Glossary

Exact transliteration from Sanskrit is impossible without using phonetic symbols that would confuse the general reader more than they would help. In this book I have followed the simple and customary forms of transliteration, even though these are not always quite accurate. For instance, there is a letter between the English s and sh which is customarily transliterated as s in some words (e.g. Siva) and sh in others (e.g. Vishnu). Where a consonant is followed by an h it is slightly aspirated. This applies to th also but not to sh or ch, which are to be pronounced as in English.

There is not the same system of stress in Sanskrit as in English but a qualitative system of long and short vowels, as in Greek and Latin. The vowel pronunciation is approximately as below.

a between much and that

a as in path

ai as ‘in high

e as in step

e as in maid

i as in bid

i as in deep

o as in boat

u between put and pool

Abheda. No-otherness (see bheda).

Adi-Guru. The ancient or primordial or original Guru.

The Divine Source from which the power of initiation and guidance descends to a line of Gurus. An epithet of Sri Shankaracharya and sometimes also of Dakshinamurthi.

Adina-Guru. The founder of a line of Gurus. Except in the case of the founder of a new path, initiation (like ordination) is valid only when given by one who is duly authorized and whose authorization goes back in an unbroken chain to the founder of his line.

Advaita. Non-duality, the doctrine that nothing exists apart from the Spirit, but everything is a form assumed by the Spirit (see the third paragraph of Chapter IX).

The principle doctrinal division among the Hindus is between the schools of Advaita and Dvaita. The Dvaitists or Dualists worship a Personal God separate from the worshipper. The Advaitists, while recognizing the truth of this conception on its own plane, go beyond it to the conception of the Absolute in which a man is absorbed back into That which is his Source and real Self, surviving in the pure Bliss and boundless Consciousness of Being.

Agnana. Ignorance. The prefix ‘a’ (as in abheda) is a negative, so the word literally means ‘lack of knowledge’.

‘The first n’ is pronounced almost like the ‘ni’ in. ‘onion’.

Ananda. Bliss, beatitude.

Anugraham. Grace.

Arudra Darshan. The Day of the Sight of Siva.

Arunachaleswar. God in the form of Arunachala, a contraction of Arunachala-Iswara.

Ashram. The establishment or colony that grows up around a Sage or Guru; sometimes mistranslated as ‘monastery’.

Ashtavadhana. The ability to attend to eight different matters simultaneously.

Asramam. The Tamil form of ‘ashram’.

Asuric. Diabolical, evil.

Atma or Atman. The Spirit or Self.

Atnaswarupa. Literally the ‘form of the Spirit’; a term used for the universe to indicate that the universe has no intrinsic reality but exists only as a manifestation of the Spirit.

Avatar. An incarnation or manifestation of Vishnu, that is of God as the Preserver and Sustainer of the universe. Within the manvantara or cycle stretching (according to Christian symbolism) from the Earthly Paradise (the state of Adam before the fall) to the Heavenly Jerusalem (the consummation after the second coming of Christ) there are ten Avatars. The seventh is Rama, commemorated in the Ramayana, a Sanskrit epic; the eighth is Krishna, commemorated in the Bhagavad Gita; the ninth is described as the non-Hindu Avatar and is identified as Buddha or Christ or both; the tenth is Kalki, the destroyer of sin with whose coming the kaliyuga or dark age is to be ended. He is still to come and is equivalent to the second coming of Christ awaited by the-Christians and Muslims and the Maitreya Buddha of the Buddhists.

Sometimes the term Avatar is used more loosely to indicate a divine manifestation.

Ayurveda. The traditional Hindu system of medicine.

Bhagavad Gita. Literally the ‘Divine Song’ or, more correctly, ‘God-Song’, since ‘Bhagavad’ is a noun used adjectivally. The scripture of Sri Krishna, the eighth Avatar, probably the most widely studied and followed Hindu scripture. It occurs as an episode in the Sanskrit epic, the Mababharata.

Bhagavan. The same word as ‘Bhagavad’ with a different case-ending; the commonly used word for ‘God’. Terms such as Iswara, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva and names for the various Aspects of God are more technical or philosophical. In ordinary conversation a man says either ‘Bhagavan’ (God) or ‘swami’ (the Lord).

The term ‘Bhagavan’ is used by general consent of those few supreme Sages who are recognized as being completely One with God.

Both the B and the g are aspirated. The middle vowel is slurred over and scarcely heard.

