Glossary of Yoga Terms

A

• Abhayam: Fearless.
• Abhimana: Egoism, identification with the body.
• Abhyasa: Spiritual practice.
• Acharya: Teacher; spiritual preceptor.
• Adhikari: A qualified person.
• Adhishthana: Substratum, support.
• Adhyasa: Superimposition or false attribution of properties of one thing on another thing.
• Adhyatmic: Spiritual.
• Adi: "First", meaning original, primordial.
• Advaita: Not two, i.e. non-duality. State of sensed oneness with nature and further. It's an aspect of yogic philosophy which aims at getting over and above (beyond) duality, beyond opposites. It can be associated with monism.
• Agama: Tantric scripture dealing with rites, righteousness (dharma), cosmology and the like. Agamas are works found inside the tradition of the tantrics and kaula, as opposed to that of the orthodox or Aryans known as Veda. In agamas, Shakti (femaleness) asks Shiva (masculinity deep inside) questions, and he replies.
• Agni: Fire; fire god, fire element. See tattwas.
• Ahamkara: "Egoism". It's really the central I-instance inside. It can be good and bad and in between those two. It can be gross or subtle and in between those two. It can work in healty ways for our good, or take nasty turns if unhealthy or unsavoury. Realistic handling of Hindu teachings depends on healthy, central I-instances in lots of persons. One should go for it, as good learning and fit adaptations in general depend on it.
• Ahimsa: It means "non-hurt" or "non-damage", i.e. on-injury in thought, word and deed. Absence of negativity from within; non-violence
• Aing, Aim: Mantra of Saraswati and Tara, and also of a chakra or two, according to the Tantric expert Sir John Woodroffe.
• Ajapa Mantra: "Hamsa" or "hang-saw" with variant spellings. Mantra to go along with the in and out flows of breath. [More]
• Ajna Chakra: The mid-area between the eye-brows, associated with good and able use of the mind and the so-called third eye. [A deep study of it]
• Amrita: That which is immortal. Nectar of the Gods.
• Anahata Chakra: Concentration point in the spine behind the heart; centre of emotion and the experience of unconditional love.
• Anahata: Mystic sound heard by Yogis.
• Ananda: Bliss, happiness, joy.
• Ananda-Ghana: Cloud of bliss.
• Anandamaya Kosha: The dimension of bliss.
• Anandamaya: Full of great happiness.
• Ananda-Svarupa: Of the form of bliss.
• Annamaya Kosha: The dimension of matter: the physical body. "Kosha" means sheath.
• Antar Mouna: Inner stillness, and thought observation.
• Anushasanam: Governing or managing the subtle aspects of human personality; discipline.
• Arhata: A perfected Soul.
• Arjuna: A hero in the epos Mahabharata and thus also in the Bhagavad gita. In it, he is the one who asks Krishna about his purpose in life.
• Asana: Physical posture in which one is at ease and in harmony with one's self. A bodily pose or posture.
• Ashram(A): Traditional name referring to places where yoga is lived and taught. Also: Home of a person or group who lead a spiritual life. A hermitage; monastery.
• Ashtanga: It refers to Patanjali's yoga with eight steps or limbs, as laid bare in the Yoga Sutras. It is claimed to be genuine royal yoga too.
• Asteya: Non-stealing.
• Asuras: Antigods.
• Asuric: Demoniac.
• Atma(N): Individual soul; the Self, one's spirit. The highest or true self as distinct from the consciousness or ego. Shiva embodied: there is no difference between atman and paramatman except that caused by maya. The Atman is not necessarily embodied.
• Atma-Jnana: Knowledge of the Self.
• Atma-Svarupa: The essential nature of the Self.
• Aum: A mantra (also spelled Om) which is described as the primordial sound; the sound through which the manifest world comes into being. It is often used as a sound-symbol of Brahman. In some Upanishadic texts it is written that enlightenment may come from chanting this mantra alone, which is used to open or close prayerful sessions etc. Aum may be heard through a particular meditation technique.
• Aum Namah Shivaya: A well known "universal mantra" that may be repeated by anyone, but also a personal mantra that may be given by a guru at the time of initiation.
• Aushadhi: Name of the Goddess as Mother of Herbs and medicine.
• Avadhut: A naked sage, more specifically: someone who transcends body and worldly consciousness.
• Avatar(A): The word means 'descent', from Sanskrit 'avatarati' he descends, from 'ava', away + 'tarati', he crosses over. An avatar may be an incarnation (embodyment) of a god or goddess into a human or animal form, or of divinity (more abstract).
• The Hindu god Vishnu, for example, is said to have incarnated many times, as (1) a fish; (2), a tortoise, (3) a boar, (4) a man-lion, (5) a dwarf, (6) Axe-Rama, (7) Rama, (8) Krishna, and (9) Balarama. Gautama Buddha is in some of these lists too.
• Avatarhood lore also counts with such as full (purna) and partial embodiments of divinity. And some persons that appear to embody admirable qualities, may be called avatars of those qualities.
• The word may also represent one who incarnates a particular truth or path on earth. Thus, Matsyendranath is the Avatar of the Kaula Jnana Nirnaya Tantra.
• Avidya: Not-knowing, i.e.e ignorance of reality. Ignorance. spiritual blindness. Illusion.
• Ayurveda: "Knowledge of longevity": Ancient and traditional Indian system of medicine and medical practices coupled with rigorous ways of life and recuperation adjustments too.

