ÁCÁRYA m. or ÁCÁRYÁ f. Spiritual teacher qualified to teach all lessons of meditation.
ADHARMA. That which goes against DHARMA.
AESHVARYAS. Eight occult powers: ańimá, to become small (small enough to enter any physical particle or any crevice of another’s mind); mahimá, to become large (an expanded mind is omniscient, and feels love for the universe); laghimá, to become light (a light body can fly through air, a light mind can study the minds of others); prápti, to obtain any desired object; iishitva, to control (this supreme control may be used to guide others’ minds); vashitva, to psychically dominate others; prakámya, to materialize the desired outcome of events; and antaryámitva, to know the inner thought-wave and the inner need of any entity. These powers are also called vibhúti. (Note that though some of the powers may be used for similar ends, the ends are achieved by different methods.)
AHAM, AHAḾTATTVA. Doer “I”, ego, second mental subjectivity.
ANANDA MARGA. Path of divine bliss; Ánanda Márga Pracáraka Saḿgha (Ananda Marga organization).
ÁNANDA. Divine bliss.
ÁTMÁ, ÁTMAN. Soul, consciousness, PURUŚA, pure cognition. The átman of the Cosmos is PARAMÁTMAN, and that of the unit is the jiivátman.
ÁTMAJIṊÁNA. Self-knowledge.
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.
AVATÁRA. Incarnation.
AVIDYÁMÁYÁ Extroversial force; aspect of the Cosmic Operative Principle which guides movements from the subtle to the crude.
See also VIDYÁMÁYÁ.

BHAGA. Bhaga is a collection of six attributes: AESHVARYA; viirya – valour, command; yasha – fame, reputation; shrii – charm; jiṋána – knowledge, especially self-knowledge; and vaerágya – renunciation.
BHAGAVÁN. The owner of BHAGA, one who has fully imbibed the six qualities; Lord.
BHÁGAVATA DHARMA. The DHARMA to attain the Supreme.
BHAKTA. Devotee.
BHAKTI. Devotion.
BHÁVA. Idea, ideation, mental flow.
BHAVA. The expressed universe.
BRAHMA. Supreme Entity, comprising both PURUŚA, or SHIVA, and PRAKRTI, or SHAKTI.
BUDDHI. Intellect.

DEVA. Mythologically, a god, a deity. Philosophically, any vibration, or expression, emanating from the Cosmic Nucleus.
DEVII. A goddess, a female deity.
DHARMA. Characteristic property; spirituality; the path of righteousness in social affairs.
DHARMAKŚETRA. The battlefield of the Mahábhárata war; the physical body (as the only venue in which dharma SÁDHANÁ can be performed).
DHARMA RÁJYA. Literally, “reign of dharma”; rule of moralism.
DHÁRMIKA. Adjective of DHARMA.

GOPA m. or GOPII f. Village cowherd boy or girl; devotees of the Lord.
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.

IISHVARA. The Cosmic Controller; literally, “the Controller of all controllers”.
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.
IŚT́A. Goal; one’s personal deity or goal in life.

JAGAT. World, universe.
JIIVA. An individual being.
JIIVABHÁVA. Finite subjectivity, feeling of the unit state, sense of the unit identity, microcosmic bearing.
JIIVÁTMÁ, JIIVÁTMAN. See ÁTMÁ.
JIṊÁNA. Knowledge; understanding.
JIṊÁNA YOGA. A form of spiritual practice which emphasizes discrimination or intellectual understanding.
JIṊÁNII. A SÁDHAKA who follows the path of knowledge or discrimination.

KAORAVAS. Sons of King Dhritarastra, the adharmika forces in the Mahábhárata war.
KARMA. Action; sometimes, positive or negative action which produces SAḾSKÁRAs.
KARMA YOGA. A form of spiritual practice which emphasizes selfless action.
KIIRTANA. Collective singing of the name of the Lord, sometimes combined with a dance that expresses the spirit of surrender.
KRŚŃASUNDARAM. Krśńá the Beautiful.
KŚATRIYA. A person whose mentality is to dominate over matter, a member of the warrior social class.
KURUKŚETRA. The battlefield of the Mahábhárata war; the world (since it is as if the world is always saying, Kuru, kuru – “Do something, do something”).

LIILÁ. Divine sport.
LOKA. A “level”, or “layer”, or “sphere” of the Macrocosmic Mind.

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.
MAHÁPURUŚA. A person highly evolved psychically and spiritually, especially one who has consequently developed a charisma felt by other people.
MAHÁSAMBHÚTI. When TÁRAKA BRAHMA utilizes the five fundamental factors to express Himself through a body, this is known as His Mahásambhúti.
MAHATTATTVA. “I” (“I am,” “I exist”) feeling, existential “I”.
MANTRA. A sound or collection of sounds which, when meditated upon, will lead to spiritual liberation. A mantra is incantative, pulsative, and ideative.
MÁRGA. Path.
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.
MOKŚA. Spiritual emancipation, non-qualified liberation.
MUKTI. Spiritual liberation.