Bhakta. Devotee. Also one who approaches God through love and devotion.

Bhakta-marga. The approach to God through love and devotion.

Bhakti. Love or devotion.

Bheda. Otherness. The difference between bheda and abheda is substantially the same as that between dvaita and advaita. The exponent of bheda regards himself as ‘other than God’, whereas the exponent of abheda regards God as the Absolute or Infinite apart from which there can be no other.

Bhiksha. An offering of food to the Guru or to a sanyasin. In the case of Bhagavan this came to mean providing an ashram meal, since he would accept nothing that was not shared by all.

Brahma. The highest and ultimate conception is Brahman (the neuter form of ‘Brahma’), the Absolute, about which nothing can be postulated, since any assertion would be a limitation. The first stage in the manifestation of Brahman is: Iswara, the Personal God. Iswara is then conceived of under the threefold aspects of Brahma, the Creator, Vishnu, the Preserver, and Siva, the Destroyer. There are temples to Vishnu and Siva but not to Brahma, as man is concerned with God as Preserver or God as Destroyer of forms in the Bliss of Union rather than with God as Creator.

The h in Brahma is either not pronounced or pronounced after the m, as ‘Bramha’.

Brahman. See Brahma.

Brahmin. The Hindus were divided traditionally into four castes, of whom the Brahmins were the highest, being devoted to a life of spirituality and study. Next came the Kshatriyas, who were the rulers, warriors and administrators.

The Vaishas were the middle classes and the Shudras the labourers. The castes were not at first exclusively hereditary, but since each caste married within itself even the law of heredity made them so practically. In course of time they became strictly so and also subdivided into hereditary sub-castes, largely on a professional basis, like ‘Mediaeval guilds in Europe. Also they tended to abandon their caste functions and engage in those of other castes. Today caste has little functional meaning. The Indian Government is trying to destroy it.

The h is not pronounced in Brahmin.

Chakra. The yogic and tantric paths (see marga) unfurl the spirit-force in man (kundalini) from its latency at the base of the spine and cause it to ascend through a series of, spiritual centres in the body. Each of these is called a wheel or chakra. Each represents a different stage of development which is franchised as the kundalini attains it.

Cilla. Disciple.

Chit. Consciousness. (See Satchitananda.)

Daivic. Godlike or Divine. An English adjectival form from deva, meaning angel or holy spirit.

Dakshinamurthi. Siva manifested in ancient times as a youth who taught in silence, initiating and guiding his disciples by direct transmission of the Spirit. He is particularly associated with Arunachala, the centre of silent and purely spiritual initiation and guidance, and therefore also with Sri Bhagavan, who was Siva teaching in silence.

Darshan. Literally ‘sight’. Since one speaks of a holy man giving darshan, it could best be translated as ‘silent audience’.

To have darshan of a Sage could be translated as to enjoy the grace of his presence.

Dharma. Harmony, harmonious life or action. Also a man’s role in life, since what is harmonious conduct for one (say, a soldier) may not be so for another (say, a priest).

Dhoti. A white cotton cloth that Hindu men in South India wear. It is wound round the waist and hangs down like a skirt from waist to ankles.

Diksha. Initiation.

Giripradakshina. Pradakshina is the circuit that is made of any holy place, walking round with one’s right side inward, that is from south to west. Giri is a hill; so giripradakshina is used for circuit of Arunachala.

Gnana. Knowledge, Divine Wisdom or Understanding, Spiritual Enlightenment. The correct transliteration would be ‘jnana’ but ‘gnana’ is more phonetic, the first letter being pronounced like a hard g and the second like the ni in onion.

Gnana-marga. The Path of Knowledge. This does not mean a path requiring great theoretical elaboration but one based on intuitive knowledge or spiritual understanding. (see Marga. For pronunciation see Gnana.)

Gnani. A man of Knowledge. It may be used to mean one who follows the Gnanamarga, but in its correct meaning it is one who has attained complete Enlightenment and is established in the Absolute Knowledge which is Liberation from all illusion of duality. It thus means the same as Mukta, the liberated or perfectly realized man. (For pronunciation see Gnana.)

Guru. Spiritual guide or Master.

Iswara. The Personal God.(See under Brahma.) Some times also transliterated as Ishvara.

Japa. Invocation or incantation.

Jayanthi. Birthday.

