Glossary

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Key for reading special characters:

ā = aa
ī = ee
ū = oo
c = ch
ñ = as in Spanish (niño)
ś and š = sh

 
A
Akhanda - continuous, indivisible, uninterrupted, without any gap
Allāh - Almighty, God (by Muslims)
Ambā - Divine Mother
Ambe - O, Divine Mother!
Ānanda - bliss, joy, genuine and lasting joy
Antar - internal
Antaryāmi(n) - the inner motivator, the inner director
Ātma(n) - self, the real self; the spark of God; one's innermost reality


B
Bajānā (Hindi) - to drum, make noise, reverberate Baje - reverberates
Bhaj - to serve , honour , revere , love
Bhaje - worship
Bhajo(Re) - let's worship, let's sing in the praise of God
Bhavānī - goddess, Divine Mother; name for Pārvatī in her friendly aspect,
Bholā - (Hindi) simple, without guilt
Bholā Nāth - (Hindi) protector of the virtuous; name for Shiva Buddhi - intellect, intelligence; wakefulness
Buddha - awake, enlightened


D
Dam Dam - sound of small drum damaru
Damaru - Shiva's small drum
Dāya - gift, present, charity
Dāyaka - giver
Dhāma - dwelling-place, house, abode, domain (esp. seat of the gods; site of the sacred fire and the Soma; favourite residence)
Dharma - (dhri - hold, bear, carry; wear; support), that what holds, carries, supports the world (universe); established order, usage, institution, custom, prescription; rule; duty; virtue, morality, religion, religious merit, good works; duty, right, justice (often as a synonym of punishment), law usage; that which is established or firm, steadfast decree, statute, ordinance practice, customary observance or prescribed conduct 


G
Gajavadana - elephant faced, name for Ganesha
Gana - group, troop; followers; troop of demigods serving to Lord Shiva
Gananātha - leader of the ganas; lord of the ganas
Gaurīa - the Golden One, the Shining One; name for Divine Mother Pārvatī
Ghana - full, compact, solid, material, hard, firm, dense; coarse; dark; deep (as sound; colour); cloud; ringing of the bell (ghanta)
Ghanaśyāma - dark as a cloud, Krishna
Ghanta - bell
Giri - mountain, hill, rock, elevation, rising-ground (often connected with "a mountain having many parts"
Giridhāra - holder of the mountain; Krishna
Go - cow, cattle; the senses
Gopāla - protector (pāla) of cattle (of souls), cowherd; Krishna
Govinda - finder (vinda) of cattle (of souls), cowherd; Krishna
Guna - a single thread or strand of a cord or twine; string or thread; a quality, peculiarity, attribute or property; good quality, virtue, merit, excellence; an attribute of the 5 elements (each of which has its own peculiar quality or qualities as well as organ of sense; thus 1. ether has shabda, or sound for its guna and the ear for its organ; 2. the air has tangibility and sound for its gunas and the skin for its organ; 3. fire or light has shape or colour, tangibility, and sound for its gunas, and the eye for its organs; 4. water has flavour, shape, tangibility, and sound for its gunas, and the tongue for its organ; 5. earth has the preceding gunas, with the addition of its own peculiar guna of smell , and the nose for its organ); (in Samkhya phil.) an ingredient or constituent of prakriti, chief quality of all existing beings (viz. sattva , rajas, and tamas i.e. goodness, passion, and darkness, or virtue, foulness, and ignorance)
Gunālaya - abode of good qualities; one endowed with all virtues
Guru - preceptor, teacher, guide to spiritual liberation; the one who removes ignorance; the one who destroys delusion; (also meaning) heavy, weighty; great, large, extended, long; (in prosody) long by nature or position; high in degree, vehement, violent, excessive, difficult, hard; important, serious, momentous; valuable, highly prized; haughty, proud (speech), venerable, respectable, any venerable or respectable person (father, mother, or any relative older than one's self); a spiritual parent or preceptor (from whom a youth receives the initiatory mantra or prayer, who instructs him in the sastras and conducts the necessary ceremonies up to that of investiture which is performed by the acarya)


H
Hara - bearing, wearing, taking, conveying, bringing; taking away, carrying off, removing, destroying, ravishing, captivating; "Seizer ", "Destroyer", name of Siva
Hare - o Lord! (Hari)
Hari - to be yellow or green; fawn-coloured, reddish brown, brown, tawny, pale yellow, yellow, fallow, bay (esp. applied to horses), green, greenish; name of Vishnu-Krishna (the Lord whose colour is blue (vastness or infinity) but takes shape in matter whose colour is yellow or hari. This is why Krishna always is wearing yellow dress.)
Harihara - Vishnu and Shiva in one form
He - (hey) o!; ind. a vocative particle ("oh!" "ho!" etc.)


