Glossary

Achaitanya

: Unconscious

Adharma

: Opposite of dharma, see Dharma

Adhyatma Ramayana

: The Ramayana is a mythological story of the Hindu tradition which chronicles the story of Lord Rama. The Adhyatma Ramayana is a text which deals with the philosophy of the story.

Advaita

: A religious philosophy which expounds absolute Non-dualism

Advaitin

: One who sees no difference between God and his creation

Allah

: Supreme Godhead according to the tradition of Islam

Amalaki

: Indian gooseberry

Anahata dhvani

: Inner Divine Sound

Ananda

: Bliss

Antaranga bhaktas

: Devotees of the inner circle

Anubhava

: Experience

Anur

: Name of a village

Asoka

: Name of a king who renounced conquest and took to Buddhism

Atman

: The individual soul or jiva

Avatar

: Hinduism believes that the Supreme God incarnates amongst men on earth and then he or she is called an avatar

Avidyamaya

: Represents the dark forces of creation

Ayurveda

: An Indian form of herbal medicine

Baba

: Father

Babu

: Equivalent to Sir

Bangla

: Language spoken by the people of eastern and western Bengal which are two states in India. East Bengal has now become an independent country (Bangladesh).

Bauls

: Baul is a form of folk music and the people who sing it are called Bauls

Belur Math

: An institution set up by Vivekananda after the passing away of Sri Ramakrishna which is close to Dakshineswar

Benares

: Originally called Kasi or Varanasi which is an important place of pilgrimage for the Hindus

Benaresi sari

: Benares has been known for producing hand woven saris for women all over India

Bengali

: The language spoken by the people of Bengal

Bhagavad Gita

: Teaching given by Lord Krishna to his disciple Arjuna on the battlefield compiled into a text

Bhairava

: A form of Shiva who represents death hence known as god of death

Bhairavi

: A female worshipper of the God of Death

Bhajan

: A form of devotional music

Bhakta

: Worshipper

Bhakti

: Intense love of God, attachment to Him alone

Bhavamukha

: On the threshold of relative consciousness

Bhavas

: Attitudes towards God

Bhavatarini

: Goddess whose grace helps us cross the ocean of mundane existence

Bhikshu/ bhiksha

: Mendicant seeking alms, ritual begging for grace of God through food

Bhoga

: Enjoyment, material life

Bhutirkhal

: Name of a cremation ground

Bodhi tree

: A peepal tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment

Brahma

: One of the gods of the trinity who creates the manifested universe in Hindu mythology

Brahmo Samaj

: Eclectic movement in Bengal in the 19th century for the reformation of Hinduism while retaining the best of the Upanishads and combining with Christian practices

Brahmo

: A member of the Brahmo Samaj

Brahmachari

: One who seeks the Brahman by control of the senses including celibacy

Brahmajnana

: Knowledge of the higher self

Brahman

: The ultimate one with a name and form unlike ataman which is the ultimate one without name and form

Brahmani

: A female follower of the path to the experience of Brahman

Brahmin

: Priestly caste of the Hindu religion

Brahminical thread

: A cotton thread worn by the men who are formally initiated to follow the path prescribed in order to be called a Brahmin

Chaitanya

: Ecstatic singing saint of medieval times from Bengal

Chaitanya Bhagavata

: A text authored by Brindavandas Thakur on Chaitanya

Chaitanya Charitamrita

: Biography of Chaitanya

Chaitanya Lila

: Divine Sport by Chaitanya

Chamara

: A hand fan

Chit

: Consciousness

Choli

: An upper garment worn by women

Da

: Short form of elder brother

Dada

: Term used for elder brother

Dakshineswar

: A small place outside Calcutta (Kolkata) on the banks of the river Gangawhere Sri Ramakrishna spent most of his living years

Dalia

: Broken wheat

Daridranarayana

: God in the form of a beggar

Dasa

: Servant

Dasa bhava

: The feeling of servitude

Dasaratha

: The king of Ayodhya and the father of Lord Rama who is considered an avatar of Vishnu

Dasya

: Servitude

Dasya bhava

: The mood of the child to his parent, or a servant to his master

Deogarh

: Place near Bengal

Dere

: The ancestral village of Sri Ramakrishna’s father

Devi

: Goddess

Dhani

: Name of the lady who looked after Ramakrishna in his chilhood

Dharma

: Virtue/god-given law of an individual’s nature

Dharmapatra

: The leaf of impartiality, used in the villages to clarify mixed opinions

Dhuni

: Sacred fire

Dukkha

: Pain and suffering

Dupatta/duppata

: Veil or cloth used to cover the upper body

Durga

: Goddess of Power, an aspect of Kali

Durga Puja

: Ten-day festival celebrated in honour of Goddess Durga

Durva grass

: Sacred weed or grass used during rituals

Dvaita

: Dualism

Dvaitin

: A Dualist

Fakir

: A mendicant

Gadadhar

: Another name for Lord Vishnu

Ganga Mai

: The River Ganga who is addressed as a mother

Ganga

: Sacred river of the Hindus

Gaya

: A sacred place now in Bihar state

gharara/ghagra

: Apparel worn by women

Gopis

: Cowherd boys and girls who were playmates of Lord Krishna

Gunas

: Attributes

Guru

: Preceptor/ teacher/ master

Guru Ma

: Consort or wife of the guru

Hanuman

: Monkey-faced god who stands for chivalry and selfless service in the Hindu religion

