Non-existence cannot be claimed except of an existent entity ('It doesn't exist' negates itself) and so non-existence is impossible. Neither can non-existence have attributes (such as beginnings and endings). Similarly, to say 'there is nothing there' requires the presence of a knower to reveal that 'nothing'.
Perception is creation. There is no creation other than perception. Perception of a thing is its origination. "Things exist because they are known."* The world enjoys the status of being existent only when it becomes known. No object exists independently of its observer confirming its existence. An experiencer is required to prove the existence of an experienced object because the object borrows its existence from the subject. Without the subject perceiving it, it is as good as non-existent. If it existed independently of the subject it would be permanently existent and hence never not present. The existence of the subject is self-proven (self-evident) but the existence of an object is proved only by the subject. Hence, the world is mithyā. See dṛṣṭi-sṛṣṭi-vādaḥ, saṃvṛtiḥ and nimitta-kāraṇam.
The naiyāyikaḥ philosophers (logicians) claim there are four types of non-existence: anyonya-abhāvaḥ, atyanta-abhāvaḥ, pradhvaṃsa-abhāvaḥ and prāg-abhāvaḥ.
Neither the organ of speech (vāg-indriyam), nor the word(s) it produces (abhidhānam), nor the object pointed to or denoted by words (abhidheyam) can directly reveal the vastu, the ātmā. The ātmā, being ever the attributeless, actionless, relationless subject, can never be directly revealed by speech or words (as objects can) but may be revealed only by what remains when words, namely the words of Vedāntaḥ, have been properly used.
The words of Vedāntaḥ tell us what the ātmā is not, leaving it to be revealed by what that negation implies.
This elegantly simple method of implication through negation, even though using words, avoids the limitations of words: it avoids a definition. A definition would make an object out of the self-evident self, ātmā, whereas that which remains (that which is not dismissed) after showing what ātmā is not, makes the hitherto non-obvious immediately obvious.
When the error in the (famous) tenth man's thinking is dismissed, it immediately becomes obvious to him that he is the 'missing' tenth man – and has never not been the so-called missing tenth.
Abhimānaḥ takes two forms: universal or samānya-abhimānaḥ, and individual or particular, viśeṣa-abhimānaḥ. The first, association with a body and mind (due to prārabdha-karma) is universal, naturally found in all creatures, and includes awareness of bodily hunger/satiety, emotional urges, etc. The second (viśeṣa-abhimānaḥ) is the intellectual conviction 'I am this body'; it is this conviction alone, born of avidyā (leading successively to adhyāsaḥ, āropaḥ and adhyāropaḥ) that is called bandhaḥ, bondage.
Having foolishly shackled his identity to the body, the individual weaves himself a so-called protective cocoon of cherished notions and objects, succeeding only in wrapping himself in saṃsāraḥ.
In japaḥ, for example, during repetition of the mantraḥ we repeatedly recognise the fact of the distinction between the mantra and the awareness in which and by which the repeating mantra is known. Gradually, the distinctness of this awareness becomes clearer and clearer, ever more obvious. Gradually we learn to refrain from the error of identifying with the mind and come more and more to recognise our identity with that pure unalloyed awareness.
A true teacher's words are rational, never contradicting one's reasoning. A proper teacher makes the student see what he sees, he does not simply make the student believe. Such teaching invokes trust and at the same time helps the student gradually become emotionally independent.
Among teachers of Vedāntaḥ, a traditional Vedānta-ācāryaḥ will regularly point out to his students that one day, when equipped with sufficient purity of mind through karma-yogaḥ, they will have to come to ātma-vicāraḥ, self-enquiry, for liberation. Only self-enquiry, in which ātmā is cognitively distinguished from anātmā, leads to liberation. Those ācāryas who say ātma-vicāraḥ is not required and that bhaktiḥ, or God, or nāma-saṅkirtanam will give liberation, have strayed from tradition.
The teacher always gives credit to the paramparā, the preceding lineage of teachers, giving importance only to the teaching. If importance is given only to the teaching it becomes a tradition. Instead, if a person merely makes one believe what he believes, he is a preacher not a teacher. If he puts himself before the teaching he creates a cult, and with it emotional dependence.
A real teacher is someone who understands and follows, and makes others understand and follow; "not only by words, but by example, do others understand and follow."* See guruḥ, śrotriyaḥ, brahma-niṣṭhā.
Surrender of ego and personal likes and dislikes is implied, providing an opportunity for growth for the student. Avoidance of even a whiff of exploitation, so that only the student gains, is essential.
Whether service occurs or not, willingness to serve is the significant aspect and is where growth at the altar of surrender occurs.
It begins by showing that, as Brahman is all that is here, it alone can be the cause of the jagat, the universe. Since there is nothing here but Brahman, the jagat must be only a name, form and function (nāma-rūpa-karma) of Brahman, i.e. a superimposition, adhyāropaḥ, upon Brahman. Hence, the jagat can have no independent reality of its own.
A clay pot is similarly a name, form and function of its causal substance, clay, and has no reality of its own – remove the clay and the superimposed name, form and function, pot, disappears. Having only a dependent reality, like the pot, the jagat cannot properly be considered to be real. If it is not really real, it cannot be regarded as an effect, and, if there is no effect, Brahman cannot be a cause (hence the negation, apavādaḥ, of its causal status).
The purpose here is also to show that the actionless Brahman 'acts' by lending existence to the world. Without existence, the world could not exist. Existence is lent, not by an action, but by mere presence (in which there is no change whatsoever in Brahman). Thus, the world is revealed to be not a product of Brahman but an effortless, ever-recurring, mithyā appearance in Brahman, somewhat like a recurring dream for a sleeping waker.
Adhyāsaḥ (not the world) is responsible for individual unhappiness as misconceptions lead successively to āropaḥ, adhyāropaḥ, ahaṅkāraḥ, kāmaḥ, karma and then saṃsāraḥ. See nirupādhikādhyāsaḥ, sopādhikādhyāsaḥ and anyonya-adhyāsaḥ.
When an action is not done, a seen result, a dṛṣṭa-phalam (even though not directly produced) can certainly occur: an unmade bed will remain unmade, uncut hair will grow, etc. An adṛṣṭa-phalam is the as-yet-unseen result produced by actual mental or physical action, not a result that might arise from inaction. See dṛṣṭa-phalam and naimittika-karma.
Note that there is no āgāmi-karma for the jñānī since all sancita up to the rise of knowledge is destroyed and no āgāmi-karma forms afterwards as the wise have no personal motives and no doership. See prārabdha-karma, sañcita-karma.
Ahaṅkāraḥ, the mistaken notion of 'I', arises because of identification, tādātmyam, of the self with these non-intrinsic attributes that include things like thinking, remembering, feeling, perceiving, acting, etc. It is the nature of ahaṅkāraḥ to continually adopt and claim such limitations and identify with them. The suffix 'kāra' expresses the qualifying or limiting of 'aham', this limiting is the mistaken attribution or appropriation of ever-changing characteristics to changeless being.
When ahaṅkāraḥ is manifest, the mind is then objectified as ‘this’, creating a duality (this is my mind, my thoughts and feelings) and so too with the world. Such limiting, dualistic notions create an irrational but compelling sense of lack or inadequacy in oneself and the world, leading to desire, kāmaḥ, to either mitigate or overcome that seeming lack. See mamakāraḥ.
(Note: ahaṅkāraḥ is also known as ahaṅkṛtiḥ and the meaning is the same.)
Vivarta-vādaḥ and ajāti-vādaḥ are two different ways of looking at the mithyātvam of the world. Vivarta-vādaḥ declares that something is seemingly existent. Ajāti-vādaḥ is saying that something is unborn, factually non-existent. 'Seemingly existent' refers to a seeming or apparent existence such as that of a pot – the pot seems to exist (but only because of the presence of clay). 'Factually non-existent' refers to an object that literally, factually, does not exist – being clay, a pot cannot be said to exist (only the clay exists) and yet the pot is experienced. See vivarta-upādāna-kāraṇam, vādaḥ and mithyā.
"Consciousness is recognised through a vṛttiḥ as the truth of the subject, the object and the connection between the two. In fact, consciousness itself is called akhaṇḍākāra-vṛttiḥ, a thought free from divisions. All the words used to reveal this identity disappear. The vṛttiḥ that removes the ignorance goes away. That vṛttiḥ does not objectify the ātmā and does not have to because the ātmā is self-revealing. The self-revealing, divisionless consciousness is you and it is everything. This recognition is the result of the operation of the words of Vedāntaḥ. The result of the operation (phala-vyāptiḥ) that belongs to the knower is not relevant here because the knower is resolved in the wake of knowledge."*
The recognition takes place in a mind (buddhiḥ) that is pure, one that is no longer under the hold of rāga-dveṣas, etc. Thereafter, that vision remains.
The leader of ten men who crossed a turbulent river found only nine. All lamented. A passer-by counted and told the leader (who had not counted himself): "You are the tenth!" Relief arose.
The story shows how the akhaṇḍa-ākāra-vṛttiḥ works. It takes the form of the truth: "You are the tenth!" On understanding their meaning, the words drop away. The meaning alone remains. And significantly, the notion of being one of nine sorrowful individuals vanishes!
akṣaram (n.) any vowel or consonant.
Similarly, the world is another name for Brahman. It is not a separate entity. Not being a separate entity from the unmoving, single flame, the ring of fire cannot be said to arise from or return to it, nor arise from or return elsewhere. In spite of appearances, all that is ever present is the single flame. In spite of appearances, all that is here is Brahman. See āvaraṇa-śaktiḥ and vikṣepa-śaktiḥ.
Unhappiness being due to a limit, true happiness is limitlessness – hence, ānandaḥ indicates happiness without limit in quality and extent, and so includes being effortlessly, consciously happy everywhere, with everyone, at all times, in all situations. It therefore does not simply mean bliss, the total absence of duality and hence of pain and pleasure (all of which is a characteristic of suṣuptiḥ and samādhiḥ) and is transitory. Bliss is a form of happiness, but happiness is not bliss, it is more than that.
Since limitlessness, anantam, implies complete absence of any form of lack, ānandaḥ also means fullness, pūrṇam – hence the famous śānti-pāṭhaḥ that begins pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidam. The expression of the fullness, the limitlessness, of pure consciousness is love. "Unqualified love is limitless, ananta, or pūrṇa, full, and is Brahman. Love is only for ānandaḥ."* See sat, cit and saccidāndaḥ.
The varying degrees of reflected ānandaḥ pervading the ānandamaya are known as priya, modaḥ, pramodaḥ (which are in causal form in the ānandamaya and experienceable in the waking state). Hence there is the possibility of the basic person, the enjoyer, bhoktā (the ahaṅkāraḥ mistakenly identified with the ānandamaya) enjoying degrees of ignorance and happiness, which are at their fullest in suṣupti-avasthā, deep sleep, and are restricted in svapna-avasthā, dream, and in jāgrad-avasthā, waking.
No experiential happiness arises from objects or circumstances. All experienced happiness (which is conditional and temporary) arises when the mind is somewhat resolved, somewhat free from agitation. When agitation subsides, the nature of the self, which is happiness, naturally becomes evident to the degree that it is unhindered by any remaining mental activity: the thinner the clouds, the brighter the sun. All happiness is the innate happiness of the self.
It is important to understand that, although they are ever distinct from the dreamer, the entire contents of a dream have their origin, being and nature in the dreamer and so (in that sense alone) cannot be other than the dreamer. Similarly, all that seems to be anātmā is ultimately found by the discriminating to be not other than ātmā, while ātmā is ever distinct from anātmā.
The mind is the only place where knowledge takes place and hence is the only place where liberation can take place. It is also the only place where ignorance is found and removed. There is no self-knowledge 'beyond' the mind.
The mind depends for its existence on the world, and vice-versa. The mind becomes a non-perceiver when (as in deep sleep) objects are no longer perceived. Then, in effect, the mind ceases to be the mind. If no object is perceived, there is no thought; no thought, no mind; no object, no world. The mind and the world are mutually dependent. Both depend on consciousness. The mind and the world arise (and resolve) together.
The totality of all antaḥ-karaṇams is Hiraṇyagarbhaḥ. See sūkṣma-śarīram.
Antaḥ-karaṇa-śuddhiḥ is an essential prerequisite for jñāṇam because only a mind that is free of its prejudices and preconceptions can listen cleanly and thereby hear properly that which is being taught. Otherwise, all that is taught becomes, at best, filtered and interpreted by 'what I think it means' and fitted into or adjusted to my existing collection of ideas and views, and if not, rejected by them – all of which means the teaching is never heard.
• adhikārī - a person of appropriate understanding for the text.
• prayojanam - the particular benefit to be gained by the adhikārī from studying the text.
• viṣayaḥ - the subject matter's suitability for delivering the prayojanam.
• sambandhaḥ - the connection of the text to the viṣayaḥ (the pratipādaka-pratipādya-sambandhaḥ) and the viṣayaḥ to the prayojanam (the sādhana-sādhya-sambandhaḥ).
Anubhavaḥ (anubhūtiḥ) is often translated as 'experience', whereas the better word is vision (seeing, understanding). "Experience can lead to knowledge, but the impression of experience need not be knowledge. Experience has to be assimilated in terms of knowledge. Experience need not include or be knowledge. Experiences can be contradictory. Knowledge includes experience. Knowledge can contradict experience. Knowledge can also resolve the contradictions in experience. Knowledge cannot be contradicted."*
Some falsely believe that an ātma-anubhavaḥ, an experience of the self at some point in time is necessary for mokṣaḥ. However, this would make a limited object out of the limitless reality that is ātmā, which is impossible: draṣṭā hi dṛśyātmatayā na dṛṣṭaḥ - the seer is never to be seen in the form of the seen (Vivekacūḍāmaṇi v183).
Moreover, truth or reality being ever-present, its hoped-for experience can never come – it is already in and through each and every experience as its very reality. Since truth or reality is ever-present, the knowledge that removes the misconceptions covering it is sufficient. Knowledge is the only correction needed because only knowledge, not practices or experiences, removes ignorance.
The grace of the teacher, ācāryaḥ, which is the grace of the knowledge of the śāstram, is transmitted not in touching the student's head or back, or in a glance of the teacher's eye, but in regular, systematic teaching.
If, for example, happiness is to be accepted as arising from an object or event, happiness must be shown to be always present with the object or event (anvaya), and always absent in its absence (vyatireka). If a sweet gives a child happiness at one time and not at another, there is no agreement – the sweet is not the cause of happiness. Further, even in the absence of the sweet, he may be happy. Establishing that which is true from seeing that which is variable and invariable in situations and phenomena is helpful in understanding the real nature of the self. See nyāyaḥ.
Often, adhyāsaḥ works both ways: as well as a cold, iron ball being mistaken for what it is not – hot and radiant – fire too is mistaken here for what it is not: it appears solid, weighty and spherical. Such mutual wrong conception is called anyonyādhyāsaḥ, the most obvious example of which is between the complex of body-mind-senses, kārya-karaṇa-saṅghātaḥ, and ātmā, where the qualities of each are mutually superimposed so that the body, mind and senses seem alive and ātmā seems to have a form.
Since the red-hot iron ball, when present, is present as (and is regarded as) a coherent, convincingly existent, independent reality, it is impossible to say, from its perspective, when it came into being. It is present and it cannot be known (there is no means to know) from its own current perspective, any previous non-presence or beginning. Therefore, from its own perspective, it appears not only beginningless but has ever been as it is now, and must ever remain so. This means its beginning is ever shrouded in ignorance. Like this, the origin of the jīvaḥ is beginningless ignorance, an ignorance in which the jīvaḥ is mistakenly taken to be a coherent, convincingly existent, independent reality.
Usually, our knowledge is from either direct sensory perception, pratyakṣa-jñānam, or else it is from indirect sensory perception, parokṣa-jñānam. Indirect sensory perception is, for example, from books, or reported speech, or from inference. Both pratyakṣa and parokṣa require an intermediary, meaning they are both mediated through the senses, and both are knowledge of objects. Aparokṣa-jñānam requires no intermediary (it is not mediated through the senses) it is not knowledge of objects, but is direct, unmediated knowledge of the immanent self. When, for example, someone elsewhere in the house shouts, "Are you here?!" your awareness that you are is not sensory, it is direct, immediate knowledge of yourself.
When the words of the śāstram are unfolded by a competent and properly informed teacher (a śrotriya and sampradāyavit) and heard cleanly and clearly by a properly prepared student (whose pratibandhas are gone) they more than just make logical sense in their dismissal of the non-self, they bring immediate (and unmediated) self-knowledge.
That which remains (that which is not dismissed) after showing what ātmā is not, makes the hitherto non-obvious immediately obvious.
This corrected understanding, revealed by the śabda-pramāṇam of the śāstram, is aparokṣa-jñānam. With such an awakening there is no need for further confirmation by special practices or experiences! It is self-evident. One's true nature is clear to oneself, then and there, during śravaṇam.
However, if the student is not yet properly prepared, he or she will, while living a life of karma-yogaḥ, need to think over and enquire into what has been heard until it is fully and accurately understood and all doubts resolved. That process is called mananam.
When the teaching has been fully and correctly understood through śravaṇam and mananam, nididhyāsanam may be used to deal with any residual pratibandhas and complete the teaching's ascertainment and assimilation. See parokṣa-jñānam, pratyakṣa-jñānam, vivaraṇam and bhāmatī. Also see abhidheyam.
Mokṣaḥ, being one's true, essential nature is already attained – even if unrecognised at present – and so cannot (and need not) be attained or reached by any form of action, such as meditation or worship. Action to attain the already attained is an unknowing denial of an already existent fact. Mokṣaḥ is instead simply the unhindered recognition of that ever-present fact. That recognition requires only knowledge, which takes the form of the correction of incorrect ideas about oneself.
Ignorance, avidyā, of his real nature of pūrṇatvam causes the individual to come to the false conclusion that he is limited. Being limited, he sees himself as subject to various forms of lack (not tall enough, not strong enough, not clever enough, not charming enough, not wealthy enough, etc.). Such perceived forms of lack (such feelings of inadequacy, such lack of fulfilment) prompt the rise of desire to overcome or at least mitigate them, and without the corrective guidance of the Vedaḥ, saṃsāraḥ is the inevitable consequence.
Self-knowledge is a different order of reality to the dependent reality that is mithyā (just as the waking state is a different order of reality to the dream state). Synonym of brahma-vidyā.
Āśramaḥ also refers to the four stages of Vedic (vaidika) religious life:
• brahmacaryam - studentship
• gṛhasthaḥ - householder
• vānaprasthaḥ - withdrawal
• sannyāsaḥ - renunciation
• yamaḥ - (five) prohibitions
• niyamaḥ - (five) injunctions
• āsanam - posture
• prāṇāyāmaḥ - breathing exercises
• pratyāhāraḥ - sense control
• dhāraṇā - concentration
• dhyānam - meditation
• samādhiḥ - absorption
Even though jīvas are many and varied, atma, being changeless, all-pervasive, partless consciousness, is ever one and the same, just as gold is ever the same in all gold items.
The word ātmā, as well as meaning the true, limitless self, is also commonly used to mean 'self', 'I', or 'mind' in the ordinary senses of those words. Its meaning therefore encompasses not only one's true self, but also whatever notion is held of oneself. Such notions are given the technical term ahaṅkāraḥ or jīvātmā. In this way, the very word ātmā highlights the fundamental human problem of adhyāsaḥ, mistakenly taking oneself (ātmā) to be what one is not: limited, mortal, wanting and in various ways inadequate. This is why, in correcting through knowledge, jñānam, the false notions one has about oneself, mokṣaḥ is the gain of the already gained. See anātmā, jīvaḥ and paramātmā.
"Self-knowledge can resolve all our emotional problems. Knowledge, especially self-knowledge, leads to emotional strength. Ultimately, absolute strength is attained through knowledge alone. All emotions are based on the way we look at the creation, at people, our children, our subordinates, our boss. Our perspective determines our emotions. That perspective is dependent on our understanding. The way we understand the world will determine the way we look at the world. Knowledge determines the perspective, the perspective determines the emotion, and therefore knowledge determines emotions. Thus, self-knowledge can change one's life." Sw. Paramarthananda
See jñāna-yogaḥ.Although commonly translated as ignorance, this covering power may be understood as the power of knowing being unmanifest. Ignorance is just a temporary name given to the unmanifest power of knowledge. When it is unmanifest, as for example in deep sleep, knowledge is not evident, which means knowledge is as good as covered. That in turn amounts to saying ignorance is present, concealing knowledge. However, seemingly concealed or not, all that is ever there is knowledge. Ignorance, in contrast, has no real or independent existence, it is merely a particular perspective on knowledge. There is no independent entity called ignorance other than knowledge.
In common with ātmā, ignorance at the level of mūla-avidyā, or āvaraṇa-śaktiḥ, is featureless and so is free from any kind of division, there being no experience of duality until brought by the emergence of vikṣepa-śaktiḥ.
Note that if māyā completely covered Īśvaraḥ there could be no universe. Instead its āvaraṇa-śaktiḥ covers the limitlessness and non-duality of Īśvaraḥ. What is not veiled is that Īśvaraḥ exists, asti, shines bhāti, and is pleasing, priya. When these take on name and form (nāma-rūpam) Īśvaraḥ 'manifests' as the world in all its variety just as dream manifests from the slumbering waker.
• jāgrad-avasthā, waking state.
• svapna-avasthā, dream state.
• suṣupti-avasthā, deep-sleep state.
Also see turīya, 'fourth' (not a state).
Ātmā with the avidyā-upādhiḥ (the manifesting medium or conditioning adjunct of ignorance) is known as the jīvaḥ, the individual. Ātmā with the māyā-upādhiḥ, the conditioning adjunct of māyā, is Īśvaraḥ.
Ignorance is not merely absence of knowledge, ignorance is opposed to knowledge (just as unmanifest is opposed to manifest, and wrong to right). It conceals that which is true and causes the projection of something else in its place. That incorrect or incomplete knowledge, when taken to be true, stands opposed to that which is true.
That incorrect or false conclusion cannot occur in the mind, for the mind is inert. Neither can it occur for ātmā, for ātmā is flawless, pure knowledge. Ignorance occurs only for the jīvaḥ, but is held in the mind – the jīvaḥ being a seeming conjoining or association of consciousness and mind. When the jīvaḥ is recognised to be no more than an appearance its ignorance goes too. Hence, on ceasing identification with the mind (and body) the wise see no ignorance. Ultimately, there is no ignorance, no mind and no māyā.
To come to a false conclusion because of avidyā is to arrive at adhyāsaḥ. It is adhyāsaḥ, erroneous conception, not seeeing things as they are, that is the immediate cause of saṃsāraḥ, while ignorance is of course the foundational or ultimate or root cause (mūla-avidyā). See āvaraṇa-śaktiḥ, vikṣepa-śaktiḥ and rajju-sarpa-nyāyaḥ.
It is being pointed out here by the mahāvākyam that the very subtlest essence of the individual is pure consciousness, Brahman. The ordinary sense of self, 'me', is not being equated with Brahman, it is its unlimited, unobjectifiable substratum that is being equated. See mahāvākyam and also tattvamasi, ahaṃ brahmāsmi, prajñānaṃ brahma.
This flawed recognition arises (in the buddhiḥ) due to the āvaraṇa-śaktiḥ of māyā and a lack of enquiry.
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Bondage is not real and is because of ignorance. When ignorance is destroyed through knowledge, all bondage ceases. Mokṣaḥ is nothing but abidance in one’s true nature as Brahman. Mokṣaḥ is not something actually attained by the ātmā for the ātmā is never bound, only mistaken to be bound.
"Even while thinking any thought, you are free; just as the actor remains free while playing the role of the beggar. If this is clear, then the world cannot cause a problem for you. Vedānta doesn’t remove any limitations, it only makes you understand that you are already free from all of them."*
• aiśvaryam - overlordship
• vīryam - the capacity to create, sustain and resolve
• yaśas - absolute fame
• śrīḥ - all wealth and resources
• jñānam - all knowledge
• vairāgyam - total dispassion
• ārtaḥ - a distressed devotee (ārta, distressed) who thinks of God and seeks his help only when in trouble.
• arthārthī - a desirer (arthī) of the object of desire (artha); a simple devotee who seeks God’s help to pursue security, pleasure and the removal of suffering.
• jijñāsuḥ - a real devotee, a seeker of knowledge of Īśvaraḥ, the Lord.
• jñānī - a wise person, an exalted devotee who sees his or her own self being non-separate from the Lord.
The highest form of bhaktiḥ is ātma-vicāraḥ, self-enquiry, the middle form is constantly meditating upon (dwelling upon) the fact that the entire universe is a manifestation of God, and the lowest form is offering all one's actions in service of the Lord in acknowledgement that all that is here is Īśvaraḥ.
• svagata-bhedaḥ - differences between parts of the same object (e.g. between a leaf and a branch of the same tree).
• sajātīya-bhedaḥ - differences between objects of the same kind or species (e.g. between two trees).
• vijātīya-bhedaḥ - differences between objects of different species (e.g. between a tree and a cow).
Difference, although experienced, is not a perception but an interpretation. It's not perceived but conceived and is solely of the mind. It is a concept and is mithyā.
Ultimately, ātmā, consciousness, is the only experiencer/enjoyer, providing doership and enjoyership to each means of experience in the body-mind complex by pervading and enlivening each means. Without ātmā, experience is impossible. Similarly, it could be argued that without the body-mind complex, manifestation is impossible for ātmā, but really, the body-mind complex (and the whole jagat) are merely appearances in ātmā.
Bhūḥ is also the name of the first of the three vyāhṛtis that are the origin and essence of the gāyatrī-mantraḥ. See bhuvaḥ, svaḥ.
Name of the second of the three vyāhṛtis that are the origin and essence of the gāyatrī-mantraḥ. See bhuḥ, svaḥ, lokaḥ.
More fully: Brahman is absolute, non-dual, abstract reality; absolute truth; absolute peace; all-pervading, indivisible, non-transactable, formless being.
Existence (existence itself); knowledge (pure knowledge, knowledge as such); limitlessness; timelessness; free from impurity; beyond māyā; self-evident; happiness not bound by time or degree; non-separate from oneself. When related to, it is regarded as Īśvaraḥ.
The divisionless, ever available, unmanifest reality behind and beyond all manifestation; that pure, unmanifest being worshipped by the highest, most mature devotee – not to be confused with the similarly named Brahmā (Brahmājī) the Creator. See iṣṭa-devatā and viśvarūpaḥ. Also see cit and jñaptiḥ.
Earliest of the four āśramas or stages of Vedic life – studentship; also see gṛhasthaḥ, householder; vānaprasthaḥ, withdrawal; sannyāsaḥ, renunciation.
Name of the prose format in which the text of some Upaniṣads is written.
The use of the word bhavati, 'becomes', does not mean a transformation or 'becoming' of the jīvaḥ, the individual. Instead it indicates a full recognition of and 'return' to one's never-absent true self. It is a freedom (mokṣaḥ) from being a jīvaḥ, not a freeing of the jīvaḥ. See mahāvākyam.
It is the degree of refinement of the buddhiḥ (the degree to which it is able to discern a sense of self) that alone distinguishes a human being from an animal and gives free-will.
Being the means by which knowing manifests, and hence being the locus of judgement and decision, buddhiḥ is the seat of dhṛtiḥ, the will. Resolve, saṅkalpaḥ (often contaminated to varying degrees by rāga-dveṣas) is a judgement as to value or appropriateness – "this is worth having or doing; this must happen (or not happen)" – which runs through every desire, driving it to its fulfilment. Identification with the thought or desire or judgement means ahaṅkāraḥ has risen, making it 'my will', 'my decision', etc. In this way, buddhiḥ and ahaṅkāraḥ become synonymous with will. "Freedom is in spite of free will."*
The inert buddhiḥ, when infused or associated with the reflected light of consciousness is rendered sentient, and the sense of 'I' arises. This limited 'I'-thought (aham-vṛttiḥ) is also known as ahaṅkāraḥ (the variable mistaken 'I'-notion) or jīvaḥ (the individual soul). Limited individuality, (naturally) acting from a limited, incomplete perspective gains limited results and so becomes a saṃsārī, travelling from birth to birth.
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• kali-yugam 432,000 yrs
(began 18 Feb 3,102 BCE)
• dvāpara-yugam 864,000 yrs
(kali-yugam x 2)
• tretā-yugam 1,296,000 yrs
(kali-yugam x 3)
• kṛta-yugam 1,728,000 yrs
(kali-yugam x 4)
A catur-yugam (all four yugas combined) is known as a mahā-yugam (kali-yugam x 10 = 4,320,000 yrs); see kalpaḥ, manvantaram, yugam.
'Pure' consciousness (or pure knowledge) is a term used to distinguish pure, undifferentiated (unmanifest) consciousness from differentiated (manifest) consciousness, i.e. consciousness itself from consciousness of something or in the form of something. It is like distinguishing water from a wave, water is ever water regardless of its present appearance as a wave, and yet the wave undeniably has a distinct existence, but that existence is the existence of pure (meaning ever-unformed) water.
When fully manifest (via māyā), cit is known as (has the status of being) all-powerful, all-knowing Īśvaraḥ. When only partially manifest (as in a jīvaḥ), cit has the status of being avidyā, and knowledge is similarly partial and incomplete. When unmanifest, as in insentient objects, cit is known as the nature, prakṛtiḥ, of such objects and manifests (is appreciable) only as their very existence (due to the absence of a suitable means of manifestation, a sūkṣma-śarīram).