Kali-yuga. The Dark Age, equivalent to the Iron Age of Graeco-Roman traditions, said to have begun in 3101 B.C. with the Battle of Kurukshetra, that is with the teaching of Sri Krishna recorded in the Bhagavad Gita, and to be now approaching its end. (See Yuga).

Karma. The destiny that a man makes for himself by the law of cause and effect. There are three kinds of karma prarabdha, or that which is to be worked out in this life, sanjitha, or that which existed at the beginning of this life but is held over, and agamya or the new karma which is accumulated in this life and added to the sanjitha. (See the first paragraph of Chapter x.) The law of karma combines the two theories of predestination and cause and effect, since a man’s present actions cause or predestine his future state.

Karma also means action. It is sometimes used to mean ritualistic actions performed as a marga or path to salvation.

Just as karma is accumulated by a man’s actions and desires, so it can be destroyed by divine love and knowledge and by renunciation of desires. Therefore it is said that karma is like a mountain of gunpowder that can be burnt up by a single spark of Gnana (Divine Knowledge).

Karma-marga. The approach to God through harmonious and disinterested actions, that is, as is said in the Bhagavad

Gita, by acting without being attached to the fruits of one’s actions, doing one’s duty simply because it is one’s duty, not for profit or ambition, and not being deflected from it by fear or favour. This is normally accompanied by ritualistic acts.

Kavyakanta. One whose speech is like poetry. A brilliant improvisor of poetry.

Krishna. The eighth Avatar. The Divine Teacher whose doctrine is contained in the Bhagavad Gita.

Kumbhabhishekam. Consecration.

Lingam. An upright pillar of stone often used to represent Siva or the Absolute on the grounds that any image or idol is limiting and therefore misleading. The word comes from linga, to get absorbed. and the root meaning is ‘that in which all beings are absorbed’.

Maharshi. Maha Rishi, the Great Rishi or Sage. The name is used for one who opens a new path to Realization. It is also a name of Vishnu as the Fountain-head of initiation and paths to Realization.

Mahasamadhi. The great or final or complete samadhi or absorption in the Self or Spirit. The term is sometimes used for the physical death of a great Saint, but for the Maharshi even this is inappropriate since he was already in Mahasamadhi while wearing a body, and the body’s death made no difference to him.

Mantapam. A shrine or bare stone hall, with or without the image of a God inside.

Mantra. A sacred formula used as an incantation.

Mantradhyana. Meditation or spiritual awareness induced or supported by the use of incantations.

Marga. Mode of approach in the spiritual quest. Basically, there are three margas: the Gnana-marga, bhakti-marga and karma-marga. Gnana-marga is the approach through Knowledge’ or understanding, by which is meant not mental but spiritual knowledge. Physical knowledge is direct, as when you burn your finger and know pain; mental knowledge is indirect, as when you know that fire burns; spiritual knowledge is again direct, though quite different. Bhakti-marga is the approach through love and devotion.

Karma-marga. is the approach through harmonious and disinterested activity.

The three margas are not mutually exclusive. There can be no spiritual knowledge without love. Also, love and devotion to God leads to understanding and to Union, which is Knowledge. For activity to be perfectly harmonous and disinterested it must be inspired by love and understanding. Gnana-marga leads to disinterested activity free from the thought: ‘I am the doer of this and should have the praise or reward for it’.

Bhakti-marga leads to dedicated activity, seeing God manifested in all his creatures and serving him by serving them.

Nevertheless, although the margas merge and all lead to the: same goal, they start from different points and their methods are different in practice.

Apart from the three basic margas, there are two less direct and more elaborate developments of Bhakti-marga, that is the yogic and tantric paths. They are very: far from the teaching of Bhagavan and need not be described here.

Math. A private temple or shrine, something like the chantries of Mediaeval England.

Matrubhateswara. God (Iswara) in the form of the Mother.

Maulvi. (Arabic.) A Muslim learned in Islamic doctrine and law. The Islamic equivalent of a pandit.

Moksha. Liberation or Deliverance. Salvation is generally used in a dualistic sense to mean the salvation of a purified soul in the presence of God; Moksha is used in the complete and ultimate sense of liberation from all ignorance and duality through realization of identity with the Self.

Mouna. Silence.

Mouna diksha. Initiation through silence.

Mouni. One who has taken a vow of silence.

Mount Meru. The mountain which, in Hindu mythology, is the Spiritual Centre of the universe. Bhagavan affirmed that Arunachala is Mount Meru.

