Words you’ll meet
Glossary
A companion to the lessons: the same terms the reader can open inline. Definitions are the canonical glossary text, not a new dictionary.
Brahman
brahmanब्रह्मन्
A Sanskrit term for ultimate reality, understood differently across Hindu philosophical and devotional traditions. Examples include a formless ground and a personal Lord. Those are examples, not a full map.
Also: ब्रह्म
Where you may encounter it: Hindu, Hinduism and Sanātana Dharma, The Upaniṣads, Brahman, Ātman, Ātman and Brahman, Īśvara and the Personal Divine, Saṃsāra and Rebirth, Mokṣa
Atman
ātmanआत्मन्
The inner self or self. Hindu traditions differ on how Atman relates to Brahman and ultimate reality.
Also: आत्मा
Where you may encounter it: The Upaniṣads, Ātman, Ātman and Brahman, Īśvara and the Personal Divine, Saṃsāra and Rebirth, Mokṣa
Dharma
dharmaधर्म
A broad Sanskrit term whose meanings include right living, order, responsibility, conduct, and what sustains life or society, depending on context.
Where you may encounter it: Hindu, Hinduism and Sanātana Dharma, Śruti and Smṛti, The Vedas, Ātman, Īśvara and the Personal Divine, Dharma, Karma, The Four Puruṣārthas, Avatāra
Karma
karmaकर्म
Action, and in Hindu traditions the relationship between action and its consequences.
Where you may encounter it: Ātman, Dharma, Karma, Saṃsāra and Rebirth, Mokṣa, The Paths of Yoga
Samsara
saṃsāraसंसार
The cycle of birth, death, and rebirth discussed across Hindu traditions.
Where you may encounter it: Dharma, Saṃsāra and Rebirth, Mokṣa, The Paths of Yoga
Trimurti
त्रिमूर्ति
A theological and iconographic grouping of Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva, often associated with creation, continuity, and dissolution. An important map in some texts and in later teaching. It is not the only Hindu map of the divine, and it is not a Christian Trinity.
Also: Trimūrti, त्रिमूर्ति
Where you may encounter it: Viṣṇu and Vaiṣṇava Traditions
Shakti
śaktiशक्ति
Sanskrit for power or capacity, including divine power. In some traditions Śakti is a goddess. In Śākta theologies the Goddess may be supreme. Not a physics term, and not automatically 'the energy behind three male gods.'
Also: Śakti, शक्ति
Where you may encounter it: Devī, Śakti and Śākta Traditions
Maya
māyāमाया
The power of illusion or appearance that veils ultimate reality, often making the changing world seem independently real.
Where you may encounter it: Īśvara and the Personal Divine
Bhakti
bhaktiभक्ति
Loving devotion, or a devotional relationship with the Divine or a deity.
Where you may encounter it: The Paths of Yoga, Bhakti
Yoga
yogaयोग
Disciplined spiritual practice, or paths of practice. Hindu traditions and philosophical schools describe its methods and aims differently.
Where you may encounter it: Īśvara and the Personal Divine, Mokṣa, What Yoga Means, The Paths of Yoga
Purana
purāṇaपुराण
A genre of ancient narrative texts recounting cosmology, genealogies of gods and kings, and myths of the deities.
Where you may encounter it: Itihāsa and Purāṇa, Why Hindu Texts Do Not Always Say the Same Thing, Why Hinduism Has Many Divine Forms, Viṣṇu and Vaiṣṇava Traditions, Avatāra, Devī, Śakti and Śākta Traditions
Veda
वेद
The most ancient and authoritative body of sacred Hindu scriptures, comprising hymns, rituals, and philosophical teachings.
Where you may encounter it: Śruti and Smṛti, The Vedas, The Upaniṣads
Guru
guruगुरु
A spiritual teacher or guide who imparts knowledge and leads a disciple toward understanding and liberation.
Where you may encounter it: How Hindu Tradition Is Passed On
Mantra
mantraमन्त्र
A sacred sound, word, or phrase recited or chanted for spiritual focus, prayer, or transformative power.
Where you may encounter it: Mantra and Japa
Puja
pūjāपूजा
An act of worship offering reverence, prayers, and items such as flowers, light, and food to a deity.
Where you may encounter it: Devī, Śakti and Śākta Traditions, Pūjā
Murti
mūrtiमूर्ति
A consecrated image or sculpted form of a deity used as a focus for worship.
Where you may encounter it: Mūrti and the Sacred Image, Mandir and Darśan
Prasada
प्रसाद
Food or offerings that have been blessed by a deity during worship and then shared among devotees.