Cit, absolute reality (also known as Brahman) being self-effulgent, non-objectifiable and free from all limitations, can never be experienced directly and can be arrived at only in terms of its nature of knowing. It is the formless substance – the very reality – of the 'I'-thought, aham. See jñāptiḥ and ānandaḥ.
Without practising this discipline – with patience and perseverance, in the light of the teaching – such thoughts will hinder the assimilation and enjoyment of the knowledge gained through Vedānta. This discipline is an aspect of śamaḥ and contributes to mental well-being. It is, of course, essentially the same disciplining of the mind that is involved in japa and in all forms of meditation – without it there can be no japa, no meditation.
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First and foremost in the unbroken lineage of gurus or teachers, Dakṣiṇāmūrtiḥ is the personification of pure knowledge (the source of all manifest knowledge) and so is said to be teaching in silence, which does not mean he did not speak – all teaching requires speech. It means that, due to the subtlety of what had to be communicated, he taught not by direct exposition but by the indirect means of the implication of that which is true, lakṣaṇa-vākyam, and the negation of that which is not true, niṣedha-vākyam.
He is portrayed sitting under a banyan tree with his four disciples (sons of Brahmā) known as Sanakaḥ, Sanātanaḥ, Sanandanaḥ and Sanatkumāraḥ.
Dharmo rakṣati rakṣitaḥ – Dharmaḥ protected protects: by following dharmaḥ it is protected from falling into disuse, and the follower is in turn protected from falling into adharmaḥ. More than that, the good influence of good action spreads.
Pure consciousness, due to its very purity, is flawless, perfect, limitless and complete. Being so, whatever arises from it will be of essentially the same nature and will reflect that nature within the confines of its form. This means that, in spite of appearances and to the degree that the limits of manifestation allow, the sṛṣṭiḥ is a flawless, orderly and complete reflection of that nature. That flawless, harmonious orderliness (niyatiḥ) that permeates and upholds all manifestation, as its very adhiṣṭhānam, is dharmaḥ. "All that is here is Īśvaraḥ."*
This does not mean that this order cannot be wilfully challenged, neglected or distorted, but then it naturally reasserts itself.
Dharmaḥ is a karma that produces special unseen puṇyam, unlike other karmas. See sāmānya-dharmaḥ and viśeṣa-dharmaḥ.
Meditation is formally defined as vijātīya-vṛtti-rahita-sajātīya-vṛtti-pravāha-rūpa-saguṇa-brahma-viṣaya-mānasa-vyāpāraḥ. This means it is a mental activity (mānasa-vyāpāraḥ) whose subject matter (viṣayaḥ) takes the form (rūpam) of saguṇa-brahma, where all thought (vṛttiḥ), that is devoid of (rahita) or other than the chosen object or topic (vijātīya) is let go and only thought (vṛttiḥ) concerning the chosen object (sajātīya) flows continuously for a time (pravāhaḥ).
For the Vedantin, meditation is not limited to an action done at a given time daily but is a certain commitment that one keeps to many times a day. It is a mental action to which one is committed and it is done the whole day.
If the object of meditation is the truth of the subject (i.e. the nature of reality, which is one's own svarūpam or intrinsic nature) meditation is contemplation, nididhyāsanam – otherwise known as nirguṇa-brahma-upāsanam. In nididhyāsanam there is no meditator-meditated difference. The four hindrances to all forms of meditation are: kaṣāyam, layaḥ, rasāsvādaḥ and vikṣepaḥ.
When manifest, the power of inertia is known as tamo-guṇaḥ. Tamas in turn manifests as the veiling power known as the āvaraṇa-śaktiḥ. See guṇaḥ, śaktiḥ, jñāna-śaktiḥ and kriyā-śaktiḥ.
On dwelling upon a thought arising in the mind, the fact that it is illumined by consciousness is recognised. When that recognition occurs, the focus shifts from the thought to its substratum, consciousness – like shifting one's attention from an ocean wave to its substratum, water. That shift in focus can lead to samādhiḥ, absorption of the mind in that substratum, which is oneself. See śabda-anuviddha-savikalpa-samādhiḥ and also samādhiḥ, savikalpa-samādhiḥ and nirvikalpa-samādhiḥ.
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This means that when, for example, I speak of myself as one who knows the states of waking, dream and deep sleep, I am necessarily speaking from the standpoint of turīyam, perhaps unknowingly. I am speaking from the standpoint of being their common, ever-present, single substratum. This understanding or recognition of all the three being one and the same is called pratyabhijñā. To consciously (non-verbally) acknowledge this fact, again and again, is to knowingly take my stand in turīyam. In this way I knowingly emphasise, knowingly remind the mind, that I am ever distinct from the three states of mind. Such a practice (such a nididhyāsanam) is a pointer to understanding and taking ownership of my real nature.
• putraiṣaṇā - desire for a son
• vittaiṣaṇā - desire for wealth
• lokaiṣaṇā - desire for higher worlds
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Śukla gatiḥ, the bright or solar path (also known as the uttara mārgaḥ, northern path) takes those with great puṇyam to brahma-lokaḥ after death, from which there is no return. Kṛṣṇa gatiḥ, the dark or lunar path (also known as the dakṣiṇa mārgaḥ, southern path) takes those with lesser puṇyam to a lokaḥ higher than bhū-lokaḥ after death, from which they eventually return.
No guṇaḥ ever exists independently of the other two. All three are present in different degrees in each of the pañca-bhūtas, five elements, and hence in all that arise from them. The word guṇaḥ is also used to indicate 'property, quality', and also has the meaning 'snake' (a symbol of power).
The guruḥ, in properly unfolding and interpreting the liberating words of the Upaniṣads, dispels the student's ignorance of himself, the world and God. The Upaniṣads themselves declare that, due to its subtlety, the enquiry into the nature of reality should be done only with the help of a guruḥ who knows the sampradāyaḥ. This is because to understand properly even one verse of the Upaniṣads one needs to understand the whole of the Upaniṣads. Hence, one requires a teacher who has him or herself been taught by a sampradāyavit (a knower of the sampradāyaḥ).
In addition, due to the mind's unquestioned assumptions and misconceptions, and its tendency to interpret whatever it meets only in terms of what it presently knows, it needs to be shown more than it knows, which necessitates a teacher. In particular, the questioner takes for granted the idea that he himself is a limited being. The questioner is never questioned. Additionally, the guruḥ must constantly check and counter the aspirant's strongly habitual orientation that regards the self as an 'object' to be 'realised' rather than as a fact that is misperceived. "The human intellect is good enough to commit a mistake about the self, but it is not good enough to know what the self is."* See śiṣyaḥ, guru-śiṣya-paramparā, sampradāyaḥ, paramparā.
The teaching can only be given on request (there is no question of proselytising). It is also by no means certain that the guruḥ will accept the person as a disciple: an aspirant needs to be suitably qualified (see sādhana-catuṣṭayam) to deserve such a commitment from the guruḥ. The qualifications are acquired through living a life of karma-yogaḥ. See śiṣya-svīkāraḥ.
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Hiraṇyagarbhaḥ is the totality of all intellects, mind and prāṇaḥ and so is known by three epithets: Mahat-tattvam, the totality of all intellects, Hiraṇyagarbhaḥ, the totality of all minds, manaḥ, and as Sūtrātmā, the totality of all prāṇaḥ. These are respectively the cause and support for all vyaṣtiḥ (individual) vijñānamaya-kośas, manomaya-kośas and prāṇamaya-kośas just as an ocean is the cause and support for all of its waves.
Hiraṇyagarbhaḥ is also known as Brahmā, the one in whom exists knowledge of the entire cosmos along with the jñāna-śaktiḥ, the capacity to know without limit; the kriyā-śaktiḥ, the capacity to create, sustain and dissolve the world; and the icchā-śaktiḥ, the capacity to desire. Its individual or vyaṣṭiḥ aspect is taijasaḥ in whom these capacities are limited.
Since the mind and other subtle phenomena are manifesting media for consciousness, hiraṇyam (gold) symbolises effulgence (and hence consciousness); garbhaḥ (foetus) symbolises 'inside of'. Hence, hiraṇyagarbhaḥ means 'the one in whom consciousness shines from within' – it does not mean 'golden egg'!
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Why does there need to be dispassion? The first response of the mind and senses to the world is often emotional: whatever is met is met with a degree of like or dislike (a pleased or displeased form of desire). All desire emerges from emotion and all emotions are positive or negative forms of love. Being expressions of love, such mental and sensory responses need to be handled carefully by the person or they will rule him or her. When ruled by emotion, by passion, I am unavailable for vicāraḥ, meaningful enquiry.
Similarly, when absolute reality, nirguṇa-brahma (also known as Brahman) is regarded as having the status or attribute of being the creator, sustainer and resolver of the universe it is given the title Īśvaraḥ. Thus, Īśvaraḥ can be regarded as an upādhiḥ for Brahman. See jīvaḥ, antaryāmī, Hiraṇyagarbhaḥ, Brahmā, Śivaḥ, Viṣṇuḥ, Vaiśvānaraḥ, Virāṭ, devaḥ.
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The waking state is no more real than the dream state (since both are mithyā) even though each state seems real while in it.
Mokṣaḥ is not mokṣaḥ unless known in the waking state. Free-will and doership exist only in the waking state, not in dream or deep sleep. See viśvaḥ, the knower of the waking state; also see svapna-avasthā, dream state; suṣupti-avasthā, deep-sleep state; turīya, 'fourth'; avasthā-trayam, the three states of experience.
• aṇḍaja - egg-born (birds, reptiles, etc.)
• jarāyuja - womb-born (humans, mammals)
• svedaja - moisture-born (lice, mosquitos, etc.)
• udbhijja - seed-born (plants, vegetation)
On this Earth, there are 8.4 million species of living being and hence 8.4 million types of birth for a jīvaḥ. By that measure (1: 8.4m) birth in human form is rare. The birth each jivaḥ has to take is due to the law of karma and results solely from action done when in human form, leading to long periods in non-human form for some.
Even if the meaning is not understood, the mantraḥ has some effect because it stands for what it is, the sounds contain some meaning.
Japaḥ may be loud, barely audible or silent – the latter being the most powerful as, being mental, focus is better. By making the mind deliberately dwell again and again on one thought, japaḥ trains it to focus, breaking the undisciplined mental drift of chain thinking in which a connected thought succeeds the previous one and the mind wanders away. More than that, in japaḥ the mind is refined by dwelling on that which is true, thus neutralising unhelpful tendencies through their neglect (neglected, they fade away). It is this process of refinement and neutralisation that makes japaḥ compulsory for all aspirants.
Daily japaḥ is soon found to be a form of prayer addressed to the Lord – naturally bringing the grace of the Lord in the form of puṇyam – and with it an inner mental space in which one gains an awareness of the ways of the mind and of oneself being distinct from the mind. "Being just myself, I recognise the fact that I can be comfortable just being myself."*
Knowledge of being free is clear and unshakeable, with happiness and peace that are continuous and that cannot be overshadowed. Although the world continues to be experienced, it causes no disturbance as it is known to be mithyā.
Knowing that ahaṅkāraḥ and mamakāraḥ are ātmā alone, both remain merely notional and are used only for transacting with the world. Having no guilt or regrets about the past, nor anxieties about the future, the present is met with dispassion while ever remaining even-minded. There is complete freedom from 'becoming', and hence from saṃsāraḥ.
Although jñāna-yogaḥ is the true solution for sorrow, many are not able to discover that fact due their delusion that the world is a source of happiness. They need to discover for themselves that actions and their results can give at best a fleeting access to happiness. Such a growth in dispassion is essential for the successful pursuit of jñāna-yogaḥ. Thus, karma-yogaḥ is introduced as a means to come to jñāna-yogaḥ. See karma-yogaḥ.
• hearing - śrotram (ear)
• touch - tvak (skin)
• sight - cakṣuḥ (eye)
• taste - rasanā (tongue)
• smell - ghrāṇam (nose)
Part of sūkṣma-śarīram and vijñāṇamaya-kośaḥ. Jñānendriyam refers to the subtle power of sense perception (such as the power or capacity to see) not to its physical medium or location. The power's physical location (golakam) is shown in the above list, in for example the eyes. Therefore, the word for the respective golakam not only refers to the physical organ, it also implies the conscious power pervading it – this is the same with all powers of perception and action. See indriyam, the subtle power of an organ of perception or action; also see karmendriyāṇi, the five subtle organs of action.
"Pot is a word given to a form of clay for transaction. Once I understand this, in my vision the substance called pot does not exist. The word ‘pot’ alone exists. For a Vedānta jñānī, the world is nothing but a word, the substance called world does not exist. The only existing thing is turīyaṃ and everything else is name and form. I am that turīyaṃ. This is the teaching." Swami Paramarthananda.
"Consciousness takes up the role of knowing only when the mind joins consciousness. Consciousness by itself [pure consciousness] is not a knower, not an experiencer and cannot do any action. Turīyaṃ is of the nature of pure consciousness. Can consciousness say, ‘I am consciousness'? It cannot do that. Consciousness requires the mind because claiming requires a relevant thought. Claiming, knowing, and experiencing require relevant thoughts and thoughts require a mind. In the presence of mind alone, the process of knowing is possible. Turīyaṃ is the non-knowing consciousness principle ['non-knowing' in the sense that its 'knowing' is not a role or functional state]. Consciousness does not require mind to be consciousness, but a mind is required to claim 'I am consciousness'." Swami Paramarthananda, commentary on Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad Kārikā, p46. See cit and śuddha-caitanyam.
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The praśnopaniṣad (6.4) enumerates 16 kalās, aspects, of the embodied puruṣaḥ, all of which are resolved into their respective universal aspects at videha-muktiḥ, like rivers merging with the ocean. The 16 are: prāṇaḥ, śraddhā, khaṃ, vāyuḥ, jyotiḥ, āpaḥ, pṛthivī, indriyaṃ, manaḥ, annaṃ, vīryaṃ, tapaḥ, mantrāḥ, karma, lokāḥ, nāma.
Kalpaḥ also means rule, resolve, procedure, and hence means the methods or know-how of ritual (including which mantras to use for which ritual) and as such kalpaḥ is the name of one of the six auxiliary sciences, Vedāṅgas, of the Vedas – the other five are śikṣā, chandas, vyākaraṇam, niruktam, jyotiṣaḥ.
Frustrated desire leads to krodhaḥ, anger. A desire is a thought, a thought has the status of being a desire only if it has will behind it (impelling it to its fulfilment) and thus is the source of mental or physical action, and of a corresponding mental and/or physical result.
Desire is natural, but desire born of tamas degrades a person and prevents spiritual progress. Gradually converting such desires into rājasika desires (by fulfilling them in line with dharmaḥ) is a step in the right direction. When rājasika desire is fulfilled through puruṣārtha-niścayaḥ it becomes sāttvika desire. Desire formed in sāttva is desire free of narrow, stultifying motives; it is as good as non-desire and helps to clear the way to freedom. "Removal of desires is neither possible nor necessary. That I desire is not a problem. Desire becomes a problem when I come under its spell."* I come under its spell when I identify with it. So, it binds only when contaminated by ahaṅkāraḥ.
At its core, every desire is a wish to be free from being a wanting person, a person bound by limits (from which one seeks freedom). That desire for freedom from limitation is because everyone's true nature is limitlessness, which is true happiness. Being true, that nature cannot change, even if seemingly covered.
• kartā - agent (performer) of action
• karma - object (result or recipient) of action
• karaṇam - instrument (means) of action
• sampradānam - aim (purpose or beneficiary) of action
• apādānam - source (origin or cause) of action
• adhikaraṇam - location (place) of action
Māyā, the causal body at the cosmic or universal level, is the store of all karma, whereas māyā, operating at the individual causal level, being ignorance, is the root of individual tendencies, prejudices, attitudes, etc., but not the store of individual karma. See sthūla-śarīram, sūkṣma-śarīram, and suṣupti-avasthā.
The karma, destiny, of each and every being is stored in māyā, the universal causal body. See sañcita-karma, prārabdha-karma, āgāmi-karma.
Action, being limited, its results must always be limited (an effect is always in line with its cause) and so no amount or form of action can produce the limitlessness that is mokṣaḥ. Action may contribute towards the mental preparation needed for jñānam, but jñānam need not, cannot, be combined with karma for mokṣaḥ. And karma is a product of ignorance!
A wealthy person, unaware of his weath, does not need action to become wealthy, he just needs to know he is wealthy, nothing more. No amount or form of action, karma, can make the already wealthy wealthy. It is a matter of knowing, not doing. Just so, since ātmā is ever attained (yet improperly known) no amount of action can attain it. Knowledge alone may do so.
Although providing the means for the proper fulfilment of legitimate desire, the ultimate purpose of the karma-kāṇḍaḥ is to help the individual see that all action (physical, oral or mental) is limited and limiting – karma, being finite, produces only finite ends. Thus, the karma-kāṇḍaḥ prepares the way for entry into the latter part of the Vedaḥ, the jñāna-kāṇḍaḥ. This movement from Veda-pūrva to Veda-anta is the growth of the religious life into the spiritual life.
"One should start with religious life and graduate into spiritual life. Without religious life, spirituality will not work. Without spirituality, religious life is incomplete. Therefore, the follower of the Vedaḥ should follow a religious life and go to spirituality." (Swami Paramarthananda). See jñāna-kāṇḍaḥ.
Karma-yogaḥ is a disciplined householder life, lived in line with dharmaḥ, in which all actions are performed in the recognition that all that is here is Īśvaraḥ. Intrinsic to this recognition is a natural attitude of offering or entrusting all one's actions to Īśvaraḥ (īśvara-arpaṇa-buddhiḥ) since all action is, essentially, in and of Īśvaraḥ. Thus, a life of karma-yogaḥ is a life lived attempting to keep all one's actions aligned with that which is perceived of the order that is dharmaḥ, Īśvaraḥ. As best one may, one's actions then become unopposed to whatever is appreciated of dharmaḥ, (dharma-aviruddha-karma).
Natural to this order is the law-ordained result of action, which is accepted as prasādaḥ, a gift from Īśvaraḥ (īśvara-prasāda-buddhiḥ). That acceptance brings evenness and equanimity of mind (samatvam) when results appear.
Additionally, specific forms of upāsanam may be used to help refine the mind (enhance its subtlety) and improve one's capacity to listen.
This way of life purifies the mind in preparation for jñānam since it entails mastering one's emotions and ways of thinking, including foregoing personal bias in the form of rāga-dveṣas, attachments and aversions, when putting dharmaḥ first. This 'putting dharmaḥ first' (following the lead of dharmaḥ) requires discretion in action (yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam) which helps develop subtlety of mind. With all this comes dissociation from association with sorrow, duḥkha-saṃyoga-viyogam. Then, when śravaṇam occurs in such an open, unagitated, self-disciplined, worshipful mind, there is little to impede it – there is jñāna-yogaḥ – and freedom from saṃsāraḥ follows. There is much more to karma-yogaḥ than sevā, service! Karma-yogaḥ is the preparatory means for jñāna-yogaḥ. Jñāna-yogaḥ is the sole means for and fruition of liberation.
"When you do what is to be done there is trust in the order that is Īśvaraḥ. In that trust you relax. This relaxation is called purification of mind. Then your rāga-dveṣas, likes and dislikes, are neutralised, you are no longer under their hold. So, purification of mind is settling account with Īśvaraḥ, otherwise you are like a ninja with reference to the world, fighting with it all the time.
"The order that is Īśvaraḥ is everywhere, inside and out. The world is included in this order. So, if you settle account with Īśvaraḥ [i.e. recognise that the world and all that has happened to you is 'in order'], you need not fight with the world. When you submit to that order, you relax. The more you appreciate the order, the easier submission to it becomes. Until there is submission to the order, the ego does not resolve its problems. When the resolution has more or less taken place, Vedānta-vākyas, the teachings of Vedāntaḥ, will work. The teaching will be all light, not mere words."*
• speaking - vāk (speech)
• handling - pāṇiḥ (hand)
• moving - pādaḥ (foot)
• reproducing - upasthaḥ (genitals)
• eliminating - pāyuḥ (anus)
Part of sūkṣma-śarīram and prāṇamaya-kośaḥ. The word karmendriyam refers to the subtle power of action (such as the power or capacity of handling) not to the physical action itself, but to its means. The power's physical location (golakam) is shown in the above list, in for example the hands. The word for the respective golakam not only refers to the physical organ, it also implies the conscious power pervading it – this is how it is with all powers of perception and action. See indriyam, the subtle power of an organ of perception or action; also see jñānendriyāṇi, the five subtle organs of knowledge.
In the context of karma-yogaḥ (yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam – Gītā 2.50) it does not mean skill, perfection or efficiency, it means the capacity to assess correctly what (and how) action(s) should be done.
• abhiniveśaḥ - clinging to the body and to earthly life
• asmitā - egoism
• avidyā - ignorance
• dveṣaḥ - aversion
• jananam - birth
• maraṇam - death
• rāgaḥ - attachment
Human will may be contaminated with habitual prejudices and various forms of conditioning that limit thinking, but the degree of self-awareness that comes with being human means that there is still some degree of autonomy (and hence responsibility) in human choices.
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• upalakṣaṇā
• atad-vyāvṛtti-lakṣaṇā
• jahallakṣaṇā
• ajahallakṣaṇā
• jahadajahallakṣaṇā
• svarūpalakṣaṇam
• taṭasthalakṣaṇam
Layaḥ also means sleepiness; sloth (due to tamas) – one of the four hindrances to meditation – the others are: kaṣāyam, rasāsvādaḥ and vikṣepaḥ.
Bhū-lokaḥ is the only place with free-will and so is the only lokaḥ where change or development or becoming is possible, hence the term bhū, to become.
The seven higher lokas begin with this Earth, bhūḥ, and in ascending order are bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, suvaḥ, mahaḥ, janaḥ, tapaḥ, with satyam (also known as brahma-lokaḥ) the highest. In descending order, the seven lower are: atalam, vitalam, sutalam, talātalam, rasātalam, mahātalam, with pātālam lowest of all.
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• tattvamasi
• ahaṃ brahmāsmi
• ayamātmā brahma
• prajñānaṃ brahma.
There is no gradation between them (as some suggest), the lakṣyārthaḥ of all is the same. Some other mahā-vākyas are:
• brahma veda brahmaiva bhavati
• neha nānāsti kiñcana
• sarvaṃ hyetadbrahma
• sarvaṃ khalvidaṃ brahma
• satyaṃ jñānam anantaṃ brahma.
• kāmaḥ - lust
• krodhaḥ - anger
• lobhaḥ - greed
• mohaḥ - delusion
• madaḥ - pride
• mātsaryam - jealousy
Each of these six is also known as a vairiḥ, an enemy, of the wise. Together, kāmaḥ, krodhaḥ, lobhaḥ form the threefold doorway to narakaḥ, hell (Gītā 16.21).
Since the power to know and desire includes notions of identity (ahaṅkāraḥ), as well as memories (cittam) and decisions (buddhiḥ), manaḥ is used both to mean specific functions of the mind (knowing, feeling, desiring) as well as to represent the mind as a whole; see antaḥ-karaṇam, sūkṣma-śarīram.
In saguṇa-brahma-upāsanam or īśvara-upāsanam, worship of the Lord is a three-fold activity: kāyikam karma, vācikam karma and mānasam karma. Kāyam means body, so kāyikam karma includes activity involving the physical body, such as waving a light, ringing a bell, offering food, cooking food, decoration of deities, etc. Orally reciting verses or chanting mantras or singing in praise of the Lord (invoking grace) is oral activity, vācikam karma. Vācikam karma can be with or without kāyikam karma. In kāyikam and vācikam karma the mind is involved, having only the thought of the Lord. However, in mānasam karma, purely mental activity, body and speech are not involved. Mānasam karma can be mānasa japaḥ (mentally repeating a mantraḥ) or visualising the form of the Lord as a given deity (as described in jñāna ślokāḥ) with focused attention. See kāyikam karma, vācikam karma.
Māyā is one undifferentiated, unmanifest power that undergoes change to manifest the jagat. It has three aspects: the jñāna-śaktiḥ (capacity to know) which when manifest is called sattva-guṇaḥ, the kriyā-śaktiḥ (capacity to act) which when manifest is called rajo-guṇaḥ, and the dravya-śaktiḥ (capacity for inertia) which when manifest is called tamo-guṇaḥ.
First to emerge from māyā at the arising of the universe are the pañca-bhūtas, the five elements, each of which naturally consists of the three guṇas. These elements form all that follows. Their sāttvika aspects, for example, form the jñānendriyāṇi, the subtle aspects of the five senses.
From the standpoint of the jīvaḥ, it can seem that māyā is an upādhiḥ of Īśvaraḥ. However, being intrinsic to and inseparable from Īśvaraḥ, māyā is not an attribute nor an upādhiḥ (only when māyā is manifest as forms, names and functions do upādhis arise). Neither does māyā mean 'illusion', nor is what arises from it an illusion; the world is real, albeit dependently real, for its substratum, consciousness, is absolutely (independently) real.
When māyā, the power of reality, is unmanifest, knowledge is undifferentiated (and being so is commonly referred to as ignorance). When māyā is unmanifest, the universe is unmanifest. When māyā is manifest, knowledge is differentiated, i.e. the universe is manifest knowledge.
Truth or reality is the substratum or very existence of both knowledge and ignorance, of both the differentiated and the undifferentiated, of both the manifest and the unmanifest. That truth is Brahman, satyam brahma, which is pure (relationless, changeless) knowledge. Ultimately, there is no ignorance, no mind and no māyā.
Synonyms of māyā are: avyakta, avyākṛta, avidyā, ajñānam, pradhānam, prakṛtiḥ. See guṇaḥ; also see āvaraṇa-śaktiḥ, vikṣepa-śaktiḥ.
Analysis of the earlier, pūrvā, portion (karma-kāṇḍaḥ or ritual portion) is called pūrvā-mīmāṃsā, also known as karma-mīmāṃsā. Its adherents rightly say that the Vedaḥ is eternal and is the final word on everything. However, some karma-mīmāṃsā adherents also wrongly say that the Vedaḥ enjoins you to do action coupled with jñānam for mokṣaḥ, and that mokṣaḥ is only from a combination of the two.
Uttara-mīmāṃsā is an analysis that is uttara, later. It is an analysis of Vedāntaḥ, the concluding or end portion of the Vedas. These concluding portions are also known as the Upaniṣads. Their statements reveal the nature of reality. They further reveal that the ultimate aim and purport of the Vedaḥ is not any form of karma – or even bhaktiḥ – but jñānam, knowledge, and that knowledge alone liberates. See other dualist opponents of Vedāntaḥ – cārvākaḥ, sāṅkhyam and naiyāyikaḥ.
Mithyā is a synonym for asat, indicating something that is dependent for its very existence on its observer or on its substratum, just as a perception (a perceived object) depends on its perceiver, or a gold ornament depends on gold. The perception and ornament are known only while the perceiver or substratum are present; remove them and the perceived object and ornament disappear. Hence, the perception and ornament are both mithyā, dependently real, not absolutely real, but certainly not illusions or delusions. (Synonym of mṛṣā, unreal, false, and vaitathyam, falseness.) See sat, asat, satyam, tuccham and abhāvaḥ.
Knowledge of the self itself is taking ownership of that freedom that is already one's own essential nature. Mokṣaḥ is also known as parama-śreyaḥ, most exalted wellness, and as saṃsiddhiḥ, the greatest accomplishment, and yet it is the accomplishment of the already accomplished. Mokṣaḥ is not and cannot be an event that occurs in time (for whatever begins ends). It is an ever-existent fact that simply needs to be recognised as such. Mokṣaḥ is not mokṣaḥ unless known in the waking state, jāgrad-avasthā.
The freedom that is mokṣaḥ is freedom from self-ignorance, an ignorance that leads to misperception of both oneself and the world. These misperceptions result in misconceptions that often evoke misplaced emotional responses in the form of unease or distress (including jealousy, anger, depression, fear, anxiety, regret, etc.) too often resulting in inappropriate action and sorrow. All such unfortunate responses leave a residue of unfinished business that perpetuates the cycle of emotionally driven problems known as saṃsāraḥ, a cycle that is never-ending until broken by correct knowledge of oneself and the world.
While identified with the mind, ātmā appears to be the experiencer of varying vṛttis, thought forms, whereas in mokṣaḥ, ātmā is known to be distinct from every vṛttiḥ. In mokṣaḥ, ātmā is known to be the free, unsullied substratum of each and every vṛttiḥ, no matter the state of mind. In mokṣaḥ, ātmā is known to be the invariable consciousness in every (variable) cognition – pratibodha viditam matam (Kena 2.4). This means, consciousness is experienced in every experience, but, crucially, not as an object of experience! Consciousness is experienced as the invariable, unsullied presence in all experience. See brahmaikyam, parā-vidyā and āptiḥ.
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In the aspirant for mokṣaḥ, nitya-naimittika-karmas become niṣkāma-karmas, and kāmya-karmas are left untouched.
Recognising the truth about oneself is recognising that I do not have doership – I never could have it, and I never have had it (in spite of how things seemed).
Nididhyāsanam (didhyāsa, the desire to dwell; ni, on well-ascertained knowledge) is possible only after sufficient śravaṇam and mananam. Only then is the required knowledge well-enough ascertained to be worth dwelling on.
