Advaita Vision

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Advaita for the 21st Century

Dictionary of common Sanskrit spiritual words
a - aham

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Note that words appear in order of the Roman alphabet, not the Sanskrit alphabet.

English ITRANS Sanskrit Meaning
A      
a a A as a prefix to another word, it changes it into the negative. e.g. vidya - knowledge, avidya - ignorance.
abhasa AbhAsa AaÉas semblance, phantom, fallacious appearance.Shankara's teaching metaphor of the white crystal taking on the color of adjacent objects is called AbhAsa vAda - the argument of appearance.
abhava abhAva AÉav non-existence, absence. See anupalabdhi.
abhimana abhimAna AiÉman self-conceit, pride; conception (esp. an erroneous one regarding one's self).
abhivyakti abhivyakti AiÉVyi´ manifestation; distinction. (abhivyakta - manifest, evident, distinct.)
abhyasa abhyAsa A_yas exercise, discipline; in Raja Yoga, this refers to "the effort of the mind to remain in its unmodified condition of purity (sattva)." Ramana Maharshi sometimes refers to a spiritual aspirant as an abhyAsI - i.e. one who practices.
acharya AchArya AacayR a spiritual guide or teacher. See shankaracharya.
achintya achintya AicNTy inconceivable or beyond thought.
adhama adhama Axm lowest, vilest, worst.
adhara AdhAra Aaxar support, prop, sta, substratum.
adheya Adheya Aaxey assigned, attributed, contained; the attributes in the AdhAra subtratum.
adhibhautika adhibhautika AixÉaEitk (resulting) from such things as wars, disagreements, natural disasters. adhi means from, from the presence; bhautika means anything elemental or material.
adhidaivika adhidaivika AixdEivk (resulting) from the presence of divine or supernatural forces. adhi means from, from the presence; daivika is the adjective from deva (god) meaning coming from the gods, divine.
adhikarana adhikaraNa Aixkr[ (in philosophy) a substratum; realtionship of words in a sentence (e.g. adjective and substantive, subject and predicate).
adhikari adhikArin or adhikArI Aixkairn! AixkarI a seeker who is mentally prepared (see chatuShTaya sampatti) and therefore ready to receive the final teaching from the guru; literally "possessing authority, entitled to, fit for." adhikAra effectively means 'eligibility'.
adhisthana adhiShThAna Aixóan substratum; literally basis, support, that upon which something rests.
adhyaropa adhyAropa AXyaraep erroneously attributing one thing to another.
adhyaropa-apavada adhyAropa apavAda AXyaraep Apvad One of the principal methods of teaching Advaita, whereby an attribute is applied to brahman initially (and erroneously - hence adhyAropa) but is later taken back, once the point has been understood. apavAda means denial or contradiction. An example would be the teaching of the kosha-s.
adhyasa adhyAsa AXyas used to refer to the "mistake" that we make when we "superimpose" a false appearance upon the reality or mix up the real and the unreal. The classical example is when we see a snake instead of a rope, which is used as a metaphor for seeing the world of objects instead of the reality of the Self. This concept is fundamental to Advaita and Shankara devotes a separate section to it at the beginning of his commentary on the Brahmasutra.
adhyatmika adhyAtmika AXyaiTmk resulting from self, i.e. problems such as pain and mental suffering. adhi means from, from the presence; Atmika means relating to self.
adhyaya adhyAya AXyay lesson, lecture or chapter.
adi Adi Aaid beginning, commencement. Thus sa Adi = sAdi = with a beginning; a(n) Adi = anAdi = without any beginning, beginningless.
adrishta adRRiShTa A†ò unseen, imperceptible, unforeseen, invisible, unobserved, unknown.
Advaita advaita AÖEt not (a) two (dvaita); non-dual philosophy. (Adjective - advitIya - unique, without a second.)
advaya advaya AÖy not two, without a second, unique; identity (esp. of brahman and Atman or jagat); advayam is non-duality.
agama Agama Aagm acquisition of knowledge, science; traditional doctrine; anything handed down and fixed by tradition; also used as equivalent to shabda, the pramANa of the scriptures.
agamin AgAmin Aagaimn! That type of sanskara which is generated in reaction to current situations and which will not bear fruit until sometime in the future. It literally means 'impending', 'approaching' or 'coming'. Also called kriyamANa, which means 'being done'. See prarabdha, sanchita, sanskara.
agni agni Ai¶ fire; the God of fire.
agocara agochara Agaecr (literally) imperceptible by the senses but treated as anything that is unavailable to any pramANa other than shabda (i.e. scriptures).
agrahana agrahaNa A¢h[ non-comprehension or non-perception.
agrahya agrAhya A¢aý inconceivable, inadmissible.
aham aham Ahm! I.
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Page last updated: 10-Jul-2012