Glossary of Sanskrit Terms

Acarya - one who teaches by his own example; a spiritual master

Ahimsa - nonviolence

Ananda - spiritual bliss

Arca-vigraha - the form of God manifested through material elements, as in a painting or statue of Krsna worshipped at home or in the temple. present in this form, the Lord accepts worship from His devotees.

Asrama - the four spiritual orders according to the Vedic social system: brahmacarya, grhastha, vanaprastha, sanyassa. Sometimes refers to living quarters.

Asura - a person opposed to the service of the Lord

Atma - the self ;soul

Avatara - "one who descends" - a fully or partially empowered incarnation of God who descends from the spiritual world for a particular mission.

Bhagavan - "He who possesses all opulences" the Supreme Lord, who is the reservoir of all beauty, strength, fame, wealth, knowledge and renunciation.

Bhakta / Bhaktin - devotee of the Lord (sometimes refers to a new devotee/not inititated)

Bhakti-yoga - devotional service- highest form of yoga

Brahma - the first created being of the universe; directed by Lord Visnu, he creates all life forms in the universe and rules the modes of passion.

Brahmacari - a celibate student

Brahmajyoti - the spiritual effulgence emanating from the trancendental body of Lord Krsna and illuminating the spiritual world.

Brahman - 1)the individual soul 2)the impersonal, all pervasive aspect of the Supreme 3) the Supreme Personality of Godhead 4) the maha-tattva, or total material existence

Brahmana - a member of the most intelligent class of men, according to the four Vedic occupational divisions of society

Brahma-samhita - prayers offered by Lord Brahma to Lord Krsna, discovered by Caitanya Mahaprabhu in South India.

Caitanya-Caritamrita - the biography of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu composed in bengali in the late 16th century by Krsnadas Kaviraja.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu - Lord Krsna's incarnation in the age of Kali, who appeared in Navadwipa, West Bengal, in the late 15th century and inaugurated the yuga-dharma (prime religious dispensation for the age)-the congregational chanting of the divine names of God.

Candala - dogeater; outcaste

Das / Dasi - servant (devotees place this after their initiated name to always be a reminder that they are servants of the spiritual master and Krsna.

Deva - a demigod or godly person

Garuda - the man-bird carrier of Lord Visnu

Goloka - Krsnaloka, the eternal abode of Lord Krsna

Gopi - cowherd maiden (eternal consorts of Krsna)

Goraksha - cow protection

Goswami - master of the senses (one who can control the senses)

Grhastha - a married person living according to the Vedic social system

Guru - spiritual master

Jiva - living entity, eternal individual soul

Kali-Yuga - "Age of Quarrel and Hypocrisy" which began 5,000 years ago

Karma - material activities, for which one incurs subsequent reactions

Karmi - one engaged in fruititive activities (karma); a materialist

Lila - a trancendental pastime or activity performed by the Supreme Lord

Loka - planet

Krsna - all-attractive; the Supreme Personality of Godhead

Maha-Mantra - the "great mantra": Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Mahatma - "great soul", a liberated person who is fully Krsna conscious

Mahat-tattva - the total material energy

Mantra - a trancendental sound or Vedic hymn

Manu - the demigod who is the father of mankind

Maya - illusion; the energy of the Supreme Lord that deludes living entities into forgetfulness of their spiritual nature and of God

Mayavadi - impersonalist

Mukti - liberation from material existence

Narayana - the four-armed form of Lord Krsna who presides over the Vaikuntha planets; Lord Visnu

Om (Omkara) - the sacred syllable that represents the Absolute Truth

Paramatma - the Supersoul; the localized aspect of the Supreme Lord; the indwelling witness and guide who accompanies every conditioned soul.

Parampara - disciplic succession

Prasadam - sanctified food; food/flowers/incense offered in devotion to Lord Krsna

Prema - pure, spontaneous devotional love of God

Purana - history told in story form

Rama - 1) a name of Lord Krsna meaning "the source of all pleasure"
2) Lord Ramacandra, an incarnation of Krsna as a perfect righteous king.

Rupa Goswami - the leader of the six Goswamis of Vrndavana, principal folllowers of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

Sac-cid-ananda - eternal, blissful and full of knowledge.

Sadhu - a saint or Krsna conscious person

Samsara - the cycle of repeated birth and death in the material world

Sanatana-Dharma - the eternal religion; devotional service

Sanyassa - the renounced order of life for spiritual culture

Sastra - revealed scriptures

Siva - the demigod who supervises the material mode of ignorance and who annihilates the material cosmos.

Sri - beautiful

Srimad Bhagavatam - the Bhagavat Purana, written by Vyasadeva specifically to give a deep understanding of Lord Sri Krsna.

Srimati Radharani - Krsna's eternal consort, devotional service personified

Sudra - a member of the laborer class of men

Upanisads - 108 philosophical treatises that appear within the Vedas

Vaikunthas - the eternal spiritual planets of the spiritual world

Vaisnava - a devotee of the Supreme Lord

Vaisya - a member of the mercantile and agricultural class

Vanaprastha - a man who has retired from housholder life to cultivate greater renunciation

Varnasrama-dharma - the Vedic social system, which organizes society into four occupational and four spiritual divisions (varnas and asramas)

Vedas - the four original scriptures (Rg, Sama, Atharva and Yajur)

Visnu - the Supreme Personality of Godhead (Krsna)

Vrndavan - the transcendental abode of Lord Krsna. It is also called Goloka Vrndavana or Krsnaloka. the town of Vrndavana in the Mathura District of Uttar Pradesh, India, where Krsna appeared five thousand years ago, is a manifestation on earth of Krsna's abode in the spiritual world.

Vyasadeva - the compiler of the Vedas and author of the Puranas, Mahabharata and Vedanta-sutra.

Yajna - sacrifice

Yamaraja - the demigod who punishes the sinful after death

Yoga - spiritual discipline to link oneself with the Supreme

Yuga - "age" there are four yugas, which cycle perpetually: Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, Dvapara-yuga and Kali-yuga. As the ages proceed from Satya to Kali, religion and the good qualities of men gradually decline.