B

• Bandhas: Bandhas are a series of powerful locks designed to unlock blockages of energy in the body. Mulbandha contracts an area around muladhara chakra in the perineal area. Uddiyana bandha involves a contraction of the abdominal area. Jalandhara bandha involves a contraction of the throat. Mahabandha is a combination of all three locks.
• Bija: Seed, or "root". Also beeja.
• Benares (Banaras): A holy pilgrimage centre of Hindus, now called Varanasi. It is in Uttar Pradesh, India.
• Bhaga: The divine Enjoyer in man. Also: portion.
• Bhagavad Gita: Literally, "Song of the Lord (Krishna)" A part of the very large Mahabharata epic poem which contains Sri Krishna's teachings. It's just one big chapter inside a section of the Sanskrit epic poem. The gita (song) takes the form of an eighteen chapter long dialogue between a chariot-driving Krishna and the bowman Arjuna, his friend, while they stand still on the battlefield between two sides on the brink of war. Arjuna is filled with doubt and questions how good this particular warfare could be. Krishna, in turn, explains what is called good and great. The Gita contains a medley of old philosophies. A version of the text is available here.
• Bhagavan: Any Godhead that has been born; one of Love and Delight. Often rendered as Blessed Lord, supreme Godhead-personality, a Person-of-Divinity born. "The Word made flesh" may correspond quite nicely to it. According to Hindu thinking, there can be more than one Bhagavan, more than one Person-God.
• Bhagavata: Name of a Purana (a work dealing with doctrines of creation, gods and myths, fabled kings and royal dynasties, teachings of sages, sayings for living and so on). There are over 18 main Puranas. All these works along with the Vedas are ascribed to the ancient expert of writing Vyasa. Yet they hail different and in part much competing gods of the Hindu pantheon. Siva Purana is one of them. Vishnu Purana is another, Markandeya Purana still another.
• Bhajan: Devotional song. Bhajans are a form of chanting. Usually, they are traditional Sanskrit passages, with several or many verses, and are sung to traditional melodies. In such ways and others, spiritual texts were passed on. In contrast kirtans are generally shorter and repeated many times.
• Bhakta: A devotee, or a devotee of God.
• Bhakti: Devotion. Also, more loosely, the yoga of devotion, bhakti yoga, which is one of the main branches of yoga.
• Bhakti Yoga: Path of devotion to God.
• Bharat(A): Land immersed in light; It can be taken to mean India nowadays. Pakistan was not excluded earlier.
• Bhastrika: A dynamic diaphragmatic breathing practice, known as bellows breathing, in which the breath is forcibly drawn in and out in equal proportions through the nostrils.
• Bhava(Na): Essentially: attitude. Also: deep feeling and that state of being, according to Tantra.
• Bhoga: Sexual enjoyment. Enjoyment of the senses.
• Bhogi: Enjoyer.
• Bhojana: Food. "That which is enjoyed": There are three types: "Lunar", composed of sense impressions; "Solar", composed of the prana, or vital essences; "Fiery", composed of edibles and water. So they say.
• Bhuh Loka: Dimension of consciousness related to the dimension of earth and mooladhara chakra.
• Bhutas: Elementals. The term comes from bhuta. These are the five elements, Space, Air, Fire, Water, Earth.
• Bhuvah Loka: Dimensions of consciousness related to the element of water and swadhisthana chakra.
• Bija: A "root" or "seed" sound or syllable of a mantra (sound). Sperm.
• Bindu: The source; a drop; psychic centre, concentration point at the top back of the head where the hair whorls. The point without a center from which proceeds cosmic sound (nada): Dot. Semen.
• Bodhisattva: A being who, having developed the Awakening Mind (a mind infused with the aspiration to attain the state of Buddhahood), devotes his life to the task of achieving Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings.
• Brahma: The creator of the Cosmos.
• Brahmacharya: (a) Maintaining celibacy. (b) Study years in youth. (c) Both.
• Brahma-Jnana: Knowledge of Brahman.
• Brahman: From the root 'brih', to grow, expand. (a) God or Pan (Omnipresence). (b) Mind (consciousness) which allows growth to take place.
• Brahmarandhra: The hole of Brahma: The spiritual centre at the top of the head.
• Brahma-Sutras: Classical Vedantic scripture that is as well as impossible to understand (needing commentaries).
• Brahma-Vidya: Knowledge of Brahman, learning pertaining to Brahman or the absolute reality. Knowhow of how to gain in Brahma mind.
• Brahmin: Ideally, one who knows Brahma, Godhood inside.
• Brihadaranyaka: An Upanishad.
• Buddha: The Enlightened One.
• Buddhi: Discerning, discriminating aspect of mind; from the route "bodh" meaning to be aware of, to know; intellect.
• Buddhi: Intellect. Bwana: Swahili, from Arabic abuna, our father: Master, boss.