I
Īśvara - the Lord; Master; God; the Almighty; the Creator; Heavenly Father; (also meaning) soundless, noiseless - the quiet witness (ātman)


J
Jagat - the moving, changing, transitory, untrue world; the world, universe, creation, all created; (also meaning) moving, movable, locomotive, living; that which moves or is alive; people, mankind
Jagadoddhārana - earth-protector; saviour of the world
Jai - victorious, triumphant, superior; leading to victory; victory to you!
Jaya - conquering, winning; conquest, victory, triumph, winning, being victorious (in battle or in playing with dice or in a lawsuit); victory over or restraint of the senses
Jānakī - Sītā
Jīvana - life; vivifying, giving life, enlivening; a living being
Jyoti - light, a radiant flame


K
Kaivalya - liberation, heaven; liberation from the bondage caused by five elements; isolation; absolute unity; perfect isolation, abstraction, detachment from all other connections, detachment of the soul from matter or further transmigration, beatitude; leading to eternal happiness or emancipation
Kamala - the lotus flower
Ke - (Hindi) of (Nanda Ke Lāla - the child of Nanda)
Keśava - the one with beautiful log hair; Krishna
Komala - tender, soft, bland, sweet, pleasing, charming, agreeable
Krišna - black, dark, dark blue; 8th avatār of Lord Vishnu
Kula - a race, family, community, tribe, caste, set, company; the caste of the Brahmans; a noble or eminent family or race; a house, abode; the residence of a family, seat of a community, inhabited country

L
Lala - sporting, playful; lolling, wagging; child


M
Ma - me (base of the 1st pers. pron. in acc. sg. mām or mā ; gen. mama or me)
Mā, Mātā - mother
Mādhava - sweet, sweet like honey; relating to spring; belonging or peculiar to the descendants of Madhu i.e. the Yadavas; Krishna
Madhura - sweet, pleasant, charming, delightful
Mama - my
Mana, Manas - mind (in its widest sense as applied to all the mental powers); internal organ; intellect, intelligence, understanding; soul, heart; conscience; thought; conception; imagination; cogitation, reflexion; inclination, desire, will; mood, disposition; in the philosophical systems manas is always regarded as distinct from soul (ātman) of which it is only the instrument, and is considered perishable.
Mandana - decorating, adorning; being an ornament to = dwelling in or ruling (a city or country); adornment, ornament
Mangalya - portending good fortune, auspicious; auspicious object, amulet; benediction;
Manohara - captivating the mind, fascinating, attractive; charming, beautiful
Mathurā - city on the bank of Yamuna river; birthplace of Krishna
Muralī - Krishna's flute


N
Nām(a) - name
Namah - bowing, adoring, reverential salutation
Namo - doing obeisance
Nānaka - guru Nānak, the founder of Sikhism
Nanda - Krishna's stepfather; happiness, joy; son
Nara - man; husband; hero; the primordial Man, Spirit
Nārāyana - the One who is resting (śayana) in man (nara) and in all beings; God as Divine spark in all; Vishnu
Nātha - protector, guardian, ruler, lord, possessor; husband
Nayana - bringing, conducting, leading; eye (guiding organ)
Nayanābhirām(a) - the one who is delighting, rejoicing the eyes
Nivāsa - clothing; clothed with; staying, passing the night, sojourn; quarters, abode, residence
Nivāsi(n) - clothed with; dwelling in, living with; inhabitant, resident



O
Om - the pranava, the original sound; the sound of brahman; the sound of creation

P
Parama - the highest, super, beyond, above, more glorious than all
Paramātma(n) - absolute, the highest ātman, the over-soul, the universal soul, God
Parti - Puttaparthi
Partipurī - the town of Puttaparthi
Partipurīśa - the Lord (īśa=Īśvara) from Partipurī (the town of Puttaparthi)
Pāvana - purifying, sanctifying; pure, holy; purification, sanctification; means of purifying
Pradāyaka - giving, bestowing, granting, imparting
Pradāyin - causing, producing
Priya - dear, beloved; favourite, cherished; pleasing, agreeable
Pura - castle, fortified city; town
Purī - citadel, city, town


R
Rādhā, Rādhe - the greatest devotee of Krishna; Krishna's feminine principle
Rāghava - descendant of Raghu
Raghu - dynasty in which Rāma was born
Raghupati - the lord of Raghu dynasty
Rājana - belonging to royal family
Rām, Rāma - dark-coloured, black; pleasing, delightful, charming, lovely
Re - exclamation


S
Sadguru (sat-guru) - the true, enlightened teacher
Sāī (sa-ayī) - Swami says sa means 'all' and ayi means 'mother', so Sāī means the supreme mother of all
Sarva - all; every
Sarvāntaryāmi(n) - the inner motivator, present everywhere at all times
Siddhi - accomplishment, performance, fulfilment, complete attainment, success
Sītā - furrow; personified as Rama's wife
Sundara - beautiful, lovely, handsome


Ś
Śambho - O, Śambhu!
Śambhu(o) - the one who bestows good; Śiva
Śankara - causing prosperity, beneficent; Śiva
Śirdī - town in Maharashtra state, North India
Śiva - kind, friendly, gracious; pleasant, auspicious, prosperous, happy; the Auspicious One
Śivāya - to Śiva
Śubha - splendid, beautiful, handsome; pleasant, agreeable; auspicious, lucky; good, virtuous, pure; welfare, prosperity, good fortune, happiness
Śyāmala - dark-coloured


T
Tanaya - son


V
Vara - choicest, most excellent or beautiful among; better, more excellent than
Vidyā - knowledge, learning, science
Vidyā dāyaka - the one imparting knowledge
Vināyaka (vi-nāyaka) - leader, guide; Ganeśa
Vitthala - Krishna on the brick


Z
Zorāštra - Zoroaster, Zaratustra; founder of Zoroastrianism, Parsian religion


Y
Yeśū = Īśū = Īsā - Jesus