Nididhyāsanam is for the removal of the obstructions to the full ascertainment and assimilation of what has already been correctly understood from śravaṇam and mananam. That removal is the uprooting of viparīta-bhāvanāḥ, competing, deeply embedded, false ideas about oneself, i.e. identification with the mind and body. Nididhyāsanam is not for gaining knowledge; that is the role of śravaṇam.
One method of assimilation is to dwell repeatedly, in daily life, upon the understanding one has gained (and thereby not lose the objectivity it bestows). This practice is known as brahma-abhyāsa-rūpa-nididhyāsanam.
Alternatively, an aspirant may gain that assimilation by regularly sitting and dwelling at specific times on what has been properly understood of the truth of oneself. This is known as samādhi-abhyāsa-rūpa-nididhyāsanam. Often, both methods are used.
Nididhyāsanam is a synonym of nirguṇa-brahma-upāsanam and svasvarūpa-anusandhānam. See the two types of nididhyāsanam – samādhi-abhyāsa-rūpa-nididhyāsanam and brahma-abhyāsa-rūpa-nididhyāsanam and also sākṣātkāraḥ. The four hindrances to all forms of meditation are: kaṣāyam, layaḥ, rasāsvādaḥ and vikṣepaḥ.
Māyā or universal ignorance has its individual aspect that has the same two-fold power of veiling/projecting and hence is capable of projecting a 'new' individual in his/her own world. All this amounts to the near-universal human malaise of ignorance-born self-misconception, the malaise of being asleep to that which is real. It is a spiritual sleep, a sleep (a dream or error) in which the reality of one's sense of self and the reality of the world usually remain unquestioned. As long as the person is convinced of being already awake, it never occurs to him or her to seek to wake up.
Each cause changes in becoming its related effect. In the case of material causes, the changes are obvious (clay becomes moulded into a pot, gold into a ring). For instrumental causes, the knowledge that effects change is both causal and instrumental. In effecting change, unmanifest knowledge becomes manifest knowledge, i.e. knowledge becomes manifest in the very form revealed. Knowledge, as well as becoming manifest in (and as) the object, manifests as the very existence of the object, sustaining it, for without it the effect would not occur. Later, that same knowledge is that into which the manifestation resolves.
The nimitta-kāraṇam has intelligence in the informational or knowledge sense of the word (as in the gathering of intelligence on someone) and that knowledge includes the skill, the know-how, to apply it (all skill is intelligently applied knowledge). Efficient here means the capacity, the knowledge, to accomplish or effect (produce) change. See upādāna-kāraṇam.
Nirvikalpa-samādhiḥ is not mokṣaḥ. It is an experience that comes and goes. That vṛttiḥ, having assumed the form of Brahman is no longer perceived as a vṛttiḥ (but exists nevertheless) and only the self remains evident. When another vṛttiḥ displaces it, the samādhiḥ concludes. In contrast, in deep sleep (suṣuptiḥ) thoughts are unmanifest, the other two mental states having merged in their cause, ignorance (ajñāna-vṛttiḥ). Only the demands of prārabdhaḥ stir the person. See samādhiḥ, savikalpa-samādhiḥ and nididhyāsanam.
When such an action is done, recognising that the fulfilment of the need is the fulfilment of the dharmaḥ of Īśvaraḥ, it becomes an action dedicated to Īśvaraḥ, in service of Īśvaraḥ. That recognition, and the consequent surrendering or entrusting of the action to Īśvaraḥ, is known as īśvara-arpaṇa-buddhiḥ. It brings antaḥkaraṇa-śuddhiḥ, purification of the mind, as it incurs the grace of Īśvaraḥ while turning the mind away from excessive 'me-focused' behaviour. See karma-yogaḥ. (Desire is natural and necessary for action. All actions – mental or physical – are done with desire, but a desire having a personal motive binds.)
When nitya-naimittika-karmas (daily and occasional duties) are done for antaḥkaraṇa-śuddhiḥ, purification of the mind (as a step towards mokṣaḥ) they become niṣkāma-karmas, actions not driven by binding personal desire and hence become part of karma-yogaḥ.
• saucam
• saṃtoṣaḥ
• tapaḥ
• svādhyāyaḥ
• īśvara-praṇidhānam
Nyāyaḥ can also refer to an illustration, axiom or maxim that logically expresses a truth or fact. Examples include:
• anvaya-vyatireka-nyāyaḥ
• citra-paṭa-nyāyaḥ
• gati-samānya-nyāyaḥ
• rajju-sarpa-nyāyaḥ
• śākhā-candra-nyāyaḥ
• sthāṇu-nikhana-nyāyaḥ
• sthāṇu-puruṣa-nyāyaḥ
• sthūla-arundhatī-nyāyaḥ
• anvaya-vyatireka-nyāyaḥ
• citra-paṭa-nyāyaḥ
• gati-samānya-nyāyaḥ
• rajju-sarpa-nyāyaḥ
• śākhā-candra-nyāyaḥ
• sthāṇu-nikhana-nyāyaḥ
• sthāṇu-puruṣa-nyāyaḥ
• sthūla-arundhatī-nyāyaḥ
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All human sounds are modifications of the natural gutteral sound 'a', which becomes 'm' on closing the lips. The sound 'u' simply represents all sounds in between. All words in all languages being combinations of sounds, Om may be said to pervade and represent all name and form. Its three constituent sounds a, u, m are also the origin of the three vyāhṛtis that are the essence of the gāyatrī-mantraḥ. The gāyatrī is in turn the essence of every mantraḥ of the entire Vedaḥ.
Om is used for both saguṇa- as well as nirguṇa-dhyānam. In saguṇa-dhyānam the letter 'a' is the waker and Virāt, the waker's world; the vowel 'u' is the dreamer and Hiraṇyagarbhaḥ, the dreamer's world, the thought world. The consonant 'm' is the sleeper and the causal world, Śivaḥ. The silence between repetitions of Om is nirguṇa-brahma, the truth of Om. Om is not to be chanted on its own, except by vānaprasthas and sannyāsins, as doing so induces vairāgyam. See praṇavaḥ.
The 'o' in the word Om should be pronounced by forming the lips into a tiny circle and making the vowel sound in 'go' or 'toe'. The vowel 'o' should be one long (dīrgha) measure of sound. The labial sound 'm' should be short (hrasva) giving a total of three short measures for the duration of Om. The phonetic 'aum' is a teaching device and not a pronunciation guide nor an alternative spelling.
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Being the blessing by which anything may be arrived at, padam also implies pure knowledge.
The names, fire, water, earth, etc do not refer to their well-known material forms. The names are indicative only. Flaming fire, for example, is just the closest physical exemplar of the element agniḥ, fire.
• annamaya-kośaḥ
• prāṇamaya-kośaḥ
• manomaya-kośaḥ
• vijñānamaya-kośaḥ
• ānandamaya-kośaḥ
The five correspond to the three śarīrams: the annamaya-kośaḥ to the sthūla-śarīram, the prāṇamaya, manomaya and vijñānamaya-kośas to the sūkṣma-śarīram, and the ānandamaya-kośaḥ to the kāraṇa-śarīram. (The suffix -maya(ṭ) means modification, as in annamaya, modification or product of food, anna. It does not refer to māyā.)
• devayajñaḥ - worship of Īśvaraḥ, the Lord, in the form of gods, devatās.
• pitṛyajñaḥ - worship of the Lord in the form of ancestors.
• ṛṣiyajñaḥ - worship of the Lord in the form of ṛṣis and scriptures.
• manuṣya-yajñaḥ - worship of the Lord in the form of human beings.
• bhūta-yajñaḥ - worship of the Lord in the form of the natural world of plants, animals, etc.
All five contribute toward the mental preparation (karma-yogaḥ) needed for mokṣaḥ.
The word 'elementals' refers to the modified forms of the five gross elements, namely all the objects (forms) in the world, jagat, including the words denoting those forms and the purposes those forms serve.
Some claim that paramātmā refers to a 'supreme soul' of which the so-called 'many individual ātmās' are a part and with which they eventually merge. None of that is true. Such errors are due to a misunderstanding of the nature of the self and of the soul. The truth is, ātmā is advaita, non-dual, which means there is no second entity. Therefore, there is not and cannot be a supreme soul (as it implies other, lesser souls). Neither are there, nor can there be, many individual ātmās. Ātmā does not mean soul. The nearest equivalent to the word 'soul' is jīvaḥ.
In their own way the sense organs are also paricchedakam, conducive to the bestowal and manifestation of limitation, in that they each act within their respective spheres to limit what may be known (hearing, for example, is limited, paricchinna, to perceiving only sound, not taste). Each object of perception, being naturally distinct from other objects, is (by that very distinctness) paricchedya, subject to limitation, and is yet further subject to limitation by the restricted knowledge the senses provide of it, hence the notorious unreliability of sensory perception in any quest for truth.
Any pramāṇa which picks up a distinct piece of knowledge becomes paricchedakam (that which limits) and that which is picked up is paricchedya (something limited, a limited object).
Similarly, when the student understands sufficiently well for it to make sense that the entire world (all manifestation) is mithyā, its substratum is Īśvaraḥ, the self is limitless, and so on, that understanding is indirect, it is parokṣa-jñānam, not yet enough in itself to bring mokṣaḥ. Immediate knowledge, aparokṣa-jñānam, is now needed.
This term refers to the conclusion of the two-part process of perception involved in every form of empirical knowledge. In phala-vyāptiḥ the object is known. When, for example, a table is seen, the table is held in awareness as a vṛttiḥ, a thought. This is vṛtti-vyāptiḥ. The recognition or knowledge of that vṛttiḥ being 'a table' is the result or conclusion of the process of perception. That result is called phala-vyāptiḥ.
That phala-vyāptiḥ, that resulting knowledge, implies a knower. That knower is a vṛttiḥ, a vṛttiḥ that recognises the vṛtti-vyāptiḥ. This knower-vṛttiḥ is the 'I'-thought, aham-vṛttiḥ. Having knower-status, it is called the pramātā, knower, or draṣṭā, seer.
In knowledge of ātmā, the second operation, phala-vyāptiḥ, is not required, for the 'knower' is resolved in the wake of self-knowledge. Being the self-evident seer/perceiver, ātmā, the source of perception, is not objectifiable and hence cannot be the fruit of perception (no matter how subtle that perception may be). Every perception is possible only because of the ātmā.
It is akin to the waker waking up from being identified with one of the characters in the dream he has just now been experiencing. Having awoken, he knows that the entire dream was dependent on him (his mind) and that it had all arisen in him, was sustained by him and on waking has resolved in him. Now, in prabodhaḥ, there is no more dream, no dream world, no jīvaḥ, no Īśvaraḥ, there is just oneself, kaivalyam.
Prājña, a form of ahaṅkāraḥ, is also a term for ātmā identified with the causal body, the kāraṇa-śarīram of the jīvaḥ, in the deep-sleep state, suṣupti-avasthā, thereby being temporarily free from the habitual and universal identification of the waking state, that 'I am someone of limited knowledge'. Identified with the causal body, prājñaḥ does not know or apprehend reality, but has no misconceptions about it (as the individual mind is inactive in deep sleep). The universal or samaṣṭiḥ equivalent is Īśvaraḥ with his māyā (described in the Māṇḍūkya as the antaryāmī, inner controller) – see taijasaḥ, viśvaḥ.
• adhyāropa-apavāda-viveka-prakriyā
• avasthā-traya-viveka-prakriyā
• dṛg-dṛśya-viveka-prakriyā
• kāraṇa-kārya-viveka-prakriyā
• pañca-kośa-viveka-prakriyā
• śarīra-traya-viveka-prakriyā
• sṛṣṭi-viveka-prakriyā
• tanmātra-viveka-prakriyā
• anumāna-pramāṇam
• anupalabdhi-pramāṇam
• arthāpatti-pramāṇam
• pratyakṣa-pramāṇam
• śabda-pramāṇam
• upamāna-pramāṇam
Prostration at the feet of the teacher in sāṣṭāṅga-namaskāraḥ (salutations with eight limbs) includes not only the touching the ground with the forehead, chest, hips, knees, feet and outstretched folded hands, but also includes speech (to utter 'namaste') and mind (in reverence).
"Prapañcaḥ refers to the waking world, the universe. Upaśamaḥ literally means absent. Prapañcopaśamaḥ means that even though we experience the world, factually it is not there. It is experientially available, factually non-existent; it is mithyā." Swami Paramarthananda, Māṇḍūkya commentary.
Prārabdha-karma may take three forms: that which produces fruit in the absence of desire, that which does so with desire, and that which does so through the desire of another. An individual's response to prārabdha is very much influenced by vāsanā, which may produce responses in the form of actions, karma, that have subsequent results, karma.
Prārabdha-karma, the manifest, fructifying portions of sañcita, are experienced as translations of puṇya-pāpam in the form of sukham, happiness, and duḥkham, sorrow, thereby exhausting some of the sañcita's store of puṇyam and pāpam. All the unseen results of action (karma), unspent or freshly accruing, are stored as unmanifest puṇya-pāpam in māyā, the universal causal body. (The individual causal body, the kāraṇa-śarīram, is the individual aspect of māyā and stores vāsanās, individual tendencies, attitudes, tastes, etc., but not individual karma.)prārthanā प्रार्थना Prayer; entreaty; request; supplication; desire.
prasādaḥ प्रसादः Tranquillity; serenity; cheerfulness; clearness; gift from Bhagavān. Since all that is here is Bhagavān – all actions and their results, all events and their participants, all pairs of opposites – all and everything is a gift from Bhagavān. Knowing this brings a quiet, cheerful serenity. See karma-yogaḥ.
prasaktiḥ प्रसक्तिः Attachment in which the mind is strongly stuck; confusion due to fixed adherence to an idea or belief.
praśaṃsā प्रशंसा Praise; admiration; compliment.
praśānta-citta प्रशान्त-चित्त Tranquil-minded; naturally cheerful and quiet (due to vairāgyam); ready to take both pleasant and unpleasant situations in one's stride; one of the two primary qualities needed for studying Vedāntaḥ – see the other one, śamānvita. (The adjective praśānta can also mean 'free from modification' since a departure from tranquility involves change.)
praśnaḥ प्रश्नः Question; query; enquiry. Teaching should occur only in response to questions, to a sincere desire to know, not from a desire to teach. Questions need to be put properly, which means with reverence for the teaching and with respect for and trust in the teacher (and certainly not in an attempt to test the teacher).
prasthānam प्रस्थानम् Source; place of origin.
prasthāna-trayam प्रस्थान-त्रयम् Set of three great texts of scriptural literature, namely Upaniṣads (Vedāntaḥ), Bhagavad-Gītā, Brahma-Sūtrāṇi. Since all three have their original source in the Upaniṣads (śruti-prasthānam) and so have the same content, they are known collectively as Vedāntaḥ. The Bhagavad-Gītā is an independent text, part of the Mahābhāratam (smṛti-prasthānam). The Brahma-Sūtrāṇi is an analytical study of Upaniṣad mantras (nyāya-prasthānam).
pratibandhaḥ प्रतिबन्धः Obstacle; obstruction; impediment; hindrance; hurdle; that which 'blocks against'. Pratibandhas are misunderstandings, mistaken attitudes, false ideas and adverse circumstances that block both the appreciation and rise of true knowledge. They are in three main categories: malaḥ (consisting of various forms of rāga-dveṣaḥ) secondly vikṣepaḥ and thirdly āvaraṇam (which includes viparīta-bhāvanā). All are the result of pāpa-karma. They can be neutralised by puṇya-karma.
prātibhāsika-satyam प्रातिभासिक-सत्यम् Subjective (mithyā) reality; personal, subjective view; mistaken notions; unknown fears; all forms of personal, subjective mental projections and interpretations of the world. It is a satyam that exists only in appearance and yet may have a strong influence. In the famous rajju-sarpa-nyāyaḥ, rope-snake example, the 'seen' snake is a subjective misperception and misinterpretation of a (dimly lit) rope. The rope belongs to vyāvahārika-satyam, the mistaken snake is a prātibhāsika-satyam. Prātibhāsika-satyam also includes common subjective interpretations such as "I am clever/stupid" "She is nice/horrible" "This is taking a long time". Both prātibhāsika-satyam and vyāvahārika-satyam are falsified in pāramārthika-satyam.
pratibimba-vādaḥ प्रतिबिम्ब-वादः Reflection (pratibimbaḥ) model (vādaḥ). A model or teaching device presenting worldly phenomena as a reflected rather than conditioned form of consciousness, e.g. the intellect is said to be alive and shines due to its being a 'reflection' (not a condition) of consciousness. As an alternative, see avaccheda-vādaḥ – both models have their merits and flaws. See vādaḥ.
pratibimbita-caitanyam प्रतिबिम्बित-चैतन्यम् Reflected consciousness in the antaḥ-karaṇam; reflection is nothing but manifestation; see cidābhāsaḥ.
pratijñā प्रतिज्ञा Proposition; assertion; declaration; statement. A proposition is often followed by a dṛṣṭāntaḥ, an illustration or example, to help convey its meaning. For instance, the proposition (pratijñā) that "pure consciousness is the substratum of all" is illustrated (dṛṣṭāntaḥ) by "just as gold is the substratum of all gold ornaments." See dṛṣṭāntaḥ.
pratīkaḥ प्रतीकः A limbless form, niravayava mūrtiḥ, e.g. a śiva-liṅgam, a śālagrāmaḥ (a naturally formed small piece of sacred stone symbolising Lord Viṣṇuḥ); Om, a sound-symbol for the Lord.
pratimā प्रतिमा A form-symbol (with limbs) for the Lord; a personification; typically a life-like idol or statue, a murtiḥ.
pratipādaka-pratipādya-sambandhaḥ प्रतिपादक-प्रतिपाद्य-सम्बन्धः Revealer-revealed connection. Between the śāstram and the knowledge that is mokṣaḥ, there is a revealer-revealed connection – śāstram alone reveals that knowledge. See anubandha-catuṣṭayam.
prātipadikam प्रातिपदिकम् Base or uninflected form of a word; the form a word takes prior to its having a declinable status.
pratipakṣa-bhāvanā प्रतिपक्ष-भावना Dealing with an adverse tendency in oneself by deliberately cultivating its opposite. Although this practice helps deal with rāga-dveṣas and their related emotions, for example, it is primarily intended to bring a more comprehensive or total perspective to situations, neutralising any limited or partial view.
pratipattiḥ प्रतिपत्तिः Ascertainment; determination; knowledge; attainment.
pratiṣedhaḥ प्रतिषेधः Negation; elimination; prohibition; negation to eliminate or ward off or prevent error; negation of whatever is not true as a means to that which is true. (To prepare the mind for that which is true, it is usually necessary first to dismiss or negate whatever is untrue. The truth is then best revealed by implication, thus avoiding the literalness or grossness in thought that definition can bring.)
pratiṣiddha-karma प्रतिषिद्ध-कर्म Prohibited or forbidden actions (listed in Gītā, Ch.16); actions that go against the specific prescription of dharmaḥ and accumulate pāpam, unwelcome results; also called niṣiddha-karma (restrained, checked, prevented action).
pratiṣṭhitā प्रतिष्ठिता Established; rooted; installed; fixed; well-founded; thriving; (pratiṣṭhā, support).
pratītiḥ प्रतीतिः Complete understanding or ascertainment; conviction; obviousness; clear perception; delight; clarity.
pratyabhijñā प्रत्यभिज्ञा Recognition (of a fact). A term used to indicate recognition of, for example, the fact that 'I' is fundamentally one and the same conscious being in waking, dream and deep sleep. This one, divisionless awareness is turīya.
pratyagātmā प्रत्यगात्मा Innermost self; reality obtaining as the svarūpam of 'I'.
pratyāhāraḥ प्रत्याहारः Gathering the mind and senses (withdrawing them from a variety of concerns) in order to be able to focus on something; a prelude to dhāraṇā.
pratyakṣam प्रत्यक्षम् Direct perception. Direct perception includes sense-perception (hearing, seeing, tasting, etc) and, as such, is one of the six pramāṇas (means of knowledge). But direct perception is not limited to the senses: it can be sense perception (indriya-pratyakṣam) or witness perception (sākṣī-pratyakṣam). Direct perception is therefore the root or basic perception, the 'root' means of knowledge (mūla-pramānam). See the other pramāṇas: anumānam, anupalabdhiḥ, arthāpattiḥ, śabdaḥ, upamānam.
pratyakṣa-jñānam प्रत्यक्ष-ज्ञानम् Knowledge of proximate objects derived from direct sensory perception (prati, presented; akṣa to the senses). See parokṣa-jñānam, aparokṣa-jñānam.
pratyavāya-doṣaḥ प्रत्यवाय-दोषः Limitation, error or fault, doṣaḥ, of omission, pratyavāyaḥ (of a duty); backsliding; neglect of duty. See doṣaḥ, vaiṣamya-nairghṛṇya-doṣaḥ and viṣaya-doṣaḥ.
pratyayaḥ प्रत्ययः Cognition; conviction; notion; conception; intelligence; idea; proof; explanation; solution. When a house is pointed out saying 'that house, there', the meaning of the word 'house' is cognised as 'that particular house'. That cognition is not in the form of words, but is the (silent) meaning carried by the words. It is the intended meaning of 'that house'. In grammar, pratyayaḥ means 'suffix'. See vṛttiḥ.
pravacanam प्रवचनम् Lecture; discourse; exposition; eloquent speech; oral instruction; mantra-recitation. Attending discourses must be accompanied by total commitment to mokṣaḥ for it to be fully and properly useful.
pravāhaḥ प्रवाहः Flow; stream; streaming forth; continuous train of thought; continuity; course or direction towards.
pravilāpanam प्रविलापनम् Resolution; solution; disentanglement; clarification; conclusion. Resolution is not, as some think, a dissolution or destruction of name and form in Brahman, it is a cognitive resolution of the pot in its substratum, clay (and similarly, of the pot-space in space). There is no need to destroy the pot to appreciate that what is there is clay! In fact, there is nothing to destroy. It is only in knowledge of the vastu that everything gets resolved.
pravṛttiḥ प्रवृत्तिः Activity; participation in the world; full involvement in worldly life; usually entails giving primacy to preyas rather than śreyas – see nivṛttiḥ.
prāyaścitta-karma प्रायश्चित्त-कर्म An expiatory karma, action – a specific ritual performed to neutralise (or perhaps at best weaken) the results of previous wrong action (prāyaścitta-karma is also known as parihāra-karma).
prayatnaḥ प्रयत्नः Appropriate, sufficient effort; perseverance. "Individual effort is not futile, it is the Lord himself who manifests (vivartate) in the form of personal effort." Pañcadaśī 6.177. The Lord manifests as the grace of seeing/knowing that which is true or real, which is the essence of will, dhṛtiḥ. See saṅkalpaḥ.
prayojanam प्रयोजनम् Purpose; object; gain; benefit.
prema प्रेम Love; kindness; tender regard (all too often, mere attachment, rāgaḥ, is mistaken for love).
preta प्रेत Departed; dead.
preta-śarīram प्रेत-शरीरम् When the jīvaḥ leaves the body from an untimely death, it takes a preta-śarīram (lit. an after-death body) a thought-form that is subtle, like the sūkṣma-śarīram. An untimely death, for example, suicide, is one that leaves a portion of prārabdha-karma unexhausted. The departed jīvaḥ will be caught up in this thought-form until that portion is exhausted.
preyaḥ (preyas) प्रेयः (प्रेयस्) All relative, time-bound ends (arthaḥ, kāmaḥ, dharmaḥ) accomplishable through religious and secular activity; any desired result other than mokṣaḥ – see śreyaḥ (śreyas).
prītiḥ प्रीतिः Love – love is not a verb, no one can 'do' love on demand. Love is the manifestation of the fullness of ānandaḥ. "Love is non-fault-finding accommodation."*
priya प्रिय Dear; pleased; beloved; priyam (noun), a degree of happiness: the pleasure born of seeing something desired. See modaḥ, pramodaḥ.
pṛthivī पृथिवी The element Earth; subtle aspect of odour; the element appreciable through sound, touch, sight, taste and odour; also see pāñcabhautikam the five-element model of the universe – ākāśaḥ, space; vāyuḥ, air; agniḥ, fire; āpaḥ, waters; pṛthivī, earth.
pūjā पूजा Formal worship. Worship is a symbolic act of offering through which a devotee expresses his/her gratitude to the Lord, to Īśvaraḥ, in the form of all devatās (natural phenomena) acknowledging the abundance of their contribution to the wellbeing of all. The basic needs required for life (food, clothing and shelter) are not producible without the grace of these phenomena. Worship, being a will-involved action, is efficacious in that it results in prosperity. Worship contributes for material things when performed with a desire for knowledge. It also serves as a preparatory discipline, yogaḥ, that brings mental purity and steadiness.
pūjya पूज्य Revered; venerable; worthy of being worshipped.
puṃliṅgam पुंलिङ्गम् Masculine gender; masculine; see strīliṅgam.
punaḥ पुनः Again; once again.
puṇya-karma पुण्य-कर्म Action (karma) that is in line with dharmaḥ. It has a later, unseen result, an adṛṣṭa-phalam, that is pleasant. The unseen result, which is also in the form of puṇyam, manifests as a welcome, auspicious situation or experience later in this life or in a future one.
puṇyam पुण्यम् The meritorious or beneficial influence or quality arising from right or appropriate action, from action that aligns with universal values. The resulting beneficial influence remains unseen, adṛṣṭa, until manifesting later as sukham, a pleasing, desirable event or situation. Any pleasant, beneficial situation is the result of puṇya-karma. Specific puṇyam is exhausted by specific experience. See pāpam, vāsanā, saṃskāraḥ, dharmaḥ.
puṇya-pāpam पुण्य-पापम् Puṇya-pāpam, the unseen result of right or wrong action, karma, is stored in a dormant, unmanifest form in māyā. It manifests in due time as happiness or sorrow within the various situations and events of life. That manifestation is known as prārabdha-karma. The responses to those events may perpetuate saṃsāraḥ.
puram पुरम् Town (brahma-puram is used figuratively to indicate Brahman's 'place' or 'abode').
purāṇam पुराणम् Legend; antique; ancient; mythology; relic; huge body of ancient, inspirational and highly informative Hindu mythology with the status of smṛtiḥ. A wide variety of topics is covered in thousands of verses. Vyāsaḥ is the author of 36 purāṇas (18 mahā-purāṇas and 18 upa-purāṇas). See itihāsaḥ.
purī पुरी Town; city; castle; fortress; sanctuary; body.
pūrṇa पूर्ण Full; whole; entire; complete; filled; pervaded. (pūrṇatvam, fullness – the nature of ātmā). See apūrṇatvam.
purohitaḥ पुरोहितः A priest who performs prayers or rituals, before, purā, in advance, for the (later) well-being, hitam, of all; a vaidikaḥ.
pūrta-karma पूर्त-कर्म Karma, action, enjoined by smṛtis – mostly charitable, social service acts (with no strings attached) such as digging wells or reservoirs, building hospitals or temples, feeding the needy. Such acts generate puṇyam.
puruṣaḥ पुरुषः Person; man; original source of the cosmos; the Supreme Being; the very self, ātmā, of a human being, who dwells in all as the essence of all, who dwells in the 'city', puram, the body of nine gates (two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, mouth, genitals, anus); pure uṣati iti puruṣaḥ, the only indweller of all bodies; purayati sarvam iti puruṣaḥ, fills everything, thus puruṣaḥ.
puruṣārthaḥ पुरुषार्थः Human pursuit or goal; that which is sought by a human being, puruṣeṇa arthyate iti – see arthaḥ, kāmaḥ, dharmaḥ, mokṣaḥ.
puruṣārtha-niścayaḥ पुरुषार्थ-निश्चयः Definiteness, complete clarity and certainty about one's ultimate, absolute end being mokṣaḥ, namely freedom from unhappiness, freedom from the sense of limitation. This certainty, this very well-ascertained conclusion, brings a change in priorities, and with it an unerring focus, commitment, to the pursuit of knowledge and reverence for Vedānta-śāstram as the means of knowledge.
puruṣottama पुरुषोत्तम Most exalted (uttama) of all puruṣas, beings; a name for Īśvaraḥ.
pūrva पूर्व Before; earlier; prior; foregoing; eastern.
pūrvapakṣī पूर्वपक्षी One who presents an alternative opinion or contention, typically from an earlier, pūrva, established belief system or opposing side, pakṣaḥ, in a discussion; an objector (real or imagined) who is often presented in commentaries not only to reveal the flaws in opposing views, but, in the process, to provide the reader with further clarity and precision in grasping the commentator's words and vision, dṛṣṭiḥ.
puṣṭiḥ पुष्टिः Health; wellness; strength; stamina; well-nourished condition.
putraḥ पुत्रः Son; for a vaidikaḥ, the rearing of progeny who live a life of dharmaḥ is a noble duty that protects dharmaḥ, a duty whose fulfilment avoids hell for the vaidikaḥ. (Trāyate, protects; the one who protects parents from falling into put, a particular hell; the same protection is provided by a putrī, a daughter.)
rāga-dveṣaḥ राग-द्वेषः (Binding) attachment and aversion (arising as the impulses of like and dislike). Since likes and dislikes (desires) are anchored on ahaṅkāraḥ – the erroneous and varying ideas of oneself – rāga-dveṣas are impurities that may hinder or prevent right action. Attachment and aversion are harmless and normal when expressions of preference or care. It's only when that preference or care becomes an emotional dependence or demand that it binds.
rāgaḥ रागः Attachment; passion; strong liking; dependence on the world for one's happiness; red colour; inflammation; see vairāgyam, dveṣaḥ, kleśaḥ.
rahasyam रहस्यम् A secret; mystery; concealed; private; privately.
rahita रहित Without; devoid of; separated from.
rajaḥ (rajas) रजः (रजस्) Guṇaḥ or force out of which desire, ambition, sin, etc. are born (adj. rājasika). The term rajas is the name given to the manifestation of the kriyā-śaktiḥ, the power of activity inherent in māyā.
rajju-sarpa-nyāyaḥ रज्जु-सर्प-न्यायः Rope-snake illustration of the power of ignorance, avidyā, in which a dimly-lit rope, rajjus, is mistaken for a snake, sarpaḥ, and fear strikes. The mistaking of one object for another (in this instance, a rope for a snake) is called arthādhyāsaḥ, resulting in a reality that is prātibhāsika. The rope's subsequent illumination, revealing it for what it actually is, symbolises the liberating 'lamp' of knowledge of the śrutiḥ, brought by the guruḥ, dispelling darkness and fear.
rākṣasaḥ राक्षसः Demon; a person who goes against dharmaḥ in pursuit of wealth, power, position, etc.; predominant guṇaḥ is rajas – see asuraḥ.
rāmāyaṇam रामायणम् Vālmīkī's epic describing the adventures of Lord Rāmaḥ.
rasaḥ रसः Sense-object, viṣayaḥ, perceptible through the tongue or mind and known as 'taste'; aesthetic sentiment; essence (either of a liquid or of reality); juice; content.
rasāsvādaḥ रसास्वादः So appreciating, so enjoying the calmness and beauty of meditation that one becomes attached to that stillness, to that beauty, and holds onto it (such attachment is one of the four hindrances to meditation – the others are: kaṣāyam, layaḥ and vikṣepaḥ).
rātriḥ रात्रिः Night
retas रेतस् Seed; sperm; semen.
rogaḥ रोगः Disease; (bhāva-rogaḥ, disease of saṃsāraḥ).