C

• Chaitanya: Pure Consciousness.
• Chakra: (a) Centres of energy in the human system. Wheel; vortex of prana; psychic centre, "lotus". Chakras are subtle energy centres in the body: the main chakras in the body are situated along the spinal column. (b) Circle or wheel, often applied to the diagrams or yantras used in ritual worship. (c) A place of worship.
• Chandogya: An Upanishad.
• Chandra: Name of the Moon.
• Chela: Disciple; pupil of a Guru.
• Chiranjivi: One who has gained eternal life.
• Chit: Consciousness. Loosely: subconscious mind.
• Chitta: (a) Aspect of mind which receives impressions of the present experience and stores it for future use. (b) Individual consciousness including the subconscious and unconscious layers of the mind (memory, thinking, concentration, attention, enquiry).

D

• Daivic: Devic or divine.
• Dakini: A quite elemental embodiment of supernatural knowledge and ability.
• Dama: Control of senses.
• Danda: Rod.
• Darshan: Vision, sight.
• Dasnami: The sannyasa tradition of Shankarcharya consists of ten branches: Arana, Ashrama, Bharati, Giri (mountain), Parvati, Puri, Sagara, Saraswati, Teertha and Vanam.
• Dattatreya: A guru.
• Daya: Mercy.
• Deva(S): God(s): Shining ones. Heavenly beings.
• Devi: Goddess or shakti: there are many devis, or aspects of a primordial goddess that is Devi.
• Dharana: Concentration on one point.
• Dharma: Duty, what needs to be done. Righteous way of living as enjoined by scriptures, virtue.
• Dhoti: Unstitched cloth used as lower garment.
• Dhyana: Contemplation. A facet of interiorisation of the mind in a natural way, basically. Also called meditation.
• Diksha: Initiation; from the verb 'see' or 'concentrate'.
• Divali: Festival of Light, traditional celebration in India when the goddess Lakshmi gives blessings.
• Dukha: Pain, suffering.
• Dvapara Yuga: Second great period of time, much equivalent to the Bronze Age.
• Dvija: "Twice-born". In the Hindu social system, members of the three upper social classes are regarded as twice-born. They are the Brahmans (priests and teachers), Kshatriya (warriors), and Vaisya (traders, merchants). Their sacrament (initiation rite), where they are invested with a cotton thread, is regarded as a second or spiritual birth, and signifies that the male child enters the life of a student (brahmacarin) and is accepted as a regular member of his community. The thread consists of a loop made of three knotted and twisted strands. It is replaced regularly to be worn throughout the lifetime of the owner, normally over the left shoulder and diagonally across the chest to the right hip. However, less and less persons observe the initiation ceremony. More specifically, the second birth is said to have taken place during the student's initiation when the guru (holy teacher) to the student imparts to him the Gayatri mantra, which is a sacred verse of the Rigveda.

E

F

• Fourth: Super-mind, Super-mentality Above Waking, Dreaming, And Sleeping. Also, Super-consciousness.

G

• Gandharva: Celestial musicians on the plane (loka) of Indra.
• Garbha: The womb.
• Gayatri Mantra: A very old three-line verse from the Rigveda; "Om bhuh bhuvah swaha / tat savator varenium / bargo devasya de mahe / deya yona prachodhyat". There are variants of spelling and interpretations of it. One is:
•  
• "We meditate on the supreme splendour of Savitr (sunlight) that he may inspire our intelligence."
• The three-lined mantra is a gift from the Vedic seer Vishvamitra, and found in the third book of the Rigveda (3;62;10). "May we attain that excellent glory of Savitar the God: / So may he stimulate our prayers." (Ralph Griffith's translation).
• It is a blessing recited at sunrise, noon and sunset. The words hail divine deeds as well as being "Sunlit" from above, that is, well inspired. Our role may be to bring the inner light of inspired bliss to fruition. As it is said, Gayatri is for "new insight and inspiration or to increase memory and concentration [and much else]". Many Hindus today hold that the Gayatri mantra is not restricted to any certain community, but is a treasure for all the world, and properly belongs to humanity.
• Gita: Song, often rendered 'words'.
• Granthi: Knot.
• Grihastha: Householder.
• Guna: Classificatory attribute, or quality: Three of them: Tamas is intertia or laziness, i.e., something quite passive; Rajas is activity; and Sattvas is 'goodness'.
• Guru: Guide in a spiritual life; teacher, dispeller of a certain ignorance or 'darkness'; can be 'uplifter' as well.
• Guruparampara: A serial line of teachers.
• Gyana: Wisdom; path of understanding and knowledge. Also written Jnana.

