GLOSSARY

(Listed in the order the Tradition is commonly taught, as presented in this book.)

The page references in this glossary correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created. To find a specific word or phrase from the index, please use the search feature of your ebook reader.

p. 8 Bhavana
Mindful intent.
Choose to take responsibility for our own thoughts, words and actions, that we might learn to live with greater awareness, understanding, intensity and joy.
p. 9 Shaiva Tantra Yoga
A practical, experimental system of liberation from self-limitation; a guide to ways in which to live and love more fully, fearlessly and joyfully, without detriment to ourselves or others.
p. 17 Sukha
All that is prosperous, agreeable and liberating; ‘freedom of the heart’.
In preference to dukha – suffering, ‘constriction around the heart’ – choose to pursue stable pleasures that are beneficial, improve both physical and mental stability, afford peace of heart and mind, and that brighten and expand consciousness.
p. 20 Shaiva
The adjective for Shiva, who symbolises the predisposition to order in the universe, consciousness without limitation, benevolence and Sat: truth that is a way of being.
Seek self-knowledge without self-interest.
p. 24 Sadhana
The practical exploration of the Tradition’s teachings, all of which guide us to take responsibility for the quality of our own consciousness and thereby our interaction with the world.
p. 31 Tantra
A technique for the expansion of consciousness, heightening awareness beyond our normal waking state; the means by which to deliver ourselves from a limited, self-centred viewpoint, and thereby from our potential for inhumanity, both to ourselves and others.
p. 32 Yoga
The active, practical ‘technology’ that enables us to perceive ourselves and our world more accurately, affording the freedom of heart and expansion of awareness that enable us to live and love more fully, effectively, justly and joyfully.
Avoid unproductive thoughts and behaviour. Find the good, the beneficial in whoever and whatever come our way. Give as generously as our capacity and means allow.
p. 35 Shishya
The ‘ideal student’ mindfully develops the following qualities:
A healthy and stable body–mind.
An honest and sincere disposition, free from pride and with honourable intentions.
A sympathetic and open heart that shows invariable compassion to all living things.
The capacity for happiness, enjoyment and sensual pleasure, yet with the inclination to master desires and passions.
Disinterest in the trivial, material wealth or social hierarchies.
A willingness to sacrifice self-interest in the discharge of duties to parents, family, partners and teachers.
A willingness to explore possibilities beyond the obvious or ordinary.
A genuine desire for liberation from detrimental self-limitation.
p. 51 Purushartha
The four Aims of Life, considered the most effective path to wisdom:
1. Dharma Expansion of consciousness through the fulfilment of moral duty.
Think, say and do nothing to our own or another’s detriment. Determine our true nature and then live fully and happily in accordance with it. Honour our families, ancestors, teachers. Show benevolence to all, without judgement or condition.
2. Artha Expansion of consciousness through the fulfilment of social responsibility.
Diligently and honourably support ourselves and provide for those for whom we are responsible. Do our part to maintain a balanced society in which even the least able can flourish according to their own natures. Acquire beneficial knowledge and nurture friendships.
3. Kama Expansion of consciousness through the fulfilment of sensual pleasures that do not diminish the quality of our consciousness.
Mindfully embrace, heighten and explore our senses, not only through sight, taste, sound, smell and touch, but through art, music, dance and food; play, work, sadhana, love and breath; family and friends; and by attending to the well-being, and thereby the happiness, of others.
4. Moksha Expansion of consciousness by learning to perceive the essential interconnection, the indivisibility, that underlies what might initially appear to be difference and separation.
Develop greater empathy, expressed through effective, dynamic compassion. Become of ever greater benefit both to ourselves and others.
p. 113 Yamas
The Six Restraints in Personal Conduct, applied to our relationship with the world, guiding us to develop respect for ourselves and all those with whom we come in contact.
1. Ahimsa The wisdom gained by learning to avoid causing harm to ourselves or others, in either thought, or word or action.
2. Alobha The wisdom gained by learning to live without selfish ambition. It is not by taking from others, but in giving of ourselves that we truly gain the most.