ṛṣiḥ ऋषिः Seer of truth; inspired sage; a rishi; one who is eligible to have subtle facts revealed. Ṛṣati paśyati iti ṛṣiḥ, one who sees is called a ṛṣiḥ. He does not create the Veda mantras on their emergence from the unmanifest at the beginning of the universe, he only sees the mantras that are already there.
ṛṣiyajñaḥ ऋषियज्ञः Worship of Īśvaraḥ in the form of the rishis (sages) by studying and chanting the Vedas and other śāstras given to mankind; synonym of brahma-yajñaḥ; study of the Vedaḥ or of any scriptural literature reflecting the Vedic vision, dṛṣṭiḥ. One of the five pañcamahā-yajñas.
ṛtam ऋतम् Truth; the two words, ṛtam and satyam, have the same meaning: truth. However, when they come together they differ in what they express. Ṛtam then stands for ascertained, assimilated, clear knowledge gained by scriptural study. Satyam stands for that same knowledge reflected in thought, word and deed.
rudra रुद्र Terrible; dreadful; horrible; formidable; crying.
rudraḥ रुद्रः One who drives away sorrow (rutam drāvayati iti); name of Śivaḥ; a hymn addressed to Rudraḥ, deity of ahaṅkāraḥ.
rūpam रूपम् Form; appearance; nature; a sense-object, viṣayaḥ, subtle or gross, perceptible through the eyes or mind and known as 'form, shape'.
śabda-anuviddha-savikalpa-samādhiḥ शब्द-अनुविद्ध-सविकल्प-समाधिः A meditation, dhyānam, using words, śabdāḥ, from the scriptures to help shift the attention from nāma-rupam, name and form, to absorption in that pure consciousness that is the source of manifestation.
śabdaḥ शब्दः Sound; word (a meaningful sound); a sense-object (viṣayaḥ), subtle or gross, perceptible through the ears and mind and known as 'sound'.
śabda-pramāṇam शब्द-प्रमाणम् Word, śabdaḥ, (as a) means of knowledge, pramāṇam. This term refers to the words of the śāstram (Vedāntaḥ) being a means of knowledge, a means to mokṣaḥ. Since the manifest world is the self-evident ātmā, no further experience of ātmā is needed. Only the words of the śāstram, unfolded by a teacher who knows the sampradāyaḥ, and is both a śrotriyaḥ and a brahma-niṣṭhā, can correct the errors about ātmā and bring its full and clear ascertainment.
śabda-pravṛtti-hetuḥ शब्द-प्रवृत्ति-हेतुः The cause (hetuḥ) for elucidation (pravṛtti) by words (śabda). An object must fulfil certain conditions for it to be describable and so the direct meaning of words about an object must fall within one or more of four categories.
• jātiḥ - species
• guṇaḥ - attribute
• kriyā - action
• sambandhaḥ - connection or relation
saccidānandaḥ सच्चिदानन्दः Sat, existence; cit awareness or consciousness; ānandaḥ happiness. These three words are not describing three different things, they are three words for one thing, absolute reality. That reality is a timeless, non-transactable, all-pervading, independent spiritual principle, unlimited by name, form or function. The nature of absolute reality, Brahman, can be arrived at only as the intrinsic nature or truth of the knower, the subject, 'I'. It cannot be known as an object at all: na vijñātervijñātāraṃ vijānīyāḥ. "You cannot know [as an object] that which is the knower of knowledge [you cannot know as a distinguishable entity that witness-consciousness, that pure consciousness that makes knowledge itself possible]." Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.4.2
sadānandaḥ सदानन्दः The true, unlimited, non-fading happiness that is ātmā, a happiness that, being one's true nature, can never be experienced directly as an object. It is knowable only via its reflection in a mind capable of reflecting it.
sadātmaka सदात्मक Having its being in sat, reality.
ṣaḍ-bhāva-vikāraḥ षड्-भाव-विकारः The six (ṣaḍ) modifications (vikāra) of one's state of being (bhāvaḥ):
• asti - existence (in the womb)
• jāyate - birth
• vardhate - growth
• vipariṇāmate - maturation
• apakṣīyate - decline and decay
• vinaśyati - destruction, death
sādhakaḥ साधकः A disciplined aspirant.
sādhana-catuṣṭayam साधन-चतुष्टयम् The group of four qualifications needed for ātmajñānam or mokṣaḥ.
sādhanam साधनम् Means of attainment (means for accomplishing a goal); the principal means for the attainment of liberation from sorrow are śravaṇam, mananam, nididhyāsanam on the words of the śāstram, unfolded by a competent and knowledgeable ācāryaḥ who is a śrotriyaḥ, brahma-niṣṭhā and sampradāyavit.
sādhana-sādhya-sambandhaḥ साधन-साध्य-सम्बन्धः The connection between a sādhana, a practice or means and its sādhya, goal or aim. See anubandha-catuṣṭayam.
sādhāraṇa साधारण Universal; common to all; general.
sādharmyam साधर्म्यम् Sameness of nature.
sādhuḥ साधुः A good person; a person of values; noble; a pious, highly disciplined, virtuous aspirant; a renunciate; a sannyāsī.
sādhyam साध्यम् Goal to be accomplished.
ṣaḍ-liṅgāni षड्-लिङ्गानि Where there is disagreement about the true purport and aim of a text, analysis is needed to establish the truth. The hermeneutics, the six indications by which the true tātparyam, purport, of a text may be established are:
• upakrama-upasaṃhāraḥ - beginning and end (consistency of)
• apūrvatā - uniqueness (not knowable by other means)
• upapattiḥ - proof (as established by reasoning)
• arthavādaḥ - explanation (of meaning)
• phalam - result (its nature)
• abhyāsaḥ - repetition (of same idea elsewhere)
saguṇa सगुण With qualities; having attributes.
saguṇa-brahma सगुण-ब्रह्म Brahman regarded as having qualities; a synonym for Īśvaraḥ; Īśvaraḥ as the jagat-kāraṇam, cause of all that is evident; Īśvaraḥ manifest as the entire cosmos; also see nirguṇa-brahma.
saguṇa-brahma-upāsanam सगुण-ब्रह्म-उपासनम् Meditation on saguṇa-brahma in which there is necessarily a meditator-meditated difference – see upāsanam, nirguṇa-brahma-upāsanam.
sahaja सहज Natural; inborn; innate (lit. born along with).
sahaja samādhiḥ सहज समाधिः When, even during worldly transactions, appreciation of the fact of my being ātmā, pure consciousness alone, is never lost, samādhiḥ has become natural, sahaja.
sahakāri-kāraṇam सहकारि-कारणम् Supportive cause.
sahasram सहस्रम् Thousand (often used to indicate innumerability).
sajātīya सजातीय (Beings) of the same species.
sakāma-karma सकाम-कर्म Action (karma) with (driven by) desire, kāma; action in which there is dependence on (and hence attachment to) the result(s) of action for one's happiness; the action of a worldly, deluded person who imagines the world is absolutely real and the giver of happiness. See niṣkāma-karma.
śākhā शाखा Branch, clan or tradition passing down a Vedic text of the same name over generations.
śākhā-candra-nyāyaḥ शाखा-चन्द्र-न्यायः A maxim highlighting the systematic, step by step use in Vedāntaḥ of subtler and subtler teachings for appreciation of subtler and subtler facts. Such systematically subtler steps are akin to the way in which the gaze can be led successively from a general gaze to smaller and smaller branches (śākhā) of a tree until, between two of the finest branches, the thinnest sliver of a crescent Moon (candraḥ) can at last be discerned. See nyāyaḥ.
sākṣāt साक्षात् Evidently; visibly; (immediately, without a means of knowledge.)
sākṣātkāraḥ साक्षात्कारः Clear vision, dṛṣṭiḥ, of the truth as the essential nature of the very knower 'I'. Culmination of nididhyāsanam, which itself naturally follows from śravaṇam and mananam.
sākṣī साक्षी Witness; seer; consciousness (i.e. ātmā) in the role of the changeless, passive, seemingly enclosed witness of the changing states of mind (and hence, ātmā is not any aspect of the mind); the ever-present knower or experiencer in every experience, which is not and never can be experienced as an object; that which illumines without help from anything else and which itself never can be illumined or objectified; a term for ātmā when in the presence of anātmā.
sākṣī-pratyakṣam साक्षी-प्रत्यक्षम् Witness-perception; knowledge gained directly, without the help of the senses. All mental conditions, all emotions, all experiences gained through the senses are known because of the witness that is present in all these perceptions. Direct perception (pratyakṣam) is possible both with and without the senses. All pramāṇas are known because of the sākṣī, witness-consciousness. Every pramāṇa works because of the presence of this witness.
saktiḥ सक्तिः Attachment, in general; 'stickiness'; longing; sense of ownership; also see asaktiḥ.
śaktiḥ शक्तिः Power; capacity; faculty; skill; (śaktimān, power-possessor).
• āvaraṇa-śaktiḥ
• dravya-śaktiḥ
• icchā-śaktiḥ
• jñāna-śaktiḥ
• kriyā-śaktiḥ
• medhā-śaktiḥ
• sarvaśaktimān
• vikṣepa-śaktiḥ
sālakṣaṇyam सालक्षण्यम् Different objects can belong to the same group if they share characteristics, e.g. chairs, tables, sofas, although different from each other are all classed as furniture.
samacittatvam समचित्तत्वम् Equanimity; sameness of mind in the gain of the desirable and the undesirable; capacity to retain composure.
samādhānam समाधानम् Focused intent; being always conscious of the goal of liberation from sorrow, thereby being focused without being distracted; samādhānam is the culmination of śamaḥ, damaḥ, etc. See ṣaṭka-sampattiḥ – also see śamaḥ, damaḥ, uparamaḥ, titikṣā, śraddhā.
samādhiḥ समाधिः Absorption. Focusing attention on a chosen object is dhāranā, concentration. Bringing attention back to the object when it wanders from it is dhyānam, meditation. When attention no longer wanders, but is consistently and fully absorbed in that object, that is samādhi. It is a state in which the intellect is suspended, as in suṣuptiḥ, but in contrast to suṣuptiḥ, the mind is fully awake.
samādhi-abhyāsa-rūpa-nididhyāsanam समाधि-अभ्यास-रूप-निदिध्यासनम् Those who, due to adverse prārabdha, are unable to derive the full benefit of Vedāntaḥ study, even after long śravaṇaṃ and mananam and practice of brahma-abhyāsa-rūpa-nididhyāsanam, need to calm the mind sufficiently to appreciate the fact of being Brahman. Repeated practice of samādhiḥ, although a transient experience, calms the mind and affirms the truth of the śrutiḥ, thereby providing a counter to that adverse prārabdha. Gradually, turīya becomes so natural that it is recognised even in the minor events of day-to-day life. Samādhiḥ has now become sahaja, natural. See nididhyāsanam, brahma-abhyāsa-rūpa-nididhyāsanam and sahaja samādhiḥ.
śamaḥ शमः Resolution or management of the mind to rest and refine it and prevent one's thoughts, feelings and impulses (arising from internal and external contact with the varieties of viṣayas, sense-phenomena, including people) 'running the show'. Vairāgyam, dispassion, developed from seeing again and again the limitations in phenomena, provides the means. Only a mature, dispassionate, objective mind has śamaḥ.
samāmnāyaḥ समाम्नायः Mentioned together; a collection or compilation of sacred texts.
sāmāna-adhikaraṇyam सामान-अधिकरण्यम् This expression is a noun meaning having the same (sāmāna) locus or location (adhikaraṇam). It refers to words being in apposition. Words in apposition have the same number, gender and case, and are committed to revealing the same object. The two words wave and ocean, for example, denote two entirely different forms, but both forms have the same locus, water, which lends existence to both – wave-form and ocean-form have the same adhikaraṇam, they have sāmānādhikaraṇyam. Because of this, 'wave' and 'ocean' can be equated. Being equated to 'ocean', 'wave' is resolvable in 'ocean', resolvable due to being one with 'ocean'.
samānaḥ समानः The aspect of prāṇaḥ that aids digestion; also see apānaḥ, elimination; vyānaḥ, circulation; udānaḥ, upward breath.
śamānvita शमान्वित Anvita, endowed with, śamaḥ, mastery over one's own thoughts – not being at the mercy of one's own thoughts, feelings or impulses and thus capable of managing them; one of the two primary qualities of a sufficiently qualified student, śīsyaḥ – see the other one, praśāntacitta.
sāmānya सामान्य Common to all; universal; general.
sāmānya-dharmaḥ सामान्य-धर्मः Universal ethics, universal values applicable to all and sundry regardless of time, religion, gender, age, race, country, social status, etc. For example, ahiṃsā, non-hurting or harmlessness is an ethical and moral value applicable to all, at all times and in all situations. See viśeṣa-dharmaḥ and dharmaḥ. Sāmānya-dharmaḥ is also known as sādhāraṇa-dharmaḥ. The dharmas declared in Manu 10.63 to be common to all are:
• ahiṃsā - non-hurting
• satyam - truthfulness
• asteyam - non-stealing
• śaucam - cleanliness
• indriya-nigrahaḥ - restraint of the senses
sāmānya-jñānam सामान्य-ज्ञानम् Consciousness or knowledge of that which is ever the same; synonym of śuddha-caitanyam.
sāmānya-sattā सामान्य-सत्ता The one existence (sattā) that is common to all beings, objects and phenomena. That very existence (a synonym of vyāvahārika-satyam) is lent by the mere presence of Brahman.
samārambhaḥ समारम्भः The planning (minor or detailed) that precedes the ārambhaḥ, commencement, of an activity.
samaṣṭiḥ समष्टिः Universal; macrocosm; macrocosmic being; total. This term is best understood via an example: gold is the samaṣṭiḥ aspect of gold ring, and ocean is the samaṣṭiḥ aspect of ocean wave. Samaṣṭiḥ always includes and incorporates vyaṣṭiḥ, its individual, local expression or manifestation. It is not a numerical relationship. The oft-used example of 'tree and forest' is flawed as not only can a tree exist alone, far from any forest, the example also misleadingly implies a numerical relationship (one of several). See vyaṣṭiḥ.
samatvam समत्वम् Evenness; sameness; equanimity of mind in all aspects of life, but especially towards results of action.
samatvam yogaḥ ucyate समत्वम् योगः उच्यते Evenness (of mind) is called yogaḥ. This evenness is with regard to the results of action. It depends on the capacity to see that all events, all phenomena, all activity and their results occur by means of and in accord with the natural, universal laws (dharmaḥ) that are Īśvaraḥ. Therefore, although the individual has the power to initiate action, he has no power over its manifestation or result.
sambandhaḥ सम्बन्धः Connection; association; relationship.
saṃhāraḥ संहारः Withdrawal (of the universe) i.e. the manifest becomes unmanifest; resolution; dissolution.
saṃhitā संहिता A methodically arranged collection of texts or verses.
samidh समिध् Firewood; fuel; log of wood; oblation (samidhā) to the kindled (samiddha) fire, which is the consumer of the fuel; igniting; flaming; burning.
samitpāṇiḥ समित्पाणिः A seeker of brahma-vidyā who, carrying a small bundle of twigs (samidh) of the pippalaḥ, or Peepal, tree in one hand (pāṇiḥ), approaches a householder teacher hoping to be accepted as a disciple. The twigs represent the student's readiness to be of service to the teacher in a practical way (by providing fuel for rituals) in gratitude for the teaching. If the guruḥ is a sannyāsī, one cannot take twigs as no rituals are performed, and so something more appropriate is offered, symbolically, with an attitude of surrender and with śraddhā.
saṃnyāsaḥ संन्यासः See sannyāsaḥ.
sampattiḥ सम्पत्तिः Prosperity; good fortune; accomplishment; fulfilment; success.
sampat upāsanam सम्पत् उपासनम् In this form of meditation, a given object is looked upon as more than it is. The object could be a flower, a stone, a sculpted form (a murti), it could be anything. Whatever be the chosen object, the mind dwells upon it as (regards it as) Īśvaraḥ. In this way, something greater is superimposed upon an ordinary object. This way of looking, this regard, is the foundation of much worship and prayer. See ahaṅgraha upāsanam and upāsanam.
sampradāyaḥ सम्प्रदायः Teaching tradition; established teachings and method of teaching (including the knowledge of how to handle the words of the teaching); careful, distortion-free transference of knowledge from the teacher's mind to the student's, through words, using a unique method of unfoldment inbuilt in the scripture and understood only by studying from a teacher who would have studied from another sampradāyavit teacher; a teaching tradition transmitted from one teacher to another over millennia via the guru-śiṣya-paramparā, guru-disciple lineage; a valid tradition is based on śrutiḥ and is supported by logic; see paramparā.
sampradāyavit सम्प्रदायवित् One who thoroughly knows the teaching tradition, having learnt it from his/her guruḥ.
saṃsāraḥ संसारः Transmigratory life; "that which keeps moving in perfect order"; the endless cycle of becoming, of repeated births and deaths. It is often characterised as a treacherous ocean the jīvaḥ is struggling to cross. It is defined as śrarīrādi-upādānam eva lakṣaṇam yasya saḥ saṃsāraḥ – "saṃsāraḥ is that which is characterised by the assumption of bodies, etc." That final word, etcetera, refers to all that follows from the 'assumption of bodies' (actions and their consequences, and the various worldly contexts in which they are experienced, life after life). Freedom from saṃsāraḥ is only in recognising and fully ascertaining that one's self is Brahman. See brahma-jñānam.
saṃsārī संसारी One subject to saṃsāraḥ. See jīvaḥ, buddhiḥ.
saṃśayaḥ संशयः Doubt; indecision.
saṃskāraḥ संस्कारः Impression on the mind; disposition; tendency; degree of refinement of a person due to the accumulation of better or worse vāsanās.
saṃskṛtam संस्कृतम् Well formed; well done; refined; the Sanskrit language – a highly expressive language having a highly refined and exalted culture established within it. See devanāgarī.
saṃskṛtiḥ संस्कृतिः Culture; refinement via action, which is one of the four possible results of karma, action. Refinement occurs by either adding or removing something. The other results of action are: utpattiḥ (utpādyam), production; vikṛtiḥ (vikāryam), modification; āptiḥ (āpyam), attainment.
saṃśrayaḥ संश्रयः Refuge; resting place; support.
saṃtoṣaḥ संतोषः Contentment; satisfaction; happiness. Also known as saṃtuṣṭiḥ. Part of niyamaḥ.
saṃvādaḥ संवादः Dialogue imparting knowledge from teacher to student; teacher-student discourse with the sole aim of learning the truth; also see vādaḥ, jalpa-vādaḥ, vitaṇḍa-vādaḥ.
saṃvit संवित् Knowledge; understanding.
saṃvṛtiḥ संवृतिः A movement of thought forms. It is such a concealing movement alone that makes a world; there is no other world. The world is kalpita, a projection, a projection that so absorbs attention that its source is as good as concealed. See dṛṣṭi-sṛṣṭi-vādaḥ and nimitta-kāraṇam.
saṃvyavahāra-mātram संव्यवहार-मात्रम् Only transactional; a term referring to the status of worldly experience, in effect saying it is mithyā.
samyag-darśanam सम्यग्-दर्शनम् Clear vision; correct knowledge; proper understanding (asamyag-darśanam, confusion).
samyag-jñānam सम्यग्-ज्ञानम् Proper, correct understanding of what the scriptures say. Such understanding is the result of śravanam, mananam and nididhyāsanam.
samyak सम्यक् Clearly; accurately; correctly; properly.
saṃyamī संयमी One who has self-mastery; a wise person.
sanātana सनातन Eternal; permanent; ancient.
sanātana dharmaḥ सनातन धर्मः Eternal law; eternal values; eternal religion; the beginningless order that is Īśvaraḥ; the proper and correct name for Hinduism (Hinduism is merely a geographically-derived term coined by those who knew no better.)
sañcita-karma सञ्चित-कर्म Unmanifest, unexpired aggregate of the adṛṣṭa-phalam, unseen result, of karma (action). That result is duly accredited to the living being and stored in māyā, the universal causal body. When ripe, the as-yet-unmanifest puṇya-pāpam arising from karma, action, will manifest as prārabdha-karma for that person/being.
The severity of some prārabdha can be mitigated by prayer, austerity, etc., but prabalaprārabdha, strong prārabdha-karma, cannot be modified or softened and must be faced in full.
As for the apparent conflict between free-will and destiny, since all that is here is omniscient Īśvaraḥ, his will appears as both the free-will of people and as their destiny. If (desire-driven) prārabdha could not be overcome, a person could not be held responsible for his actions. He would not have choice.
Prārabdha-karma has an allotted time-span measured in breaths (one inhalation and its exhalation together comprise one breath). The number can be reduced by poor choices, but not increased.
Being the outcome of the law of karma and thus part of Īśvara-sṛṣṭiḥ (not jīva-sṛṣṭiḥ) prārabdha-karma must run its course. Just as an arrow or bullet, once released, travels as it must, so prārabdha-karma (of the wise too) must run its course. And yet, to the one who is awake to the fact 'I am Brahman', prārabdha-karma (being now known to be mithyā) is no more real and has no more impact or value for the jñānī than a prior dream has for a person awake. See āgāmi-karma, sañcita-karma, pratibandhaḥ.
Anupraśnaḥ means a question from a disciple who is listening and whose question is in keeping with what the teacher has taught.
Praśna-bījam is the seed (cause) of a question. It refers either to the unresolved doubt from which the question has arisen, or to the unspoken situation, doubt or misunderstanding that is behind the question and that has prompted the actual question asked.
Name of one of the ten major Upaniṣads in which six people ask one question each and Śrī Ṛṣiḥ Pippalādaḥ answers them all.
In brief, karma-yogaḥ removes malaḥ, impurity, upāsāna-yogaḥ removes vikṣepaḥ, distraction (and hence brings focus, ekāgram) and jñāna-yogaḥ removes āvaraṇam, the covering created by ignorance.
At no time can the jīvaḥ be without a body. Depending on its place or destination, it is given an appropriate one in which different elements are predominant. In the dream state, svapna-avasthā, for example, the gross or material body that is present is different from that of the waking state. In Heaven, fire is the predominant element in bodies; in the region of the Moon it is water; on Earth, their predominant element is Earth.
Any immediate or later pain appearing to arise from a virtuous action is not due to that action but to the arising (fructification) of previously earned, unrelated pāpam. See pāpa-karma.
The world is not responsible for anyone's happiness or unhappiness. It is only ever instrumental in the manifestation of the puṇyam and pāpam earned (the tally of which is said to be kept by Citraguptaḥ). See puṇyam, pāpam and sañcita-karma.
Purāṇaḥ means ātmā, implying its nature of being beginningless (the most ancient) but ever new and fresh.
It is a certainty that arises from a careful examination of one's life experiences in which it becomes clear that actions, being finite, can at best bring limited happiness. I see that everywhere, in everything, I am only ever pursuing happiness and so I need to discover what happiness really is. Being clear that this is now my primary aim, shallow pursuits tend to fall away naturally. See śreyaḥ (śreyas) and preyaḥ (preyas).
The pakṣaḥ, the flawed contention, should be presented first by the teacher, showing how it is flawed. Then the siddhāntaḥ, the correct conclusion, should be presented. Dismissing wrong notions first is a necessary step in unencumbering the mind in preparation for hearing that which is right.
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In emotional dependence, rāga-dveṣas are taken to be absolutely real, which means their status is falsely raised from mithyā to satyam. When this occurs, even renunciates can be felled by attachment and aversion and again become embroiled in saṃsāraḥ. It is rāga-dveṣas that cause the seeming fall from one's absolute nature to one's empirical nature.
Managing rāga-dveṣas leads to a mind that is capable of focused, dristraction-free attention on that which is known to be important. Only a distraction-free mind can be a profound mind; only a profound mind is capable of hearing and recognising profound truth profoundly. See vairāgyam and karma-yogaḥ.
When rajas is predominant it completely colours or stains the mind, bringing passion (strong desires, strong likes and dislikes) and hence action to fulfil them. A rājasika person is therefore restless, full of longing (tṛṣṇā) and strong attachment (āsaṅgaḥ), and is dependent on action and its results (in the form of pleasure, enjoyment, achievements, etc.) for his/her happiness, leading to deeply entrenched bondage. Bondage to (identification with) a rājasika mental disposition greatly increases the likelihood of committing pāpam. Also see sattvam (sattva), tamaḥ (tamas).
Ignorance of the rope is beginningless, for there was no knowledge of rope prior to 'snake' and no presence of 'snake' before it appeared. The best that can be said is that the ignorance was there on seeing it (on seeing the snake). If ignorance of the rope did have a beginning, there would have been a prior knowledge of rope, which there wasn't. Neither can the snake be said to be in the rope or on the rope or to have originated in the rope, for the rope is unknown (and yet is all that really exists). All that is known is 'snake' (and fear).
It can be said that the snake is mistakenly projected or superimposed on the 'situation' (not on the rope, which, until illumined, remains unknown, as good as unmanifest and not the cause of fear) because whatever is in fact there is simply not being seen correctly and is apparently displaced by that which is not properly there, the mithyā snake and the consequent mithyā fear.
Ignorance, avidyā, is not connected in any way to the rope, and ignorance exists only as long as ignorance is there. "Ignorance belongs to the one who sees it."* Note: all analogies have flaws. Here, an observer of the rope/snake must be imagined for the analogy to work. See avidyā, āvaraṇa-śaktiḥ and nyāyaḥ.
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Words from śāstram may best be dwelt upon in nididhyāsanam when their meaning is not only properly and fully understood but is so well-established that on hearing them the meaning immediately flashes in the mind without a pause for translation. Dwelling on the meaning then becomes a means of absorption, samādhiḥ, in the self as the words are about oneself. There arises absorption in the very consciousness that illumines the meaning. See dṛśya-anuviddha-savikalpa-samādhiḥ and also samādhiḥ, savikalpa-samādhiḥ and nirvikalpa-samādhiḥ.
Note that śabda-pramāṇam involves only enquiry into the vastu, not into the ignorance that covers it. The aim of the enquiry is to know the vastu, not the ignorance.
Knowledge in the form of words constitutes one of the six pramāṇas – the others are: anumānam, anupalabdhiḥ, arthāpattiḥ, pratyakṣam, upamānam.
• jātiḥ - species
• guṇaḥ - attribute
• kriyā - action
• sambandhaḥ - connection or relation
Not being an object, Brahman does not fall into any of these four categories. Therefore, it cannot be revealed by the direct meaning of any words – although it can be and is revealed by the implied meaning of certain words: see abhidheyam.
Consciousness, being self-existent, is not dependent on the known for its existence. Instead, the known is dependent on the knower, consciousness, for its existence. The knower alone is appreciable in the form of the existence of the world, and since the knower is consciousness, consciousness is existence, cit is sat. Consciousness alone is of the nature of fullness, ānandaḥ, which is limitless, unqualified happiness.
Usually, adjectives describe attributes, e.g. red lips, hot water. However, some adjectives reference substance, e.g. a clay pot, a gold ring, revealing the existence or truth of the object (on which the object depends). There is no ring or pot separate from or other than the gold or clay. Similarly, in 'the person is existent, conscious and happy' the words existent, conscious and happy refer not to attributes of the person but to his/her very substance, for Vedāntaḥ maintains they indicate the very reality of the person.
