śloka means "song", from the root śru, "hear" and is a poetic form used in Sanskrit. In its usual form it consists of four pādas or quarter-verses, of 8 syllables each, or two half-verses of 16 syllables each. The meter is similar to the Vedic anuṣṭubh meter, but with stricter rules. The śloka is the basis for Indian epic verse and is used in the Bhagavad Gita, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Puranas and Smritis to name a few.

Stotra means "ode, eulogy or a hymn of praise". A stotra can be a prayer, a description, or a conversation, but always with a poetic structure. It may be a simple poem expressing praise and personal devotion to a deity, or poems with embedded spiritual and philosophical doctrines. Many stotra hymns praise aspects of the divine, such as Devi, Shiva, or Vishnu. They are made up of individual Shlokas.

Mantra is a sacred utterance, a potent syllable, word or group of words in Sanskrit, that create vibration and resonance. At its simplest, the word ॐ (Aum, Om) is a mantra known as the Pranava Mantra. In more sophisticated forms, mantras are melodic phrases with spiritual interpretations such as a human longing for truth, reality, wisdom, immortality, peace, love, knowledge and action. e.g. the Gayatri Mantra.

A Sūktam is a vedic hymn in praise of the deity intended. It praises the deity by mentioning its various attributes and paraphernalia. There are numerous Sūktas. The Purusha Sūktam is seen in all Vedas, it is cited as the essence of all Srutis by Veda Vyasa in the Mahabharata. Other popular Sūktams include Purusha Sūktam, Vishnu Sūktam, Sri Sūktam, Medha Sūktam and Narayana Sūktam

Sūtra means string or thread. Sūtras are a compilation of short aphoristic statements that are concise expressions of a truth or general principle. Brahma Sūtras (or Vedanta Sutra), composed by Badarayana and contains 555 sūtras that summarize the philosophical and spiritual ideas in the Upanishads. Yoga Sūtras compiled by Patanjali, contain 196 sūtras on Yoga including the eight limbs and meditation.

The Bhagavad Gita, or the Song of the Lord, is a dialogue between Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu, and his friend and disciple, Arjuna. This dialogue takes place in the Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata. The Bhagavad Gita is composed of 701 Shlokas (verses) arranged in 18 chapters. It is one of the best-known philosophical texts of Hinduism, and is said to contain the essence of Upanishadic thought.

The Upanishads, commonly referred to as Vedānta. The concepts of Brahman (the ultimate reality) and Ātman (soul, self) are central ideas in all of the Upanishads, and "know that you are the Ātman" is their thematic focus. One hundred and eight Upanishads are enumerated in the Muktikopanishad of which ten are considered the most important Upanishads from the point of view of Vedantic philosophy.

Sri Adi Shankaracharya and others have composed many sub-texts or topical texts in simple Sanskrit, called Prakarana Granthas, with the objective of broadening the reach of the message of the Vedas and Upanishads. They explain the creed, the processes, the views and ideas of the Vedanta philosophy, using examples, analogies, illustrations; Sri Adi Shankaracharya composed several Prakarana Granthas.