3. Asteya The wisdom gained by learning to extinguish the desire to possess that which belongs to another, whether their property, relationships, social rank, talents, employment, reputation or appearance.
4. Brahmacharya The wisdom learnt by seeking to understand and thereby embrace and live according to our true nature.
5. Tyaga The wisdom gained by learning to release our self-identification with material possessions. Learn to acquire only that which is necessary to live healthily and freely.
6. Shaucha The wisdom gained by learning to maintain internal and external cleanliness. Develop purity/clarity of thought, speech, action (ahimsa) and intention (bhavana). Learn to live without prejudice, enmity or resistance.
p. 133 Niyamas
The Five Observances of Personal Conduct, applied to our relationship with ourselves, guiding us to reduce the conflict between our internal perspective – our thoughts and conscience – and our external action.
1. Santosha The wisdom learnt by choosing to be content with the necessities of a healthy, fulfilled life: food and warmth; purposeful, rewarding work and mental stimulation; human intimacy and meaningful friendships.
2. Dana The wisdom gained by learning to give of ourselves without thought of reward. Live by a love that is fearless, impersonal, dynamic, unfailingly humane and without condition.
3. Tapa The wisdom learnt through developing the self-discipline and willpower, the physical, emotional and mental endurance required to overcome self-defeating habits.
4. Svadhyaya The wisdom gained by remaining open to new learning without prejudice or inhibition. Expand awareness through personal enquiry, contemplation, mindful listening and sadhana.
5. Pranidhana The wisdom learnt through applied endeavour and focused attention. This includes the three-part tantric practice of self-mastery, ulto sadhana: mastery of the breath, mastery of sexual response and mastery of the mind. These can only be learnt directly from an authentic teacher of the Tradition.
p. 149 Tin Gunharu
The three qualities keepers of the Tradition are mindful to develop:
Dedication – commitment to the process of liberating ourselves from detrimental thought, word and behaviour.
Concentration – living with honest awareness and constructive purpose.
Discretion – making no show of our learning, whilst applying our knowledge and insights to the benefit of others, rather than for our own profit.
p. 157 Guru
A ‘dispeller of darkness’, one who routs ignorance by offering guidance and comfort gained from personal experience, with no thought of personal reward or notice.
Avoid any system founded upon any notion of ‘spiritual hierarchy’.
p. 164 Divyachara
‘Going by daylight’ – enlightenment: perception beyond mere mental conditioning; beyond the ordinary, all-consuming preoccupation with our physical, emotional and sexual responses to external stimuli.
Seek an understanding free from the distortions of our own self-interest by learning to apply the principles of bhavana, the four Purushartha, the three Gunharu, the eleven yamas and niyamas.
p. 171 Nama
The essence of who and what we are; our ‘inner nature’.
p. 171 Rupa
The external, material form; our ‘outer life’.
When our Rupa is not a true reflection of our Nama we will find ourselves in perpetual conflict. Only when they are in harmony can we live and love healthily and to our full capacity. We would do well to examine the learnt labels and roles by which we live.
p. 209 Samskaras
Acquired ideas and beliefs determined by our own biography; the emotional responses we have gathered by attachment to the past, and through which we unwittingly identify ourselves and thereby experience the external world, until we no longer see life as it is, but rather only as we are.
Learn to release self-identification through outdated responses and attachments. Mindfully seek uplifting, enlightening memories with which to replace the adverse and the obsolete.
p. 321 Shava-sadhana
Contemplation on – traditionally, confrontation with – our mortality.
Re-evaluate the absurdity of wasting a brief and precious life on judgement and prejudice; attachment to appearance, memories, possessions or reputation; self-interested acts of either aggrandisement or disparagement; or our obsessions with detrimental conformity and habit.
Choose to keep thoughts, words and actions benevolent, never underestimating the difference each one of them can make, both to others and ourselves.
Stay curious, seeking out wisdom wherever and with whomever we may be.
Restore balance, bring peace – always starting with ourselves.
Live and love so fully, so joyfully that there is no time, no mind for fear.
Engage with every day as though it were both our very first and very last.
Choose always to be happy.