ÁCÁRYA m. or ÁCÁRYÁ f. Spiritual teacher qualified to teach all lessons of meditation.
AHAM, AHAḾTATTVA. Doer “I”, ego, second mental subjectivity.
ÁNANDA. Divine bliss.
ANANDA MARGA. Path of divine bliss; Ánanda Márga Pracáraka Saḿgha (Ananda Marga organization).
ÁRÁDHANÁ. Irresistible urge for the Lord; forgetting oneself in the pursuit of the Lord.
ÁTMÁ, ÁTMAN. Soul, consciousness, PURUŚA, pure cognition. The átman of the Cosmos is PARAMÁTMAN, and that of the unit is the jiivátman.
AVADHÚTA m. or AVADHÚTIKÁ f. Literally, “one who is thoroughly cleansed mentally and spiritually”; a monk or nun of an order close to the tradition of Shaeva Tantra.
ÁVARAŃII SHAKTI. An expression of avidyá shakti, or AVIDYÁ, which one experiences as the delusion “If I do not think about the Supreme, the Supreme will not think about me either, and I will escape the consequences of my past actions.”
AVIDYÁ. Ignorance; centrifugal, or extroversial, force; force of repulsion from the Nucleus Consciousness; aspect of the Cosmic Operative Principle which guides movements from the subtle to the crude. See also VIDYÁ.

BÁBÁ. Affectionate name for Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti.
BHAKTA. Devotee.
BHAKTI. Devotion.
BRAHMA. Supreme Entity, comprising both PURUŚA, or Shiva, and PRAKRTI, or Shakti.
BRAHMA CAKRA. Cosmic Cycle.

CAKRA. Cycle or circle; psycho-spiritual centre, or plexus. The cakras in the human body are all located along the suśumná canal which passes through the length of the spinal column and extends up to the crown of the head. Some cakras, however, are associated with external concentration points. The concentration points for the cakras: (1) for the múládhára cakra, the base of the spine, above the perineum; (2) for the svádhiśt́hána, the base of the genital organ; (3) for the mańipura, the navel; (4) for the anáhata, the mid-point of the chest; (5) for the vishuddha, the throat; (6) for the ájiṋá, between the eyebrows; and (7) for the sahasrára, the crown of the head.
CITTA. Done “I”, objective “I”, objective mind, mind-stuff.

DÁDÁ m. or DIDI f. Literally, “elder brother” or “elder sister”; may refer to an ÁCÁRYA or ÁCÁRYÁ of ANANDA MARGA.
DHARMA. Characteristic property; spirituality; the path of righteousness in social affairs.
DHYÁNA. Meditation in which the psyche is directed towards Consciousness.

GUŃA. Binding factor or principle; attribute; quality. PRAKRTI, the Cosmic Operative Principle, is composed of: sattvaguńa, the sentient principle; rajoguńa, the mutative principle; and tamoguńa, the static principle.

HLÁDINII SHAKTI, RÁDHIKÁ SHAKTI. An expression of vidyá shakti, or VIDYÁ, which one experiences as a desire to do something practical towards spiritual attainment.

INDRIYA. One of the five sensory organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin) or five motor organs (hands, feet, vocal cord, genital organ and excretory organ). The eye indriya (for example) comprises the eye itself, the optical nerve, the fluid in the nerve, and the location in the brain at which the visual stimulus is transmitted to the ectoplasm, or mind-stuff.

JIIVA. An individual being.
JIIVÁTMÁ. See ÁTMÁ.
JIṊÁNA. Knowledge; understanding.
JIṊÁNII. A SÁDHAKA who follows the path of knowledge or discrimination.

KARMA. Action.
KARMII. A SÁDHAKA who follows the path of action or work.
KRPÁ. Spiritual grace.

LIILÁ. Divine sport.

