ÁCÁRYA m. or ÁCÁRYÁ f. Spiritual teacher qualified to teach all the lessons of meditation.
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.
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.

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

DHARMA. Characteristic property; spirituality; the path of righteousness in social affairs.

GÚNA. Binding factor of principle; attribute; 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”.

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

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.

NIRGUNÁ BRAHMA. BRAHMA unaffected by the GÚNAS; 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.
PRAKRTI. Cosmic Operative Principle.
PURÁŃA. Mythological story with a moral import; educative fiction.

RÁGA, RÁGINII. 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.

SHRUTI. Literally, “ear”; hence, a composition learned by hearing (before the invention of script).

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.

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.

YOGA. Spiritual practice leading to the unification of unit Átman [unit consciousness] with Paramátman [Supreme Consciousness].