Glossary

ÁCÁRYA m. or ÁCÁRYÁ f. Spiritual teacher qualified to give initiation and teach all lessons of meditation. AHAM, AHAḾTATTVA. Doer “I”, ego, second mental subjectivity. ÁNANDA. Divine bliss. ANANDA MARGA. Path of divine bliss; Ánanda Márga Pracáraka Saḿgha (Ananda Marga organization). ÁTMÁ, ÁTMAN. Soul, consciousness, PURUŚA, pure cognition. The átman of the Cosmos is PARAMÁTMAN, and that of the unit is the jiivátman. AVADHÚTA m. or AVADHÚTIKÁ f. Literally, “one who is thoroughly cleansed mentally and spiritually”; a monk or nun of an order close to the tradition of Shaeva Tantra.

BALA. Energy. BHAKTI. Devotion. BHAVA. The expressed universe. BHÚTA, BHÚTATATTVA, MAHÁBHÚTA. Rudimental, or fundamental, factor of matter. The five bhútas are the ethereal, the aerial, the luminous, the liquid and the solid; and they carry, respectively, the TANMÁTRAs of sound, touch, form, taste and smell. BODHI. Intuition. BRAHMA. Supreme Entity, comprising both PURUŚA, or SHIVA, and PRAKRTI, or SHAKTI. BRAHMA CAKRA. The Cosmic Cycle – the cycle of creation out of Consciousness, and dissolution back into Consciousness, through SAIṊCARA and PRATISAIṊCARA. BUDDHI, BUDDHITATTVA. Intellect.

CAKRA. Cycle or circle; psycho-spiritual centre, or plexus. The cakras in the human body are all located along the suśumná canal which passes through the length of the spinal column and extends up to the crown of the head. Some cakras, however, are associated with external concentration points. The concentration points for the cakras: (1) for the múládhára cakra, the base of the spine, above the perineum; (2) for the svádhiśt́hána, the base of the genital organ; (3) for the mańipura, the navel; (4) for the anáhata, the mid-point of the chest; (5) for the vishuddha, the throat; (6) for the ájiṋá, between the eyebrows; and (7) for the sahasrára, the crown of the head. CITISHAKTI. Cognitive Principle, PURUŚA, Pure Consciousness. CITTA. Done “I”, objective “I”, objective mind, mind-stuff. CITTÁŃU. Literally, “atom of mind-stuff”; ectoplasmic particle.

DHARMA. Characteristic property; spirituality; the path of righteousness in social affairs. DRK. Substantiator, witness.

GUŃA. Binding factor or principle; attribute; quality. PRAKRTI, the Cosmic Operative Principle, is composed of: sattvaguńa, the sentient principle; rajoguńa, the mutative principle; and tamoguńa, the static principle.

INDRIYA. One of the five sensory organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin) or five motor organs (hands, feet, vocal cord, genital organ and excretory organ). The eye indriya (for example) comprises the eye itself, the optical nerve, the fluid in the nerve, and the location in the brain at which the visual stimulus is transmitted to the ectoplasm, or mind-stuff.

JAD́ASPHOT́A. Explosion of matter; a reaction within a physical body resulting in structural dissociation. JIIVÁTMÁ, JIIVÁTMAN. See ÁTMÁ.

KALÁ. Flow with curvature, in a stage of the Cosmic Cycle dominated by the mutative principle. KOŚA. “Level” or “layer” of the mind (either Macrocosmic Mind or microcosmic mind) in terms of its degree of subtlety or crudeness. KŚATRIYA. A person whose mentality is to dominate over matter, a member of the warrior social class. KUŃD́ALINII, KULAKUŃD́ALINII. Literally, “coiled serpentine”; sleeping divinity; the force dormant in the kula (lowest vertebra) of the body, which, when awakened, rises up the spinal column to develop all one’s spiritual potentialities.

LOKA. A “level”, or “layer”, or “sphere” of the Macrocosmic Mind.