NAMÁMI. Salutations.
NÁRÁYAŃA. The Supreme Entity; literally, “the Lord of Nára (PRAKRTI)”.
NIRGUŃA BRAHMA. BRAHMA unaffected by the GUŃAS; Non-Qualified Brahma.

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

PANDAVAS. The sons of King Pandu, the dharmic forces in the Mahábhárata war.
PÁPA. Sin.
PÁPII. Sinner.
PARÁJIṊÁNA. Spiritual knowledge.
PARAMA PURUŚA. See PURUŚA.
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 extroversial movement (prota yoga); and (3) Puruśottama’s association with each unit creation individually (ota yoga) and (4) with all collectively (prota yoga) in His introversial movement.
PARIPRASHNA. A question on a spiritual topic.
PÁRTHASÁRATHI. Literally, “Arjuna’s charioteer”; Krśńa in the role of a king.
PÁTAKA. Sin. There are two kinds: PÁPA, sin of commission, and pratyaváya, sin of omission.
PRAKRTI, PARAMÁ PRAKRTI. Cosmic Operative Principle.
PRAPATTI. “Whatever is taking place in the universe is all due to the Cosmic will.”
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”.)
PURUŚA. Consciousness. Supreme Consciousness, the consciousness of the Cosmos, is Parama Puruśa, and a unit consciousness is an ańu puruśa.
PURUŚATATTVA. Essence of PURUŚA. PURUŚADEHA. The entire created substance, causal, subtle and crude, of the Macrocosm; Cosmic “I” + Cosmic Doer “I” + Cosmic done “I”.
PURUŚOTTAMA. The Nucleus Consciousness, the witness of SAIṊCARA and PRATISAIṊCARA.

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

RÁDHA BHÁVA, MADHURA BHÁVA. Rádha bháva means literally the devotional attitude which Rádhá held as the beloved of Krśńa. Madhura bháva means literally the “sweet”, or “honey”, devotional attitude.
RÁMÁYAŃA. An epic poem of India. It is the story of King Rama, or Ramchandra.
RASA. Cosmic flow; taste.
RÁSALIILÁ. “Parama Puruśa has created an endless network of waves from the Cosmic Nucleus according to His own sweet will.… Each of these waves is a DEVA, but the fundament upon which these waves have been created is called RASA.… The divine sport of these innumerable waves is called the rásaliilá.”
RŚI. Sage; one who, by inventing new things, broadens the path of progress of human society.

SADÁSHIVA. SHIVA (literally, “Eternal Shiva”).
SÁDHAKA. Spiritual practitioner.
SÁDHANÁ. Literally, “sustained effort”; spiritual practice; meditation.
SÁDHU. Virtuous person, spiritual aspirant. See also SÁDHAKA.
SAGUŃA BRAHMA. BRAHMA affected by the GUŃAS; Qualified Brahma.
SAHASRÁRA CAKRA. Highest, or pineal, psychic nerve plexus, located at the crown of the head.
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”.)
SAMÁDHI. “Absorption” of the unit mind into the Cosmic Mind (savikalpa samádhi) or into the ÁTMAN (nirvikalpa samádhi).
SAMÁJA. Society.
SAMÁJA CAKRA. Social cycle.
SAḾSÁRA. The world as a dimension of relentless, unceasing movement.
SAḾSKÁRA. Mental reactive momentum, potential mental reaction.
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.
SÁRATHI. Charioteer.
SAT, SATYA, SATYAM. “That which undergoes no change”; Absolute Reality.
SATSAUṊGA. Good company.
SHAKTI. PRAKRTI; energy; a deification of PRAKRTI.
SHÁSTRA. Scripture.
SHIVA. A great Tantric guru of 5000 BCE who guided society while His mind was absorbed in Consciousness; hence, Infinite Consciousness, PURUŚA.
SHLOKA. A Sanskrit couplet expressing one idea.

TANMÁTRA. Literally, “minutest fraction of that,” i.e., of a given rudimental factor of matter. Also translated “generic essence” or “inferential wave”. The various types of tanmátras convey the senses of hearing, touch, form (vision), taste and smell.
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 weaknesses. Also, a scripture expounding that tradition.
TÁRAKA BRAHMA. The Supreme Entity in Its liberating aspect.

VAEŚŃAVA. Vaishnavite; pertaining to the Viśńu Cult or Religion.
VIDYÁMÁYÁ. Introversial force; aspect of the Cosmic Operative Principle which guides movements from the crude to the subtle.
See also AVIDYÁMÁYÁ.
VINÁSHA. Transformation through destruction.
VRAJA. The spirit of joyful movement.
VRAJAGOPÁLA. Vraja Krśńa as “that entity who takes people forward through joy, amidst various expressions of bliss”.

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