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Yoga Glossary

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Abhyasa

practice - the act of practicing
Acharya

teacher
Aham

ego
Anubhava

experience, realization
Brahma Sakshatkara

official itrans spelling: 'brahma sAkSAtkAra'
1. God realization.
2. Literally means realization of brahman.
Brahmacharya

official itrans spelling: 'brahmacarya'
1. Celibacy, chastity.
2. Also means control of the senses.
3. The third of the yamas of raja yoga.
4. Literal meaning is to move towards Brahman.
Chakra

official itrans spelling: 'cakra'
1. Psychic and energetic plexuses located in the astral body.
2. Intersections of two or more nadis.
Chit

official itrans spelling: 'cit'
1. Consciousness.
2. Knowledge pure and absolute.
3. The true nature of each individual.
4. The principle of universal intelligence or consciousness.
Dama

official itrans spelling: 'dama'
1. Control of the senses.
2. The second of the six virtues of jnana yoga known as shad sampat.
Dharana

official itrans spelling: 'dhAraNA'
1. Concentration.
2. The sixth limb of raja yoga.
Dharma

official itrans spelling: 'dharma'
1. Righteousness
2. Justice
3. Law
4. Duty
5. Virtuous way of living.
Dhyana

official itrans spelling: 'dhyAna'
1. Meditation.
2. The seventh limb of raja yoga.
Durga

official itrans spelling: 'durgA'
1. Goddess.
2. The supreme shakti of the universe.
Ganesha

official itrans spelling: 'gaNesha'
1. The elephant-faced God.
2. Ganesha is the Lord and remover of obstacles.
Guna

official itrans spelling: 'guNa'
1. Quality of nature.
2. There are three gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas.
Guru

official itrans spelling: 'guru'
1. Teacher, mentor, guide and much more.
2. According to the tradition, yoga must be taught by a guru.
Guruparampara

official itrans spelling: 'gurupAraMpara'
1. Lineage of gurus.
Halasana

official itrans spelling: 'halAsana'
1. Plough posture.
2. Hala means plough and asana means posture.
Hatha

official itrans spelling: 'haTha'
1. Literally means sun (ha) and moon (tha).
2. The path of yoga of manipulation and control of the life force (Pranai) and awakening of the divine power kundalini through several practices including asanas and pranayama.
Havan

official itrans spelling: 'havan'
1. Worship ritual of offering involving a fire.
Himsa

official itrans spelling: 'hiMsA'
1. Violence.
2. The opposite of ahimsa.
Homa

official itrans spelling: 'homa'
1. Worship ritual of offering involving a fire.
Indriyas

official itrans spelling: 'indriya'
1. The senses or sense-organs.
2. Either the external physical organs of action (karma-indriyas), or the internal organs of knowledge (jnana-indriyas).
Ishwarapranidhana

official itrans spelling: 'ishvarapraNidhAna'
1. Surrender to God's will.
2. The fifth of the niyamas of raja yoga.
Jagat

official itrans spelling: 'jagat'
1. The world, the whole manifested universe.
Japa

official itrans spelling: 'japa'
1. Mantrai repetition.
2. Repeating a mantra over and over again.
3. Repetition of God's name.
Jivatman

official itrans spelling: 'jIvAtman'
1. Individual self, as opposed to paramatman, the supreme Self.
2. Individual soul.
Jnana

official itrans spelling: 'j~nAna'
1. Knowledge, wisdom.
2. Usually refers to the intuitive knowledge of the Self and not external intellectual knowledge.
Jnani

official itrans spelling: 'j~nAnI'
1. Practitioner of the path of jnana yoga.
Jyotish

official itrans spelling: 'jyotiS'
1. Vedic astrology
Kali Yuga

official itrans spelling: 'kAli yuga'
1. The iron age
Karma

official itrans spelling: 'karman'
1. Action.
2. Also refers to the law of action and reaction, and sometimes to the reaction or fruit of one's action.
3. One of the four main paths of Yoga.
Kirtanam

or kirtan - official itrans spelling: 'kIrtanam'
1. Chanting.
2. It is the second of the nine modes of bhakti.
Kripa

official itrans spelling: 'kR^ipA'
1. Grace.
2. Ultimately there is no liberation without the grace of God and guru.
3. Please note that kripa comes out of constant self effort.
Kriya

official itrans spelling: 'kriyA'
1. Cleansing practice of the hatha yoga system.
Kundalini Shakti

official itrans spelling: 'kuNDalinI shakti'
1. Dormant spiritual power that lies at the base of the spine.
2. Represented symbolically as a sleepy coiled serpent.
Lakh

official itrans spelling: 'lakh'
1. Unit measurement equal to 100,000.
Lila

official itrans spelling: 'lIlA'
1. Divine play.
Maha

official itrans spelling: 'mahA'
1. Great
Maha Mritunjaya Mantra

official itrans spelling: 'mahA mRRityu~njaya ma^ntra'
1. The great mantra of conquest over death.
mananam

official itrans spelling: 'mananaM'
1. Means contemplating or reflecting.
2. The second of the three main methods to reach jnana.
Mananam

official itrans spelling: 'mananaM'
1. Means contemplating or reflecting.
2. The second of the three main methods to reach jnana.
Mantra

official itrans spelling: 'maMtra'
1. A sacred power encased in a sound structure.
Marga

official itrans spelling: 'mArga'
1. Path.
Matsyasana

official itrans spelling: 'matsyAsana'
1. Fish posture.
2. Matsya means fish and asana means posture.
Maya

official itrans spelling: 'mAyA'
1. Mayai sakti is the veiling power of God, which veils the truth from our eyes and creates individual ignorance or avidya.
Moksha

official itrans spelling: 'mokSa'
1. Spiritual liberation, emancipation.
Mudra

official itrans spelling: 'mudrA'
1. Seal.
2. The mudras seal the prana and constitute one of the practices of hatha yoga.
Mumukshutva

official itrans spelling: 'mumukSutva'
1. Intense longing for liberation.
2. The fourth of the four means to salvation.
Nadi

official itrans spelling: 'nADI'
1. Subtle channels that carry prana in the astral body.

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