• asti - existence (in the womb)
• jāyate - birth
• vardhate - growth
• vipariṇāmate - maturation
• apakṣīyate - decline and decay
• vinaśyati - destruction, death
Vedāntaḥ is a pramāṇam for self-knowledge only when the student is sufficiently qualified. Sufficient qualification is a mind that is clear enough to hear the teaching fully, without distortion or addition. The distortions and additions take the form of mental pollutants such as agitation, arrogance, complacency, attachments, aversions, dullness – and especially lack of objectivity towards one's mind. The four qualifications are: vivekaḥ, vairāgyam, ṣaṭka-sampattiḥ, mumukṣutvam.
• upakrama-upasaṃhāraḥ - beginning and end (consistency of)
• apūrvatā - uniqueness (not knowable by other means)
• upapattiḥ - proof (as established by reasoning)
• arthavādaḥ - explanation (of meaning)
• phalam - result (its nature)
• abhyāsaḥ - repetition (of same idea elsewhere)
The term sākṣiṇam (that which is witnessed) is sometimes used in preference to anātmā when referring to the body-mind-sense complex because the body-mind's 'closeness' to ātmā makes it especially difficult to distinguish from ātmā. More distant objects, such as clothing, chairs, etc., are far easier to distinguish as 'not me' and hence may easily be recognised as anātmā.
• āvaraṇa-śaktiḥ
• dravya-śaktiḥ
• icchā-śaktiḥ
• jñāna-śaktiḥ
• kriyā-śaktiḥ
• medhā-śaktiḥ
• sarvaśaktimān
• vikṣepa-śaktiḥ
Being a highly refined state, samādhiḥ is unlikely to occur in a mind that is beset by emotional difficulties, strong attachments and aversions, unhealthy choices and other similar impediments. Facing and dealing with such problems while living a life of karma-yogaḥ is a necessary preliminary step, not only for meditation but, more importantly, for the mental and emotional growth needed for jñāna-yogaḥ, and for the eventual freedom from limitations that is mokṣaḥ. Moreover, even the most mystical experience in samādhiḥ will not be present afterwards when samādhiḥ ends.
The consciousness by which any and every experience is revealed is ever-present and needs no special experience to be known. Being the substratum and reality of all experience, it is never absent, never not known, and simply needs to be recognised as such rather than 'experienced' or 'realised'. Some, unable to accept that knowledge is enough, will say they have understanding but now need to 'realise' the self. Only an unqualified student talks like this, whereas a student with sādhana-catuṣṭayam sees that knowledge alone is mokṣaḥ. See savikalpa-samādhiḥ, nirvikalpa-samādhiḥ and nididhyāsanam.
Śamaḥ is a discipline practised to have mastery over one's ways of thinking rather than being at their mercy.
Similarly, jīveśvara-aikyam, the oneness of jīvaḥ and Īśvaraḥ, is revealed through the mahāvākyam tattvamasi (you are that) because of sāmānādhikaraṇyam, their common locus – the existence of 'I' and the existence of 'this' is one and the same consciousness.
In the same way, in the sentence "This is that Devadatta," both the word 'that' signifying the Devadatta associated with the past, elsewhere, and the word 'this' signifying the Devadatta associated with the present, here, refer to one and the same locus or person. Likewise, in the sentence, "You are that," both the word 'that' signifying consciousness characterised by remoteness, etc., and the word 'you' signifying consciousness characterised by immediacy, etc., refer to one and the same locus, i.e. consciousness, Brahman.
Conversely, by distinguishing a common locus, consciousness, the mithyā status of both jīvatvam and īśvaratvam becomes highlighted, while the substance is common. See lakṣya-lakṣaṇa-sambandhaḥ.
Sometimes, words in apposition are used to negate an apparent difference when in showing, for example, that the essential substance of all material forms is the one consciousness. This is called bādhāyām sāmānādhikaraṇyam. Similarly, aikya-sāmānādhikaraṇyam reveals the oneness of all beings through establishing consciousness as the reality of all.
There are three kinds of relationship between words: words can either be in apposition to each other and to the word to which they relate, or they can define (or qualify) each other, or they can connote the same thing. These are respectively sāmānādhikaraṇyam, viśeṣaṇa-viśeṣya-bhāvaḥ and lakṣya-lakṣaṇa-bhāvaḥ. Each has its own merits in elucidating Vedic statements such as tattvamasi.
• ahiṃsā - non-hurting
• satyam - truthfulness
• asteyam - non-stealing
• śaucam - cleanliness
• indriya-nigrahaḥ - restraint of the senses
Acceptance of this fact brings the recognition that all results, being the product of natural laws, are a gift from Īśvaraḥ (they are the prasādaḥ of Īśvaraḥ). This brings an equanimity or evenness of mind toward whatever the result may be. Such equanimity is possible only when the whole picture is in view. This totality of view, characterised by an untroubled evenness of mind, is yogaḥ. See Gītā 2.48 and also karma-yogaḥ and īśvara-prasāda-buddhiḥ.
The attitudes, dispositions, tastes and inclinations of a person are all stored in the subconscious as vāsanās. They reflect attachments and aversions (likes and dislikes) and in so doing reveal the saṃskāraḥ, the degree of refinement of the individual. They travel with the subtle body from birth to birth, tending to influence the individual's responses to the prārabdha-karma of each birth as it unfolds in each lifetime. Those responses, those actions, can in turn lead to new karma (āgāmi-karma).
The word saṃskāraḥ, refinement, is also used to mean the 41 rituals for enhancing mental refinement that are performed at different stages of an individual's life, from the time of conception until shortly after death. The word 'sacrament', often used to translate 'saṃskāraḥ ritual', is not expressive enough to convey all that needs to be conveyed. Saṃskāraḥ, refinement; saṃskṛtiḥ, culture; and saṃskāryam, refinable, are all different grammatical forms of the same word.
Saṃskāraḥ, refinement; saṃskṛtiḥ, culture; and saṃskāryam, refinable, are all different grammatical forms of the same word.
Sañcita is also the store for the āgāmi-karma being produced (by human beings only) now, in this life. When ripe, the āgāmi will manifest as prārabdha-karma.
"The law of karma and dharmaḥ are the same, because dharmaḥ produces puṇyam and pāpam, which form the very order that is Īśvaraḥ. The law of karma, centred on your free will and dharma-adharmaḥ, are all highly interconnected. Therefore, to that one Lord, who is in the form of the very order of dharmaḥ, the order of karma, you surrender and do what is to be done. We conform to dharmaḥ because dharmaḥ is Bhagavān."* See āgāmi-karma, prārabdha-karma.
sandhyā-vandanam सन्ध्या-वन्दनम् Vandanam, worship, salutation, prayer done at the (three) junctures or meeting points, sandhyā, of each day: shortly before dawn, when the sun has not yet risen (even though the night is over), next when the sun is at its highest in the sky, and lastly when the sun has already set, but the night has not yet come.
saṅgaḥ सङ्गः Attachment due to close contact; association; community; company; friendship.
saṅghātaḥ सङ्घातः Assemblage; close union or combination; collection; cluster; aggregate; compressed together.
saṅkalpaḥ सङ्कल्पः Decision as to worth, value, need, etc.; resolve; will; thought; determination; the impetus (in the form of a conviction or determination as to worth) running through every desire, driving it to fulfilment.
saṅkaraḥ सङ्करः Mixture; mixing together that which should be kept apart, thus creating confusion.
śaṅkaraḥ शङ्करः Ādi-Śaṅkara-Bhagavatpādaḥ was a most illustrious, highly revered teacher of Vedāntaḥ who revivified and re-established the supremacy of its sampradāyaḥ, and the Vedic dharmaḥ and way of life, several centuries ago. He was the author of incomparable Upaniṣad bhāṣyams that demonstrated that the purport of the Upaniṣads is that reality is non-dual and is attainable only by knowledge. He is regarded by many as an avatāraḥ of Lord Śivaḥ. (Śaṅkaraḥ is also a name of Śivaḥ.) Ādi-Śaṅkaraḥ left behind teaching maṭhas, monasteries (one in each of the four corners of India) of which Śṛngerī is perhaps the best known.
sāṅkhyam साङ्ख्यम् Systematic, discriminating enquiry and assessment; thorough knowledge arising from such enquiry. The second chapter of the Bhagavad-Gītā is entitled sāṅkhya-yogaḥ. There the word sāṅkhyam means knowledge, the topic of the chapter. In the third chapter, the word sāṅkhyaḥ means a renunciate, a sannyāsī, who is totally committed to the pursuit of knowledge.
sannyāsaḥ सन्न्यासः Renunciation; a life in which all worldly ties are renounced in a focused pursuit of ātma-jñānam alone. A sannyāsī (saṃnyāsī) takes vows granting immunity from fear to all beings, meaning he/she won't compete, make demands or seek favours, and he/she also lives a life of poverty and chastity.
sannyāsī सन्न्यासी A renunciate (female: sannyāsinī); one who has taken the vows of sannyāsaḥ.
sansāraḥ सन्सारः See saṃsāraḥ.
sanskāraḥ सन्स्कारः See saṃskāraḥ.
sanskṛtam सन्स्कृतम् See saṃskṛtam.
śāntiḥ शान्तिः Peace; calmness; tranquility; cessation; elimination (of evil); synonym of the mental discipline, śamaḥ.
śānti-pāṭhaḥ शान्ति-पाठः Peace invocation. There are peace invocations in the Vedaḥ for all four compilations as Ṛg, Yajur, etc. A peace invocation, specifically invoking the grace of devatās, is a mantraḥ with a prayer for physical and emotional well-being and the elimination of all possible obstacles to study, neutralising hidden variables arising from three possible sources: ādhibhautika-tāpaḥ, ādhidaivika-tāpaḥ, ādhyātmika-tāpaḥ.
sapta-bhūmikāḥ सप्त-भूमिकाः Seven levels (of spiritual development) of which the last three are optional for a jñānī:
• śubhecchā - desire (icchā) for the necessary purity (śubha) of mind needed to attain knowledge, jñāna-yogaḥ, and hence adoption of the necessary means, sādhana-catuṣṭayam.
• vicāraṇā - enquiry (into truth, with the help of a guruḥ) via śravanam and mananam.
• tanumānasā - full refinement of mind (nididhyāsanam) by removal of remaining hindrances (viparīta-bhāvanā).
• sattvāpattiḥ - enjoyment of knowledge of truth, jñāna-niṣṭhā, which is mokṣaḥ.
• asaṃsaktiḥ - freedom from all attachment in the enjoyment of the samādhiḥ of ātma-svarūpam.
• padārthabhāvanī - remaining in samādhiḥ until disturbed by others.
• turīya - undisturbable samādhiḥ from which videhamuktiḥ follows.
śaraṇāgatiḥ शरणागतिः Seeking refuge in the Lord; offering oneself totally to the Lord; surrender; having the vision of the Lord as the truth, the whole; seeing one's own self being non-separate from the Lord, the whole, is absolute surrender; cognitively resolving one's individuality in the totality; seeing there is no second thing other than the Lord.
śaraṇam शरणम् Refuge; protection; place of shelter.
sarasvatī सरस्वती Goddess of knowledge and music; wife of Brahmā.
śarīram शरीरम् Body; prone to disintegration and decay; synonym of dehaḥ, kāyaḥ. See sthula-śarīram, sūkṣma-śarīram, kāraṇa-śarīram.
śarīra-traya-viveka-prakriyā शरीर-त्रय-विवेक-प्रक्रिया Method of analysis through which ātmā is recognised to be distinct from and independependent of the three bodies (gross, subtle and causal); see prakriyā.
sarpaḥ सर्पः Snake
sarūpaḥ सरूपः Of the same nature as...; similar; resembling.
sarvagata सर्वगत All-pervading
sarvajñatvam सर्वज्ञत्वम् Omniscience; knowledge of all in general; a knowledge that all that is here is Brahman, the one reality that is consciousness, the self, and that I am that Brahman. This is the knowledge enjoyed by the jñānī. He or she recognises the one self in all, but does not have all knowledge of everything in detail (as Īśvaraḥ does) so if, for example, a person's name is not known prior to sarvajñatvam, the jñānī will still not know it. This is because the human mind is structured to know and gather knowledge sequentially, not simultaneously.
sarvaṃ hyetadbrahma सर्वं ह्येतद्ब्रह्म 'All this is indeed Brahman' (Māṇḍūkya 1.2) – see mahāvākyam.
sarvaṃ khalvidaṃ brahma सर्वं खल्विदं ब्रह्म 'All this is certainly Brahman' (Chāndogya 3.14.1) – see mahāvākyam.
sarvaśaktimān सर्वशक्तिमान् (He who is) all-powerful; a name of Īśvaraḥ. See śaktiḥ.
sarvātmā सर्वात्मा The only self of all beings; the only self of everything. The śāstram often uses such terms in the glorification of a jñānī saying, the knower of ātmā, being everything (being sarvātmā), as it were gains whatever objects he/she could desire, gains all worlds and objects just by a thought. This is a poetic way of saying that being the only self of all and everything, no world or object is away from such a one and is as good as gained. Even the desires of others, whose saṅkalpaḥ a jñānī may entertain, may be said to have their desires fulfilled (to the degree that their prārabdha permits) as the grace of the jñānī neutralises obstacles. This is one reason sannyāsīs are so respected and their grace so sought: being Īśvaraḥ, the wise person becomes an altar for invoking Īśvaraḥ.
sarvavit सर्ववित् Omniscient; a term indicating the unlimited detailed knowledge enjoyed by Īśvaraḥ due to his being satyam, the very existence or basis, adhiṣṭhānam, of every aspect of every being, entity and phenomenon. He knows everything simultaneously without needing an antaḥkaraṇam, a mind, because all that is here is māyā-upādhiḥ, which is to say all that is here is Īśvaraḥ. See sarvajñatvam.
śāstram शास्त्रम् Sacred body of knowledge for growing towards one's full stature; that which protects by governing one's way of life (through dharmaḥ); includes both śrutiḥ and smṛtiḥ, but the former is chiefly meant.
śāstra-vāsanā शास्त्र-वासना Three types: obsession with study, preoccupation with many subjects and marked squeamishness with regard to observances specified in the śāstras. See vāsanā.
sat सत् That which is ever the same presence in all three periods of time (past, present and future); pure, non-dependent existence; goodness; absolute truth; that which cannot be negated.
ṣaṭkam षट्कम् Consisting of six, aggregate of six (not six-fold) as in ṣaṭka-sampattiḥ, six accomplishments.
sat-kārya-vādaḥ सत्-कार्य-वादः A Sāṅkhyam vādaḥ, a Sāṅkhyam view or contention, (temporarily) accepted by Vedāntins, that an effect is unmanifest in its cause, and its manifestation is a change or modification, pariṇāmaḥ, of the cause, or an appearance, vivartaḥ, of the cause – and both types of effect are mithyā.
ṣaṭka-sampattiḥ षट्क-सम्पत्तिः A group of six accomplishments – also known as śamādi-ṣaṭka-sampattiḥ, a group of six accomplishments beginning with śamaḥ. The six form part of sādhana-catuṣṭayam and are: śamaḥ, damaḥ, uparamaḥ, titikṣā, śraddhā, samādhānam.
satsaṅgaḥ सत्सङ्गः Company (saṅgaḥ) of the wise, of truth (sat); good association; association with śāstram; association with those who know and live the śāstram.
sattā सत्ता Existence; being; reality. Existence is of two types: svarūpa-sattā, original, unmanifest or potential existence, and secondly rūpa-sattā, manifest or functional existence. See abhāvaḥ. A clay pot exists in potential until formed from a lump of clay. An action exists in potential until manifest. "Things exist because they are known. Therefore, they are sustained by knowledge."*
sattvam (sattva) सत्त्वम् (सत्त्व) Guṇaḥ signifying purity, knowledge, truth, intelligence, mind (adj. sāttvika). The term sattva is the name given to the manifestation of the jñāna-śaktiḥ, the power of knowing inherent in māyā. Sattva can also mean a living being.
sattva-śuddhiḥ सत्त्व-शुद्धिः Purity of mind (sattva means mind here); synonym of citta-śuddhiḥ. Purity of mind increases as rāga-dveṣas decrease. When rāga-dveṣas begin to subside, through being neutralised by living a life of karma-yogaḥ, a person gains the mental space in which to recognise the shallowness and emptiness of being, namely the self-dissatisfaction that drove his previous unthinking chase of likes and dislikes. This recognition of his own spiritual poverty is the awakening of vivekaḥ and with it arises dispassion towards all worldly ends through clearly seeing their limitations. Now the quest for spiritual knowledge begins in earnest.
satyam सत्यम् Truth; reality; that which is the truth of everything; that which cannot be negated by anything in all three periods of time – therefore beginningless, endless, changeless, causeless, independent, free from the limitations of time, space and object; the changeless substratum upon which change takes place (without which change would not be perceivable).
satyaṃ jñānam anantaṃ brahma सत्यं ज्ञानम् अनन्तं ब्रह्म "Brahman is existence, consciousness (and) limitlessness" (Taittirīya Upaniṣad 2.1.1). These three words, satyam, jñānam, anantam are not indicating distinct individual attributes of Brahman, but are each independently expressing one thing – that Brahman is limitless reality, limitless being, pure consciousness – while simultaneously negating what Brahman might be thought to be.
saubhāgyam सौभाग्यम् Good fortune; happiness; prosperity; loveliness; popularity – all that is needed for a fulfilling life, especially wisdom.
śaucam शौचम् Cleanness, both inner and outer; purity of body (including environment), mind and intellect; part of niyamaḥ and sāmānya-dharmaḥ.
sāvaśeṣa सावशेष Incomplete; unfinished; having a remainder.
sāvayava सावयव Composed of parts; having parts; (whatever has a beginning falls within the category of being sāvayava). Whatever has parts will one day fall apart and hence cannot be eternal.
savikalpaḥ सविकल्पः Being endowed with a variety of divisions or distinctions, e.g. knower, known, knowledge; being differentiated; being doubtful.
savikalpa-samādhiḥ सविकल्प-समाधिः This samādhiḥ (also known as samprajñāta-samādhiḥ or sabīja-samādhiḥ) is a culmination of meditation, dhyānam, in which there remains a distinction between meditator and meditated, with all other thoughts resolved. Being an experience, a state of mind, it is transient and will be lost. There are two types of savikalpa-samādhiḥ, namely dṛśya-anuviddha-savikalpa-samādhiḥ and śabda-anuviddha-savikalpa-samādhiḥ. See samādhiḥ, nirvikalpa-samādhiḥ and nididhyāsanam.
śeṣam शेषम् Remainder; balance; surplus; residue.
sevā सेवा Service; homage; worship. Sevā becomes yajñaḥ when done with humility and devotion. For a karma-yogī, every action is service only because of the reverential attitude pervading it – otherwise it is merely action.
siddha सिद्ध Accomplished; established; gained (siddhiḥ, accomplishment; achievement).
siddhāntaḥ सिद्धान्तः Established end or conclusion ('This is now shown to be so.'); demonstrated right conclusion of an argument; settled opinion or doctrine; established principle, axiom or rule. In the sampradāyaḥ, wrong notions are negated first when establishing the truth of the matter.
siddhiḥ सिद्धिः Accomplishment; achievement; an occult power (of which there are eight) gained through the prolonged practice of certain disciplines. None leads to mokṣaḥ. They are a distraction and are best avoided:
• aṇimā - reducing one's body size to that of an atom
• mahimā - expanding one's body size at will
• laghimā - becoming almost weightless
• garimā - becoming as heavy as a mountain
• prāptiḥ - ability to procure anything from anywhere
• prākāmyam - fulfilment of all material desires
• īśitvam - control over other beings and the elements
• vaśitvam - capacity to draw and persuade/convince crowds of people. śikṣā Science of phonetics, of proper articulation and pronunciation of varṇas, the sounds of letters in Vedic (vaidika) texts; teaching, instruction; one of the six auxiliary sciences, Vedāṅgas, of the Vedas – also see chandas, vyākaraṇam, niruktam, jyotiṣaḥ, kalpaḥ.
siṃhā-avalokana-nyāyena सिंहा-अवलोकन-न्यायेन 'By the backward glance of a lion.' According to the rule of the lion's look, i.e. a maxim recommending reviewing what has been said before in order to see the connection with whatever is said later when studying a text.
śiṣyaḥ शिष्यः Student; disciple; a self-disciplined student who, due to having praśāntacitta and śamānvita, (gained through living a life of karma-yogaḥ while practising sādhana-catuṣṭayam) deserves the teaching; one who, due to vairāgyam is sufficiently pure-minded (sufficiently able to manage his/her mind and emotions) for undisturbed, accurate, unprejudiced hearing of the ācāryaḥ unfolding the śāstram. See guru-śiṣya-paramparā, sampradāyaḥ, praśāntacitta, śamānvita.
śiṣya-svīkāraḥ शिष्य-स्वीकारः Acceptance (svīkāraḥ) of a disciple (śiṣyaḥ) by a guruḥ, who must have reasons for the decision (such as the student's evident qualifications and sincerity). A guruḥ never seeks disciples, never proselytises – truth must be sought, not offered. See guru-upasādanam.
śivaḥ शिवः Auspicious; pure; propitious; Īśvaraḥ as the resolver of the universe; see Brahmā, Viṣṇuḥ.
ślokaḥ श्लोकः Verse; praise; glory; hymn of praise; maxim; fame; voice; name of a particular epic metre.
smaraṇam स्मरणम् Recollecting; remembering.
smṛtiḥ स्मृतिः Memory (in general); the content of śrutiḥ (the original text) properly heard, studied, understood, retained, recollected and presented without any distortion in their own words by later authors, e.g. Bhagavad-Gītā, purāṇas, manu-smṛtiḥ; see pauruṣeya-śāstram.
snehaḥ स्नेहः Attachment; fondness; affection; friendship; emotional entanglement; 'stickiness'; oil.
śobhana-adhyāsaḥ शोभन-अध्यासः Over-valuing someone or something by superimposing a notion of greater śubha, beauty, excellence, virtue, etc. than is deserved, e.g. mistaking a sea shell's colouring for silver or thinking 'the world gives me happiness'; see adhyāsaḥ and aśobhana-adhyāsaḥ.
śodhita शोधित Filtered; refined; cleansed; purified. An adjective used to describe the filtering or distinguishing of pure consciousness from that which is inert, jaḍa – the filtering of ātmā from anātmā by vivekaḥ.
śokaḥ शोकः Sorrow; anguish; grief; affliction; pain; see duḥkham.
sopādhi सोपाधि With upādhiḥ (having or possessing one or more limiting adjuncts or manifesting media). See upādhiḥ and nirupādhi.
sopādhika-adhyāsaḥ सोपाधिक-अध्यासः This is a form of adhyāsaḥ, erroneous conception, in which one fact is naturally mistaken for another, e.g. sunrise/sunset, blue sky, a bent rod in water. The fact of the sun being seen to rise/set is mistaken for the fact of the Earth turning. Similarly, the fact of the sky being blue is mistaken for the fact that the blue part of sunlight is absorbed and scattered more by the Earth's atmosphere than other parts, and the fact of a rod appearing bent in water is mistaken for the fact that light slows (refracts) in water. Sopādhika-adhyāsaḥ is also known as jñānādhyāsaḥ.
sparśaḥ स्पर्शः Touch; the sense-object (viṣayaḥ), subtle or gross, perceptible through the skin or mind and known as 'touch' or 'contact'.
sphuliṅgaḥ स्फुलिङ्गः Spark (from a fire); sparks shooting from a fire are used to demonstrate that fire alone is in the form of many sparks due to many upādhis. This is also used as an analogy for showing how distinct manifestations or forms of Brahman arise from the one Brahman. It is often wrongly interpreted to mean that unique beings, jīvas, separate from Brahman, burst forth from Brahman like sparks from a fire, whereas the analogy is pointing to the fact that all sparks, jivas, are nothing but limited forms of fire. Their intrinsic nature is not different from fire (Brahman) even though their forms differ.
sphura स्फुर Evident; self-evident; shining forth.
śraddhā श्रद्धा Acceptance by firm judgement as true what the guruḥ and śāstram instruct; unflinching faith in the śāstram and in the words of the guruḥ.
śrāddham श्राद्धम् Ancestor worship; a specific ritual performed on a specific day of a specific fortnight (death anniversary of one's parents, grandparents).
śravaṇam श्रवणम् Hearing. Hearing, for a length of time, the step by step, systematic, regular, unfoldment of Vedāntaḥ by a competent ācāryaḥ who knows the sampradāyaḥ. Being a result (and not an action) hearing is involuntary since the ears naturally pick up sound, but accuracy of hearing depends on careful listening, on fully focusing one's attention, without distortion or addition, by surrendering all else. Distortion means either changing whatever is heard to fit it into one's existing belief system, or wilfully changing it to mean something unintended by the speaker. Addition means adding one's own ideas, beliefs or embellishments to whatever is said. Without proper accuracy of hearing, little will be properly understood.
śreyaḥ (śreyas) श्रेयः (श्रेयस्) Highest or absolute good; that which is desirable for all people of all times and places, namely freedom from unhappiness, the knowledge that is mokṣaḥ – see preyaḥ (preyas).
śrīḥ श्रीः Lakṣmī, goddess of wealth; wife (śaktiḥ) of Viṣṇuḥ; beauty; all forms of wealth, including virtues, health, progeny, food, etc. See bhagaḥ.
śrīmat श्रीमत् Illustrious; eminent; glorious; venerable.
śrotram श्रोत्रम् Ear
śrotriyaḥ श्रोत्रियः One who has wide knowledge and profound understanding of the scriptures through carefully hearing, for a length of time, a competent teacher properly and systematically unfold the words of the vedānta-śāstram; one well versed in the śāstram and able to communicate their riches effectively; also see brahma-niṣṭhā.
sṛṣṭiḥ सृष्टिः Manifestation; creation; nature; production; the manifest universe.
sṛṣṭi-viveka-prakriyā सृष्टि-विवेक-प्रक्रिया Method of arriving at ātmā, the true self, by analysing that which is here, aiming to reveal its source, which is consciousness, the ultimate reality; see prakriyā.
śrutiḥ श्रुतिः Heard; a name for the sacred knowledge of the Vedaḥ transmitted orally from generation to generation; a name for the veda-śāstram emphasising its preservation and transmission through careful listening via the teacher-student lineage, karṇa-paramparā (karṇa means ear).
stambhaḥ स्तम्भः Pillar; post; column.
stavaḥ स्तवः Any text consisting of words of praise – especially praise of the Lord, of Īśvaraḥ; synonym of stotram.
sthairyam स्थैर्यम् Steadfastness; constancy; perseverance; steadiness; firmness; calmness.
sthānam स्थानम् Place; abode; rank; altar.
sthāṇu स्थाणु Firm; immovable; motionless; stump of a tree.
sthāṇu-nikhana-nyāyaḥ स्थाणु-निखन-न्यायः A maxim encouraging making one's knowledge as unshakeable as a well-buried (well-fixed) post that is able to withstand any amount of shaking (by opposing notions). Such firmness is from clarity and accuracy of perception and understanding, not from obstinacy of view. See nyāyaḥ.
sthāṇu-puruṣa-nyāyaḥ स्थाणु-पुरुष-न्यायः Illustration of a stump of a tree being mistaken for a person. See nyāyaḥ.
sthita स्थित Steady; abiding; ascertained.
sthitadhīḥ स्थितधीः Wise person with doubt-free, ascertained vision; steady-minded; firm; unmoved; calm.
sthita-prajñaḥ स्थित-प्रज्ञः A person of steady, unshakeable wisdom; one abiding in wisdom; one free from the hold of desire; happy with oneself, in oneself; free from emotional dependence; awake to the nature of oneself and therefore wise; a jñānī.
sthūla स्थूल Gross; physical – also see sūkṣma, kāraṇam.
sthūla-arundhatī-nyāyaḥ स्थूल-अरुन्धती-न्यायः A maxim (nyāyaḥ) encouraging the leading of the mind from a gross (sthūla) understanding of the self towards a subtler and subtler understanding of it. Arundhatī is a tiny star, located by first pointing out the Moon and then successively smaller nearby stars until the finest star of all, Arundhatī itself, is seen. See nyāyaḥ.
sthūla-prapañcaḥ स्थूल-प्रपञ्चः Gross/physical world. See sūkṣma-prapañcaḥ and kāraṇa-prapañcaḥ.
sthūla-śarīram स्थूल-शरीरम् Gross/physical body; abode of enjoyment; locus of all subtle (imperceptible) instruments of knowledge and action; also see sūkṣma-śarīram, kāraṇa-śarīram.
stotram स्तोत्रम् Hymn of praise; see stavaḥ, stutiḥ.
strīliṅgam स्त्रीलिङ्गम् Feminine gender; feminine; see puṃliṅgam.
stutiḥ स्तुतिः Praise; adulation; eulogy; commendation; tribute.
śubha शुभ Auspicious; good; virtuous; something that ends well.
śuddha शुद्ध Pure; clean; faultless; error-free. A pure mind is necessary for self-knowledge. Impurities (anger, pride, lust, etc.) confuse and distort thought. They are best dealt with by being alert to their arising, bud-like, in the mind and letting them go before they flower. That alertness requires śamaḥ and is possible only for one who is relatively peaceful, i.e. one with sufficient vairāgyam. When vairāgyam is sufficiently developed, a person can be objective towards his/her own mind. That objectivity brings emotional maturity. The emotionally mature see things in their proper perspective and so are not distracted from what matters by something inappropriate. Such people are able to hear the teaching (upadeśaḥ) cleanly.