H

• Ham: Bija mantra for vishuddhi chakra.
• Hamsa: "Swan", a very good mantra fit for boring inside in meditative practice.
• Hatha Yoga: Practices to balance ha and tha energies, solar and lunar energies and also other pranic currents of body and mind. "Sun-moon yoga": exercises for better physical health.
• Hatha Yoga Pradipika: classic text on yoga.
• Hindu Calender:
• Chaitra - 30 days (March - April)
• Vaishaka - 31 days (April - May)
• Jyaistha - 31 days ( May - June)
• Asadha - 31 days ( June - July)
• Srawana - 31 days (July - August)
• Bhadrapada - 31 days (August - September)
• Asvina - 30 days (September - October)
• Kartikka - 30 days (October - November)
• Magasirsa - 30 days ( November - December)
• Pousha - 30 days (December - January)
• Magha - 30 days (January - February)
• Phalguna - 30 days (February - March)
•  
• Indian days of the week
• Raviãra - Sunday (day of Sun)
• Somavãra - Monday (day of Moon)
• Mañgalvã - Tuesday (day of Mars)
• Budhavãra - Wednesday (day of Mercury)
• Guruvã - Thursday (day of Jupiter)
• Sukravãra - Friday (day of Venus)
• Sanivãra - Saturday (day of Saturn)
• Hiranyagarbha: Cosmic intelligence; the supreme lord of the universe; cosmic mind.
• Hridayakasha: heart space of feelings and anahata chakra.
• Hrim: A mantra of maya shakti: Pronounced "Hreem".
• Hum: Mantra governing the solar force: Part of the mantra "so hum".

I

• Iccha: The Will.
• Ida: The (lunar) nadi going about the central Sushumna nadi. The nadi is also connected with the left nostril and a receptive (or passive) mentality.
• Indra: The king of the gods; controller of the senses. The ruler of (Indra's) heaven.
• Indriyas: The senses, the forces which rule the mind.
• Ishta Devata: Chosen goddess or chosen god: A symbol of divinity.
• Ishvara: Light-Lord; God in the shape or garb of subtle inner light.

J

• Jagat: "That which is always going": The phenomenal world, that is, the world.
• Jagrat: Waking state of consciousness.
• Jagrit: conscious mind.
• Janah Loka: the dimension of consciousness related to vishuddhi chakra and the space element.
• Japa(M): repetition, repetition of such as a sound or sound medley (mantra).
• Jewels Of The Naths: There are three: Sama, equipoise; Samarasa, seeing self as the world, and the world in the self; and Sahaja, spontaneous naturalism.
• Jiva: The individual soul and incarnated Atma.
• Jivamukta: One who is liberated in this life while still in the body.
• Jivan: life.
• Jivatma(N): Individual consciousness.
• Jnana: Knowledge; wisdom.
• Jnanendriyas or Jnana-Indriyas: The five organs of knowledge with five senses of perception.
• Jnani: (Pronounced Nyani) A wise person.
• Jyoti: light, name.

K

• Kaivalya: Emancipation; state of absolute independence. Liberation of consciousness from an individuation.
• Kala: Time, star etc. Part or division of one whole process or thing.
• Kalagnirudra: The fire at the end of time which burns up the whole cosmic play.
• Kalpa: An age. See yuga.
• Kama: Desire.
• Kama: God of erotic love, lust and sexuality. What is required for procreation.
• Kamakhya Pitha: Seat of the goddess: A place especially sacred.
• Karma: Actions operating through the law of cause and effect, or action in the manifest or unmanifest dimension; law of cause and effect; deep impressions in life which make us think, feel and act in particular ways. This theorized "action" or results of doing" is ascribed to the inevitable law of cause and effect and may last over lifetimes, it is held.
• Karma Yoga: The path of activity as delineated in the Bhagavad Gita and other places. It aspires to harmonious activity too.
• Karma-Indriyas: Organs of action: tongue, hands, feet, genital organ and anus.
• Karmasraya: Receptacle of actions.
• Kartikkeya: A son of shiva: also known as skanda or subrahmana: His vehicle is a cockerel.
• Karuna: Compassion.
• Kashaya: Hidden desires.
• Khechara: One who can move in the Expanse of Consciousness = Shiva.
• Khechari Mudra: Lightly placing the underside of the tip of the tongue against the upper palate.
• Kinnaras: Spirits who are half human and half beast in the service of Kubera.
• Kirtan: (a) Singing devotional songs. (b) Mantras which are sung tomusic.
• Kosha: A form; a sheath; a body; a dimension; the five kosha are: annamaya, pranamaya, manomaya, vigyanamaya, anandamaya.
• Kri: Action, motion.
• Krishna: "The black (or dark brown) one", the eighth incarnation of God Vishnu.
• Krita Yuga: The great era, the "golden" age, such a period of time.
• Kriya Shakti: The energy or shakti of action.
• Kriya: The same as kriya yoga (q.v.) in some circles.
• Kriya-Yoga: The same as kriya yoga and kriyayoga. In one of its meanings it stands for a certain pranayama method. In a wider sense it stands for a complete systems of such methods, and is a part of the more general concept of "raja yoga" in such cases. The basic kriya yoga method (in the strict, narrow sense), consists in breathing in and out in particular ways that used to be very secret formerly. Hence, kriya yoga consists of one or more techniques that involve the movement of prana and consciousness aimed at reaching inwardness of mind (dhyana, contempation).
• One additional meaning: Kriya is also a type of of exercise in Hatha Yoga.
• Kriya-Yogi: One who practices kriya yoga (q.v.). There are different levels of attainment, and many graded techniques into it.
• Kula: "Clan": A shakti or energy: Some build, some maintain, and some whithdraw.
• Kumari: Virgin.
• Kundalini: (a) The "coiled fire snake", a latent energy in muladhara chakra at the base of the spine, used for rising inwardly. (b) Also defined as the primordial cosmic energy located in the individual.
• Kundalini Yoga: Practices for the awakening of kundalini.
• Kusha: Sacred grass: Used in certain ceremonies.

