Words in this glossary have been alphabetized according to the English alphabet, not the Bengali. Accented letters have been treated the same as unaccented (e.g., Á the same as A).

ÁJIṊÁ CAKRA. Sixth, or lunar, psycho-spiritual centre, or plexus; the “yogic wisdom eye”. See also CAKRA.
ANÁHATA CAKRA. Fourth psycho-spiritual centre, or plexus; the “yogic heart”. See also CAKRA.
ÁNANDA. Divine bliss.
ANANDA MARGA. Path of divine bliss; Ánanda Márga Pracáraka Saḿgha (Ananda Marga organization).
ASTEYA. Not to take possession what belongs to others, non-stealing.
ATHARVAVEDA. The last Veda, composed approximately 3000 years ago, older than the Jain scriptures.
ÁTMÁ, Átman. Soul, consciousness, Puruśa, pure cognition. The átman of the Cosmos is Paramátman, and that of the unit is the jiivátman.
ÁYURVEDA. The Vedic system of medicine.

BARENDRA. The portion of Bengal to the north of the River Padma, comprising of all North Bengal districts.
BHAJANA. Devotional song or songs.
BHAKTA. Devotee, spiritual aspirant who has devotion.
BHAKTI. Devotion.
BRAHMA. Supreme Entity, comprising both Puruśa, or SHIVA, and Prakrti, or Shakti.
BRÁHMII SCRIPT. An Indian script invented at least seven thousand years ago, now obsolete. It was written from right to left.
BUDDHA. One who has attained bodhi, intuition. Lord Buddha, the propounder of Buddhism, appeared approximately 2500 years ago.

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: (1) for the múládhára cakra, the base of the spine, above the perineum; (2) for the svádhiśt́hána, the genital organ; (3) for the mańipura, the navel; (4) for the anáhata, the midpoint 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. There are two other cakras which are needed in certain spiritual practices, so the cakras are nine in number.
CITISHAKTI. Cognitive Principle, Puruśa, Pure Consciousness.

D́ABÁK. Literally “Oft-Flooded Land”; its other name was Vauṋga. A part of ancient Bengal composed of modern day Mymensingh District; Dhaka District; Faridpur District excepting Goalanda and Gopalganj; and the major portion of Bakharganj District.
DÁYABHÁGA. A system of inheritance in which the heirs’ right of inheritance is subject to the discretion of the father, who has the right to disinherit any of the heirs. Another feature of this system is the right of inheritance for women.
DHARMA. Characteristic property; spirituality; the path of righteousness in social affairs.
DHRITARASTRA. Literally, “the entity that holds the structure of human beings”; “the blind mind”. In the Mahábhárata, the blind king of the Kaoravas. He had one hundred sons.

GANDHARI. Pious and righteous mother of the hundred Kaoravas.
GAUṊGÁSÁGAR. The place where the River Ganges empties into the Bay of Bengal.
GAUṊGOTTARII. The place where the River Ganges originates.
GAŃESHA. In mythology, the son of Shiva; the god of commerce; half man, half elephant.
GAOŔIIYA. Related to Bengal.
GONDWANA, GONDWANALAND. An ancient continent, now, due to geophysical changes, no longer intact.
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.
GURU. Gu means “darkness”, ru means “dispeller”; hence “dispeller of darkness”; spiritual master.
GURU CAKRA. The inner side of the SAHASRÁRA CAKRA, or pineal
plexus; occult plexus. See also CAKRA.
GURU MANTRA. “Important” mantra, learned as a lesson of Ananda Marga sadhana.
GURU PÚJÁ. The offering of mental colours to the Guru.

HARA. Literally, “the entity which is instrumental for the withdrawal of everything” (the word is derived from ha and ra – ha is the acoustic root of the ethereal factor and ra is the acoustic root of energy) or “one who undergoes no change under the influence of others”; other names of Lord Shiva.
HARI. Literally, “that which steals”; one who steals others’ sins to lighten their burden and pave the way for their liberation; another name of Parama Puruśa – the entity responsible for the preservation of unit beings.

JIṊÁNA. Spiritual knowledge, self-realization, understanding.
JIIVÁTMÁ. See ÁTMÁ.

KAORAVAS. Hundred sons of King Dhritarastra, the adhármik forces in the Mahábhárata war.
KHAROŚT́II. An Indian script invented approximately seven thousand years ago, now obsolete. It was written from left to right.
KIIRTANA. Collective singing of the name of the Lord, combined with instrumental music and with a dance that expresses the spirit of surrender.
KÚRMA NÁD́II. Energy channel related to vocal cord.
KURUKŚETRA. Literally, a field always saying “kuru, kuru,” “do something, do something;” hence the world, the entire universe; the place where the Mahábhárata war was fought; a town near Delhi.