Hara

: A name of Shiva

Hari bol

: A religious expression

Hari Om

: A religious expression used to greet each other

Hooghly

: A tributary of the Ganga that flows through Calcutta

Hookah

: Traditional Indian smoking pipe

Howrah station

: A railway station in Calcutta

Ishwar

: God

Ishwarkotis

: Category of the lord

Jain

: A follower of Mahavir/ Mahavira

Jainism

: The religion founded by Mahavira

Jal

: Water

Japa

: Chanting

Jasodha

: Name of Lord Krishna’s foster mother

Jiva

: Living being

Jivan mukta

: One who has transcended the body

Jnana yogi

: One who follows the path of knowledge

Jnani

: Wise one

Kabbalists

: Ones who sing a form of music of the Sufi tradition (see qawalis)

Kali/Ma Kali

: The goddess Sri Ramakrishna worshipped who represents the wrathful side of female energy or Shakti

Kalki

: An incarnation of Vishnu

Karma

: Action

Kamarpukur

: The village where Ramakrishna hailed from, outside Kolkata. Pukur means pond.

Kausalya

: Mother of lord Rama

Kayastha

: A caste in Hinduism

King Janaka

: Name of a king who is the father of Sita, the wife of Rama

Koran

: Holy book of Islam

Kothi

: Large Indian home

Krishna

: An avatar of Vishnu and a godhead for the Hindus

Kshatriya

: A warrior class of Hindus

Kund

: Water body

Kundalini

: In yogic vocabulary it is the divine power in human beings ever waiting to be kindled which rests in the base of the spine and travels to the top of the head through the psychic channels when kindled

Kuthi

: Hut, dwelling place

Lila

: Divine Sport

Longoti

: A small cloth used to cover the lower body of men, also called loin-cloth

Lord Krishna

: A perfect and complete avatar of Vishnu, considering the ten major avatars

Madhur

: Sweetness

Madhura bhava

: Love for the Divine Beloved

Mahabhava

: Being absorbed in Divine ecstasy

Mahakali

: Goddess Kali in all her attributes

Mahasamadhi

: Death of the body of saints

Mahima Stotra

: A hymn

Mama

: Mother’s brother

Manasaputra

: Mind-born son

Mantras

: Religious incantations

Maya

: The goddess of illusions

Mayatita

: Free of maya

Muladhara

: A psychic energy centre situated at the base of the spine

Muni

: A sage

Naga

: Serpent

Naga monk

: A class of mendicants who are usually naked

Nahabat

: One of the bathing ghats on the River Ganga near Dakhineshwar

Nara

: Man-god

Narayana

: One of Vishnu’s names

Narayani

: Consort of Shiva and sister of Vishnu

Narmada

: The name of a river

Navavidhan

: New dispensation

Neti, neti, neti

: Not this

Nirakara Brahman

: Formless god

Nirguna

: Without attributes

Nirvana

: Enlightenment or, as in the case of Ramakrishna a bhakta, a state of God realization or a union with God

Nirvikalpa Samadhi

: Samadhi without awareness (without consciousness) and Savikalpa Samadhi is Samadhi with awareness (with consciousness)

Nitai

: Name of a person

Nityasiddhas

: Born with powers with no previous sadhana

Nyasa

: Renunciation

Om

: Considered a celestial primodial sound

Pancha bhavas

: Five different emotions

Panchavati

: A place in Dakshineswar where Sri Ramakrishna went to meditate

Paramahamsa

: The royal swan, symbol of the free flight of the soul. Holy men who have attained freedom from all attachments.

