The purpose of this Glossary is to express ancient Vedic knowledge using modern scientific language. The “translation” may not be exactly right at first, but, hopefully, it shall improve as better input is received.
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AGNI
The Vedas start with homage to Agni. Agni implies energy in all its forms. It is animated by an innate impulse. Energy is the basic substance of the universe. Everything physical, spiritual, real, imaginary, postulated or considered, is made of energy.
BECOMING ONE
To “become one” is to know something so intimately that there is no distance left. For example, when you are expert in riding a bicycle, you have become one with that bicycle. You push pedals and apply brakes without putting attention on them. But you are fully aware of those actions, and you can change them whenever you want. To “become one with God” is to know the universal laws so well that you operate according to them without having attention on them. When one says, “the seer and scenery has become one,” it implies knowingness. See KNOWINGNESS.
BEING
A being is an energy form animated by an innate impulse.
BHAGAVĀN
Bhagavān literally means “fortunate”, “blessed”, and hence “illustrious”, “divine”, “venerable”, “holy”, etc. Please see Etymology and meaning.
“He who understands the creation and dissolution, the appearance and disappearance of beings, the wisdom and ignorance, should be called Bhagavān.” — Vishnu Purana, VI.5.78
BRAHMA
Brahma is the innate impulse manifested as energy in the form of the whole universe.
In modern language one would say that the highest metaphysical reality is the innate impulse, which is the characteristic of all energy. This impulse, on a universal scale, is understood as Brahma (the universal viewpoint). But, on the scale of an entity, it is understood as Atman (the individual viewpoint). There is quite a distance from Atman (or Paramatman) to Brahma in terms of broadness of the viewpoint.
CONSCIOUSNESS
Consciousness is the level of awareness of the mind. The greater is the refinement of the data elements (and the relationships among them) from perception, the higher is the consciousness. Human consciousness is much higher than the consciousness in animals, because the data elements are much more refined with greater number of relationships among them. See MIND.
DHARMA
Dharma means, literally, “the Law of Being.” It refers to the natural purpose of something. For example, the “Dharma” of the sun is to shine and give warmth.
ISHVARA (ईश्वर)
The composite word, Ishvara literally means “owner of best, beautiful”, “ruler of choices, blessings, boons”, or “chief of suitor, lover”. As a concept, Ishvara in ancient and medieval Sanskrit texts, variously means God, Supreme Being, Supreme Soul, lord, king or ruler, rich or wealthy man, god of love, deity Vishnu… [in Vedas,] the contextual meaning, however as the ancient Indian grammarian Pāṇini explains, is neither god nor supreme being. Please see Etymology.
IS-NESS
It is how the universe appears to a person
IMMORTALITY
State of freedom from all samskaras (karmic impressions)
KALPA
One day of Brahma equal to 1000 Yugas, equal to 4320 million years. See Hindu units of time.
KNOWINGNESS
Knowingness is to know something so intimately that it has become part of you. For example, an expert has knowingness in his area of expertise. He knows his area so well that he can skillfully carry out the actions in that area without thinking. We associate absolute knowingness with God, but that is an ideal one holds. In reality, there is no absolute knowingness.
MAYA
Maya consists of filters generated by karmic impressions that cloud one’s vision.
MIND
The mind is the organ of mental sense. In a normal functioning mind, the perceptions are received through the senses of touch, sight, hearing, taste and smell. These perceptions break down into fine data elements, which are then arranged in a matrix type structure. Experience is stored as patterns of relationships among these data elements. The duplication of data elements is minimized. New perception is assimilated by arranging them in existing patterns with the correct time stamp and removing duplicate data elements. The existing patterns are modified and extended as necessary. Also see ASSIMILATION.
MINDFULNESS
A presence, which is free of assumptions, bias and fixed ideas
REALITY
Reality and unreality are the opposite ends of the scale of Is-ness, where is-ness is the sense of reality of the person. His is-ness on this scale improves as his viewpoint broadens.
SACRIFICE
Sacrifice is surrendering one’s self-interests and devotedly working for the sake of the welfare of the world.
SAMĀDHI (समाधि)
Samādhi means concentration of the thoughts, profound or abstract meditation, intense contemplation of any particular object (so as to identify the contemplator with the object meditated upon); this is the eighth and last stage of yoga; with Buddhists samādhi is the fourth and last stage of dhyāna or intense abstract meditation. The deep sleep like state of samadhi is the period of assimilation in which you completely reset your system. But you don’t live in that state. Samadhi leads you toward the universal viewpoint. Being “established in God” would means being established in the universal viewpoint.
SAMSKARAS
Karmic impressions brought about by one’s actions and their consequences
SAT-CHIT-ANAND
The bliss of pure thought energy
SURRENDER (in yoga)
Surrendering is “not avoiding, not denying, not resisting, and not suppressing.” It is experiencing fully what is there. You free yourself from an unwanted condition only by becoming fully aware of it. Suppressing is not the same thing as surrendering. If a person is suppressing bad habits to become good, he has not surrendered yet. After you have surrendered, only your basic nature is left. The basic nature operates according to the universal laws
THOUGHT ENERGY
Thought energy is the fundamental energy on which the spectrum of radiative energy and matter rest. The thought energy resides in the mind, which then transitions into physical energy of the body.
TRAUMA
The traumas are like “tumors” in the data matrix of the mind. They are made up of painful perceptions that did not get assimilated. They have only a few connection with the data matrix. They get reactivated when perception comes through these few connections. These “traumas” have their own unhealthy patterns that are backed up by the force of mental pain. The continual reactivation of traumatic experiences then gradually infects and conditions the healthy parts of the mental matrix by forcefully imposing unhealthy patterns. These unhealthy patterns contain all the emotional baggage, phobias, fixed ideas, prejudices, biases, etc., that you encounter. The traumas are not easy to access because they are not assimilated into the mental matrix. Repairing infected circuits in the mental matrix may allow, ultimately, to uncover these traumas and blow them; at which point many deep rooted problems also resolve. See ASSIMILATION, MIND.
UNREALITY
Unreality manifests itself in the form of inconsistencies, disharmonies and discontinuities. You resolve these things and the unreality disappears. It does not continue. Only the reality continues.
VIDHATA
Vidhata means “inherent principles of existence.” Duality is a natural consequence of these principles. Any imbalance straightens out by itself.
YAJNA
Yajna means selfless action done for the welfare of the world. For example, Jnana yajna is performed to spread jnana for larger benefit of community. The ritual of yajna is a symbol for such action. See SACRIFICE.
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