MAHÁBHÁRATA. “Great India”; the name of a military campaign guided by Lord Krśńa around 1500 BCE to unify India; the epic poem written by Maharshi Vyasa about this campaign.
MAHAPRABHU. Literally, “a great master”; Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who propounded the Gaoŕiiya Vaeśńava religion five hundred years ago.
MAHÁSAMBHÚTI. When TÁRAKA BRAHMA utilizes the five fundamental factors to express Himself through a body, this is known as His Mahásambhúti.
MAŃIPURA CAKRA. The third psychio-spiritual centre, or plexus; the controlling point of the pancreas. See also CAKRA.
MANTRA. A sound or collection of sounds which, when meditated upon, will lead to spiritual liberation. A mantra is incantative, pulsative and ideative.
MANU SAḿHITÁ. An authoritative collection of social rules, customs, and etiquette for Hindus compiled by Manu, who lived about two thousand years ago in the post-Buddhist era.
MITÁKŚARÁ. Mitákśará entails the heirs’ equal rights of inheritance, not subject to the father’s discretion; mostly prevalent in Northern India.
MOKŚA. Spiritual emancipation, non-qualified liberation.
MÚLÁDHÁRA CAKRA. Lowest, or basal (or terranean), psycho-spiritual centre, or plexus, located just above the base of the spine. See also CAKRA.

NANDANA VIJIṊÁNA. Aesthetic science.
NÁRÁYAŃA. The Supreme Entity; literally, “the Lord of Nára (Prakrti)”.

PAIṊCA BHÚTA. Five rudimental factors – ethereal, aerial, luminous, liquid and solid.
PANDAVAS. The five sons of King Pandu, representing the dhármika forces in the Mahábhárata war.
PANINI. The world’s first grammarian; he wrote the first Sanskrit grammar.
PARAMÁ PRAKRTI. Supreme Operative Principle.
PARAMA PURUŚA. Supreme Consciousness.
PARAMÁTMÁ, PARAMÁTMAN. Supreme Consciousness as the witness of His own Macropsychic conation.
PARAMESHVARA. Supreme Controller of the universe.
PARÁSHAKTI. Introversive pervasive force.
PARASMAEPADII. Terminologies of conjugation in Sanskrit grammar.
PÁRVATII. Colloquial version of “Parvata Kanyá” – “Daughter of the Mountains”; one of the three wives of SADÁSHIVA.
PRÁKRTA. The seven spoken languages that developed from Sanskrit; prákrta also means prákrta jana, that is, “common people”.

RÁMÁYAŃA. An epic poem of India. It is the story of King Rama, or Ramchandra.
RÁŔH. The territory, mostly in modern-day Bengal and Jharkhand, stretching from the West Bank of the Bhagirathi river to the
Parasnath hills.
RGVEDA. The oldest Veda, composed over the period between fifteen thousand years ago and ten thousand years ago.

SADHANA. Literally, “ sustained effort”; spiritual practice; meditation.
SADGURU. Spiritual master.
SÁDHU. Virtuous person, spiritual aspirant.
SADÁSHIVA. SHIVA (literally, “eternal Shiva”).
SADVIPRA. Spiritual revolutionary.
SAHASRÁRA CAKRA. Highest, or pineal, psycho-spiritual centre, or plexus, located at the crown of the head. See also CAKRA.
SAIṊCARA. In the Cosmic Cycle, the step-by-step extroversion and crudification of consciousness from the Nucleus Consciousness to the state of solid matter. (Saiṋcara literally means “movement”.)
SÁMAVEDA. Sáma means “song”; the song portions of three Vedas collectively made up the Sámaveda. So the Sámaveda is not a separate Veda.
SAḾSKÁRA. Mental reactive momentum, potential mental reaction.
SAḾSKRTA, Sanskrit. The classical language of India. It first emerged during the Post-Shiva period, and as a spoken language it began to be supplanted by Prákrta prior to the Krśńa period. Although not a spoken language today except in very limited circumstances, it is still important for its vast literature especially spiritual literature. Sanskrit and English are the languages of the world that have the richest vocabularies. Sanskrit pronunciation was perfected by non-Aryan Tantrics in such a way that each of the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet constitutes one acoustic root of Tantra.
SHIVA. A great Tantric guru of 5000 BCE who guided society while His mind was absorbed in Consciousness; hence, Infinite Consciousness, Puruśa. First advent of tÁraka Brahma.
SHAEVA TANTRA. Shiva Tantra. The applied, or practical, side of spirituality as taught by Shiva.
SHRII KRŚŃA, KRŚŃA. Literally, “the entity which attracts everything of the universe towards its own self”, Parama Puruśa. A great Tantric guru, the historical Krśńa of about 1500 BC; second Táraka Brahma or Mahásambhúti.
SHLOKA. A Sanskrit couplet expressing one idea.
SITA. Wife of Rama.
SIXTEEN POINTS. The central pillar of Ananda Marga conduct rules: sixteen rules of hygiene and conduct amid which are reiterated all other conduct rules.
SVÁDHIŚT́HÁNA CAKRA. Second, or fluidal, psycho-spiritual centre, or plexus. See also CAKRA.

TANTRA. A spiritual tradition which 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 weakness. Also, a scripture expounding that tradition.
TÁRAKA BRAHMA. Supreme Consciousness in Its liberating aspect.

UPANIŚAD, UPANISHAD. Literally, “that which brings one near”; certain philosophical sections of the Vedas.

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.
VISHUDDHA CAKRA. Fifth psycho-spiritual centre, or plexus, related to the vocal cord and to the thyroid and parathyroid glands; controls sixteen propensities. See also CAKRA.
VRTTI. Mental propensity.

YAJURVEDA. A Veda composed over a period between ten thousand years ago and seven thousand years ago. There was no script at that time.
YAMA AND NIYAMA. Ten principles of moral conduct.
YOGA. Spiritual practice leading to unification of the unit átman with Paramátman.
YOGI. A practitioner of yoga.