Avidya: Ignorance; nescience; a Sakti or illusive power in Brahman which is sometimes regarded as one with Maya and sometimes as different from it. It forms the condition of the individual soul and is otherwise called Ajnana or Asuddha-maya. It forms the Karana Sarira of Jiva. It is Malina or impure Sattva.
Bhagavan: The Lord; Narayana or Hari.
Bhava: Attitude, mostly expressing a particular relationship with God.
Bhoktritva: The state of being an experiencer or enjoyer.
Bhramara-Kita-Nyaya: The analogy of the wasp and the caterpillar, which states how the caterpillar gets transformed into a wasp by intense thinking of the latter. Even so, the Jiva becomes Brahman itself by meditating intensely on the latter.
Bhuma: The unconditioned; infinite; Brahman.
Bhumika: Step or stage; state; degree.
Bindu: Point; dot; seed; source; the basis from which emanated the first principle, Mahat-tattva, according to the Tantra-Sastra.Brahmabhava: Feeling of identity with Brahman, as well as of everything as Brahman.
Brahmabhyasa: Meditation on Brahman; Nididhyasana; reflection on Brahman; conversing on Brahman; discussing about Brahman; etc., that is calculated to the realisation of Brahman.
Brahmacharya: Celibate; one who belongs to the first of the four Asramas or orders of life; one who lives in purity and studies the Veda.
Brahmajnana: Direct knowledge of Brahman.
Brahmakara-Vritti: The sole ultimate thought of Brahman alone to the exclusion of all other thoughts that is arrived at through intense Vedantic meditation.

Brahmanda: Brahma's egg; the macrocosm.
Brahmanishtha: One who is established in the direct knowledge of Brahman.
Brahma-Srotriya: He who has knowledge of the Vedas and the Upanishads.
Brahmasutras: Text dealing with the Science of the Soul.
Brahmavichara: Enquiry into Brahman.
Brahmavidya: Science of Brahman; knowledge of Brahman; learning pertaining to Brahman or the Absolute Reality.
Buddhi: Intellect; understanding; reason.
Chaitanya-Swarupa: Pure consciousness.
Chidabhasa: Reflected consciousness; the reflection of intelligence. (Jiva).
Chidghana: Mass of Consciousness.
Chinmatra: Mere Consciousness; Consciousness alone.
Chitta: Mind-stuff; subconscious mind.
Dama: Control of the outer senses; one of the six-fold virtues of the Niyama of Raja Yoga.
Deergha: Long; prolonged.
Dharma: Duty.
Dhyana: Meditation; contemplation.
Dwesha: Repulsion; hatred; dislike.
Ekam: One.
Ekarasa: Homogeneous; uniform; one essence; Brahman.
Gita: Song; conventionally refers to the renowned sacred text "Bhagavad Gita"; a philosophical text.
Guna: Quality born of nature.
Gunatita: Beyond the Gunas; one who has transcended the three Gunas.
Hari: A being who destroys the evil deeds of those who take refuge in Him. A name of Lord Narayana or Krishna.

Maya: The illusive power of Brahman; the veiling and the projecting power of the universe.
Moda: Delight.
Moksha: Release; liberation; the term is particularly applied to the liberation from the bondage of karma and the wheel of birth and death; Absolute Experience.
Mouna: Silence.
Mukta: The liberated one.
Mukti: same as Moksha.
Mula: Origin; root; base; tuber.
Mumukshuttwa: Intense longing for liberation.
Nava-Riddhis: The nine minor psychic powers.
Neti-Neti: "Not this: not this"; the analytical process of progressively negating all names and forms in order to arrive at the eternal underlying Truth.
Nididhyasana: Profound and deep meditation; third step in Vedantic sadhana, after 'hearing' and 'reflection'.
Nirakara: Formless.
Nirguna: Without attribute.
Nirvikalpa: Without the modifications of the mind.
Nirvikari: Unchanging; without modifications.
Nitya: Eternal; daily; obligatory; permanent.
Om: The Pranava or the sacred syllable symbolising Brahman.
Omkara: Same as Om.
Padma Asana: The lotus pose; a meditative posture.
Paripoorna: All-full; self-contained.
Pashyanti: The subtle or the second state of sound which in its grossest form is manifest as the audible sound upon the physical plane.
Pindanda: The world of the body; microcosm; Kshudrabrahmanda as opposed to the macrocosm or cosmos (Brahmanda).
Pluta: Elongated accent with three matras.
Prajna: A name according to Vedanta philosophy of the individual in the causal state (as in sound sleep); the Supreme Reality appears as such through the veil of an individual causal body.
Prajnana Ghana: Mass of consciousness; Brahman.
Prakriti: Causal matter; Shakti.
Pramoda: The pleasure which one gets through the actual enjoyment of an object; the third state of enjoyment of an object, after Priya and Moda, the attributes of the causal body.
Prana: Vital energy; life-breath; life-force.
Pranamaya: One of the sheaths of the Self, consisting of the Pranas and the Karmendriyas.
Pranayama: Regulation and restraint of breath; the fourth limb of Ashtanga Yoga.
Prarabdha: The portion of Sanchita Karma that determines one's present life.
Pravritti-Marga: The path of action or life in worldly society or according to the nature of the world.
Preyo-Marga: "Preyas" means that which is pleasant to the senses and the mind. Hence "Preyo-Marga" means the path that leads in the direction of the pleasing sensations of body and mind.
Priya: Bliss; joy derived on seeing a beloved object.
Purusha: The Supreme Being; a being that lies in the city (of the heart of all beings). The term is applied to the Lord. The description applies to the Self which abides in the heart of all things. To distinguish Bhagavan or the Lord from the Jivatma He is known as Parama (Highest) Purusha or the Purushottama (the best of the Purushas).

