OM

Ajnanatimirintasyajnananjanasalakaya

Cakshurunmilitam yena tasmai 

srigurave namah

ADVAITA VEDANTA

D   Krishna Ayyar

 

GLOSSARY FOR ADVAITA VEDANTA

Q-Z

 

Sadhana catushtaya

The four fold discipline qualifying for the study of Jnana kanda, consisting of viveka, vairagya, shatka sampatti, and mumukshutvam

Sadhanas

Spiritual practices

Sakshi

When the all pervading consciousness is referred as the consciousness that is the source of the reflected consciousness in the mind and is present throughout when mind has one cognition after another , it is called Sakshi

Sama

Control or mastery over the mind

Samadhana

Single-contended of the mind

Samanvaya

Harmonious interpretation of texts – Sastra mentions six criteria – what is said in the beginning, what is said in the end, what is repeated, what is praised or condemned, what accords with logic and what is said to bring benefit.

Samashti

Macrocosm

Samsara

The cycle of births and deaths, karma and karma phalam punya and papa and  enjoyment and suffering.

Sancita karma

The accumulated ‘bundle’ of punya and papa

Santimantra

Benedictory verse

Sarvagatam

All pervading

Sarvajnah

The omniscient

Sarvasaktiman

The omnipotent

Sarvatmabhava

The sense that one is everything

Sastra

Scripture.  Spiritual literature including Sruti, Smriti, Bhashyas, Vartikas, and Prakarana Granthas

Sat

(1)Existence; (2) essence

Satyam

That which exists in all three periods of time

Shatka Sampatti

A  six fold  mental training consisting of sama dama, uparama, tritiksha, sraddha and samadhana

Siddhi

Superhuman powers

Siva

The God embodying Iswara’s power of  dissolution

Smriti

Elaborations based on sruti. E.g., Bhagavat Gita. Literal meaning is memory; remembrance

Sraddha

Faith in the teaching of the guru and scriptures

Sravanam

Listening to the teaching of Sastra by a guru

Srishti

Creation of the universe ; the unfolding of names and forms out of Maya

Sruti

 Veda, in four compilations – Rg, Yajuh,  Sama and Atharva

Sthiti

Maintenance of the universe

Sthoola sarira

The physical body – the annamaya kosa

Sukshma sarira

The subtle body consisting of the pranamaya, manomaya and vijanamaya kosas

Sushupti

The deep sleep state

Sutra

Scriptural work in the form aphorisms

Swapna avastha

The dreaming state

Swaroopam

Intrinsic nature

Tattvamasi

“Thou art That”.  The teaching “You, Jivatma are none other than Brahman”

Titiksha

Endurance of discomforts, such as heat, cold etc .Equanimity towards the opposites of pleasure and pain. Acceptance of things and situations without grudging or complaint.

Triputi

The division of the knower, the known and the knowing instrument or the act of knowing – the pramata, the prameyam and the pramanam

Upadana karanam

Material cause

Upadhi

The thing from which characteristics are falsely transferred to an entity that is close by

Upahitam

The entity to which characteristics of a thing close by are falsely transferred

Upanishad

Vedic texts dealing with Brahman, jivatmas and the  jagat

Upanishadic

Used as an adjectival form of Upanishad

Uparati

Performance of one’s duty towards himself, the parents, teacher, family, society etc., which involves sacrifice as opposed to insistence on rights which involves demands on others

Upasana

Spiritual meditation

Vairagya

Dispassion – Absence of desire for enjoyment of things of this world as also of other worlds

Vakyam

Sentence

Vartika

Commentary, in verse form ,on the scriptural text

Vasanas

Impressions formed in the mind on account of experiences.

Veda

The original Hindu religious scripture

Vedanta

Janna kanda consisting of the Upanishads

Vedantic

Used as an adjectival for of Vedanta

Videhamukti

Dissolution of the sthoola, sukshma and karana sariras of a Jivanmukta when he dies

Vijanamaya kosa

The intellect and the five sense organs of perception

Vikshepa sakti

Projecting power. The power of Maya that projects the universe of names and forms on Brahman, the sub-stratum of pure Existence and also deludes jivatmas into mistaking the world to be real

Virat

Cosmic physical body

Vishnu

The God embodying the Iswara’s power of maintenance of the universe

Vivarta karanam

The cause that produces effect without undergoing any change.

Viveka

Discrimination of the eternal and the ephemeral

Vritti

Thought mode

Vyashti

Microcosm

Vyavaharika satyam

Empirical reality

 LOKA SAMASTHA SUKINO BAVANTHU:

SHANTIH  SHANTIH  SHANTIH:  SUBHAM