Where you may encounter it: Bhakti, Pūjā
Samadhi
samādhiसमाधि
A state of deep meditative absorption in which the mind becomes still and united with its object of contemplation.
Where you may encounter it: What Yoga Means
Vedanta
vedāntaवेदान्त
A major school of Hindu philosophy based on the Upanishads, inquiring into the nature of Brahman, the self, and reality.
Also: वेदांत
Where you may encounter it: What Hinduism Is, The Vedas, Mokṣa
Artha
arthaअर्थ
Material well-being, livelihood, prosperity or security. One of the traditional aims of life.
Where you may encounter it: The Four Puruṣārthas
Kama
kāmaकाम
Desire, love, pleasure or aesthetic enjoyment. In the puruṣārtha scheme it is one of the traditional aims of life.
Where you may encounter it: The Four Puruṣārthas
Jnana
jñānaज्ञान
Spiritual knowledge or insight into the true nature of reality and the self, cultivated as a path to liberation.
Where you may encounter it: The Paths of Yoga
Parvati
पार्वती
A major Hindu goddess, daughter of the mountain in many tellings. She is often also the consort of Śiva and, in many tellings, the mother of Gaṇeśa and Kārttikeya. She is not only somebody's wife.
Also: Pārvatī, पार्वती
Where you may encounter it: Why Hinduism Has Many Divine Forms, Śiva and Śaiva Traditions, Devī, Śakti and Śākta Traditions
Mahabharata
महाभारत
A vast Sanskrit epic. Manuscript traditions differ, and later tellings exist beside critical reconstructions of an earlier recoverable text.
Also: Mahābhārata, महाभारत
Where you may encounter it: Itihāsa and Purāṇa, Why Hindu Texts Do Not Always Say the Same Thing, Dharma, The Four Puruṣārthas, Viṣṇu and Vaiṣṇava Traditions, Avatāra
Vishnu
विष्णु
A major Hindu deity associated, in many traditions, with preservation and with cosmic rest or descent. Roles and stories vary across Vaiṣṇava and other tellings.
Also: Viṣṇu, विष्णु
Where you may encounter it: Itihāsa and Purāṇa, Why Hindu Texts Do Not Always Say the Same Thing, Why Hinduism Has Many Divine Forms, Viṣṇu and Vaiṣṇava Traditions, Avatāra, Śiva and Śaiva Traditions, Devī, Śakti and Śākta Traditions
Brahma
ब्रह्मा
A creator deity in later Hindu mythology. Distinct from Brahman (the Absolute) and from Vedic Hiraṇyagarbha.
Also: Brahmā, ब्रह्मा
Where you may encounter it: Itihāsa and Purāṇa, Why Hindu Texts Do Not Always Say the Same Thing, Brahman, Ātman and Brahman, Viṣṇu and Vaiṣṇava Traditions, Avatāra
Shesha
शेष
The remnant serpent on whom Viṣṇu is often shown reclining in Vaiṣṇava imagery. Related to Ananta. Not automatically identical with Yoga-nidrā in the Devī Māhātmya.
Also: Śeṣa, शेष
Where you may encounter it: Viṣṇu and Vaiṣṇava Traditions
Kurma
कूर्म
The tortoise form of Viṣṇu who, in the chosen Viṣṇu Purāṇa telling, supports Mount Mandara during the churning so it does not sink.
Also: Kūrma, कूर्म
Where you may encounter it: Why Hindu Texts Do Not Always Say the Same Thing, Avatāra
Linga
लिङ्ग
Sanskrit liṅga means mark, sign, or characteristic. A Śiva-liṅga is a principal aniconic form in which Śiva is worshipped. Meanings include ritual presence, cosmic sign and, in some historical interpretations, generative symbolism. No one sentence holds the whole story.
Also: Liṅga, lingam, शिवलिंग, लिंग
Where you may encounter it: Śiva and Śaiva Traditions
Narayana
नारायण
A name of the supreme Viṣṇu / resting cosmic person in many Vaiṣṇava texts. In some Purāṇic tellings Brahmā appears in relation to Nārāyaṇa, not as an independent first cause.
Also: Nārāyaṇa, नारायण
Where you may encounter it: Itihāsa and Purāṇa, Why Hindu Texts Do Not Always Say the Same Thing, Viṣṇu and Vaiṣṇava Traditions, Avatāra
Devi
devīदेवी
Sanskrit for goddess / the Goddess. May name a particular goddess or, in some Śākta texts, the supreme Devī. Not automatically every goddess at once.