Purushottama: The Supreme Person; the Lord of the Universe.
Rajasic: Passionate; active; restless.
Rajoguna: One of the three aspects of component traits of cosmic energy; the principle of dynamism in nature bringing about all changes; through this is projected the relative appearance of the Absolute as the universe; this quality generates passion and restlessness.
Riddhis: Highest sensual delight; wealth; nine varieties of extraordinary exaltation and grandeur that come to a Yogi as he advances and progresses in Yoga, like the supernatural powers or Siddhis; Riddhis are, like Siddhis, great obstacles in Yoga.
Rupa: Appearance; form; sight; vision.
Sadhaka: (Spiritual) aspirant; one who exerts to attain an object.
Sadhana-Chatushtaya: The four kinds of spiritual effort: discrimination, dispassion, sixfold virtues and desire for liberation.
Sadyo-Mukti: Immediate lineration.
Sakshatkara: Direct realisation; experience of Absoluteness; Brahmajnana.
Sakshi: Witnessing principle; seer; Kutastha which passively observes the actions of the body and the senses; witness.
Sakshi-bhava: The attitude of remaining as a witness.
Samadhana: Equal fixing; proper concentration.
Samadhi: The state of superconsciousness where Absoluteness is experienced attended with all-knowledge and joy; Oneness; here the mind becomes identified with the object of meditation; the meditator and the meditated, thinker and thought become one in perfect absorption of the mind.
Samata-drishti: Equal vision.
Samsara: Life through repeated births and deaths; the process of worldly life.
Samskara: Impression; ceremonial purification; prenatal tendency.
Sanchita: The sum-total of all actions done by the Jiva during countless previous births, out of which a portion is allotted for every new birth.
Sankalpa: Thought; desire; imagination.
Sankhya: A system of philosophy propounded by Kapila.
Santam: Peaceful; calm; tranquil.
Santi: Same as Santam.
Sanyasa: Renunciation of social ties; the last stage of Hindu life, viz., the stage of spiritual meditation.
Sarira: Body.
Sarvam: All; everything.
Saswata: Everlasting.
Sat-Asat-Vilakshana: Different from what is existence and non-existence.
Satchidananda: Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute.
Satsankalpa: True resolve; pure desire; perfect will.
Sattwa: Light; purity; reality.
Satya: Truth; Brahman or the Absolute.
Savikalpa Samadhi: Samadhi with the triad of knower, knowledge and known.
Shabda-Brahman: Word-Absolute; Omkara or the Veda.
Shabda-Tanmatra: Subtle principle of sound.
Shakti: Power; energy; force; the Divine Power of becoming; the apparent dynamic aspect of Eternal Being; the Absolute Power or cosmic energy.

