]

asnute saha brahmana

enjoyeth... along with the brahman. [Tait. 2.1]

asrama (Ashram)

1. the house or houses of a Teacher or Master of spiritual philosophy in which he receives and lodges those who come to him for the teaching and practice.

2. the four asramas: the four successive stages or periods of the developing human life: the period of the student, the period of the householder, the period of the recluse or forest-dweller, the period of the free super-social man.

asraya

the whole basis, lodgement, point of resort (of the consciousness and action).

asrjata

loosed (it) forth.

astasiddhis

[the eight siddhis (occult powers)].

astau slokasahasrani

eight thousand slokas. [Mahabharata, Adiparva, I .81]

asti hi ekam

for it is the One.

asu

vital force, might (which is the basis of all energetic and impetuous feeling and action).

asu

swift, full of swiftness.

asubham

evil, defect.

asuddha

impure.

asuddhi

[impurity].

asura

[Ved.]: the Lord; used in the Veda as in the Avesta for the deva, but also for the gods, his manifestations; it is only in a few hymns that it is used for the dark Titans; [Later] : the strong or mighty one, Titan; a [hostile] being of the mentalised vital.

asurisu

into Asuric (births). [Gita 16.19]

asurya

titanic.

asuryah [plural]

asurya

sunless, unillumined.

asuryah [plural] [Isa 3]

asuryam

the god-power, the mastering force of the Lord, the divine "asura" in us. [Ved.]

asutosa (Ashutosha)

[the swiftly placated (with sacrifice and effort), an epithet of Rudra-siva], the refuge of men.

asuya

[envy], carping.

asva (Ashwa)

Horse, a figure of the prana, the dynamic force of Life; Energy, Force.

asva

mare.

asvah [plural]

asvada

taste.

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Last modified on Thu Nov 28 18:23:46 1996