MAHATTATTVA. “I” (“I am,” “I exist”) feeling, existential “I”.
MARGI. A member of Ananda Marga.
MÁYÁ. Creative Principle, PRAKRTI in Her phase of creation. One aspect of Máyá is the power to cause the illusion that the finite created objects are the ultimate truth.

OṊM. The sound of the first vibration of creation; the biija
mantra (acoustic root) of the expressed universe. Oṋḿkára
literally means “the sound oṋm”.

PÁPA. Sin.
PARAMA PURUŚA. Supreme Consciousness.
PARAMÁTMÁ, PARAMÁTMAN. Supreme Consciousness in the role of witness of His own macropsychic conation. Paramátman comprises: (1) PURUŚOTTAMA, the Macrocosmic Nucleus; (2) Puruśottama’s association with all creation in His extroversive movement (prota yoga); and (3) Puruśottama’s association with each unit creation individually (ota yoga) and (4) with all collectively (prota yoga) in His introversive movement.
PRAKRTI, PARAMÁ PRAKRTI. Cosmic Operative Principle.
PRATISAIṊCARA. In the Cosmic Cycle, the step-by-step introversion and subtilization of consciousness from the state of solid matter to the Nucleus Consciousness. (Prati means “counter” and saiṋcara means “movement”.)
PUŃYA. Virtue.
PURUŚA. Consciousness.
PURUŚOTTAMA, PARAMASHIVA. The Nucleus Consciousness, the witness of saiṋcara (extroversion from the Nucleus) and pratisaiṋcara (introversion to the Nucleus).

QUINQUELEMENTAL. Composed of the ethereal, aerial, luminous, liquid and solid factors, or elements.

RÁDHIKÁ SHAKTI. See HLÁDINII SHAKTI.

SÁDHAKA. Spiritual practitioner.
SÁDHANÁ. Literally, “sustained effort”; spiritual practice; meditation.
SAIṊCARA. In the Cosmic Cycle, the step-by-step extroversion and crudification of consciousness from the Nucleus Consciousness to the state of solid matter.
SAMÁDHI. “Absorption” of the unit mind into the Cosmic Mind (savikalpa samádhi) or into the ÁTMAN (nirvikalpa samádhi). There are also various kinds of samádhi that involve only partial absorption and have their own distinguishing characteristics, according to the technique of spiritual practice followed.
SAḾSKÁRA. Mental reactive momentum, potential mental reaction.
SAMVIT SHAKTI. An expression of vidyá shakti, or VIDYÁ, which one experiences as the realization that life has a higher purpose. SANNYÁSII m. or SANNYÁSINII f. Literally, “one who has surrendered one’s everything to the Cosmic will” or “one who ensconces oneself in Sat, the unchangeable entity”; a renunciant.
SATSAUṊGA. Good company.
SHAKTI. PRAKRTI; energy; a deification of Prakrti.
SHÁSTRA. Scripture.
SHLOKA. A Sanskrit couplet expressing one idea.

TANTRA. A spiritual tradition that originated in India in prehistoric times and was first systematized by Shiva. It emphasizes the development of human vigour, both through meditation and through confrontation of difficult external situations, to overcome all fears and weaknesses. Also, a scripture expounding that tradition.

VEDA. Literally, “knowledge”; hence, a composition imparting spiritual knowledge. Also, a religious or philosophical school which originated among the Aryans and was brought by them to India. It is based on the Vedas and emphasizes the use of ritual to gain the intervention of the gods.
VIDYÁ. Centripetal, or introversial, force; force of attraction to the Nucleus Consciousness; aspect of the Cosmic Operative Principle which guides movements from the crude to the subtle. See also AVIDYÁ.
VIKŚEPA SHAKTI. An expression of avidyá shakti, or AVIDYÁ, which one experiences as the delusion that if one remains aloof from the Supreme, the Supreme will not be in a position to control his or her destiny.

YOGA. Spiritual practice leading to unification of the unit ÁTMAN with PARAMÁTMAN.