Shatsampat: Sixfold wealth, viz., Sama (tranquility of mind), Dama (self-restraint), Uparati (cessation from distracting activity connected with the world), Titiksha (fortitude), Sraddha (faith in the scriptures, Guru and God) and Samadhana (one-pointedness of mind).
Shudda: Pure; clear; clean; untainted.
Siddha: Realised; perfected; a perfected Yogi.
Siddhi: Perfection; psychic power.
Sishya: Disciple.
Sivam: All-good.
Sonita: Female reproductive seeds.
Sraddha: Faith.
Sravana: Hearing of the Srutis or scripture; ear.
Sreyo-Marga: The way leading to one's ultimate good and not to an immediate pleasant condition of senses and the mind.
Sruti: The Vedas; the revealed scriptures of the Hindus; that which has been heard; ear.
Suddha: Same as Shudda.
Sukla: Semen; white.
Swagata Bheda: Intrinsic difference as the difference between waves, eddies, etc., in a mass of water; the difference between parts like hands, legs, head, feet, etc., in a person; difference between fruit, flower, twigs, leaves, etc., in a tree; that by which one part of a substance is discriminated from another.
Swajatiya Bheda: Difference by which one individual of a species is distinguished from another, e.g., the difference between one man and another man.
Swarat: Independent.
Swaroopa: Essence; essential nature; the essential nature of Brahman; Reality; Satchidananda; true nature of Being.
Swayam-Prakasha: Self-luminous.
Taapas: Sufferings or afflictions of three kinds, to which mortals are subject, viz., (1) those caused by one's own body (Adhyatmika), (2) those caused by beings around him (Adhibhautika), and (3) those caused by Devas (Adhidaivika).
Taijasa: A name used in Vedanta philosophy for an individual in the subtle state (as in dream) when the Supreme Reality is veiled and coloured by an individual's subtle body.
Tamas: Ignorance; inertia; darkness; perishability.
Tanmatra: Atom; rudimentary element in an undifferentiated state before Pancikarana or quintuplication.
Tapas: Purificatory action; ascetic self-denial; austerity; penance; mortification.
Tattwa: Reality; element; truth; essence; principle.
Titiksha: Bearing with equanimity the pairs of opposites, heat and cold, pleasure and pain, and respectful and disrespectful treatment; endurance.
Tuccha: Triffling; mean.
Turiya: Superconscious state; the noumenal Self of creatures which transcends all conditions and states; oneness.
Upadesha: Spiritual advice.
Upadhi: A superimposed thing or attribute that veils and gives a coloured view of the substance beneath it; limiting adjunct; instrument; vehicle; body; a technical term used in Vedanta philosophy for any superimposition that gives a limited view of the Absolute and makes It appear as the relative. Jiva's Upadhi is Avidya; Isvara's Upadhi is Maya.

Uparati: Satiety in the enjoyment of sense-objects; surfeit; discontinuance of religious ceremonies following upon renunciation; absolute calmness; tranquillity; renunciation.
Uttama: Best.
Vachana: Speech.
Vachyartha: Literal meaning.
Vaikhari: Articulate form of sound.
Vairagya: Indifference towards and disgust for all worldly things and enjoyments; dispassion.
Vakya: Words; sentences.
Varnashrama: Related to the four primary groups and the four stages of Hindu life; the laws of the caste and stage of life.
Vasana: Subtle desire; a tendency created in a person by the doing of an action or by enjoyment; it induces the person to repeat the action or to seek a repetition of the enjoyment; the subtle impression in the mind capable of developing itself into action; it is the cause of birth and experience in general; the impression of actions that remains unconsciously in the mind.
Vedanta: (lit.) The end of the Vedas; the Upanishads; the school of Hindu thoughts (based primarily on the Upanishads) upholding the doctrine of either pure non-dualism or conditional non-dualism; (the original text of this school is Vedanta-darshana or Uttaramimamsa or the Brahma-sutras compiled by sage Vyasa.)
Vedantin: One who follows the path of Vedantic Sadhana.
Vichara: Enquiry into the nature of the Self, Brahman or Truth; ever-present reflection on the why and wherefore of things; enquiry into the real meaning of the Mahavakya-Tat-tvam-asi; discrimination between the Real and the unreal; enquiry of Self.
Videha-Mukti: Disembodied salvation; salvation attained by the realised soul after shaking off the physical sheath as opposed to Jivanmukti which is liberation even while living.
Vidya: Knowledge (of Brahman); there are two kinds of knowledge, Paravidya (higher knowledge) and Aparavidya (lower knowledge); a process of meditation or worship.
Vijatiya Bheda: Heterogeneous; distinction between units of different classes, e.g., the difference between a tree and a stone.
Vijnana: The principle of pure intelligence; secular knowledge; knowledge of the Self.
Vijnanamaya Kosha: One of the sheaths of the soul consisting of the principle, intellect or Buddhi.
Vikara: Modification or change, generally with reference to the modification of the mind, individually or cosmically.
Vikshepa: The tossing of the mind which obstructs concentration.
Virat: Macrocosm; the physical world that we see; the Lord in His form as the manifested universe.
Vishayakara-Vritti: Thought of sensual objects.
Vishwa: Cosmos; a name of the Jiva in the waking state.
Viveka: Discrimination between the Real and the unreal, between the Self and the non-Self, between the permanent and the impermanent; right intuitive discrimination; ever-present discrimination between the transient and the permanent.
Vritti: Thought-wave; mental modification; mental whirlpool.
Yajna: A sacrifice.
Yogavasishtha: A monumental work on Vedanta.
Yoni: Source; womb.