L

• Lakh: 100,000.
• Laksha: Points in the body which are to be meditated upon.
• Lalita: (a) Collective form of Will, Knowledge, Action. (b) Sexual aspect of shakti.
• Lam: Bija mantra for muladhara chakra.
• Laya Yoga: meditation practice involving dissolving different stages of consciousness -
• Laya: Merging; dissolution.
• Lila: Play: sport: Game.
• Lingam: Male genital organ: The special symbol of Shiva.
• Linga-Sarira: The subtle body, the astral body.
• Lokapalas: World protectors: there are four, represented by the equinoxes and solstices.
• Lokas: (a) Realms or planes of existence that can be inhabited by different beings. (b) Also: evolution stages or levels: dimensions. Main ones: bhuh, bhuvah, swah, mahah, janah, tapah, and satya.

M

• Madya: Wine.
• Maha Akasha: great space; observation of consciousness related with manipura chakra which is bright like the middle of the sun.
• Maha: Great.
• Mahabharata: A Hindu epic.
• Mahadeva: "Great God", that is, Shiva.
• Mahadevi: The Great Goddess.
• Mahah Loka: Dimension of consciousness related to anahata chakra and the element of air maha prana: Space and cosmic energy.
• Mahant: Great sage.
• Mahapurusha: A great soul.
• Maharishi: Great sage.
• Mahasamadhi: The departure of a Self-realized saint from his mortal coil. It can also refer to a tomb.
• Mahat: "the great", unmanifest mind:
• Manas: buddhi, chitta, ahamkara.
• Mahatma: Great soul.
• Maha-Yuga: "great age".
• Maithuna: the sexual instinct; tantric union or ritual sexual intercourse.
• Maitri: Friendship.
• Mala: Rosary, a garland usually composed of 108 beads; an aid to meditation practise.
• Manas: Mind, aspect of manifest mind involved in experiences of sensory perception and thought etc.
• Mandala: Diagram within a circumference symbolising the deeper aspects of man's psyche; complex geometrical symbol merging macrocosmic and microcosmic events.
• Manipura: Chakra located at the spine behind behind the navel: Associated with strength and power.
• Manomaya Kosha: the mind sheath, the dimension of mind.
• Mantra: Runic sound medley; subtle sound vibrations which may be good for man. Mantras are thought to be words with inherent power, also set of words to repeat and focus on on and on inwardly.
• Mantra Diksha: an initiation practice involving receiving a mantra from a guru.
• Mantra Yoga: Using mentally intoned sound vibrations for meditation.
• Mantraja: The shaktis (devis, or "energies") created from the spiritual process of uttering mantras.
• Marg(A): Path or way.
• Mauna: Silence, keeping still.
• Maya: Figure, or Figuring. According to Paramahansa Ramakrishna, Maya projects and withdraws the world. This universe is maya, asserts swami Vivekananda. Maya is the Goddess who causes the world perception through the twin "powers" of projecion and concealment of projection. Maya causes an ordered perception of various energy patterns. Maya is etymologically akin to 'to measure', 'show forth', and thus to art too. Maya is "the matrix or frame in which the name-form complex finds its base". Monier-Williams etymologically defines maya as deriving from the root ma or "measuring". When one adds the suffix ya to the root ma it can be defined as "relating to measuring". ... maya can also be understood in this manner in Sankara's religious-speculative system Advaita Vedanta. Maya measures out such as language and maya itself so that knowledge of Brahman [gnosis] can be actualised. And "Maya is a statement of ... how it is going on." - Vivekananda [Via 222]
• Moksha: Freedom. Also: Ultimate freedom from material bondage. Moksha is one of the four Hindu duties set up for humans along with Dharma, Artha and Kama.
• Muladhara, Muladhara Chakra: Basic pranic and psychic centre. Its focal point, which is the "seat of kundalini" is at the perineum.
• Mulbandha: A certain contraction at the muladhara.
• Mouna: (or mauna) silence; measured silence. Also the vow of silence.
• Mouni: One who observes silence.
• Mridanga: A type of drum.
• Mudra: Symbolic gesture which aims at redirecting certain subtle energies..
• Mukti: Liberation.
• Muni: Sage.
• Murti: Idol.