Also: Devī, देवी
Where you may encounter it: Why Hinduism Has Many Divine Forms, Śiva and Śaiva Traditions, Devī, Śakti and Śākta Traditions
Durga
दुर्गा
A major Hindu goddess, often associated with protection and with the Mahiṣāsura episode of the Devī Māhātmya. Not merely 'the warrior form of Pārvatī' as a universal one-line truth.
Also: Durgā, दुर्गा
Where you may encounter it: Why Hinduism Has Many Divine Forms, Devī, Śakti and Śākta Traditions
Kali
काली
A major Hindu goddess whose names include fierce Devī Māhātmya battle-forms (including Cāmuṇḍā) and, in later Bengali devotion, the beloved Mother. Not simply 'the goddess of destruction.'
Also: Kālī, काली
Where you may encounter it: Why Hinduism Has Many Divine Forms, Devī, Śakti and Śākta Traditions
Lakshmi
लक्ष्मी
A major Hindu goddess bound up with Śrī: auspiciousness, flourishing, and well-being. Often related to Viṣṇu in Vaiṣṇava homes. Not a promise of cash.
Also: Lakṣmī, लक्ष्मी
Where you may encounter it: Viṣṇu and Vaiṣṇava Traditions
Sri
श्री
Auspicious splendour, fortune, or the goddess Śrī. Related historically to Lakṣmī. The names are not perfectly identical in every textual period.
Also: Śrī, श्री
Where you may encounter it: Viṣṇu and Vaiṣṇava Traditions
Shakta
śāktaशाक्त
Traditions and theologies that centre Devī / Śakti, sometimes as supreme. One Hindu family among others, and not a secret key to all Hinduism.
Also: Śākta, शाक्त
Where you may encounter it: Itihāsa and Purāṇa, Īśvara and the Personal Divine, Saṃsāra and Rebirth, Mokṣa, Bhakti, Why Hinduism Has Many Divine Forms, Devī, Śakti and Śākta Traditions
Camunda
चामुंडा
A fierce goddess-name. In Devī Māhātmya 7 she is Kālī named after slaying Caṇḍa and Muṇḍa. Later temple-forms are not automatically that same sentence.
Also: Cāmuṇḍā, चामुंडा
Where you may encounter it: Devī, Śakti and Śākta Traditions
Śruti
श्रुति
The texts the tradition receives rather than composes, meaning the Veda, held to have no human author. The category is a claim about where authority comes from, not about age or quality.
Also: श्रुति
Where you may encounter it: Śruti and Smṛti, The Vedas
Smṛti
स्मृति
What is remembered. Human work with named authors, including the epics, the Purāṇas and the dharma texts. Most of what a Hindu actually reads is smṛti.
Also: स्मृति
Where you may encounter it: Śruti and Smṛti, Itihāsa and Purāṇa
Avatāra
अवतार
A descent of a deity into the world, in Vaiṣṇava tradition especially. The lists differ. The Bhāgavata's own runs to twenty-two, and the Bhagavadgītā teaches a descent without using the word at all.
Also: अवतार
Where you may encounter it: Why Hindu Texts Do Not Always Say the Same Thing, Īśvara and the Personal Divine, Viṣṇu and Vaiṣṇava Traditions, Avatāra
Varṇa
वर्ण
The fourfold social ordering named in classical texts. The texts do not agree on what fixes it. One epic passage makes conduct the mark, and dharma texts elsewhere make birth the mark.
Also: वर्ण
Where you may encounter it: The Vedas, Dharma
Āśrama
आश्रम
A stage of life in the classical fourfold scheme: student, householder, forest-dweller, renouncer. The dharma texts state it for a twice-born male, so it is not a description of what everyone does.
Also: आश्रम
Where you may encounter it: The Āśrama Stages of Life
Itihāsa
इतिहास
The two epics, the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa. The word is often rendered history, which misleads. It names a genre the tradition distinguishes from the Purāṇas, not a record of events.
Also: इतिहास
Where you may encounter it: Itihāsa and Purāṇa
Darśan
दर्शन
Seeing and being seen by the deity in the image. The same word also names a philosophical system, as in the six darśanas, and the two senses are not related in use.
Also: दर्शन
Where you may encounter it: Mandir and Darśan
Mandir
mandirमंदिर
A Hindu temple. Northern and southern traditions differ substantially in form and vocabulary, so the Hindu temple as a single type is a convenience rather than a thing.
Also: मंदिर
Where you may encounter it: Mandir and Darśan
Japa
japaजप
Repetition of a mantra, counted or uncounted, aloud or silently. It is a practice rather than a doctrine, and its purpose is described differently across traditions.