śuddha-caitanyam शुद्ध-चैतन्यम् Pure consciousness; unmanifest consciousness; consciousness unassociated with varying thoughts; consciousness remaining ever itself, unrestricted by being 'conscious of'; consciousness in which there is no second. Also known as sāmānya-jñānam. See jñaptiḥ and viśeṣa-jñānam.
śūdraḥ शूद्रः A person born into the fourth varṇaḥ – artisan, labourer, servant, etc.; revered as an indispensable part of Īśvaraḥ, the whole, (just as feet are indispensable to the body) and whose contribution for maintaining the social order is as important as that of the other three varnas; also see brāhmaṇaḥ, priest; kṣatriyaḥ, soldier; vaiśyaḥ, businessman.
sukham सुखम् Happiness; delight; joy; pleasure. Happiness, delight, is an experience of a time-bound fraction of manifest fullness. It is an expression of the manifestation of fullness – fullness being the very nature of timeless reality.
śuklaḥ शुक्लः White; bright.
sukṛta सुकृत Well-made; well-done.
sūkṣma सूक्ष्म Subtle; fine; penetrating; non-physical; also see sthūla, kāraṇam.
sūkṣma-prapañcaḥ सूक्ष्म-प्रपञ्चः Subtle world. See sthūla-prapañcaḥ and kāraṇa-prapañcaḥ.
sūkṣma-śarīram सूक्ष्म-शरीरम् Subtle body. It is a body only in the sense of it being a 'body' or collection or composite of capacities or powers with which the ātmā is identified and which seemingly limit it. It is the ātmā, as the jīvaḥ, conditioned by the sūkṣma-śarīram, that departs on the death of the physical body. The sūkṣma-śarīram continues to exist until its dissolution at pralayaḥ.
śuktikā शुक्तिका Shell of a pearl oyster, the inside of which is so reflective it can be mistaken for silver, rajata. This inner layer of nacre, also known as mother-of-pearl, is often used as an example of superimposition, adhyāropaḥ.
sulabha सुलभ Easily obtainable; feasible.
sundara सुन्दर Beautiful; lovely.
suniścita सुनिश्चित Fully ascertained, definite, fixed, settled (conclusion). An adjective used to describe the certainty of the knowledge enjoyed by the wise.
śūnya शून्य Void; empty. There is no possibility of śūnya existing since for it to be known would require the presence of a vṛttiḥ.
sūryaḥ सूर्यः The sun; devatā of sight; sūryāstaḥ, sunset.
śuśrūṣā शुश्रूषा The desire to hear the śāstram being unfolded by the teacher; service to the teacher.
susukham सुसुखम् Easy; effortless; pleasurable.
suṣumnā nāḍī सुषुम्ना नाडी This subtle nerve or vessel runs upwards within the body, between and along with two other vessels, the iḍā on its left (terminating at the left nostril) and the piṅgalā on its right (terminating at the right nostril). The suṣumnā runs from the mūlādhāra-cakram, situated within the perineum (the space between the genitals and anus at the apex of the legs) to the sahasrāra-cakram at the crown of the head. The suṣumnā acts as a channel for the rise of the kuṇḍalinī, which in its quiescent state lies coiled at the mūlādhāra-cakram.
suṣupti-avasthā सुषुप्ति-अवस्था Suṣupti, deep-sleep, avasthā, state (of the mind); a state of non-apprehension of reality in which there is experience of the absence of the experience of 'I'. And since the mind is inactive in deep sleep, there can be no misapprehension (no error).
suṣuptiḥ सुषुप्तिः Deep, disturbance-free, dreamless sleep (in which the mind is temporarily unmanifest, temporarily merged with Īśvaraḥ).
sūtra-bhūta-vākyam सूत्र-भूत-वाक्यम् An aphoristic statement that gives the teaching in a nutshell.
sūtram सूत्रम् Verse; thread; an aphorism with minimum words and maximum sense; a cryptic statement pregnant with meaning.
sūtrātmā सूत्रात्मा Epithet for Hiraṇyagarbhaḥ describing him as the totality of all prāṇaḥ, without whom the operation of the physical world would not be possible; the one who, like a thread (sūtram) of prāṇaḥ, connects all life-forms (all ātmās) lending life to all. See samaṣṭiḥ.
svabhāvaḥ स्वभावः Non-intrinsic nature; apparent nature of objects, phenomena, creatures, etc.; manifest nature. At the human level, the term includes inclinations, dispositions and all acquired, earned, non-essential nature, i.e. the nature fashioned and revealed by attitudes, habits and behaviour; see svarūpam and prakṛtiḥ.
svadharmaḥ स्वधर्मः One's own duty. Duty is that which is due to be done, that which needs to be done. Only by doing just your duty may you be protected from acting inappropriately and incurring pāpam. Recognising whatever is and isn't my duty is recognising viśeṣa-dharmaḥ. "When you perform all your duties at the correct time and place, with an awareness of Īśvaraḥ, who is in the form of dharmaḥ, then svakarma, one's own karma, becomes very evident and it becomes an offering to Īśvaraḥ."*
svādhyāyaḥ स्वाध्यायः Śāstram study under the care of a competent ācāryaḥ; daily recitation of the Vedaḥ; the study of a branch of one's own Vedaḥ. Svādhyāyaḥ is also part of niyamaḥ.
svaḥ (suvaḥ) स्वः (सुवः) Abode of the gods and the blessed; the vault of Heaven; region of the planets; fifth lowest of the seven heavens.
svāhā स्वाहा An exclamation: "Hail to Thee" used when oblations (to any deity) are offered into the fire, implying: "I offer myself to Thee"; food offered to devatās.
svāmī (svāmin) स्वामी (स्वामिन्) One who has mastery over oneself; spiritual preceptor; title of a man who has taken the vows of sannyāsaḥ (female: svāminī).
svapna-avasthā स्वप्न-अवस्था Svapnaḥ, dream, avasthā, state (of the mind); a projection associated exclusively with the subtle body, sūkṣma-śarīram. The dream world of subtle phenomena is experienced in the mind as a reality separate from the reality of the waking state, jāgrad-avasthā. Both states or worlds are mithyā, both are thought-projected only and in both there is both non-apprehension and misapprehension of reality. Neither waking nor dream is more real than the other. Yet, just as the waking world seems absolutely real for the waker, a dream is not a dream in a dream for a dreamer.
svaprakāśaḥ स्वप्रकाशः Self-effulgent; self-revealing. Consciousness needs no illuminator to light it up. It is not only self-revealing, it is ever-present in all experiences as the unobtrusive, unassertive presence, pervading all, knowing all. Direct, unmediated knowledge of this self-effulgent self is one of the two types of aparokṣa-jñānam (according to Vidyāranya Swami). The other type is enlightenment itself, brahma-jñānam, exemplified by the tenth man realising that he is the tenth.
svaraḥ स्वरः A vowel; a chanting accent – see vyañjanam, and also udāttaḥ, anudāttaḥ, svaritaḥ.
svārājyam स्वाराज्यम् A meditator (upāsakaḥ) who through contemplation (through living in awareness of the total) merges with and gains the status of Hiraṇyagarbhaḥ, attains sovereignty as the truth and lord of all, as all-knowledge consciousness, as the self of all. Peace in abundance, samṛddham, is attained. Such a one is all manifest happiness, knowledge and peace – of which individual enjoyment is but a fraction.
svargaḥ स्वर्गः Heaven. The seven heavens or higher lokas begin with this Earth, bhū-lokaḥ, and in ascending order are bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ, mahaḥ, janaḥ, tapaḥ, satyam. See lokaḥ and narakaḥ.
svaritaḥ स्वरितः A high or raised tone in chanting, shown in the text by a short vertical line above a vowel. Sometimes two short svaritaḥ notations appear side-by-side above the same vowel. They indicate that that vowel is to be sounded as two short, raised sounds in immediate succession. Being, in effect, a long sound, the notation is called dīrgha-svaritaḥ. Also see svaraḥ, udāttaḥ, anudāttaḥ.
svarūpa-lakṣaṇam स्वरूप-लक्षणम् A definition that unfolds the essential, intrinsic nature of something by implication, e.g. a definition of absolute reality in which its intrinsic nature is directly revealed through implication; see taṭastha-lakṣaṇam, lakṣaṇam, jahadajahallakṣaṇā, upalakṣaṇā.
svarūpam स्वरूपम् Intrinsic, essential nature; that which is inherent, natural, changeless, not incidental nor acquired, but innate for the object or person. For example, the svarūpam, essential, unchanging, intrinsic nature of fire is heat, and fire never loses that nature. See svabhāvaḥ and prakṛtiḥ.
svasvarūpa-anusandhānam स्वस्वरूप-अनुसन्धानम् Meditation on (continuously dwelling upon) one's own true nature; synonym of nididhyāsanam.
svataḥ स्वतः By oneself; by itself. (svataḥ siddham, self-evident).
svatantram स्वतन्त्रम् Independence (of will); self-dependence; free-will; capacity of choice. This capacity is the essence of kartā, agency, and hence the source of the generation of puṇya-pāpam. See paratantram
svātmani avasthānam स्वात्मनि अवस्थानम् Abidance in one's own self through knowledge; one who, free from doership, has discovered fullness and so has all his desires fulfilled. Synonym of jīvan-muktiḥ.
svātma-vyatiriktam स्वात्म-व्यतिरिक्तम् Other than oneself.
svayam स्वयम् On its own; by oneself; spontaneously; effortlessly. Svayam-jyotiḥ, self-effulgent.
svayambhū स्वयम्भू Self-existent; self-manifested; self-born
svayam-siddha स्वयम्-सिद्ध Self-accomplished. I do not need to do something to know, feel or experience the self. Being awareness, it is ever present and self-evident in all that is known, felt or experienced (even if normally remaining unnoticed due to prevailing thoughts, feelings and perceptions taking centre stage).
tādātmyam तादात्म्यम् Identification; taking one's nature to be something it is not.
taijasaḥ तैजसः A term for a form of ahaṅkāraḥ in which ātmā is identified with the subtle body, sūkṣma-śarīram, in the dream state, svapna-avasthā (and hence also associated with the kāraṇa-śarīram from which its content arises). In svapnaḥ, taijasaḥ seemingly undergoes the experience of dream (in which free-will cannot occur). Taijasaḥ does not know or apprehend reality and has misconceptions about it. The universal or samaṣṭiḥ equivalent is Hiraṇyagarbhaḥ – also see prājñaḥ, viśvaḥ.
tamaḥ (tamas) तमः (तमस्) Guṇaḥ signifying inertia, lethargy, delusion, habitual scepticism, day-dreaming, cessation (adj. tāmasika). Tamas is also the name given to the manifestation of the dravya-śaktiḥ, the power of inertia inherent in māyā. Tamas manifests as the veiling power known as the āvaraṇa-śaktiḥ.
tanmātram तन्मात्रम् Subtle, pure, uncombined element of which there are five forming the subtle basis for the entire cosmos. The sattvam aspects of the five tanmātras give rise to the five senses (and, in combination, to manaḥ and buddhiḥ); the rajas aspects give rise to the five karmendriyas (and, in combination, to the five prāṇas). The tamas aspects of the five tanmātras give rise, through the process of pañcīkaraṇam, to the five gross elements.
tanmātra-viveka-prakriyā तन्मात्र-विवेक-प्रक्रिया A form of sṛṣṭi-viveka-prakriyā in which the mind is pointed towards ātmā through emphasising the emergence of the five gross elements from their respective subtle or tanmātram origin (ātmā being subtler still).
tanuḥ तनुः A form or manifestation (as in 'in the form of').
tāpaḥ तापः Heat; affliction or mental agony which scorches like heat, causing pain; affliction; difficulty. Also see ādhyātmika-tāpaḥ, ādhibhautika-tāpaḥ, ādhidaivika-tāpaḥ.
tapaḥ (tapas) तपः (तपस्) Religious discipline; purificatory penance or austerity; heat; enquiry; knowledge. "Committed, relevant action in line with dharmaḥ."* Part of niyamaḥ.
tapasvī तपस्वी Ascetic; one who is committed to relevant action in line with dharmaḥ.
taraṅgaḥ तरङ्गः Wave (of water).
tarkaḥ तर्कः Logic; reasoning. A philosophical system based on reasoning and conjecture. Used to remove erroneous notions entertained about reality by the aspirant. Being based on sensory information, logic is insufficient by itself for discovering reality (as reality is not objectifiable) but it's useful as a support for śrutiḥ and in defending Vedāntaḥ from the challenges of opponents. Although the tarkikas, logicians, accept the Vedaḥ, they give chief importance to logic. See yuktiḥ and nyāyaḥ.
tat (tad) तत् (तद्) That. A pronoun often used for ultimate reality, as in tattvamasi, you are That. By pointing to Brahman with the word 'that', yet not defining it, the imposition of limitations is avoided.
taṭastha-lakṣaṇam तटस्थ-लक्षणम् A statement that defines something in terms of its (real or apparent) connection to something else. It makes use of something which, although it is distinct from an entity's intrinsic nature, is nevertheless something by which that entity is known. For example, Brahman is known (definable) as the only source of the manifestation, sustenance and resolution of the universe. Likewise, "The house with the crow on the roof" defines a house in a way that is incidental, not intrinsic. See lakṣaṇam, svarūpa-lakṣaṇam, jahallakṣaṇā, ajahallakṣaṇā, jahadajahallakṣaṇā, upalakṣaṇā.
tātparyam तात्पर्यम् Purport; meaning; intention; essential meaning; essential theme. See ṣaḍ-liṅgāni.
tattva-jñānam तत्त्व-ज्ञानम् Knowledge of the truth; synonym of brahma-jñānam and ātma-jñānam.
tattva-jñānārtha-darśanam तत्त्व-ज्ञानार्थ-दर्शनम् Keeping in view the aim and purpose of the knowledge of truth, of self-knowledge, namely freedom from sorrow.
tattvam तत्त्वम् Truth; reality; existence or truth of everything (tasya bhāvaḥ) of every object, indicated by the pronoun tat, 'that'; element; essence. The word tat-tvam literally means 'that-ness', the state or condition of being 'that'. The word 'that', when deliberately left undefined, avoids limitation and hence can be useful in pointing to the subtlest, most essential essence or element of something. It can even point to the subtlest of all, namely absolute reality, Brahman. (As a distinct word tvam means 'you' – see tattvamasi).
tattvamasi तत्त्वमसि 'You are that' (Chāndogya 6.8.7). In this famous compound word, which contains the whole of Vedāntaḥ, the word tat, that, refers to Brahman, pure consciousness. The word tvam, you, points both to its literal meaning, i.e. the ordinary individual, and to the implied meaning, namely his/her svarūpam, pure consciousness. The word asi means 'are'.
tattvavit तत्त्ववित् Knower of the truth; an ātmajñānī.
tejaḥ (tejas) तेजः (तेजस्) Brightness, lustre of countenance; light; brilliance; fire; the Fire element.
ṭīkā टीका Explanatory notes on a commentary, bhaṣyam. These notes serve to introduce the topic by explaining the sentences of the bhāṣyam or a particular word in a sentence. A ṭīkā is not an independent work because it follows the bhāṣyam line by line, sentence by sentence. See vārtikam and kārikā.
tīrtham तीर्थम् Purifier; pilgrimage site; holy place; water sanctified with mantras.
tiryak तिर्यक् Horizontal, horizontally (a descriptive term for creatures that grow horizontally, i.e. animals).
tithiḥ तिथिः Date; lunar date.
titikṣā तितिक्षा Cheerful forebearance; endurance; cheerfully (objectively) bearing opposites such as heat and cold, and honour and dishonour with equanimity, which means without anxiety, complaint or retaliation.
tīvra तीव्र Intense; strong; ardent; acute; keen; sharp.
tīvra-mumukṣuḥ तीव्र-मुमुक्षुः A person with an intense desire for freedom.
traividyāḥ त्रैविद्याः Those who have studied all three Vedas and gained a thorough knowledge of karma-kāṇḍaḥ.
tripuṭī त्रिपुटी Three-fold; a triad.
tripuṭi-bhedaḥ त्रिपुटि-भेदः Three-fold difference – knower, knowledge, known; seer, sight, seen; experiencer, experience, experienced, etc.
triṣṭup त्रिष्टुप् Name of a Vedic metre of 44 syllables (11 per quarter); name of a hymn composed in this metre; frequently used in the Ṛgvedaḥ and occasionally used in the Bhagavad-Gītā (e.g. Gītā 2.5). See gāyatrī, anuṣṭup.
tṛptiḥ तृप्तिः Satisfaction; contentment. The jñānī is ever satisfied, ever content. Happiness and fulfilment are his own svarūpam. They are not dependent on experiences and puṇyam and are recognised to be ever-present in all circumstances. In this way, all desires are as good as satisfied, for the happiness they aim at is already his.
tṛṣṇā तृष्णा Thirst; strong desire; strong longing for that which is absent; avidity; lust; greed; also see pipāsā.
tuccham तुच्छम् Non-existent; unreal; never can exist, e.g. son of a barren woman (vandhyā putraḥ), a square circle; see sat, asat, satyam, mithyā.
tūlāvidyā तूलाविद्या Secondary ignorance; inability to discern that which is right or wrong in ordinary, worldly situations; ignorance of worldly matters such as a street name or art or botany; see mūlāvidyā.
turīya तुरीय Fourth; not a state of experience but an adjective attributed to the ātmā – the only knower in all three states of experience – to distinguish it from the three states (like a fourth entity or person). It is only the appearance of the other three that causes us to count turīya as 'fourth' – from its own perspective it is all there is.
tuṣṭa तुष्ट Pleased; contented.
tvak त्वक् Skin; subtle power of touch (invisible in skin). The word tvak refers to both the physical organ and to the conscious power of touch pervading it – this is the same with all powers of perception and action: in referring to the organ, the name refers to its power. See indriyam.
tvam त्वम् You (second-person-singular pronoun).
tyāgaḥ त्यागः Renunciation; sacrifice; dedication; withdrawal; abandoning. Since the purpose of renunciation is purification of the mind, tyāgaḥ means renunciation of attachment to the results of action and also renunciation of the actual results themselves. Renunciation of attachment to the results of action entails disavowing any form of ulterior motive (typically in the form of rāga-dveśas) when doing what needs to be done. Renunciation of results means being unconcerned about reaping the fruits of action. Disinterest in the results of action occurs when my principal concern or my priority is mental preparation for knowledge – knowledge itself being mokṣaḥ, the ultimate goal. (Note: yajñaḥ, dānam and tapas, being nitya-naimittika-karmas are not to be given up).
udānaḥ उदानः Upward breath; an aspect of prāṇaḥ that reverses a process; vomiting; hiccups; coughing; sneezing.
udāsīna उदासीन One who does not take sides; indifferent; neutral; neither friend nor foe; unprotesting.
udāttaḥ उदात्तः Neutral; a chanting tone that has neither a high nor a low pitch (no line appears above or below a vowel in the text); also see svaraḥ, svaritaḥ, anudāttaḥ.
udgīthaḥ उद्गीथः Om; praṇavaḥ; sung; announced; celebrated; a sonorous prayer, prescribed in the Sāmavedaḥ to be sung aloud.
umā उमा Wife of Śivaḥ, also known as Pārvatī; the constituent phonetic elements of Om (a-u-m) put in a different order; power in three conditions: gross, subtle, unmanifest.
upacāraḥ उपचारः Figurative; a figure of speech; honouring.
upādāna-kāraṇam उपादान-कारणम् Material (upādānam), cause (kāraṇam); two types:
upādānam उपादानम् Material – that which lends support to the effect, remaining inseparable from it, e.g. clay re pot.
upadeśaḥ उपदेशः Teaching; instruction. The teaching corrects misconceptions about that which is real. To do so it communicates in two principal ways: by negation, niṣedha-vṛttiḥ and by implication, lakṣaṇa-vṛttiḥ. First, erroneous ideas about oneself, the world and God are dismissed by negation (by revealing the error). Then the nature of oneself, which cannot be pointed to (as worldly objects can) is shown by implication.
upādhiḥ उपाधिः That which seemingly transfers its attribute(s) to a nearby recipient, an upahitam. (The translation 'limiting or conditioning adjunct' is poor and misleading as the limitation produced by the upādhiḥ is only apparent – 'manifesting medium' might be better.)
upahitam उपहितम् Put on or upon; mixed; that upon which an upādhiḥ subsists; ātmā associated with an upādhiḥ is said to be an upahitam – the two cannot be distanced physically.
upalabdhi उपलब्धि Observation; perception; becoming aware of; understanding. Upalabdhi-sthānam a place of recognition.
upalakṣaṇā उपलक्षणा Implication of something that has not or cannot be expressed, e.g. use of a large number to express innumerability or non-countability; metaphor; feature; characteristics; see lakṣaṇam; also see jahallakṣaṇā, ajahallakṣaṇā, jahadajahallakṣaṇā, svarūpalakṣaṇam, taṭasthalakṣaṇam.
upamānam उपमानम् Knowledge arising from similarity or illustration. For example, if someone has never seen a bison, he can be told it looks like (can be pictured as similar to) a buffalo. One of the six pramāṇas – see the others: anumānam, anupalabdhiḥ, arthāpattiḥ, pratyakṣam, śabdaḥ.
upanayanam उपनयनम् Sacred thread ceremony; a boy's initiation into the study of the scriptures at ages 7-11. Upa, near, nayanam, taking, leading; taking the student to the teacher and leaving him there for studying the scriptures. This is one of the very important saṃskāryas or rituals performed for the mental refinement of the individual. Only after the performance of this upanayana-saṃskāryaḥ is the child eligible to learn and chant the Gāyatrī-Mantraḥ and also eligible for scriptural study.
upaniṣad उपनिषद् Forms the jñāna-kāṇḍaḥ, knowledge section at the end (antaḥ) of each Vedaḥ and so is known as Vedāntaḥ, the ultimate and final end and fulfilment of all the Vedas.
upapattiḥ उपपत्तिः Tenability; proof; ascertained conclusion; reason; substantiation; logical support provided by commentators demonstrating the absence of supposed or apparent loopholes in scriptural statements.
uparamaḥ (uparatiḥ) उपरमः (उपरतिः) A calm, steady, quiet mind that, due to being disciplined through śamaḥ and damaḥ, no longer turns habitually or mechanically to outer sensory involvement. Due to control of the will (via vivekaḥ) the thoughts, feelings and impulses that would previously distract one from staying with that which is important are now easily not indulged and the mind has become alert, poised and available for whatever is necessary. Now one lives in charge of one's life instead of being in thrall to the push and pull of sense-objects. See ṣaṭka-sampattiḥ, śamaḥ, damaḥ, titikṣā, śraddhā, samādhānam.
upāsakaḥ उपासकः Meditator (one who dwells upon the Lord, upon Īśvaraḥ); contemplator (one who dwells upon one's own real nature).
upasamhāraḥ उपसम्हारः Summing up; conclusion.
upāsanam उपासनम् Meditating or dwelling upon in homage or worship, or in the seeking of knowledge of one's own self. A formal definition for upāsanam is saguṇa-brahma-viṣaya-mānasa-vyāpāraḥ a mental activity whose object is saguṇa-brahma (Īśvaraḥ). Upāsanam and dhyānam are synonyms.
"Attachment to the guṇas is the cause for births in higher and lower wombs." Gītā 13.21. The close association an individual has with the mind and body and their attributes (guṇas) leads to attachment. Attachment narrows the perspective with which one sees the world. A narrowed perspective leads to dependence on the world for happiness; rebirth is then inevitable.
Will or will-power, dhṛtiḥ, is the very force of a conviction, or the strength of a decision (strong or weak, firm or wavering, correct or incorrect) that 'this' has value, 'this' is worth having or doing.
When something catches my attention and I judge it to have no particular worth or value, it becomes just a passing thought and goes. If, instead, it is seen to have worth or value, it is dwelt upon (even cherished) and that notion of value turns the thought into a desire. The perceived sense of value evokes emotion and will which then impel the desire, driving it to its fulfilment. Depending on the nature of the desire – and the will, the force, behind it – that drive to fulfilment can power the desire for a fraction of a second or, perhaps, for decades. See dhṛtiḥ, vikalpaḥ and kṛpaṇaḥ.
He succinctly summarises the Vedantic vision in verse 20 of his brahmajñānāvalīmālā "Brahma satyaṃ jaganmithyā jīvo brahmaiva nāparaḥ." Brahman is real, the universe is mithyā. The jīva and brahman are not different.
Sāṅkhyam is also the name of a dualistic philosophical system, ascribed to the sage Kapilaḥ, that accepts two realities: puruṣaḥ, spirit, and prakṛtiḥ, matter, and that liberation is gained by knowing the difference between them. It does not accept Īśvaraḥ. See other dualist opponents of Vedāntaḥ – mīmāṃsā, cārvākaḥ and naiyāyika.
Sannyāsaḥ is of two types: vidvat-sannyāsaḥ and vividiṣā-sannyāsaḥ. Vidvat-sannyāsaḥ is where sannyāsaḥ is not taken: it is a renunciation that is an expression of knowledge wherein a wise person has naturally or effortlessly cognitively resolved his/her wrong notions of the self. This cognitive resolution of wrong identity, this giving up of all wrong ideas about the self and the world, is true or real sannyāsaḥ. It is a sannyāsaḥ that requires no external changes.
Knowledge, brahma-jñānam, is sannyāsaḥ. A vidvat-sannyāsī is a person of a different perspective, a jñānī. Every human being, going through all the stages of life sequentially, is expected to attain this sannyāsaḥ, thereby discovering absolute maturity, the culmination of growth, the fulfilment of the purpose of human life.
Vividiṣā-sannyāsaḥ is renunciation, a lifestyle in which there is a total commitment to the pursuit of knowledge to the exclusion of all other ends, artha-kāmas. The very word vividiṣā means 'desire to know'. A tīvra-mumukṣuḥ, a mature individual who is desperate for mokṣaḥ, knowing the value of knowledge as the only means for mokṣaḥ, seriously wants to know the truth – he/she takes to the life of sannyāsaḥ for knowledge.
A sannyāsī spends his life only in śravaṇam, mananam or nididhyāsanam (in keeping with his qualification) also involving himself in sharing his understanding through teaching, which is another form of contemplation. He is sanctioned to free himself from obligatory social duties. His basic needs (food, clothing, shelter) are met by a society whose culture values this pursuit with great reverence as it is a spiritual pursuit, a basis for all religious disciplines.
Fourth of the four āśramas of Vedic (vaidika) life – brahmacaryam, studentship; gṛhasthaḥ, householder; vānaprasthaḥ, withdrawal; sannyāsaḥ, renunciation.
• śubhecchā - desire (icchā) for the necessary purity (śubha) of mind needed to attain knowledge, jñāna-yogaḥ, and hence adoption of the necessary means, sādhana-catuṣṭayam.
• vicāraṇā - enquiry (into truth, with the help of a guruḥ) via śravanam and mananam.
• tanumānasā - full refinement of mind (nididhyāsanam) by removal of remaining hindrances (viparīta-bhāvanā).
• sattvāpattiḥ - enjoyment of knowledge of truth, jñāna-niṣṭhā, which is mokṣaḥ.
• asaṃsaktiḥ - freedom from all attachment in the enjoyment of the samādhiḥ of ātma-svarūpam.
• padārthabhāvanī - remaining in samādhiḥ until disturbed by others.
• turīya - undisturbable samādhiḥ from which videhamuktiḥ follows.
Relative surrender is that in which a person surrenders his/her will to Bhagavān in the form of dharmaḥ. His actions become governed by his knowledge of right and wrong, and his personal likes and dislikes are not allowed to dictate his actions. Relative surrender is possible only if the person knows the value of knowledge, and thereby of dharmaḥ, and commits himself to living a life of values.
This all-knowingness is not experiential, it is being. With reference to the jagat, Brahman is all-knowledge, with reference to itself, it is knowledge as such, knowledge itself, jñaptiḥ.
Sarvavit is somewhat comparable to an author being the source and content of a book. He knows everything simultaneously about his completed book.
Just as it is impossible to see one's own face directly, it is impossible to know the self directly (like an object). Some form of mirror is required in both cases. For the self, the śāstram alone is that mirror. It alone is capable of reflecting or revealing one's true nature to oneself. It alone is the pramānam for self-knowledge, for mokṣaḥ. The guruḥ, enlightened only by the śāstra-pramānam, communicates its liberating vision to the śiṣyaḥ.
Existence is not an attribute, existence alone exists. All that exists exists in (pure) existence and all are in fact forms or modes of expression of pure existence (rather like ocean waves are expressions or forms of water). Pure existence, existence itself, being intrinsically formless, has no limit. Being limitless, ananta, it is not different from cit, pure consciousness. Pure consciousness exists, and pure existence is the very existence (the very being) of pure consciousness. Consciousness is all that is here. See asat, tuccham, satyam, mithyā, cit, ānanda.