N

• Nada: Mystic, inner, subtle sound.
• Nadi: Channel or "meridian", a passage through which energy and its concomitant consciousness elements can flow.
• Nadi Shodhana: Alternate nostril breathing is a balancing pranayama.
• Nagas: Serpent spirits.
• Nasikagra Drishti: Gazing at the nose tip is a mudra.
• Nauli: A Hatha yoga practice that may be good for the abdominal area.
• Nectar: Same as Amrita.
• Nidra: isolation from the senses and the mind; sleep.
• Nirvana: Liberated state and the final emancipation.
• Nirvikalpa Samadhi: Samadhi (absorption) without illusion. It is a superconscious state where there is no modification of the mind.
• Nivritti: Cessation.
• Niyama: Restraint(s), or Do's. The second of the eight limbs of Patanjali's yoga - observance of purity, contentment, austerities, etc
• Nyasa: "Applying" drawn energy for a purpose such as transfering power to a candidate during initiation.

O

• Ojas: Sexually related energy.
• Om: (or Aum) universal mantra; root mantra (monosyllable) for ajna chakra; the sound symbol of Brahman.
• Omkara: The same as Om or Aum.

P

• Pada: Feet.
• Padma: "Lotus".
• Pancha: Five.
• Para Shakti: Supreme Shakti in whom all the other Shaktis reside.
• Para: Beyond etc.
• Paramahamsa: A religious title, literally "supreme swan". It is given to someone who is thought to be able to discern well. It is also the highest class of Sannyasins.
• Parampara: Line of succession.
• Pashu: Literally "a beast", may mean a human being who is ignorant and uninitiated, or animal nature:
• Patanjali: The ascribed author of the Yoga-Sutras:
• Phat: "Crack", the thunderbolt mantra used to drive off disturbing spirits. Fingers are usually snapped around the head while saying it.
• Pingala: Nadi (vessel) connected with the right nostril conducting active vital energy; the solar aspect; the dynamic aspect. Pingala nadi is opposite Ida nadi, they curve around the central Sushumna nadi, according to the theory.
• Pradakshina: Walking clockwise in a temple as a form of worship.
• Prajna: True wisdom: A higher mode of knowing.
• Prakriti: Materialized nature and the basis of the three Gunas.
• Pramana: Means of knowledge.
• Prana: Life energy, a force which governs health and its waning. There are several pranas ("prana functions") in the body. Apart from being the body's energy, prana may also denote Spirit and be rendered as life breath.
• Pranamaya Kosha: the dimension (sheath) of energy.
• Pranava: The Om sound.
• Pranayama: Practices involving regulations of inhalation, exhalation and perhaps also breath retention. They are techniques for evolving.
• Pratyahara: A certain withdrawal of the attention from the senses in Patanjali's yoga system.
• Prayoga: Application (uses).
• Prem(A): Divine Love.
• Prithvi: Earth.
• Psychology Of Yoga: Yoga divides the mind into buddhi (intellect, intuition), manas (sensory perception and thought), chitta (memory), and ahamkara (central "I" instance).
• Puja: Worship.
• Purana: "Ancient". Hindu myths and legends. A class of Sanskrit literature about various gods: There are eighteen major Puranas.
• Purusha: (a) Pure, unmanifested consciousness. (b) The Supreme Being.

Q

R

• Raja-Yoga: eightfold path classified by ancient Patanjali: Its beginning steps are yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, samadhi. There are levels of accomplishments above these also.
• Raja: King.
• Rajas: The activity guna, one of the three postulated qualities.
• Ram: Seed (root) mantra for manipura chakra.
• Ramayana: The epic story of the life of Rama. It is figured.
• Rasa: Taste.
• Rishi: Seer: sage: Maharishi means great seer, thus great sage.
• Rishikesh: A place in the Himalayas.
• Ritam: Order, evolving reality.
• Rupa: Form, outward form.

