Glossary

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A

Äbhäsa	shadow
Abhidheya	the regulated activities of the soul for reviving his relationship with the Lord; devotional service.
Abhimanyu	the heroic son Arjuna and Subhadrä. He was killed by the Son of Duùçäsana. (Droëa Parva in Mahäbhärata)
Abhiñeka	a bathing ceremony, particularly for the coronation of a king or the installation of the Lord's Deity form.
Absolute Truth	the ultimate source of all energies.
Äcamana	purification by sipping water and chanting names of the Lord, especially during a sacrifice.
Äcärya	an ideal teacher, who teaches by his personal example; a spiritual master.
Acintya	inconceivable
Acintya-bhedäbheda-tattva	Lord Caitanya's doctrine of the "inconceivable oneness and difference" of God and His energies.
Acintya-çakti	the inconceivable energy of the Supreme Lord.
Acit	without life or consciousness.
Acyuta	the Supreme Lord, who can never fall down from His position.
Adbhuta	the [rasa] (devotional sentiment) of wonder or amazement.
Adharma	irreligion.
Adhibhautika misery	misery caused by other living beings.
Adhidaivika misery	misery caused by nature.
Adhidaivika powers	the administrative functions delegated by the Lord to demigods, such as control over rain, wind and sun.
Adhokñaja	the Supreme Lord, who is beyond material sense perception.
Adhyätmika misery	misery caused by one's own body and mind.
Ädi-puruña	the Supreme Lord, Kåñëa, the original person.
Aditi	the mother of the demigods.
Ädityas	the demigods who are descendants of Kaçyapa Muni's wife Aditi.
Advaita Prabhu	an incarnation of Viñëu who appeared as a principal associate of Lord Caitanya Mahäprabhu.
Advaita-vädés	atheistic philosophers who say all distinctions are but material illusions. [See also:] Mäyävädés.
Aghäsura	the python-shaped demon sent by Kaàsa to kill Kåñëa.
Agni	the demigod of fire.
Agnihotra-yajïa	the ceremonial fire sacrifice performed in Vedic rituals.
Ahaà brahmäsmi	the Vedic aphorism "I am spirit."
Ahaà mämeti	the false conception of "I" and "mine."
Ahaìgraha-upäsanä	self-worship, not recommended for anyone other than God.
Ahaìkära	false ego, by which the soul misidentifies with the material body.
Ahiàsä	non-violence.
Aja	the unborn; the Supreme Lord.
Äjagara-våtti	the life pattern of a python.
Ajämila	a fallen [brähmaëa] who was saved from hell by chanting the name of Lord Näräyaëa at the time of death
Ajïäta-sukåti	pious or devotional activity performed accidentally, without knowledge of its effect.
Akäma	free from material desire.
Akäma-bhakta	one who serves the Lord without material motive.
Akarma	"non-action"; devotional activity for which one suffers no reaction.
Akiïcana-gocara	Lord Kåñëa, who is easily approached by those who are materially exhausted.
Akrüra	an uncle of Lord Kåñëa.
Akñauhiëé	a military division consisting of 21,870 chariots, 21,870 elephants, 109,350 infantrymen and 65,610 horses.
Äküti	one of Sväyambhuva Manu's three daughters. She was the wife of Ruci.
Amara-koça dictionary	a dictionary of the Sanskrit language.
Ambaréña Mahäräja	a great devotee king who perfectly eecuted all nine devotional practices (hearing, chanting, etc.).
Ambuja lotus	The ambuja lotus opens during the day and closes with the moonrise at night
Aàça	an expansion of the Supreme Lord.
Änakadundubhi	another name of Vasudeva, the father of Kåñëa.
Änanda	spiritual bliss.
Änanda-cinmaya-rasa-vigraha	the personal, spiritual form of bliss and knowledge.
Änandamaya	full of bliss in spiritual realization; Kåñëa conscious.
Ananta	the Lord's thousand-headed serpent incarnation, who serves as the bed of Viñëu and sustains the planets on His hoods.
Anartha-nivåtti	a stage in the progressive development of devotion to Lord Kåñëa in which one is freed from unwanted desires and karmic reactions.