Mukta. One who has attained Moksha or Deliverance. One who attains Moksha during the life on earth is sometimes called JivanMukta, that is ‘Mukta while living’.

Mukti. Deliverance; the same as Moksha.

Muni. Sage.

Nataraja. A name for Siva. Siva in the cosmic dance of creation and destruction of the universe.

Nirvikalpa samadhi. Samadhi in a state of trance, with suspension of the human faculties.

Nishkamyakarma. Action without attachment to the outcome, that is without egoism. Action which does not create new karma.

OM. The supreme mantra, representing the substratum of creative sound which sustains the universe. It is written with the three letters AUM but pronounced OM.

Pandit. One learned in the Hindu scriptures, doctrines and law. Sometimes transliterated ‘pundit’.

Paramatman. The Supreme Atma or Spirit. Actually, the word Atma itself is often used in this sense and was so used by Bhagavan Parayanam. Singing or chanting.

Pial. A raised platform or stone or concrete couch often built outside a Hindu house or in the porch of it.

Pradakshina. See Giripradakshina.

Prana. Breath or vital force.

Pranayama. Breath-control, either regulating or suspending breathing.

Prarabdha. See karma.

Prarabdbakarna. See karma.

Prasadam. Some object given by the Guru as a vehicle of his Grace. When food is offered to the Guru it is usual for him to return a part of it as prasadam.

Puja. Ritualistic worship.

Pujari. One who performs puja.

Purana. Mythological scriptural story carrying a symbolical meaning.

Purusha. The Spirit. Atma is used in the pure sense of Spirit, whereas Purusha is used more in the masculine sense where Spirit is contrasted or coupled with Substance (Prakriti). In common speech it can be used for ‘man’ or ‘husband’.

Rishi. Sage, literally Seer.

Rudra. A name for Siva as He who proclaims himself aloud.

Rupa. Form.

Sadhaka. Spiritual aspirant or seeker.

Sadhana. Spiritual quest or path. The technique of spiritual effort.

Sadhu. This word should correctly mean one who has attained the Goal of sadhana but is in fact used for one who has renounced home and property in the quest, whether there is attainment or not.

Sahaja Samadhi. Continuous samadhi not requiring trance or ecstasy but compatible with full use of the human faculties. The state of the Gnani.

Saivite. From the point of view of Siva. A devotee of Siva. The main division in Hinduism is between Saivism and Vaishnavism, the standpoints represented by Siva and Vishnu respectively. This corresponds to the difference between Advaita ‘and Dvaita, since the devotees of Vishnu stop short at duality, while Saivism is the doctrine of non-duality. It also corresponds to the difference between Gnana-marga and Bhakti-marga, since the Advaitist proceeds by spiritual understanding and the Dvaitist by love and devotion to God.

These differences are not similar to those between Christian sects, since both paths are recognized as legitimate and a man follows whichever suits his temperament.

Sakti. The Force, Energy or Activity of a Divine Aspect or Principal. In Hindu mythology a Divine Aspect or Principle is represented as a God and its Energy or Activity as the Wife of the God.

The form ‘shakti’ is often used in transliteration.

Samadhi. (1) Absorption in the Spirit or Self, with or without trance and suspension of the human faculties.

(2) The tomb of a Saint. Sometimes any tomb is so described.

(3) A euphemism for death. Instead of saying that someone died it is customary to say that he attained samadhi.

Samatva. The practice of treating all equally, with like consideration, seeing all alike as manifestations of the Spirit.

Sambhu. A name of Siva; Siva as the Bounteous.

Samsara. The endless chain of births and deaths to be broken only by Self-realization. Human life. The cares and burdens of life. Commonly used in Tamil to mean ‘wife’.

Sankalpas. Inherent tendencies, desires and ambitions.

Sanyasin. One who has renounced home, property, caste and all human attachments in the spiritual quest. The renunciation is permanent and definitive, whereas a sadhu is free to return to family life.

A sanyasin wears the ochre robe as a badge of renunciation, whereas a sadhu wears a white dhoti.

Sari. The normal attire of women in most parts of India. The lower half is wound round the body like a skirt and the upper half taken up and draped over the left shoulder.

Sarvardhikari. Master or ruler.

Sastraic. Based on or in accordance with the Sastras. The Sastras are scriptural rules governing conduct, art, science, govenment, etc.

