Glossary
Nakşatra: the constellation in which the moon sits in the heaven at a particular time, commonly called as 'birth Star'
Vedic sciences: refer to a number of disciplines found in the Vedas, a large body of texts originating in ancient Bharat, among the oldest sacred texts
Rg Veda: an ancient Hindu sacred collection of hymns, counted among the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism known as the Vedas
Aryabhaṭa: one of the first astronomer and great mathematician of Bharat, born in 476
Copernicus: (1473-1543) the first astronomer to formulate a heliocentric cosmology, which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe
Galileo: (1564-1642) Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and important astronomical observations
Yojana: a Vedic measure of distance used in ancient Bharat, between 6 to 15 km (4 and 9 miles)
Rsi: a sage through whom the Vedic hymns flowed, a "seer" able to reach states of higher consciousness
Yogi: a practitioner of various forms of spiritual discipline, as yoga
Parāśara Maharṣi: a Rg Veda author of many ancient Hindu texts and important astrological texts, known as a traveling Master
Brhat Parāśara Hora Śāstra: a prominent astrological scientific text, written as a recorded dialogue between Parāśara and his disciple Maitreya
Vaśiṣṭa: Rāma's guru, a great Rṣi and had complete knowledge of the whole cosmos and the gods
Veda Vyāsa: a sage of ancient Bharat, compiler of the Vedas and great epics like the Māhābhārata
Māhābhārata: one of the major Sanskrit epic of
Bharat and philosophical scripture, depicting a great war that happened in Bharat, written in 250 000 verses
Samskāras: engraved memories stored in the subconscious part of the mind. They are continually interfering with our decision making process
Grahas: energy centers, energy fields that planets exert in the universe, generally assimilated to 'planets'
Karmas: the collection of unfulfilled experiences and actions that stay in us and constantly pull us to fulfill them
Āyurveda: a system of traditional medicine native to the Hindu Subcontinent. In Sanskrit, the word Ayurveda consists of the words ayus, meaning 'life', and veda, meaning 'related to knowledge' or 'science'.
Yoga: literally union, union of the individual self and the divine Self, often taken to mean Hatha yoga, which is one of the components of yogasana, relating to body postures.
Rudrāksa: a large broad-leaved tree whose seed is traditionally revered and used for prayer beads, or mala, mainly growing in foothills of the Himalayas up to South-East Asia
Sanskrit: language of the Rg Veda and of many scriptures, as well as mantras
Mantra: a sound, a formula, sometimes a word or set of words, which because of their inherent sounds, have energizing properties, an approach to spiritual evolution
Unclutching: understanding that each thought is completely independent, unconnected to the precedent; which leads to disengage oneself from the mind, resulting in experiencing the no-mind state
Cakra: literally a 'wheel': refers to energy centers in the mind-body system
Anahata cakra : the fourth energy center; literally 'that which cannot be created', referring to love
Sahasraracakra: seventh energy center; located on the top of the head, also called 'crown cakra'
Sattva: a state in which the mind is steady, calm and peaceful
Guru: master, literally one who leads from gu (darkness) to ru (light)
Dośa: in Ayurvedic medicine, one of the three biological humors or energies (kapha, pitta, vata) which combine in various proportions to determine individual constitution, mental and physical disorders
Kapha: one of the three dośas or attributes of the body in Ayurveda, related to the element of water and earth, related to the structure and lubrication of the body
Visnu: the preserver in the trinity; His incarnations include Krsna, Rāma ect., also means 'all encompassing'
Matsya-avatar: the fish Incarnation, the first incarnation of Visnu in which he retrieves the Vedas from the demon Hayagriva and also saves the pious
Avatar. signifies the descent of Divinity into flesh
Yogic: a quality developed through spiritual and yoga practices
Vajrāsana: common yoga and meditation posture, where the person sits on his heels
Cin mudra: palms upraised with thumb and forefinger forming a circle and other three fingers outstretched
Guru pūja: form of worship offered to the master body postures performed in yoga, literally means 'seat'
Aştānga namaskār: prostrating to a deity or master by lying on the floor with all eight limbs of the body touching the earth
Bhujangāsana: 'cobra posture' in yoga, in which the head and chest are raised while lying down
Pranic layer: the second layer of energy of the body, related to prana or life energy
Lord Śiva: rejuvenator in the trinity also means 'causeless auspiciousness'
Brahman: the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality, the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe
Bija mantra: refers to the single syllable mantra used to invoke certain deities
Pūja: a ritual made of different offerings related to the deity propitiated
Navagraha dośa: literally means 'planetary defects' or inauspicious alignment of planets
Homa: ancestral Vedic fire ritual
Nirvanic layer: seventh subtle body that we have and last layer of energy which is the space where one experiences intense bliss
Physical layer: the gross body made of flesh and bones
Aum: the primordial cosmic sound from which the whole Universe emerged
Hrīm: bīja, or seed mantra relating to feminine energy Śakti: energy, intelligent energy, considered as the feminine aspect of Śiva.
Jivan Mukti: the state of achieving liberation from the cycle of birth and death during one's lifetime