Dictionary of common Sanskrit spiritual words
nirveda - paramAtman

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

nirveda

being indifferent towards or even having a loathing for worldly objects.

nirvikalpa

(referring to samAdhi) without doubts about one’s identity with the one Self. See savikalpa, samadhi, vikalpa.

nirvishesha

making or showing no difference. nirvisheShaNa – attributeless.

nishkama

desireless, disinterested. niShkAma karma is so-called “right action,” performed in response to the need, neither selfishly nor unselfishly – it generates no saMskAra.

nishtha

committed or devoted to; having a basis or grounding in. niShThA is the noun, meaning firmness, steadiness, devotion.

nitya

eternal. It also means “ordinary, usual, necessary, obligatory.” It is used in this latter sense in connection with action. nitya karma are those daily duties that we have to perform, such as looking after one’s children.

nivritti

giving up, abstaining, renouncing (esp. of desires in the path to enlightenment – nivRRitti mArga).

niyama

restraining, controlling; any fixed rule or law; necessity. There are five niyama-s in rAja yoga.

nyaya

logical argument; literally, “that into which a thing goes back,” a “standard” or “rule”; one of the 6 classical Indian philosophical systems, whose principal exponent was Gautama in the 3rd Century BC. So called because the system “goes into” all physical and metaphysical subjects in a very logical manner.

nyaya prasthana

refers to logical and inferential material based upon the Vedas, of which the most well known is the brahma sUtra of Vyasa (nyAya can also mean method, axiom, logical argument etc.). See pramana, prasthana-traya, smriti, sruti.

pada

foot, part, quarter. The Mandukya Upanishad refers to the four pAda as the three states of consciousness plus turIya. A better translation of pAda, here, is ‘facet’.

padartha

the meaning of a word; the thing, material object or person that corresponds with that meaning.

Padmapada

one of the four principal disciples of Shankara.

paksha

subject of the discussion, proposition to be proved.

panchabuta

the five elements, viz. earth - pRRithivI; water - ap; fire - tejas; air - vAyu; space or ether - AkAsha.

Panchadashi

literally means “fifteen” because it has this many chapters - a book written by Vidyaranya (vidyAraNya), based upon the Upanishads. It discusses many Advaitic truths and uses some original metaphors to illustrate the concepts.

panchakosha

the five sheaths.

Panchapadika

a commentary by Padmapada on Shankara’s commentary on the first part of the brahma sUtra.

pandita

literally “wise” as an adjective or “scholar, teacher, philosopher” as a noun and used in this way in the scriptures. However, it has come to mean someone who knows a lot of theory but does very little practice. We sometimes use the word “pundit” in our language - the word “sophist” would probably be a good synonym.

papa

literally “bad” or “wicked” but used in the sense of the “sin” that accrues (according to the theory of karma) from performing “bad” actions, i.e. those done with a selfish motive. See also punya.

para

the first stage in the production of sound. Also means beyond, distant, remote, highest, supreme; could be translated as “transcendent.”

parama

chief, highest, most prominent, best etc.

paramartha (noun); paramarthika (adj.)

the highest truth or reality; the noumenal as opposed to the phenomenal world of appearances (vyavahAra). See pratibhasa and vyavahara.

paramatman

usually translated as the “supreme Self” as opposed to the Atman in the embodied state, the jIvAtman. Swami Dayananda insists that it actually means “limitless” in the sense of not limited by time or place and therefore changeless. See atman.