Sat. Pure Being. (See Satchitananda).

Satchitananda. Literany Being-Consciousness-Bliss. A term for the Divine State, since spiritually to know is to be, and to know or be the Self is pure Bliss.

Sat-Guru. The Guru of Divine power as distinguished from guru in a more limited sense. Sometimes transliterated ‘sad-Guru’ though the pronunciation is more ‘Sat-Guru’.

Sattvic. The universe is brought into being and maintained in equilibrium by the combined action of the three gunas (stresses, tensions or tendencies), sattva, rajas and tamas. Tamas is the movement downwards from Spirit to matter, from Unity to multiplicity; rajas is the expansion outwards into activity and multiplicity; sattva is the ascent to the Spirit.

Cosmically, the gunas are neither good nor evil but simply the mechanism of manifestation; however, in a human being tamas is the tendency to evil, malice and ignorance; rajas is the tendency to outer activity; sattva is the tendency to spirituality, involving freedom from worldly passions and attachments. ‘sattvic’ and ‘unsattvic’ are English adjectival forms used respectively of anything that aids or impedes spiritual effort.

Sattya-Yuga. The golden age. (See Yuga.)

Shahada. (Arabic.) The Islamic creed: La ilaha ill’ Allah, ‘there is no god but God’.

Siddha. This may mean one who has attained Self-realization but is commonly used to mean one who has supernatural powers whether or not he has spiritual attainment.

Siddha Purusha. A Sage (embodied or disembodied) possessing supernatural powers.

Siddhi. Supernatural powers.

Siva. In the simple theoretical sense Siva may be regarded (see under Brahma) as an aspect of Iswara (the Personal God). However, to his devotees Siva is the Destroyer of the prison walls in which the Spirit in man is held, the Destroyer of the ego, of the duality of man and Iswara, of all limitations, leaving only Absolute Being, which is perfect Knowledge and pure Bliss. Therefore Siva is the Absolute personified, containing Iswara and all the gods and worlds as a dream within himself.

Sivaswarupa. The form of Siva; a name sometimes given to the universe to indicate that it has no intrinsic reality but exists only as a form assumed by Siva.

Sri. Blessed or beatific. In modem times it is often used as a form of address, almost equivalent to ‘Mr.’; however, it is still applied in its true sense to a Saint.

Sruti. Scriptural text.

Suddha Manas. Purified, sattvic mind.

Swami. Lord. It is used to mean ‘the Lord’ in speaking of God; also for a spiritual master or teacher whether or not he has attained any higher state; sometimes also as a mere sign of respect.

Swarupa. One’s true form.

Taluq. (Urdu.) A local governmental district.

Tao. In Chinese teaching ‘Tao’ is used both for the path (sadhana) and the Goal, that is the Self or Absolute (Atma).

Tapas. Penance or austerity.

Tirtha. Sacred tank.

Unsattvic. See sattvic.

Upadesa. The instruction or guidance given to a disciple by his Guru.

Vairagya. Dispassion, detachment.

Vasanas. Latencies or tendencies inherent in a man, resulting from his actions in a previous life and governing those in this life unless overcome by tapas or by the Grace of his Guru.

Vedas. The earliest Hindu scriptures revealed to the ancient Rishis.

Vichara. Discrimination. The path of Self-enquiry taught by Sri Bhagavan since this path implies discrimination between the Real and the unreal the Self and the ego.

Vignana. Specialized knowledge. Knowledge of the Self and also of the outer world.

Vishnu. God in His Aspect of Preserver and Sustainer of the universe.

Yoga. Literally ‘Union’. An indirect approach (see Marga) which starts from the standpoint of duality and seeks to develop a man’s latent powers by very technical means, with the final object of attaining Divine Union.

Yogi. One who follows or has mastered the path of yoga.

Yuga. Age. According to Hindu, as to Graeco-Roman and Mediaeval teaching there are four ages in the manvantara or cycle from the ‘Earthly Paradise’ of Adam before the fall to the ‘Heavenly Jerusalem’ or consummation after the tenth Avatar (see Avatar). They are called the Sattya Yuga (Age of Truth or Purity), Dwapara Yuga (Second Age), Tretya Yuga (Third Age) and Kali Yuga (Dark Age). Their duration is said to be in the proportion of 4, 3, 2, 1, so that the Kali Yuga is one-tenth of the entire manvantara.