S

• Sadhaka: Spiritual aspirant.
• Sadhana: "Direct way". Spiritual practice, a spiritual discipline.
• Sadhu: Holy man: ascetic, world-renouncer. It can be a yogi.
• Sagara: Ocean.
• Sahaja: Spontaneity: Joy, naturalness, and amorality are said to be spontaneous creations.
• Sahasrara Chakra: The focal point is at the crown of the head, and represents pure, unchanging consciousness.
• Sakshi: Witness.
• Sakti: Power, energy.
• Sam Or San: Prefix meaning total, harmonious.
• Sama Veda: Veda of chants: One of the four Vedas.
• Sama: Mind control.
• Samadhi: Absorption, Mind merging with inner, higher consciousness forms, including absoluteness.
• Samadrishti: "Equal vision": seeing all things as equal.
• Samarasa: One sees himself as the world and the world as being in himself (or herself), etc.
• Sambanda: (New Norwegian: 'samband'.) Connection.
• Samsara: Often: the outer world. It is the wheel or ocean of life and death, the wheel of time - 'All together flowing'.
• Samskara: Impressions inside, often in the subconscious mind.
• Samvit: Consciousness.
• Samyama: Applied samadhi (yogically applied deep contemplation). Patanjali Yoga shows steps to it and practices.
• Sandhya Bhasha: Writings which seem to mean one thing, while they mean something else. They can use very figurative writing or very brief (and thus more cryptic) basics which need to be expanded on.
• Sangsara: Same as Samsara.
• Sankalpa: resolve; determination or conviction.
• Sankara: A teacher of Advaita Vedanta philosophy.
• Sankhya, Samkhya: One of the six orthodox Indian philosophies.
• Sankirtan: Singing of divine songs.
• Sannyasa: Renunciation etc..
• Sannyasin: One who renounces worldly living and embraces renunciations.
• Sanskrit: Very old indo-aryan language from which many modern languages are derived.
• Santosh(A): contentment; acceptance of life.
• Sanyama: Flow of pratyahara, dharana and dhyana.
• Saraswati: goddess of creativity. Mantra: 'Aim'.
• Satchitananda: Existence-Knowledge-Bliss.
• Satsang(A): Association with the wise.
• Sattva: Purity, one of the three speculative gunas.
• Satya: Truth and reality. Also: establishing oneself in truth.
• Satya Loka: A dimension of consciousness related to sahasrara;
• Saucha: Contentment.
• Satya Yuga: the Age of Truth, the best of the four eras proposed in Laws of Manu.
• Savikalpa Samadhi: Samadhi combined with sense, verbal and true knowledge.
• Shabda: (a) Normally unheard sound. (b) Physical, "struck" sound.
• Shakti: Energy.
• Shakti Bandhas: A series of asana to release blocked energy.
• Shakti: An energy or power: feminine counterpart to a god of the Hindu pantheon, especially of Lord Shiva: It is also power, drive and force around or inside a person.
• Shambhavi Mudra: Focusing the open or closed eyes on the eyebrow centre
• Shankaracharya: Adi ('the first'), reformer of the Hindu swami order.
• Shanti: Peace. It can be repeated three times after a fervent utterance and prayer.
• Shastra: Collection of knowledge.
• Shishya: Disciple.
• Sloka: Short verse.
• Shri Chakra: A yantra.
• Shrim: Mantra of Lakshmi, who is also known as Shri: Pronounced "Shreem".
• Siddha: (a) Master; one who has become perfected, or realized (enlightened). (b) One who possesses occult powers, siddhis.
• Siddhi: power; perfection.
• Siva: The same as Shiva. Lord Siva:
• Smriti: (a) Ancient work handed over by memory. (b) Memory, one of the five vrittis.
• Soma: (a) Moon deity. (b) Psychoactive plant mentioned in the Vedas.
• Sraddha: Faith.
• Sri: Auspicious: holy, lso written shri and shree. "Sri" in front of a name suggests reverence, or just ourtesy and auspiciousness.
• Stotra: Hymn.
• Sushumna: Central nadi along the spine. It is hoped to be activated through balancing the currents of ida and pingala nadis etc. It is held to be the way to transcendence.
• Sutra: "Thread", aphorism: A book of aphorisms.
• Svaha: "Hail"
• Svarupa: Essential nature; reality.
• Swa: Self.
• Swadhisthana Chakra: Concentration point at the base of the spinal column; "one's own abode". Swadhyaya: Self analysis is included in it.
• Swah Loka: Dimension of consciousness related to manipura chakra and the fire element
• Swami: Hindu monk. Its literal meaning is "one with the self".
• Swarupa: One's own form.
• Swasti: "May it be auspicious". It can be used for benediction.

T

• Tamas: inertia, one of the three postulated qualities of nature along with rajas and sattva.
• Tanmatra: Subtle, undifferentiated root elements of matter.
• Tantra: The hidden side of the Vedas and Vedic living, according to some. Tantras include philosophy and culture which deals with the transcendence of human nature: strengthening or evolution of man and liberation of bound-up energies.
• Tapah Loka: dimension of consciousness related to ajna chakra.
• Tapas: Austerities, mortification, etc. through continued effort, heat
• Tattva: Element. "truth thing", i.e., principle. Five elements: elements: prithvi, jal, agni (heat), vayu (wind), akasha (ether).
• Tejas: fire; tip of the flame; brilliance.
• Tirtha: Ford or bathing place.
• Trataka: gazing at a fixed point.
• Treta Yuga: Third great era of a cycle proposed by Manu and others.
• Triple Blessing: "Shanti, Shakti, Shambhu." It means, Peace, Power, Plenty." "Progress" had better be included among the P-words, however.
• Trishna: Sense-hankering.
• Turiya: The fourth state. It transcends the waking, dreaming and deep sleep states, and is sometimes called superconsciousness.
• Tyaga: letting go of attachments, often involving abandonment, relinquisment, renunciation.

