Dictionary of common Sanskrit spiritual words
vAchArambhaNa - vibhUti

vacharambhana or vagalambana

depending on mere words or some merely verbal difference.

Vachaspati

name of one of the two schools of Advaita, after the philosopher vAchaspati mishra. It is also called the bhAmatI school. The other school is the vivaraNa school.

vachyartha

the directly expressed meaning (literal description), as opposed to lakShyArtha.

vada

speech, proposition, discourse, argument, discussion, explanation or exposition (of scriptures etc.); dispute with the aim of reaching the right conclusion, irrespective of who ‘wins’. (Three types of disputation: jalpa, vitaNDa, vAda).

vak

speech, language sound; speech personified as the Goddess, wife of prajApati (lord of creatures).

vaikhari

speech; the fourth stage in the production of sound.

vaikuntha

heaven.

vairagya

detachment or dispassion; indifference to the pleasure that results from success or the disappointment that results from failure. Literally to be “deprived of” (vai) “passion or desire” (rAga). See sadhana, chatushtaya sampatti.

vaisheshika

one of the six classical Indian Philosophies, a later development of nyAya by the theologian, Kanada; named after the nine “essentially different substances” believed to constitute matter. See darshana, vishesha.

vaishvanara

the gross physical condition, or waking state of man (more usually known as vishva, the waker). brahman “located in” the bodily form. Literally means “relating to or belonging to all men, universal.” The word is also used for the macrocosmic level, virAj or virAT.

vaishya

a working man, trader or farmer – the third of the traditional four castes in India.

Vakyapadiya

book on Sanskrit grammar, written by bhartRRihari.

valli

relating to the sections of particular Upanishads.

vanaprastha

the third stage of the traditional Hindu spiritual path, in which the Brahman retires from life and becomes a “forest dweller,” living as a hermit. Traditionally speaking, “a properly initiated dvija or twice-born.” See also brahmacharya, grihasta, sanyasa.

vasana

literally “desiring” or “wishing” – latent behavioral tendency in one’s nature brought about through past action (karma) and the saMskAra that resulted from this. See karma, sanskara.

Vasishta

eponymous sage of the “Yoga Vasishta” one of the classical works of Advaita.

vastava

substantial, real, true.

vastu

a thing that exists, object, subject matter. Strictly speaking, there is only one vastu – Atman. Everything else is incidental – it comes and goes. Only Consciousness is always there, intrinsic.

vastu-tantra

objective, governed by reality (as opposed to kartRRi-tantra or puruSha-tantra, the result of ‘doing’).

vayu

air (or wind) – one of the five elements or pa~nchabhUta. Associated with touch.

veda

knowledge, but the word is normally only used to refer to one of the four Vedas (see Vedanta) and vidyA is used for knowledge per se. See vidya.

Vedanta

literally “end” or “culmination” (anta) of knowledge (veda) but veda in this context refers to the four Vedas, the Hindu equivalents of the Christian bible (called Rig, RRig veda; Sama, sama veda; Atharva, atharva veda; Yajur, yajur veda). Traditionally, the last part of the vedas (i.e. “end”) is devoted to the Upanishads. See upanishad.

Vedantasara

literally “essence of Vedanta”; a treatise on Vedanta by Sadananda Yogindra.

vibhuti

(Adj.) pervading, abundant, powerful. (Noun) plenty, abundance, superhuman power, splendor, glory, magnificence; the ashes of cow dung, smeared on the forehead. (In devotional ceremonies, a small ball of cow dung, together with a flower is used to represent the god gaNesha to protect the house. A new ball is used each day and these are collected and then burnt to produce the ash.)