Being unmanifest in its cause, no effect is ever created. There is no such thing as creation, only manifestation from a prior, unmanifest (potential) state. Only that which is potentially present can manifest. Butter comes out of milk because butter is in a potential, unmanifest form in milk. Butter is not in a potential form in water! See asat-kārya-vādaḥ, upādāna-kāraṇam, pariṇāmaḥ, vivartaḥ and also nimitta-kāraṇam.
Free from any kind of impurity, sattva reflects consciousness and hence endows a person with the capacity for clear knowledge and with the capacity for experiential happiness. A predominance of sattva means that a vṛttiḥ in the form of pleasure and/or knowledge arises. On identifying with that vṛttiḥ (on identifying with being happy and knowledgeable) the person becomes dependent on pleasure and knowledge for happiness, and so becomes attached to them. In this way, even sattva can (seemingly) bind. See rajaḥ (rajas), tamaḥ (tamas).
Only ever speaking the non-hurtful truth, devoid of untruth, is the discipline of satyam in speech. Even speech that is pleasant but not factual is not satyam.
Satyam is also a name of the highest of the seven heavens (see svargaḥ) and also a part of yamaḥ and sāmānya-dharmaḥ.
Satyam means Brahman is pure existence, sat, existence itself, reality itself, not a form or kind of existence (such as existence in the form of a chair or in the form of an idea).
Jñānam is saying that Brahman is pure knowledge, jñaptiḥ, knowledge itself, not an aspect of knowledge (such as the knower, the object known, or a specific form of knowledge) and since consciousness is involved in knowledge, the pure existence that is Brahman cannot be something inert.
Anantam is saying that Brahman is not just without limit, but is limitlessness itself, thereby negating any notion that the pure existence and pure knowledge that is Brahman is in any way limited.
All three words are another way of saying saccidānandaḥ. See mahāvākyam.
• aṇimā - reducing one's body size to that of an atom
• mahimā - expanding one's body size at will
• laghimā - becoming almost weightless
• garimā - becoming as heavy as a mountain
• prāptiḥ - ability to procure anything from anywhere
• prākāmyam - fulfilment of all material desires
• īśitvam - control over other beings and the elements
• vaśitvam - capacity to draw and persuade/convince crowds of people.
Being natural consequences of the Īśvara-sṛṣṭiḥ (being vyāvahārika-satyam) such facts persist even when understood to be misperceptions. They continue to be experienced, including by the wise: the sun is still seen to rise and set, the sky still looks blue, the rod still looks bent. However, the wise, the discriminating ones, nevertheless appreciate the truth of the matter through cognitively resolving the upādhiḥ. Some say that it is due to sopādhika-adhyāsaḥ that the body of the guruḥ is seen by disciples to persist after mokṣaḥ. See nirupādhikādhyāsaḥ, upādhiḥ and adhyāsaḥ.
Śraddhā is often translated as faith or trust, but it is more than that. Initially, a degree of trust, viśvāsaḥ, is necessary in any teaching situation. It allows us to stand apart from our own ideas and, for now at least, give the benefit of the doubt to the text and the teacher rather than to our own views – acceptance pending verification is an aspect of śraddhā. And if that which is taught seems incorrect, having śraddhā means I do not reject it but question my understanding until that which is being taught is clear.
With further knowledge, that acceptance takes the deeper form of a clear, carefully reached understanding or conviction, avadhāraṇā. Definite acceptance of what the guruḥ and śāstram teach is a yet more mature śraddhā. It is a knowledge that is far away from blind faith or unthinking belief. Only from such śraddhā arises sufficient objectivity to see the mind dispassionately enough to resolve what needs to be resolved. Then the challenge: 'Why believe when you can know?' can be meaningful.
Śravaṇam, hearing, is a pratyakṣa-pramāṇam, which in common with all other means of knowledge, facilitates it; it does not create knowledge (which is impossible since knowledge, being ever-present, may only ever be revealed or uncovered). Knowledge is determined by all that is heard, seen, etc., meaning, it’s determined by the nature of that which is seen or heard, not by the perceiver or his instruments. Knowing is, therefore, not an action, it is the inevitable result of operating a pramāṇam (opening the eyes, for example). Self-knowledge too is not the result of the hearer's action; it occurs naturally and effortlessly when certain words arrive at the ear. See mananam, nididhyāsanam, sākṣātkāraḥ.
Nothing is ever created or destroyed: the universe and all that is here is an expansion or manifestation as names and forms, one that does not happen outside of Brahman. In time it becomes unmanifest in Brahman and again becomes manifest (appears) in Brahman in an endless cycle. Hence, the word creation is not an accurate translation for sṛṣṭiḥ. Nothing is created, the sṛṣṭiḥ is a manifestation from a potential or unmanifest condition, the unmanifest made manifest.
This endless cycle is not a volitional action by Brahman. The universe manifests only to lawfully fulfil the prārabdha-karma of countless jīvas. See Īśvara-sṛṣṭiḥ and jīva-sṛṣṭiḥ.
The sūkṣma-śarīram is a composite of five karmendriyaṇi, five jñānendriyaṇi, five prāṇāh, and the antaḥ-karaṇam whose chief aspects are buddhiḥ, cittam, manaḥ, ahaṅkāraḥ – also see sthūla-śarīram, kāraṇa-śarīram, indriyam.
To burst through the sahasrāra-cakram is to enter brahma-lokaḥ and be one with Hiraṇyagarbhaḥ. In Vedāntaḥ this is attained by living in the recognition that all minds are aspects of Hiraṇyagarbhaḥ, the totality of all subtle phenomena. (Taittir. Śikṣā Vallī, Anuvāka 6).
In suṣupti the intellect, mind and senses resume an unmanifest, undifferentiated, potential condition in the causal body (kāraṇa-śarīram) in which individuality, with all its misconceptions, limitations and consequent problems, is given up while the individual remains – and then absence of experience is experienced since, on rising, that same individual can say, "I knew nothing." This is not a direct experience because the present tense is not used, nor is it an inference because one part of the statement is from direct perception, one not. No part is directly perceived in sleep as the mind (including ahaṅkāraḥ) is unmanifest. However, to be able to say that absence of cognition was experienced implies memory, which implies an ever-present witness.
That witness, in which the blankness of suṣuptiḥ is revealed, is pure consciousness, consciousness unqualified by the attributes and mis-identifications of the mind. Being unqualified, being without attributes, it is not recognised and is assumed to be not there. Consciousness is not recognised as consciousness unless the mind is active.
Movement between the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep is always via the deep-sleep state because, since distinct orders of reality obviously cannot be manifest simultaneously, one must subside for another to replace it. The point of origin, emergence and return is suṣupti-avasthā for both of the other two states. Just as a cause permeates its effect, suṣupti-avasthā permeates svapna-avasthā and jāgrad-avasthā.
Various vṛttis not being manifest during deep sleep is known, and the knower or experiencer of that absence is the sāksî alone, not any form of ahaṅkāraḥ. There are just two vṛttis in the deep-sleep state: ajñāna-vṛttiḥ and sukha-vṛttiḥ – experience of total ignorance and bliss respectively (bliss being the total, but temporary, absence of experience of all pairs of opposites, such as pain and pleasure, and hence is the absence of duality). The presence of the āvaraṇa-śaktiḥ is also evident in deep sleep, but not vikṣepa-śaktiḥ.
The sākṣī common to all three mutually exclusive states, including deep sleep, is none other than formless pure consciousness. See prājñaḥ, the knower of the deep sleep state; also see jāgrad-avasthā, waking state, svapna-avasthā, dream state, turīya, 'fourth'; avasthā-trayam, the three states of experience.
Name of the third of the three vyāhṛtis that are the origin and essence of the gāyatrī-mantraḥ – also see bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, lokaḥ.
The dream world arises from impressions, vāsanās, gained in the waking state and presented, sometimes symbolically, in dreams – although there is no direct cause-effect relationship with the waking state. In the dream state, the jīvaḥ sets up its own world, its own timescale and its own sthūla and sūkṣma-śarīras with their own senses, all formed in the mind of the jīvaḥ (not Īśvaraḥ, as in the waking state).
Ahaṅkāraḥ, and hence the mind as a whole, is only half-manifest in dream. There is no free-will or doership in a dream – they occur only in the waking state – but there is enjoyership. Neither is any result carried over into the waking state: no puṇya-pāpam accrues in dream. So-called day-dreaming is merely imagination in which the mind is turned inwards towards its own memories, vāsanās, and there is no separation from the waking-state experience. However, the term dream (meaning a waking sleep) is often used in Vedānta as a metaphor for self-misconception. See taijasaḥ, the knower of the dream state; also see jāgrad-avasthā, waking state; suṣupti-avasthā, deep-sleep state; turīya, 'fourth'; avasthā-trayam, the three (mutually exclusive) states of experience.
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In tamas, sattva and rajas remain 'overpowered' (as good as resolved or unmanifest). Dominance of tamas in a person's mind brings delusion, born of ignorance. Tamas (seemingly) binds a person by completely covering the buddhi, the capacity to discern true from false, right from wrong – including in ordinary, everyday situations. The resulting delusion brings pramādaḥ, negligence or indolence, ālasya, slothfulness or laziness, and nidrā, sleep (both literal and spiritual). When tamas dominates in the mind it produces neither puñyam nor pāpam, it wastes life. Also see sattvam (sattva), rajaḥ (rajas).
In brief, the mahāvākyam is saying (implying) that the essence of you, the individual (namely, pure consciousness) is not different from Brahman and hence the equation stands. It of course does not stand if tvam is instead taken in its literal sense to refer to the bound, ignorant, indvidual waker or dreamer. However, by expressing the equation in this two-fold way, you, the individual are being shown that you are not what you take yourself to be, you are in truth limitless, ever-free, pure knowledge. It also shows that God is not some remote entity: in essence, God and you are one. See jahadajahallakṣaṇā and mahāvākyam and also see ahaṃ brahmāsmi, ayamātmā brahma, prajñānaṃ brahma.
Titikṣā is the capacity to deal cheerfully and objectively with external conditions and events that are beyond our control – it does not mean allowing pain to happen and then putting up with it.
Titikṣā is developed by willingly undergoing minor difficulties without dwelling on or lamenting them – and while also not seeking a remedy that will make the voluntary tapas easier or shorter. See ṣaṭka-sampattiḥ – also see śamaḥ, damaḥ, uparamaḥ, śraddhā, samādhānam.
Turīyam (noun) is not really 'the fourth', it is pure, divisionless, objectless consciousness, independent of all the three mithyā states of waking, dream and sleep – and yet all three, belonging (as they do) to a lower order of reality, are not independent of it, for turīyam is the unchangeable substratum of each.
To talk of gold, ring, chain and bangle is to talk of gold, for gold is that which is really, independently present as the substratum of the other three, all of which are appearances of gold.
Turīyam has neither misunderstanding nor misconception and is free from cause and effect. It is unqualifiable, indivisible, and not experienceable in any subject-object sense of 'experience'. No one can claim to have experienced turīyaṃ. It is knowable only by recognition of it being the truth of oneself. Repeated dwelling on this recognition is nididhyāsanam. See ekātma-pratyaya-sāram.
The adjective 'fourth' has no numerical significance. There is no fourth state of experience. See jāgrad-avasthā, waking state; svapna-avasthā, dream state; suṣupti-avasthā, deep-sleep state; avasthā-trayam, the three states of experience. Also see jñaptiḥ.
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The udānaḥ is the final outward breath by which the jīvaḥ exits the body on death having completed no more than the allotted number of breaths (an inhalation and its exhalation being one breath). The upper limit (which may not be reached due to poor choices) is set by prārabdhaḥ, to which prāṇaḥ is directly connected. Afterwards, there can be no more breathing in. Also see apānaḥ, elimination; samānaḥ, digestion; vyānaḥ, circulation.
Pariṇāmi-upādāna-kāraṇam, a material cause in which the causal material itself undergoes a change when causing (becoming) an effect, e.g. churned butter becoming ghee, water becoming ice (or vice-versa).
Vivarta-upādāna-kāraṇam, a material cause in which the causal material undergoes no change in the arising of an effect, e.g. mother-of-pearl appearing to be silver, rope as the cause of a 'snake'.
Brahman is the upādāna-kāraṇam of the jagat in the vivarta (unchanging) sense. See pariṇāmaḥ and vivartaḥ, and also see nimitta-kāraṇam and satkāryavādaḥ.
"The meaning of the teaching has to be conveyed with such clarity that both the person and the words disappear and the meaning alone remains."*
If a red Hibiscus flower, for example, is brought close to a colourless lump of clear crystal, the crystal (the upahitam) appears red. From having no colour, the crystal apparently has the attribute 'red' – the red flower has become a manifesting medium for redness. The crystal is never red (and limited only to red) and yet, undeniably, for a time it appears so.
The upādhiḥ in this example is the flower, not its redness. But the flower does not function as an upādhiḥ unless it is close to the crystal. So, it is the item and the effect of its close proximity – namely the seeming transfer of one or more of its attributes – that together make for an upādhiḥ.
The word Upaniṣad means brahma-vidyā. It is derived from the dhātuḥ or verbal root, 'sad', meaning 'to destroy, to reach', which is saying an Upaniṣad will destroy ignorance of brahma-vidyā, thus allowing the seeker to reach the truth of oneself. It also destroys ignorance-caused saṃsāraḥ. The prefix 'upa' means 'near', 'that which is nearest', namely the seeker's svarūpam, ātmā, which is identical with Brahman. The prefix 'ni' stands for niścaya jñānam, well-ascertained knowledge. 'Upa' and 'ni' together refer to brahma-vidyā, knowledge of ātmā being Brahman.
The ten major or principal Upaniṣads (so-named because Ādi-Śaṅkara-Bhagavatpādaḥ wrote commentaries, bhāṣyams, on them) are: Aitareya, Bṛhadāraṇyaka, Chāndogya, Īśāvāsya, Kaṭha, Kena, Māṇḍūkya, Muṇḍaka, Praśna, Taittirīya.
Upāsanam takes care of malaḥ and vikṣepaḥ (respectively, the impurities of the mind and the agitation, restlessness and extrovertedness of the mind). Karma-yogaḥ also helps purify the mind and together with upāsana-yogaḥ brings one-pointedness and expansion of the mind. When used as a preparatory means for self-knowledge, upāsanam is practised to develop sufficient focus and subtlety of mind (through reducing malaḥ and vikṣepaḥ) to hear the teaching properly. Then, during śravanam, the teaching may be better understood.
There are two types of upāsanam, namely ahaṅgraha upāsanam and sampat upāsanam.
upāyaḥ उपायः Means; method; remedy; plan; upāyaḥ covers both primary and secondary means, it covers everything necessary. See upeya.
upekṣā उपेक्षा Disregard; indifference; abandonment.
upeya उपेय Having attainability; capable of being attained.
ūrṇanābhiḥ ऊर्णनाभिः Spider – an example of an entity being both a material cause, upādāna-kāraṇam, and an efficient cause, nimitta-kāraṇam, in this case of its web; ūrṇam (thread), nābhiḥ (stomach) 'one who has thread in the stomach'.
utkrāntiḥ उत्क्रान्तिः 'Proceeding up'; passing away; dying; departure of the soul from the body.
utkṛṣṭa उत्कृष्ट Exalted; superior; eminent.
utpattiḥ उत्पत्तिः Production, (utpādyam) e.g. "He produced a fine portrait of her" – the production of something is one of the four possible results of karma, action – also see vikṛtiḥ (vikāryam), modification; āptiḥ (āpyam), attainment; saṃskṛtiḥ (saṃskāryam), refinement.
utsavaḥ उत्सवः Festival; celebration; ceremony.
uttama उत्तम Highest; best; most exalted; greatest; ultimate; most profound.
uttara उत्तर Later; following; subsequent; northern.
vācikam karma वाचिकम् कर्म Oral action; any oral activity; action of speaking, chanting.
vācyārthaḥ वाच्यार्थः Literal meaning of word(s); see lakṣyārthaḥ, mukhyārthaḥ, vyaṅgyārthaḥ.
vādaḥ वादः Speech; discourse; statement; thesis; proposition; doctrine; discussion. See:
• adhyāropa-apavāda-viveka-prakriyā
• ajāti-vādaḥ
• apavādaḥ
• apavāda-vākyam
• asat-kārya-vādaḥ
• avaccheda-vādaḥ
• bhedābheda-vādaḥ
• brahma-kārya-vādaḥ
• dṛṣṭi-sṛṣṭi-vādaḥ
• karma-kārya-vādaḥ
• pratibimba-vādaḥ
• sat-kārya-vādaḥ
vaidika वैदिक Vedic; an entity or person (vaidikaḥ) dedicated to, or related to, or of the Vedaḥ.
vaidyaḥ वैद्यः Doctor; physician. Bhagavān is the real and ultimate vaidyaḥ, the grace of whose knowledge alone cures bhavarogaḥ, the disease of saṃsāraḥ.
vaikharī वैखरी Fourth and final stage of the manifestation of speech or sound: when the power that is parā reaches the viśuddha cakram (at the throat) the words chosen at the madhyamā stage assume a final spoken form, vaikharī, and fully articulated sound (speech) arises at the forefront of the mind and/or emerges from the mouth – also see parā, paśyantī, madhyamā.
vairāgyam वैराग्यम् (The state of) dispassion, detachment, objectivity (neuter form of virāgaḥ – free from rāgaḥ, passion or attachment); absence of dependence on results of action for one's happiness; absence of desire for enjoyments here and hereafter.
vaiśamya-avasthā वैशम्य-अवस्था State of 'unuven-ness or disproportion' in which the equilibrium of the three guṇas is disturbed; a state opposite to śamya-avasthā, in which they are in equilibrium.
vaiṣamya-nairghṛṇya-doṣaḥ वैषम्य-नैर्घृण्य-दोषः The flaw of partiality and pitilessness. Due to the difficulties some experience, the Lord may be thought to be guilty of the flaw of pitiless partiality in the bestowal of 'favours' such as grace or even of mokṣaḥ. However, neither is bestowed but earned in line with the unbending law of dharmaḥ. See doṣaḥ, pratyavāya-doṣaḥ and viṣaya-doṣaḥ.
vaiśeṣikaḥ वैशेषिकः A philosophy or school of thought (founded by Kaṇādaḥ) with its own metaphysics, epistemology, logic, etc., that is at variance with Vedāntaḥ in some respects. For example, vaiśeṣikaḥ asserts that there are many separate ātmās, and that only pratyakṣam (perception) and anumānam (inference) are valid and reliable pramāṇas (means of knowledge). Hence, its adherents appear in Vedāntaḥ bhāṣyams as opponents.
vaiṣṇava वैष्णव Relating or belonging or devoted or consecrated to Lord Viṣṇuḥ
vaiśvānaraḥ वैश्वानरः Omnipresent; all-pervasive. The entire gross manifestation, experienced in the waking state (jāgrad-avasthā) and looked upon as a manifestation of the knowledge that is the Lord, is known as Vaiśvānaraḥ or Virāt (the words are synonyms). The individual or vyaṣṭiḥ aspect of Virād-īśvaraḥ is viśvaḥ, namely ātmā associated with an individual body-mind-sense complex in the waking state. (Vaiśvānaraḥ is also the deity of the digestive fire and of the sun and sunlight, and also a name for mankind as a collective whole.) See antaryāmī, Hiraṇyagarbhaḥ, Virāṭ.
vaiśyaḥ वैश्यः A person born into the third varṇaḥ – a businessman, trader, farmer, accountant, etc.; also see brāhmaṇaḥ, priest; kṣatriyaḥ, soldier; śūdraḥ, labourer.
vāk वाक् Speech, i.e. the power or faculty of speech. Speech should be non-agitating, true, pleasing and beneficial (Gītā 17.15).
vāksiddhiḥ वाक्सिद्धिः Perfection in speech, in which whatever is spoken turns out to be true; result of observance of truthfulness.
vākyam वाक्यम् Sentence; statement.
vākyārthaḥ वाक्यार्थः The meaning of a sentence or statement. This meaning is not necessarily the direct or literal meaning. The speaker or writer's clearly implied or intended meaning should be the meaning taken.
vallī वल्ली Chapter; section.
vālmīkī वाल्मीकी Author of the Rāmāyaṇam.
vānaprasthaḥ वानप्रस्थः Third of the four āśramas of Vedic life – retirement to the forest, vanam (figuratively) which means withdrawal from the participation and engagement that is usual in gṛhasthaḥ and entry into a quieter, more reflective period of life, spending time in upāsanam in preparation for sannyāsaḥ. See brahmacaryam, studentship; gṛhasthaḥ, householder; sannyāsaḥ, renunciation.
vandanam वन्दनम् Worship; praise; salutation; reverence.
vandhyā putraḥ वन्ध्या पुत्रः Son of a barren woman – a famous example of tuccham, non-existence, something that never can exist. (Vandhyā, barren, fruitless, unproductive – said of biologically faulty women, plants, female animals).
varaḥ वरः Boon; reward; blessing.
varaṇam वरणम् Choice; selection; act of choosing. Mokṣaḥ has to be deliberately chosen, it is not something that can just occur. Ātma-varaṇam, choosing self-knowledge, depends on putting aside all one thinks one knows about oneself in order to look freshly into that which is actually real about oneself. This can only be from choosing to do so. Such a choice depends on some degree of recognition of the falsity and severity of one's apparent limitations. That recognition provides the spur to look, to enquire.
varcaḥ (varcas) वर्चः (वर्चस्) Brilliance; lustre.
vareṇyam वरेण्यम् Exalted; supreme; praiseworthy; incomparably great; worthy of worship.
variṣṭha वरिष्ठ Best; most exalted.
varjita वर्जित Devoid of (dvaita-varjita, devoid of duality).
varṇaḥ वर्णः Characteristic by which something is described; nature; outward appearance; cover; colour; species; class; tribe; letter; alphabet; sound; syllable.
varṇāśramaḥ वर्णाश्रमः Class of people; caste; see brāhmaṇaḥ, priest; kṣatriyaḥ, soldier; vaiśyaḥ, businessman; śūdraḥ, labourer. See āśrama-dharmaḥ.
vartamāna-kālaḥ वर्तमान-कालः The present time; the present; (gram.) present tense; (vartamāna, turning; moving; existing); see kālaḥ, bhūta-kālaḥ, bhaviṣyat-kālaḥ.
vārtikam वार्तिकम् Independent exposition, in verse, of a bhāṣyam (a commentary) – not an exposition of the original text. A vārtikam is not a ṭīkā because it either goes beyond the bhāṣyam or it is a further explanation of the bhāṣyam. See kārikā.
varuṇaḥ वरुणः Presiding deity of water.
vāsaḥ वासः Home; house; residence; (nivāsaḥ, absolute abode).
vāsanā वासना Whatever one dwells upon creates an impression, vāsanā, in the mind, an impression that can influence future action. Tendencies and impressions created by volitional karma, action (including thought and speech and indeed whatever the mind dwells on) are held as vāsanās in the subtle body, in the subconscious. These ever-unseen (adṛṣṭa), subtle impressions, inclinations and influences, developed previously, take form as memories and habitual, involuntary thoughts or responses that induce a person to initiate or avoid actions or experiences, or to seek or prevent their repetition. The internal dream world springs entirely from vāsanās. Physical, mental and oral actions can spring from vāsanās and in turn influence both a person's destiny (karma) and refinement of being, saṃskāraḥ, for better or worse.
vasiṣṭhaḥ वसिष्ठः Name of a great and famous sage of legendary wisdom; preceptor of Lord Rāmaḥ and owner of Nandinī (Kāmadhenuḥ) the wish-fulfilling cow of plenty.
vastu वस्तु That which exists; reality itself and hence the very existence of whatever nāma-rūpam manifests from it. "The vastu alone is free; nothing else in saṃsāraḥ is free."*
vāsudevaḥ वासुदेवः A name of Kṛṣṇaḥ; son of Vasudevaḥ.
vaṭa-vṛkṣaḥ वट-वृक्षः Banyan tree.
vāyuḥ वायुः God of wind; the element Air; subtle aspect of touch; appreciable through sound and touch; also see pāñcabhautikam the five-element model of the universe – ākāśaḥ, space; vāyuḥ, air; agniḥ, fire; āpaḥ, waters; pṛthivī, earth.
vedaḥ वेदः Revealed knowledge in a sacred, ancient śāstram that is apauruṣeya, not of human origin. The Vedaḥ is a timeless means of knowledge that becomes manifest every time the universe becomes manifest.
vedāṅgaḥ वेदाङ्गः Texts of six auxiliary sciences required for understanding the Vedaḥ, namely:
• chandas
• jyotiṣaḥ
• kalpaḥ
• niruktam
• śikṣā
• vyākaraṇam
vedāntaḥ वेदान्तः End, conclusion, antaḥ (literally and metaphorically) of each Vedaḥ; summit and final aim of all four Vedas; the jñāna-kāṇḍaḥ (the Upaniṣads), that section of the Vedas that deals with self-knowledge, for which the earlier part, the karma-kāṇḍaḥ, is in preparation.
vibhu विभु All-pervasive (by being the invariable reality of all); not spatially limited; powerful.
vibhūtiḥ विभूतिः A manifest exression of the glory and greatness of Īśvaraḥ, e.g. a flower, a tree, a painting, music, etc.; all that is manifest is an expression of the glory and greatness of the Lord.
vicāraḥ विचारः Enquiry; investigation into the reality of oneself and the world, chiefly by śravaṇam, etc., of the scriptures with the help of a competent ācāryaḥ.
vicāraṇīya विचारणीय Must be investigated; should be enquired into; must be considered; to be deliberated upon.
vicetasaḥ विचेतसः One lacking discriminate understanding; unthinking person; unintelligent; someone unable to discern that which is proper or improper and so unable to learn from his/her experiences in life.
videhaḥ विदेहः Free from the body; dead; (sadehaḥ, embodied, alive).
videhamuktiḥ विदेहमुक्तिः Freedom after death; non-assumption of a body, i.e. freedom from being born again. Videhamuktiḥ is only for the jñānī. After death, the jñānī 'merges' into Īśvaraḥ from the vyāvahārika perspective, or 'merges' into Brahman from the pāramārthika perspective. The cidābhāsaḥ, the individual reflection of consciousness, 'merges' into the total cidābhāsaḥ of Īśvaraḥ, like pot-space 'merging' into total space when the pot breaks. The gross, subtle and causal bodies all 'merge' into their respective universal counterparts. In short, ātmā 'resumes' its identity with the birthless, deathless, limitless Brahman, an identity that had never actually been lost and never could be lost.
vidhiḥ विधिः A rule; a law; an order; a stipulation; a mandate; an injunction; a duty; something ordained.
vidhi-vākyam विधि-वाक्यम् A positive statement; knowledge expressed in positive terms, e.g. satyam jñānam anantam brahma is a statement that reveals Brahman, defining its nature. Such a statement contrasts with a niṣedha-vākyam, one that reveals brahman by correcting false idea(s) about it.
vidvān विद्वान् Scholar; learned person; wise person.
vidvat-sannyāsaḥ विद्वत्-सन्न्यासः See sannyāsaḥ.
vidyā विद्या Knowledge; it is two-fold: parā-vidyā and aparā-vidyā.
vidyamāna विद्यमान Prevailing; prevalent (as); obtaining (as); be in force (as); hold good; being found (as); existent; present.
vighnaḥ विघ्नः Obstacle; impediment; hindrance.
vihita-karma विहित-कर्म Enjoined (ordained) action; (vihitam, order, command). The scriptures prescribe certain actions (such as pañcamahāyajñaḥ) that are of benefit to the world as a whole and from which all may benefit – and yet never do the scriptures insist, they only state (and encourage us in) that which is necessary for our well-being and eventual liberation. The scriptures also present what must happen if we neglect to do whatever is enjoined. Since, in common with most beneficial action, prescribed actions must be done regularly to be effective, vihita-karmas are also known as niyata, regular, karmas, actions.
vijātīya विजातीय Of a different species; unlike.
vijaya विजय Absolute victory.
vijñānam विज्ञानम् Pure knowledge; truth itself; pure intelligence; assimilated knowledge; secular knowledge.
vijñānamaya-kośaḥ विज्ञानमय-कोशः The kośaḥ consisting of the intellect, buddhiḥ, together with the five powers of perception, jñānendriyāṇi (hearing, touching, seeing, tasting, smelling). It is pervaded by the ānandamaya-kośaḥ. The vijñānamaya-ātmā (ātmā identified with the vijñānamaya-kośaḥ) pervades and identifies with the manomaya-kośaḥ and hence the lowest two as well.
vijñānātmanā विज्ञानात्मना The one knower in all intellects. It is non-different from Brahman.
vijñeyam विज्ञेयम् That which is to be (should be) known – implies ātmā.
vikalpaḥ विकल्पः Doubt; alternative idea or option; imagination; division. An alternative for action due to freedom of will. See saṅkalpaḥ.
vikāraḥ विकारः Change; transformation; alteration; effect; product; malady. (Nirvikāraḥ, beyond change, unchanging.)
vikriyā विक्रिया Transformation; modification; change for the worse.
vikṛtiḥ विकृतिः Modification, (vikāryam) e.g. "His behaviour modified her view of him"; a change in the form of a modification is one of the four possible results of karma, action – also see utpattiḥ (utpādyam), production; āptiḥ (āpyam), attainment; saṃskṛtiḥ (saṃskāryam), refinement.