Also: जप
Where you may encounter it: Mantra and Japa
Yajña
यज्ञ
The Vedic sacrifice, and the ritual system built around it. The overwhelming bulk of Vedic material concerns yajña, which popular accounts of the Vedas usually reverse.
Also: यज्ञ
Where you may encounter it: The Vedas
Saṃhitā
संहिता
The collected hymns at the base of each Veda. Above it sit the brāhmaṇa, āraṇyaka and upaniṣad layers, composed across centuries rather than written as four parts of one book.
Also: संहिता
Where you may encounter it: The Vedas
Adharma
अधर्म
The opposite of dharma. Since dharma is not one fixed rule, adharma is not one fixed offence, and both are stated in relation to who is acting and when.
Also: अधर्म
Where you may encounter it: Īśvara and the Personal Divine, Dharma
Brāhmaṇa (text)
ब्राह्मण
The prose layer of each Veda, explaining the ritual. Spelled the same in English as brāhmaṇa the varṇa, which is a different word with a long first vowel and no connection in meaning.
Also: ब्राह्मण
Where you may encounter it: The Vedas, The Upaniṣads
Advaita
advaitaअद्वैत
The Vedānta reading on which the self and brahman are not two. One of several readings of the same verses, associated with Śaṅkara, and not a summary of Hindu thought.
Also: अद्वैत
Where you may encounter it: What Hinduism Is, Ātman and Brahman
Viśiṣṭādvaita
विशिष्टाद्वैत
The Vedānta reading associated with Rāmānuja, on which the self is real and distinct while wholly dependent on the Lord. Often called qualified non-dualism.
Also: विशिष्टाद्वैत
Where you may encounter it: What Hinduism Is, Ātman and Brahman
Dvaita
dvaitaद्वैत
The Vedānta reading associated with Madhva, on which the self and the Lord are permanently distinct. The third of the three readings this course keeps apart.
Also: द्वैत
Where you may encounter it: What Hinduism Is, Ātman and Brahman
Prakṛti
प्रकृति
Nature or matter in the Sāṃkhya analysis, everything that changes, set against puruṣa, which does not. The pair is a technical scheme, not a general word for the natural world.
Also: प्रकृति
Where you may encounter it: Mokṣa, What Yoga Means
Puruṣa
पुरुष
In Sāṃkhya, the conscious witness set against prakṛti. In the Puruṣasūkta it is the cosmic person from whom the world is made. The two uses are related historically and are not interchangeable.
Also: पुरुष
Where you may encounter it: The Vedas, Mokṣa
Kaivalya
कैवल्य
The word for release in the Yoga system, the aloneness of the witness once it is no longer identified with what changes. Not a synonym for mokṣa, because the systems differ on what release is.
Also: कैवल्य
Where you may encounter it: Mokṣa, What Yoga Means
Paradharma
परधर्म
Another's dharma. The Gītā sets it against svadharma at 3.35 and 18.47, saying one's own imperfectly performed is better than another's performed well.
Also: परधर्म
Where you may encounter it: Dharma, The Paths of Yoga
Sanātana dharma
सनातन धर्म
A name many Hindus use for the tradition. In older texts sanātana is an adjective qualifying something else, a self or an order of things, and its modern use as a name for the religion is later.
Also: सनातन धर्म, सनातन
Where you may encounter it: Hindu, Hinduism and Sanātana Dharma
Apauruṣeya
अपौरुषेय
Without a personal author. The tradition's technical term for the standing of śruti, and the reason the category is fixed. A text with no author has no author to correct it.
Also: अपौरुषेय
Where you may encounter it: Śruti and Smṛti
Paramparā
परंपरा
The unbroken line of teacher to student through which a teaching is passed on. The line is itself part of the claim. A text's authority runs through the chain it came down.
Also: परंपरा
Where you may encounter it: How Hindu Tradition Is Passed On
Kṣetrajña
क्षेत्रज्ञ
The knower of the field, in Bhagavadgītā 13, set against the field itself. The three Vedānta schools read the same clause about it to incompatible conclusions.
Also: क्षेत्रज्ञ
Where you may encounter it: Why Hindu Texts Do Not Always Say the Same Thing, Ātman and Brahman
Tejas
तेजस्
Fiery power or radiance. In the Devī Māhātmya the Goddess is composed from the pooled tejas of the gods rather than born.
Also: तेज
Where you may encounter it: Why Hinduism Has Many Divine Forms, Devī, Śakti and Śākta Traditions
Samatva
समत्व
Evenness. Bhagavadgītā 2.48 gives it as the definition of yoga, which is narrower than indifference to outcomes and is not the same thing.
Also: समत्व
Where you may encounter it: What Yoga Means, The Paths of Yoga