Paramatman

: Supreme self

Peepul tree

: A kind of large tree which is considered sacred

Prana

: Life Energy

Parabrahman

: Unmanifested God

Prasad

: Sacred offering or sacred gift

Puja

: Worship

Pandit

: Expert in a particular field of knowledge

Puranas

: Religious mythological Hindu texts

Purushottama

: The supreme person

Qawwalis

: Ecstatic group of Sufi singers

Radha

: The beloved and devotee of Krishna

Radhakanta temple

: Temple for Radha and Krishna

Radhika

: Another name for Radha

Raghubir

: Lord Rama

Rama

: King and god who is the incarnation of Vishnu

Ramachandra

: Another name of Lord Rama

Ramlala

: Baby Rama

Ramprasad

: Name of Sri Ramakrishna’s brother

Rani

: In this context a name of a lady

Rishis

: Sages

Sadhana/sadhanas

: The paths charted by sages in their single-minded quest for God

Sadhu

: A person in pursuit of God or its equivalent living away from society like a mendicant

Sahasrara

: In yogic science it is one of the chakras or energy centres perceived as a thousand-petalled lotus at the top of the head

Sakhya

: Friendship

Sakhya bhava

: The love of the friend

Shaktas

: The worshippers of Shakti, the feminine aspect of God

Samadhi

: A state of super-consciousness

Samsara

: Samsara represents avidya, or ignorance, of one’s true self, that leads to ego-consciousness of the body and the phenomenal world. It leads one to the perpetual chain of karma and reincarnation, a state of illusion known as Maya. It is a result of the ignorance of the True Self, Brahman, and thus the soul is led to believe in the reality of temporal, phenomenal existence.

Samskaras

: Habits inherited or acquired qualities mostly in the spiritual realm

Sanatan Dharma

: The eternal way of the ancient sages

Shankar

: Name of Lord Shiva

Sanskrit shlokas

: Hymns in Sanskrit either describing or eulogizing the divine

Sannyas

: Mendicancy

Sannyasa vows

: Vows of self-discipline taken before formally entering the path of mendicancy

Sannyasi

: The man who becomes a mendicant or renunciant

Sannyasini

: A woman mendicant or renunciant

Saraswati

: Goddess of Learning

Sat

: Being

Satchitananda

: Being and bliss

Sati

: A practice where the woman offers herself to the funeral pyre along with her husband’s dead body

Savikalpa samadhi

: See Nirvikalpa samadhi

Shabda

: Sound/ spoken word

Shakti

: Feminine power

Shalagram stone

: A fossil from the ocean bed considered a substitute to Narayan lying on the cosmic ocean in His cosmic form

Shanta bhava

: Feeling of inner tranquillity

Shastras

: Rules deriving from scriptures about social norms

Shiva

: One of the gods of the trinity representing destruction and degeneration

Shodasi Puja

: The adoration of the divine virgin

Siddhis

: Psychic powers

Sikhism

: One of the religions practised in India

Sita

: Consort of Lord Rama

Sri Chaitanya

: Ecstatic singing saint of medieval times from Bengal

Sri Ramachandra

: A perfect man/a perfect ruler who hails from the Suryavansha dynasty

Sri Sri Jagadiswari Mahakali

: Goddess Kali

Sufi

: A follower of Sufi religion which has its origins in Islam

Sushumna

: In yogic science it’s a mystic channel carrying divine energy

Tamasika

: Inert and gross

Tantra

: A science which uses energies to spiritual attainment

Tantric

: Unorthodox religious practitioner, a person who follows the path of tantra

Tarpana

: Ritualistic offering during death rites

Thread ceremony

: See Brahmanical thread

Tirthankara

: Holy men from the Jain tradition

Tirthankara Mahavira

: The founder of Jainism

Trailanga Swami

: A great saint who lived in Benares

Tripurasundari

: Supreme Goddess who has all the three female godheads in her – Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati

Udbodan

: A new beginning or event

Unmada

: Madness for God

Upanishads

: Philosophical texts of Hinduism mostly from the advaita philosophy

Vaid/vaidya

: A medical practitioner

Vaishnava

: Initiated follower of Vishnu

Vaishnavism

: Sect of people who worship Vishnu

Vaishnavite

: The one belonging to the Vaishnava community

Vaishnavite Shakti community

: A sub-sect of people who use the methods of Tantra along with their devotion to Vishnu

Vatsalya

: Motherly love

Vatsalya bhava

: The love of the parent for the child

Vedanta

: Philosophical teaching of the Vedas

Vedantin

: One who follows the teaching of Vedanta

Vedas

: The four timeless scriptures of timeless knowledge

Vidyamaya

: The higher force of creation

Vilva/bilva

: Sacred leaf used for the worship of Shiva, which is in the shape of a trident, symbolically represents the three aspects of time and also the Three Eyes of Shiva

Vishalakshi shrine

: Shrine dedicated to the consort of Shiva

Vishnu

: One of the gods in the trinity considered as the keeper of the universe unlike Brahma the creator and Shiva the annihilator

Visishtadvaita

: Qualified Non-dualism

Vrindavan

: The place where Lord Krishna lived and grew up as a child amongst the cowherds

Yoga

: Union with consciousness, also a form of practice for keeping the physical, mental and emotional spheres of the human body in good health

Yogi

: The practitioner of yoga

Yogic rites

: Rituals concerning yogic practices