vikṣepaḥ विक्षेपः Extrovertedness of the mind; overactive turning to outer concerns; strong emotions. Vikṣepaḥ is evident in the agitation, distraction, inattention and unconnected thoughts arising from the manifesting, scattering and tossing activity of vikṣepa-śaktiḥ. Born of the rajas of māyā, vikṣepaḥ is one of the four hindrances to meditation – the others are: kaṣāyam, layaḥ and rasāsvādaḥ. Vikṣepaḥ leads to vikṣipta.
vikṣepa-śaktiḥ विक्षेप-शक्तिः Rajas, the name of the active aspect of māyā, the kriyā-śaktiḥ, gives rise to the vikṣepa-śaktiḥ which by its projecting power creates the appearance of an external world (in which ātmā is mistaken for what it is not in adhyāsaḥ).
vikṣipta विक्षिप्त Distracted, scattered (attention); unfocused (thought); bewildered (mind) – all caused by vikṣepa-śaktiḥ.
vilakṣaṇa विलक्षण Distinct; distinguished (from).
vimocanam विमोचनम् Liberation; deliverance; release; unharnessing.
vināśaḥ विनाशः Destruction; annihilation.
viparināmaḥ विपरिनामः Modification; change; morphing; alteration; transformation; ripening; maturing; see ṣaḍ-bhāva-vikāraḥ.
viparīta विपरीत Contrary; perverse; wrong; false; erroneous; the very opposite of the truth.
viparīta-bhāvanā विपरीत-भावना Habit-driven self-misconception. Deep-rooted (mostly subliminal, and hence unseen and unquestioned) habitual error due to past orientation, vāsanā, manifesting as prārabdha-pāpam. It is this deeper form of pratibandhaḥ, this severe form of stubbornly persistent error (most commonly, identification with the body-mind-sense complex, but also including all forms of unquestioned obsessive thought that assumes the world is independently real) which prevents the fulfilment and enjoyment of what has been understood through śravaṇam and mananam. Viparīta-bhāvanā are removed through nididhyāsanam. See asambhavaḥ, nididhyāsanam, sākṣātkāraḥ and pratibandhaḥ.
vipaścit विपश्चित् Learned; wise; one who sees clearly; person of right perception.
vipraḥ विप्रः One who, through study of the śāstram and strict adherence to dharmaḥ (having learnt its value) becomes relatively mature, is known as a vipraḥ, a learned person.
virāga विराग (adj.) Passionless; objective; dispassionate; free from attachment (as a noun, it's masc. of vairāgyam).
virāṭ विराट् The one who shines in varied forms, with their names. The entire gross, perceptible universe, experienced in the waking state – and looked upon as a manifestation of the knowledge that is Brahman – is known as Virāṭ. In religious or purānic language Virāṭ is known as Viṣṇuḥ. Virāṭ and Vaiśvānaraḥ are synonyms. See antaryāmī, Hiraṇyagarbhaḥ, Vaiśvānaraḥ.
virodhaḥ विरोधः Opposition
vīryam वीर्यम् Strength; capacity; power. The capacity to create, sustain and resolve the jagat. See bhagaḥ.
visargaḥ विसर्गः Setting forth; letting go; voiding; dismissal; removal; discarding; action of offering during a fire ritual.
viṣayaḥ विषयः Any perceptible object, phenomenon or individual (gross or subtle); sense-object; content (subject matter). There are not innumerable sense-objects but, essentially, only five: śabdaḥ, sparśaḥ, rūpam, rasaḥ, gandhaḥ.
viṣaya-dhyānam विषय-ध्यानम् Thinking of an object. Objects are dwelt upon because they are liked. Liking leads to manorājyam, emotional dependence upon the world for one's happiness and security, in which desire is inevitable. When the expectation in a desire is frustrated, anger arises and with it the incapacity to discriminate true from false, appropriate from inappropriate. Anger is a state of delusion in which memory of what has been learnt to be appropriate or inappropriate is no longer available. Impulse displaces discrimination, leading to destruction (loss and decline). (See Gītā 2.62.) Prevention of all this is possible only by dwelling on pratyagātmā, the innermost self, which means guarding the mind by keeping one's true nature always in mind.
viṣaya-doṣaḥ विषय-दोषः The limitations of objects (being inert, objects cannot bring happiness, and anyway happiness is one's svarūpam). See doṣaḥ, pratyavāya-doṣaḥ and vaiṣamya-nairghṛṇya-doṣaḥ.
viśeṣaḥ विशेषः Attribute; distinguishing quality; peculiarity; that which is particular to.
viśeṣa-dharmaḥ विशेष-धर्मः Particular or individually applicable dharmaḥ; universal dharmaḥ as it is applicable in this particular or specific situation now; correct interpretation and application of universal or sāmānya-dharmaḥ in a particular context. See sāmānya-dharmaḥ and dharmaḥ.
viśeṣa-jñānam विशेष-ज्ञानम् Awareness of variety. Consciousness appears varied and variable (but only) because of association with varied thoughts. See śuddha-caitanyam.
viśeṣaṇam विशेषणम् Adjective; that which qualifies a word; that which distinguishes an object (a noun) by negating other objects.
viśeṣaṇa-viśeṣya-bhāva-sambandhaḥ विशेषण-विशेष्य-भाव-सम्बन्धः Attribute-substantive relation. This shows the relation between two words qualifying each other so as to signify a common object. In the sentence, "This is that Devadatta" the meaning of the word ‘that’ is Devadatta existing elsewhere in the remote past, and the meaning of the word ‘this’ is Devadatta existing here in the present. They are contrary ideas, but still they qualify each other so as to signify a common object. Similarly, in the sentence tattvamasi (you are that) the meaning of the word ‘that’ is consciousness characterised by remoteness, etc., and the meaning of the word ‘you’ is consciousness characterised by immediacy, etc. They are contrary ideas, but still they qualify each other so as to signify that which is common, namely consciousness. See sāmānādhikaraṇyam and lakṣya-lakṣaṇa-bhāvaḥ.
viśeṣyam विशेष्यम् Noun; a substantive (that having substance, having substantiality, and hence having the capacity to be the focus of attention, and, being 'substantial', is capable of being a locus of named, distinguishing attributes); that which is subject to being distinguished (vyāvartya) from other items or phenomena by an adjective, viśeṣaṇam.
viśiṣṭa विशिष्ट Qualified (by); distinguished (by); the attributed (that which has attributes).
viśiṣṭādvaitam विशिष्टाद्वैतम् The dualistic view that, 'I am part of the whole'; a view in which individuality ever remains, and that the individual self and the absolute ever co-exist in some way.
viṣṇuḥ विष्णुः Īśvaraḥ, the Lord, as the all-pervasive reality sustaining the universe; see Brahmā, Śivaḥ, Virāṭ.
vistāraḥ विस्तारः Manifestation; expansion; projection; elaboration; ennumeration; becoming large or great. The universe is a manifestation, projection or expansion of consciousness.
viśvaḥ विश्वः A complete, manifest jīvaḥ. A term for a form of ahaṅkāraḥ in which ātmā, identified with being a jīvaḥ, with an individual gross body, sthūla-śarīram, in the waking state, jāgrad-avasthā (in which state alone free-will may be enjoyed) gathers experiences of the world through the five senses. Note that for a jīvaḥ to be identified with the gross body there must be identification with and use of the subtle and causal bodies too, hence the use of the term 'a complete, manifest jīvaḥ'. Viśvaḥ does not know or apprehend reality and has misconceptions about it. The corresponding universal or samaṣṭiḥ term is Virāṭ. See prājñaḥ, taijasaḥ.
viśvam विश्वम् All; all-pervading; whole; entire; universal; omni-present; that which is constituted of innumerable forms, names and functions; synonym for the jagat (which is mithyā); also an epithet for Viṣṇuḥ (and hence for Īśvaraḥ).
viśvarūpaḥ विश्वरूपः The Lord, Īśvaraḥ, in the form, rūpam, of the entire universe in all its glorious detail. This is the form of God that is worshipped by the devotee of intermediate understanding. See iṣṭa-devatā and brahman.
viśvāsaḥ विश्वासः Trust; faith; belief; reliance.
vitaṇḍa-vādaḥ वितण्ड-वादः Discussion with the sole purpose of defeating the opponent; no intention to learn from or even tolerate the other's view; no regard for truth; also see samvādaḥ, vādaḥ, jalpa-vādaḥ.
vītarāgaḥ वीतरागः Free from attachment; free from the hold of likes and dislikes; not dependent on the world for one's happiness.
vittam वित्तम् An acquisition; a gain; property; wealth; power.
vivakṣā विवक्षा Intended meaning; that which the speaker/writer wishes to express or hopes to communicate; see grahaṇam.
vivaraṇam विवरणम् An explanation, a scriptural elucidation within Vedāntaḥ that, since the ātmā is ever-experienced, śravanam, hearing, is sufficient for its full ascertainment as it provides aparokṣa-jñānam, immediate knowledge in a suitably prepared hearer. Both mananam and nididhyāsanam of course have their place, but the emphasis is on knowledge through śravanam. This is confirmed numerous times by Ādi-Śaṅkaraḥ in his many commentaries. See bhāmatī.
vivartaḥ विवर्तः Apparent change of one object or material into another while retaining its original nature. See pariṇāmaḥ.
vivarta-upādāna-kāraṇam विवर्त-उपादान-कारणम् A material cause in which there is the assuming of another form without giving up one's own intrinsic nature. For example, mother-of-pearl appearing to be silver, or a rope appearing to be a snake. Here, cause and effect belong to different orders of reality and so knowledge alone suffices to bring freedom. See upādāna-kāraṇam, pariṇāma-upādāna-kāraṇam.
vivekaḥ विवेकः Discriminative knowledge or understanding that the timeless, infinite vastu is one and all else is time-bound, finite. This is the first and foremost of the qualifications required for self-knowledge.
vividiṣā-sannyāsaḥ विविदिषा-सन्न्यासः See sannyāsaḥ.
vivikta विविक्त Secluded; solitary; isolated; separated.
vivikta-deśaḥ विविक्त-देशः A quiet, undisturbed place that is by nature free from causes for fear; one who tends to go there is called a vivikta-deśa-sevitvī and his state of mind is vivikta-deśa-sevitvam, a state in which solitude is not just valued but, due to emotional independence, is also found comfortable and free from feelings of loneliness and lack.
vratam व्रतम् A vow; a firm commitment – dṛḍha-vratam, (dṛḍha) firm, (vratam) commitment – only by a firm commitment is truth attained; a solemn vow carried out under strict rules on food, sleep, etc., usually to attain greater self-control or to expiate sins.
vṛddhiḥ वृद्धिः Growth; increase; success.
vṛttiḥ वृत्तिः Thought; state; mode of being; disposition; behaviour; commentary (vartikam).
vṛtti-jñānam वृत्ति-ज्ञानम् Knowledge manifest in the mind as a thought.
vṛtti-viśeṣaḥ वृत्ति-विशेषः A particular, limited state of mind; a mental modification.
vṛtti-vyāptiḥ वृत्ति-व्याप्तिः A term referring to the perceptual process of the mind attaining (vyāptiḥ, pervading and taking the form of) the object perceived by the senses. This is the essential first step in the perception of an object: the object (along with its setting or environment) perceived by the senses becomes a vṛttiḥ, a thought, a mode of being that, vyāptiḥ, takes the form of, the object. It is only ever that thought that is perceived by the mind, not the object. So, if the object is a rope and the vṛttiḥ is a snake, it is a snake that is perceived. See the second step: phala-vyāptiḥ.
vyabhicāraḥ व्यभिचारः Inconsistence; ever changeable; deviation; subject to arrival and departure; a contradiction; fallacious or erroneous reasoning.
vyāhṛtiḥ व्याहृतिः Sacred utterance; a term for any of the sacred utterances (always preceded by om) namely bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ, mahaḥ, janaḥ, tapaḥ, satyam. See gāyatrī-mantraḥ.
vyākaraṇam व्याकरणम् Sanskrit grammar; one of the six auxiliary sciences, Vedāṅgas, of the Vedas – also see śikṣā, chandas, niruktam, jyotiṣaḥ, kalpaḥ.
vyākhyānam व्याख्यानम् Exposition or commentary on a text that is not a śrutiḥ text.
vyakta व्यक्त Manifest; (vyaktiḥ, manifestation; appearance; perceptibility; being available for experience.)
vyānaḥ व्यानः Name attributed to the vital air governing the circulatory system in the body – an aspect of prāṇaḥ; also see apānaḥ, elimination; samānaḥ, digestion; udānaḥ, upward breath.
vyaṅgyārthaḥ व्यङ्ग्यार्थः The suggested meaning, the meaning hinted at or indicated by allusion or insinuation, as in: "You seem to be saying..." "He alluded to there being..." "She insinuated that there might have been...". See vācyārthaḥ, lakṣyārthaḥ, mukhyārthaḥ.
vyañjanam व्यञ्जनम् A consonant; a letter of the alphabet other than a vowel. A consonant is soundless without a vowel (hence the English word 'consonant', sounding with) and so a vowel needs to be added for pronunciation. For example, the consonant 'd' cannot be sounded on its own without the vowel sound 'ee' being added, viz. 'dee'. In Sanskrit, the soundless (vowel-less) vyañjanam is known as hal. See svaraḥ, hal.
vyāptiḥ व्याप्तिः Pervasiveness; inherent, inseparable presence.
vyāpti-jñānam व्याप्ति-ज्ञानम् Knowledge arising from invariable concomitance – since fire and smoke are always present together I can infer (validly know) that the sight or smell of smoke means there is, or has recently been, a fire.
vyāsaḥ व्यासः Compiler; the great saint known as Veda-Vyāsaḥ (also known as Bādarāyaṇa) who compiled the Vedas and authored the Mahābhāratam, Brahma-Sūtras, a commentary on the Yoga-Sūtras and also 18 mahā-purāṇas and 18 upa-purāṇas.
vyaṣṭiḥ व्यष्टिः Individual; microcosmic being (N.B. there is no vyaṣṭiḥ without samaṣṭiḥ, no ocean wave without an ocean, no gold ornament without gold); see samaṣṭiḥ.
vyatirekaḥ व्यतिरेकः Contrast – implies vyāvṛttiḥ, discontinuance; removal; cessation; exclusion; see anvayaḥ.
vyatiriktaḥ व्यतिरिक्तः Distinct; separate.
vyavahāraḥ व्यवहारः Transaction; vyāvahārika, transactional.
vyāvahārika-satyam व्यावहारिक-सत्यम् Phenomenal, experiential, transactional, empirical, ephemeral reality, namely the (mithyā) universe (the Īśvara-sṛṣṭiḥ) and all that is in it, including its laws, its means and ends, and also one's body, mind and senses. See pāramārthika-satyam, prātibhāsika-satyam and jīva-sṛṣṭiḥ.
vyāvarttakam व्यावर्त्तकम् That which distinguishes something from everything else.
vyavasāyaḥ व्यवसायः Resolution; decision; settled determination; being definite.
vyomā (vyoman) व्योमा (व्योमन्) Space in the heart, hṛdayam, in which the mind is figuratively said to abide.
yajamānaḥ यजमानः Worshipper; performer of a ritual; the one to whom goes the benefit of the ritual.
yajñaḥ यज्ञः Vedic form of worship; fire ritual; worship in general. Synonyms of yajñaḥ are yāgaḥ, kratuḥ, homaḥ, all of which are fire rituals in which oblations are offered.
yakṣaḥ यक्षः A mysterious, divine appearance (ref. Kena Upaniṣad, Ch. 3 & 4).
yamaḥ यमः Set of five prohibitions in aṣṭāṅga-yogaḥ, namely:
• ahiṃsā
• satyam
• asteyam
• brahmacaryam
• aparigrahaḥ
yaśaḥ (yaśas) यशः (यशस्) Fame; renown; glory. See bhagaḥ.
yatiḥ यतिः One of proper, adequate and appropriate effort; a sannyāsī.
yatnaḥ यत्नः Effort
yātrā यात्रा Journey; pilgrimage.
yogaḥ योगः Joining; absolute knowledge (wisdom); discipline.
yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam योगः कर्मसु कौशलम् Discretion in action is yogaḥ. "Kauśalam is your capacity to interpret correctly. This capacity to interpret with reference to norms for human interaction is discretion, the proper exercise of which is an expertise. The norm for human interaction is called dharmaḥ and the opposite is called adharmaḥ. Dharmaḥ and adharmaḥ form the standard norms. They are not absolutes in that they have to be interpreted according to the given situation. The person who can interpret them properly is called kuśala, skilful, competent, expert. Dharmaḥ and adharmaḥ are not to be interpreted according to convenience, but must be in line with what is proper. Proper interpretation of dharmaḥ is what is meant by kauśalam. Kauśalam is yogaḥ because you are not in the hands of your rāga-dvesas when you exercise discretion in your choice of action."* See Gītā 2.50 and also karma-yogaḥ.
yogārūḍha योगारूढ One who is adequately disciplined and mentally prepared for the pursuit of knowledge having gone through the discipline of karma-yogaḥ. An ethical and religious person committed to and prepared for the spiritual pursuit.
yoniḥ योनिः Womb; cause; (any) place of origin.
yugam युगम् Astronomical time period; see caturyugam, manvantaram, kalpaḥ.
yukta युक्त Integrated with; endowed with; engaged in; united with; yuktaḥ, person of integrated personality, person of integrity.
yuktiḥ युक्तिः Use or application of reasoning or logic. Ātmā is differentiated from anātmā by śruti-pramāṇam (specifically Vedānta-vicāraḥ) supported by yukti-pramāṇam, use of reason or logic.
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In saguṇa-brahma-upāsanam or īśvara-upāsanam, worship of the Lord is a three-fold activity: kāyikam karma, vācikam karma and mānasam karma.
Kāyam means body, so kāyikam karma includes activity involving the physical body, such as waving a light, ringing a bell, offering food, cooking food, decoration of deities, etc. Orally reciting verses or chanting mantras or singing in praise of the Lord (invoking grace) is oral activity, vācikam karma, which can be with or without kāyikam karma. In kāyikam and vācikam karma the mind is involved, having only the thought of the Lord. However, in mānasam karma, purely mental activity, body and speech are not involved. Mānasam karma can be mānasa japaḥ (mentally repeating a mantraḥ) or visualising the form of the Lord as a given deity (as described in jñāna ślokāh) with focused attention. See mānasam karma, kāyikam karma.
• adhyāropa-apavāda-viveka-prakriyā
• ajāti-vādaḥ
• apavādaḥ
• apavāda-vākyam
• asat-kārya-vādaḥ
• avaccheda-vādaḥ
• bhedābheda-vādaḥ
• brahma-kārya-vādaḥ
• dṛṣṭi-sṛṣṭi-vādaḥ
• karma-kārya-vādaḥ
• pratibimba-vādaḥ
• sat-kārya-vādaḥ
One form of vādaḥ is known simply as vādaḥ and is an open-minded, unbiased discussion between equals to resolve a disagreement and establish the truth – both think they are right, yet are ready to listen to and accept the other’s view. For other forms of discussion, see samvādaḥ, jalpa-vādaḥ, vitaṇḍa-vādaḥ.
Passion here refers to the passions of attachment and aversion or the impulses of like and dislike. Wherever there is attachment there will be dveṣaḥ, aversion. Both are forms of desire, which is born of adhyāsaḥ, mistaken conception followed by adhyāropaḥ, the superimposition of false characteristics leading to false valuations. But vairāgyam does not mean no enjoyment, it means enjoyment without dependence or addiction.
Dispassion – freedom from being ruled by the pull and push of attachment and aversion – is developed from seeing again and again the limitations of everything, and seeing that everything is subject to time and so cannot give permanent happiness (timeless reality alone gives timeless happiness). More specifically, it's developed by seeing that all action is inherently flawed because all achievements involve some degree of suffering. All pleasure, for instance, involves pain in its attainment, its loss and even some pain in its enjoyment. Secondly, being limited, an action's result can never give limitless satisfaction, and thirdly, all action binds as it produces a result that has to be met sometime, somewhere.
Only someone of dispassion is capable of the focused attention needed to hear the teaching clearly and undistractedly and of having the subtlety of mind required to understand it. Such hearing alone liberates.
Good vāsanās aid spiritual progress while bad ones are opposed to it. A bad vāsanā can be rendered impotent by assiduously cultivating a vāsanā of the opposite kind. So a spiritual aspirant should neutralise the impure vāsanās that plague him by developing appropriate pure vāsanās.
There are three types of impure vāsanā or impure mental tendency: loka-vāsanā, a mental impression relating to the world, śāstra-vāsanā, a mental tendency pertaining to the scripture, and deha-vāsanā, a latent mental imprint concerning the body. The muktikā-upaniṣad declares: “True knowledge never dawns in a person with loka-vāsanā, śāstra-vāsanā and deha-vāsanā."
Even though widely revered as a scripture, the true sacredness and ultimate purpose of the Vedaḥ is as a pramāṇam for discovering reality, and it should be used (operated) as such.
Scripture is something that has been spoken by a given mahātma. Thereafter, it becomes a mandate to be followed by others. In contrast, the Vedaḥ, being a pramāṇam, its subject matter is something to be revealed. Therefore, it is operated by those seeking to understand what it reveals. That which is revealed by the Vedaḥ is not a matter for belief. Being a pramāṇam, it is universal.
The Vedaḥ was compiled into four texts: Ṛg-vedaḥ, Sāma-vedaḥ, Yajur-vedaḥ, Atharvaṇa-vedaḥ by the mahāmuniḥ (great sage) known as Veda-vyāsaḥ. The Yajur-vedaḥ consists of the Śukla-yajur-vedaḥ and the Kṛṣṇa-yajur-vedaḥ, effectively giving five Vedas. Each Vedaḥ consists of a prior section (Veda-pūrva) known as the karma-kāṇḍaḥ or ritual section followed by a final or end section (Veda-anta) also known as the jñāna-kāṇḍaḥ or knowledge section (the Upaniṣads). In the context of ritual, only three Vedas (Ṛg, Yajus, Sāma) may be counted. The Atharvaṇa is not counted with the other three as it does not have a prominent role in ritual.
The Vedaḥ expects every follower of the Vedaḥ to start with the karma section, the religious way of life. One should start with the religious life and graduate into the spiritual life revealed in the jñānam section. Without a religious life, spirituality will not work. Without spirituality, a religious life is incomplete. Therefore, the follower of the Vedaḥ should follow a religious life and go to spirituality.
• chandas
• jyotiṣaḥ
• kalpaḥ
• niruktam
• śikṣā
• vyākaraṇam
Vedāntaḥ enshrines śabda-pramāṇam, the ultimate and primary means to mokṣaḥ. Discovery of absolute reality is discovery of Vedāntaḥ.
Vedāntaḥ, being not subject to negation, is not a philosophy, not a school of thought, not a system of ideas, not a set of contentions. It is a means of knowledge, a pramāṇam, for a vision of reality that has to be understood rather than believed.
Vedāntaḥ, by not replacing one set of notions with another, but by showing the error in mistaken ones, reveals by implication the non-dual nature of reality. Hence, the term Advaita Vedāntaḥ is a tautology.
Vedāntaḥ is not part of what academics call the 'Six systems of Indian philosophy'. Neither is Vedāntaḥ for proselytisation, it is for sharing with those who seek it.
The vijñānamaya-ātmā, being both identified with and being the locus of the 'I'-thought, ahaṃ-vṛttiḥ, becomes the subject or knower, jñātā (I know, I don't know, I'm clever, I'm stupid). By making use of the prāṇamaya-kośaḥ it becomes the doer, kartā, (I achieved that, I am guilty of that, etc.). Everything else in the mind, including the world, is looked upon as 'this', idaṃ-vṛttiḥ, or 'object'.
Vikṣepa-śaktiḥ is three-fold:
• jñāna-śaktiḥ - the power to know
• icchā-śaktiḥ - the power to desire
• kriyā-śaktiḥ - the power to act
• jñāna-śaktiḥ - the power to know
• icchā-śaktiḥ - the power to desire
• kriyā-śaktiḥ - the power to act
Knowing may lead to desire and then action. Also see āvaraṇa-śaktiḥ and śaktiḥ.
By the time of upanayanam a child is usually mature enough to obediently follow instructions, but not yet mature enough to properly understand the value of what is taught. Later in life, having developed a degree of vivekaḥ and vairāgyam from analysing life's experiences, having begun to live a life of dharmaḥ, and having begun to see that nothing in life brings meaningful, lasting happiness, the person begins serious study of the śāstram. Such study eventually leads to that person becoming vipraḥ, learned. From vipraḥ alone comes an adequate degree of maturity. Full maturity is only in jñānam.
Grammatically, the two dots : that appear at the end of a Sanskrit word (in devanāgarī script) ending with a vowel are known as visargaḥ. It takes the sound of that immediately preceding vowel, e.g. rāmaḥ (raamaha), hariḥ (harihi), guruḥ (guruhu).
Objects of perception are the manifest properties of the elements: an object's capacity to manifest properties of the elements is all that is ever perceived of any object. (Pañcadaśī 2.7)
It is often thought that satyam, jñānam, anantam are merely attributes of Brahman, but that is not true. They are not svarūpa-viśeṣaṇas, ordinary adjectives that reveal attributes, they are lakṣaṇa-viśeṣanas, meaning they do not qualify Brahman but distinguish the vastu from everything else (and, in doing so, each of the three negates the limits of the other two, and so together they negate any notions that Brahman has attributes, viśeṣas, and is limited). See viśeṣyam.
There are two types of vivekaḥ needed in life: discrimination between that which is real and unreal, and discrimination between that which is to be done and not done. These two constitute jñānam. See sādhana-catuṣṭayam.
Pure consciousness is not opposed to ignorance. It is undisturbed and unaffected by ignorance. Only knowledge in the form of vivekaḥ is opposed to ignorance. That knowledge is found in the buddhiḥ of the knower of truth – see Pañcadaśī 6.32.
An object is known when there's a cognition of it in the mind (buddhiḥ). When the senses bring data into the mind, the mind (manas) undergoes changes, called vṛttis or pratyayas, that are momentary (changing very rapidly like a succession of frames in a movie camera) and relevant to that object. The vṛttiḥ pervades the data presented to the mind by the senses and becomes the very form of it (a process called vṛtti-vyāptiḥ) like water taking the form of a wave or clay of a pot. Only that vṛttiḥ is seen in the mind, so if the external object is a rope and the vṛttiḥ is a snake, it is a snake that is seen, not a rope.
In this way, sensory data is interpreted by the mind (manas) as a vṛttiḥ that is presented to the buddhiḥ for cognition and decision. That interpretation will be influenced by memory and hence by habit, prejudice, preconception, like, dislike, etc.
Consciousness pervades each vṛttiḥ, as water pervades each wave, making the otherwise inert vṛttiḥ conscious. This means, every (transitory) vrttiḥ is a manifesting medium for (non-arriving, non-departing) consciousness. Every vṛttiḥ is a transitory state of consciousness, just as every wave is a succession of fleeting states of water or every image varying modes of light.
The mind is nothing but transitory vṛttis that need to be individually and successively 'lit' by consciousness for perception to happen.
Note that even though the IAST transliteration scheme (followed in this glossary) uses a 'v' in many Sanskrit words, that 'v' is always to be pronounced 'w' as there is no dental fricative in Sanskrit. For example, Vedaḥ is pronounced 'waydaha' – an 'e' in IAST always means the vowel sound in came, play, etc. – and although the word swami is often written with a 'w', the correct IAST transliteration is svāmī, pronounced phonetically as 'swaamee' (not 'swaami').
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Worship and prayer earn the Lord's grace, which neutralises accumulated pāpa-karma, thereby removing the obstacles to the manifestation of the knowledge one has previously gained through śravanam, etc. Then that true knowledge, being now unobstructed, shines.
There are 18 time-bound factors (four priests for each of the four Vedas, the yajamānaḥ and his patnī, wife) involved in performing any ritual in which mantras from all the Vedas are used. Note that no timebound action (such as a ritual), no matter how meritorious, can produce a timeless result and so cannot produce the limitlessness that is mokṣaḥ. Nāsti akṛtaḥ kṛtena, the uncreated cannot be created (the limitless cannot be gained by the limited, i.e. by action).
A yajñaḥ is a devotional act, which may include the formal dissemination of knowledge, jñānam, via that which is known as a jñāna-yajñaḥ. See anugrahaḥ, pūjā, pañcamahā-yajñas.
• ahiṃsā
• satyam
• asteyam
• brahmacaryam
• aparigrahaḥ
A karma or action performed with the proper attitude, in conformity with universal values, that serves as a preparatory discipline for the knowledge that is mokṣaḥ, is known as karma-yogaḥ.
Pursuit of knowledge involving three steps – śravaṇam, mananam, nididhyāsanam – is a discipline called jñāna-yogaḥ, which must be followed for the attainment of knowledge.
Discipline followed for gaining the mental preparation needed for knowledge is karma-yogaḥ, whereas discipline followed for the attainment of knowledge is jñāna-yogaḥ.
A discipline known as haṭha yogaḥ, involving force, haṭha (physical action) is now practised worldwide in a simplified form and known as "yoga".
Yogaḥ also has a worldly meaning: the gaining of the not yet gained (see kṣemaḥ).
Mere logic lacks finality because it is drawn from and depends on experience. As such, logic is helpful in elucidating truth, but the dualistic and relative nature of experience means logic can never, by itself, provide absolute proof. However, logic that has scripture as its basis is decisive and deserves to be resorted to. See tarkaḥ and nyāyaḥ.