Aìga Mahäräja	the father of King Vena.
Aìgirä	one of the seven great sages born directly from Brahmä.
Aniläyäma	the discipline of controlling the breathing process.
Aëimä	the mystic power to become as small as an atom.
Aniruddha	one of the four original expansions of Lord Kåñëa in the spiritual world; also, a grandson of Lord Kåñëa.
Annamaya	(consciousness) absorbed only in food.
Anna-präçana	the ceremony of offering a child his first food grains; one of the ten purificatory [saàskäras].
Antardhäna	Vijitäçva, the eldest son of King Påthu.
Antarikña	outer space.
Antaryämé	the expansion of the Supreme Lord situated in everyone's heart as the Supersoul.
Antyajas	one of the seven mixed castes lower than [çüdra].
Anubhäva	the resultant outward manifestations of a devotee's loving sentiments for Kåñëa.
Aparä-prakåti	the inferior, material energy of the Lord (matter).
Apavarga	liberation from [pavarga,] the miseries of material existence.
Apipäsä	desiring only to perform devotional service to Kåñëa.
Apräkåta	transcendental to material nature.
Aprameya	immeasurable.
Apsaräs	the dancing girls of heaven.
Ärati	a ceremony for greeting the Lord with chanting and offerings of food, lamps, fans, flowers and incense.
Arcana	the procedures followed for worshiping the [arcä-vigraha].
Arcä-vigraha	the form of God manifested through material elements, as in a painting or statue of Kåñëa worshiped in a temple or home. Present in this form, the Lord personally accepts worship from His devotees.
Arci	the wife of King Påthu.
Arghya	a ceremonious offering, in a conchshell, of water and other auspicious items.
Arjuna	one of the five Päëòava brothers. Kåñëa became his chariot driver and spoke the [Bhagavad-gétä] to him.
Artha	economic development.
Aryamä	the demigod in charge of Pitåloka, the planet where qualified departed ancestors reside.
Äryan	a civilized follower of Vedic culture; one whose goal is spiritual advancement.
Äsanas	sitting postures in [yoga] practice.
Asat	not eternal.
Asita	an ancient authority on the [Vedas].
Äçrama	one of four spiritual orders of life. [See also: Brahmacarya - student life; Gåhastha - householder life; Vänaprastha - retirement; Sannyäsa - renunciation].
Añöakä	the eighth day after the full moon.
Añöäìga-yoga	the eight-stage mystic [yoga] system propounded by Pataïjali. It consists of [yama] and [niyama] (moral practices), [äsana] (bodily postures), [präëäyäma] (breath control), [pratyähära] (sensory withdrawal), [dhäraëä] (steadying the mind), [dhyäna] (meditation) and [samädhi] (deep contemplation on Viñëu within the heart).
Añöa-siddhis	the eight mystic perfections acquired by [yoga] practice.
Asura	a person opposed to the service of the Lord.
Äçutoña	Lord Çiva, who is easily pleased.
Açvamedha-yajïa	a Vedic horse sacrifice.
Açvatthämä	the nefarious son of the great military teacher Droëäcärya. He murdered the children of the Päëòavas.
Açviné deities	demigods in charge of the nostrils and sense of smell.
Atharva Veda	one of the four [Vedas,] the original revealed scriptures spoken by the Lord Himself.
Ätmä	the self (the body, the mind, the intellect, the Supersoul or the individual soul).
Ätma-nivedana	the devotional process of surrendering everything to the Lord.
Ätmäräma	one who is self-satisfied, free from eternal, material desires.
Ätma-tattva	spiritual science.
Atri	one of the seven great sages born directly from Brahmä; father of the Lord's incarnation Dattätreya.
Avadhüta	a very saintly and renounced person who may live outside regulative principles, having surpassed any need for them.
Avaiñëava	a non-devotee.
Avara	material.
Avatära	a descent, or incarnation, of the Supreme Lord.
Äveça	[See: Çakty-äveça]
Avidyä	ignorance.
Avyakta	un-manifest.
Äyur-veda	the Vedic scriptures containing medical science.