U

• Uddiyana Bandha: pulling the abdominal organs up and in, creating a natural upward flow of energy.
• Ujjayi Pranayama: slightly contracting the glottis of the throat so the breath makes a light snoring sound; a deep relaxing breath used often in meditation practices.
• Upadesa: Spiritual advice.
• Upanishad: "The sitting down at the feet of a teacher to listen to his words." In the old times upanishads were often secret doctrines. The two basic types are Agamic Upanishads and Vedic Upanishads.
• Upeksha: indifference: Beyond caring.

V

• Vairagya: Non-attachment. It can work as freedom from too gross desires as well.
• Vajra: (a) Adamantine. (b) Thunderbolt.
• Vam: Root mantra for swadhisthana chakra.
• Vama Marg(A): Left-hand path, or left-turning path. It signifies a reversal of conventional practices. Many of its methods may give a quicker and more direct fare - one that can be dangerous too, perhaps.
• Vama: Left. Woman. Excrement. What is vomited.
• Vasanas: Subtle desires.
• Vayu: air; prana or energy flow as in pancha vayu: prana, apana, samana, udana, vyana
• Vedas: The oldest Indo-Aryan scriptures. These most ancient, extensive texts detail rituals and duties in life. Veda, from the root 'vid', means "knowledge" and also stands for "ritual lore". The four main Vedas are the Rik (Rig) Yajur, Sama, and Atharva. They can be difficult to understand.
• Vedanta: "End of the Vedas" is a series of ancient philosophical treatises, often in the form of dialogues between guru and disciple, in which looming topics of life are speculated about: Some Veda texts contain such Vedanta portions. (b) Vedanta is also a school of Hindu thought based on the Upanishads.
• Vedantin: (a) One who knows the Vedas. (b) One who follows the path of Vedanta.
• Vetala: Vampire.
• Vetta: Knower.
• Vichara: Inquiry into the nature of the Self, Truth, Absolute, Brahman.
• Vidya: Knowledge.
• Vidya Gupta: Secret oral traditions.
• Vijnanamaya Kosha: The sheath of subtle wisdom inside the human.
• Vikalpa: Doubt.
• Vikshepa: The tossing of mind.
• Vikshipta: The dissipated or oscillating state of mind.
• Vina: A type of stringed musical instrument.
• Viparita-Karani: "Opposite doing": one of the essential yoga postures, the half shoulder-stand.
• Vira: "Hero".
• Vishaya: Sense-objects.
• Vishnu: The controller in the "Hindu trilogy" of Brahma (Old God-creator or "drunk starter"); Vishnu (up-keeper, maintainer fond of fraud) and Shiva (destroyer).
• Vishuddhi Chakra: Throat chakra, the centre in the spine behind the thyroid gland; centre for expressing thoughts.
• Viveka: Discerning faculty, discrimination.
• Vritti: A "wave in the mind-lake". It can suggest getting disturbed also. Vrittis (plural) are fluctuations, modifications, which "ripple" the mind at one given moment.
• Vyoma: space.

W

X

Y

• Yajnavalkya: A famous Hindu teacher of old.
• Yaksha: An attendants of Kubera, a Hindu god of wealth: Female: yakshini.
• Yam: Root mantra for anahata chakra.
• Yama: First and foremost the hindu god of death, also known as "king of rigtheous deals", dharmaraja: The term also denotes non-wicked self control of thoughts and actions tied in with such as righteousness that stems from deep inside. This meaning - control - lies behind the use of the word for the very first of eight "steps" in Patanjali's yoga: Yama represents what aspirants were demanded to refrain from, such as stealing, lying, and the like.
• Yana: Way, vehicle. Thus, Ramayana means "The way of Rama". Yana can also mean subtle vehicle.
• Yantra: Both simple and elaborate geometric symbols aiming at liberating the intently gazing deep mind somehow. Thus they turn into "magnetised stuff" inside oneself and can "have a half-life" of its own.
• Yoga Nidra: Where one is neither awake nor in deep sleep. (Norwegian: "Ørske").
• Yoga: "Yoke" and/or "union". In practical living it's (1) a way or a system of methods. It is not just the system of solid, slow body stretching and twisting (hatha yoga); that is just one branch of the whole system. (2) It's also a sanskrit-based, handed-over Indian philosophy tied in with Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. (3) It can also mean the end goal of practical tries at doing yoga, particularly "union with the godhead inside etc.". In addition to that, there are nuances and specialisations. "Those who attain yoga (union) breathe harmony" is a hint at what is aimed at.
• Yoga Sutras: Ancient primer on a yoga attributed to Maharishi Patanjali.
• Yogi: One who practices yoga.
• Yogin: Same as yogi.
• Yogini: A female yogi.
• Yoni: Female sexual organ. Source.
• Yuga: "Age": "eon": In Hindu scriptures there are said to be four of them, corresponding to the Greek golden, silver, bronze and iron ages: Satya or krita yuga; treta yuga; dvapara yuga; and kali yuga are talked of and somewhat described in the Manu Samhita and also in Vishnu Puranam.

Z