ÁCÁRYA m. or ÁCÁRYÁ f. Spiritual teacher qualified to teach all lessons of meditation.
ÁJIṊÁ CAKRA. See CAKRA.
ÁNANDA. Divine bliss.
ANANDA MARGA. Path of divine bliss; Ananda Márga Pracáraka Saḿgha (Ananda Marga organization).
ASURA. An Assyrian tribe. Among the Indo-Aryans, the term took on in addition the derogatory meaning “monsters”, and came to be applied by them in this sense to certain non-Aryan peoples.
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.
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.

BRAHMA. Supreme Entity, comprising both PURUŚA, or Shiva, and PRAKRTI, or SHAKTI.

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.

DAKŚIŃÁCÁRA TANTRA A school of Tantra that attempts to control MÁYÁ through propitiation or appeasement.
DHARMA. Characteristic property; spirituality; the path of righteousness in social affairs.
DHYÁNA MANTRA. A Sanskrit verse listing the attributes of a deity, to be used for visualizing that deity in meditation.

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

IŚT́A. Goal; one’s personal deity or goal in life.
IŚT́A CAKRA. The CAKRA used for concentration in the practice of IISHVARA PRAŃIDHÁNA.
IŚT́A MANTRA. The mantra that leads the aspirant to his or her goal.
IISHVARA. The Cosmic Controller; literally, the “Controller of all controllers”.
IISHVARA PRAŃIDHÁNA. Surrender to the Cosmic Controller through meditation; a lesson of Ananda Marga meditation.

JIIVÁTMAN. See ÁTMAN.

KŚATRIYA. Written as kśatriya, a person whose mentality is to dominate over matter, a member of the warrior social class; written as “Kśatriya”, a member of the second-highest caste in India.

LAOKIK. “Of the people”, created relatively recently out of popular sentiment and not found in the scriptures.

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.
MAHÁKAOLA. A Tantric guru who can raise not only his own kuńd́alinii, but those of others also; in Buddhist Tantra, Mahákaola is sometimes symbolic of PARAMA PURUŚA.
MANTRA. A sound or collection of sounds which, when meditated upon, will lead to spiritual liberation. A mantra is incantative, pulsative, and ideative.
MÁYÁ. Creative Principle. One aspect of Máyá is the power to create the illusion that the finite created objects are the ultimate truth.

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”.

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. Cosmic Operative Principle.
PRÁŃÁYÁMA. The fourth limb of aśt́áḿga (eight-limbed) yoga: process of controlling vital energy by controlling the breath.
PURÁŃA. Mythological story with a moral import; educative fiction.
PURANIC AGE. The medieval period, about 500-1300 CE, when Hinduism was dominated by the PURÁŃAS.
PURUŚA. Consciousness.
PURUŚOTTAMA, PARAMASHIVA. The Nucleus Consciousness, the witness of saiṋcara (extroversion from the Nutcleus) and pratisaiṋcara (introversion to the Nucleus).

RÁGA or RÁGIŃII. Scales or modes for improvization in Indian classical music; pieces or compositions based on those modes.
RARH. The territory, mostly in Bengal, stretching from the west bank of the Bhagirathi River to the Parasnath Hills.
RŚI. Sage; one who, by inventing things, broadens the path of progress of human society.

SÁDHANÁ. Literally, “sustained effort”; spiritual practice; meditation.
SAGUŃA BRAHMA. BRAHMA unaffected by the GUŃAS; Qualified Brahma.
SAHASRÁRA. See CAKRA.
SHAKTI. PRAKRTI; energy; a deification of Prakrti.
SHLOKA. A Sanskrit couplet expressing one idea.
SHRUTI. Literally, “ear”; hence, a composition learned by hearing (before the invention of script).
SHÚDRA. Written as shúdra, a person of bread-and-butter mentality, a member of the worker social class; written as “Shúdra”, a member of the lowest caste in India.
SIDDHI. Self-realization; spiritual attainment; one of the eight occult powers.
SVAYAMBHÚLIUNGA. Ultimate point of negativity, or crudity, in the human body.

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 tanmátra 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.

VAESHYA. Written as vaeshya, a person of acquisitive mentality, a member of the capitalist social class; written as “Vaeshya”, a member of the second-lowest caste in India.
VÁMÁCÁRA TANTRA. A school of Tantra that attempts to overcome MÁYÁ by fight, but without any clear goal.
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. Knowledge; 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.
VIPRA. Written as vipra, a person who controls others by his or her wits, a member of the intellectual social class; written as “Vipra”, a member of the highest caste in India.

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