MAHÁBHÚTA. See BHÚTA. MAHATTATTVA. “I” (“I am,” “I exist”) feeling, existential “I”. MARGI. A member of ANANDA MARGA.

NIRGUŃA BRAHMA. BRAHMA unaffected by the GUŃAS; Non-Qualified Brahma.

OTA YOGA. The association of PURUŚOTTAMA with each unit creation individually in PRATISAIṊCARA.

PARAMÁ PRAKRTI. Supreme Operative Principle. PARAMA PURUŚA. Supreme Consciousness. PARAMASHIVA. See PURUŚOTTAMA. PARAMÁTMÁ, PARAMÁTMAN. Supreme Consciousness in the role of witness of His own macropsychic conation. Paramátman comprises: (1) PURUŚOTTAMA, the Macrocosmic Nucleus; (2) Puruśottama’s association with all creation in His extroversive movement (prota yoga); and (3) Puruśottama’s association with each unit creation individually (ota yoga) and (4) with all collectively (prota yoga) in His introversive movement. PRAKRTI. Cosmic Operative Principle. PRÁŃA. Energy. PRÁŃÁH. Vital energy. PRATISAIṊCARA. In the Cosmic Cycle, the step-by-step introversion and subtilization of consciousness from the state of solid matter to the Nucleus Consciousness. (Prati means “counter” and saiṋcara means “movement”.) PROTA YOGA. The association of PURUŚOTTAMA with all creation in His extroversive movement and with all the unit creations collectively in His introversive movement. PURUŚA. Consciousness. PURUŚOTTAMA, PARAMASHIVA. The Nucleus Consciousness, the witness of saiṋcara and PRATISAIṊCARA.

RAJOGUŃA. See GUŃAS.

SADGURU. Literally, “the guru who leads one to Sat, the Unchangeable Entity”; the highest spiritual guru. SÁDHAKA. Spiritual practitioner. SÁDHANÁ. Literally, “sustained effort”; spiritual practice; meditation. SADVIPRA. Spiritual revolutionary. SAGUŃA BRAHMA. BRAHMA affected by the GUŃAS; Qualified Brahma. SAIṊCARA. In the Cosmic Cycle, the step-by-step extroversion and crudification of consciousness from the Nucleus Consciousness to the state of solid matter. (Saiṋcara literally means “movement”.) SAMÁDHI. “Absorption” of the unit mind into the Cosmic Mind (savikalpa samádhi) or into the ÁTMAN (nirvikalpa samádhi). SAMÁJA. Society. SAḾSKÁRA. Mental reactive momentum, potential mental reaction. SATTVAGUŃA. See GUŃAS. SHAKTI. PRAKRTI; energy; a deification of Prakrti. SHAMBHÚLIUNGA. Fundamental positivity. SHIVA. A great Tantric guru of 5000 BCE who guided society while His mind was absorbed in Consciousness; hence, Infinite Consciousness, PURUŚA. SHÚDRA. A person of bread-and-butter mentality, a member of the worker social class. SÚTRA. Literally, “thread” (on which numerous jewels of thought can be strung); aphorism. SVAYAMBHÚLIUNGA. Ultimate point of negativity or crudity in the human body.

TAMOGUŃA. See GUŃAS. TANMÁTRA. Literally, “minutest fraction of that,” i.e., of a given rudimental factor of matter. Also translated “generic essence” or “inferential wave”. The various types of tanmátras convey the senses of hearing, touch, form (vision), taste and smell. TÁRAKA BRAHMA. Supreme Consciousness in Its liberating aspect.

VAESHYA. A person of acquisitive mentality, a member of the capitalist social class. VIDYÁ SHAKTI. Centripetal, or introversial, force; force of attraction to the Nucleus Consciousness; aspect of the Cosmic Operative Principle which guides movements from the crude to the subtle. VIPRA. A person who controls others by his wits, a member of the intellectual social class. VRTTI. Mental propensity.

YOGA. Spiritual practice leading to unification of the unit ÁTMAN with PARAMÁTMAN.

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