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The Vedic Foundation - Re-establishing the Greatness of Hinduism

Bhartiya Scriptures

Descension of
Bhagwan Ram

Hinduism at a Glance

Sanatan Dharm

Sanskrit – The Mother
of All Languages (I - III)

Part I
The Origin

Part II
The Perfection

Part III
Unique Features

Glossary of Terms

A
acharya.
	Those Divine personalities who descend to establish bhakti (divine-love-consciousness) in the world and wrote on the philosophy of Divine love and other bhakti-related books.
achintya bhedabhed vad.
	The philosophy of Jeev Goswami.
advait vad.
	Absolute monism of Shankaracharya.
ahladini or ahladini shakti.
	See hladini.
antahkaran.
	The mind with its four faculties called man (the emotional mind), buddhi (the discriminative mind), chit (the section of the mind that holds all the sanskars) and ahankar (the ego).
*anuman.*
	Inferential or circumstantial evidence.
*anushtup chand.*
	A poetic stanza of Sanskrit language (or Vedic verse) that has four parts and has 32 letters (8+8+8+8) in it.
*apar dharm.*
	The religious discipline and injunctions of do’s and don’ts that are explained in Bhartiya scriptures for uplifting the sattvic qualities of a human being in general. The discipline and rules of apar dharm vary according to the order of life of a person. It is also called the ‘varnashram dharm’ or ‘general dharm.’ They are the preliminary practices designed to establish the mind in sattvagun for the beginners who desire to realize God in their lifetime.
*apbhransh.*
	A partly mispronounced Sanskrit word that permanently enters into a locally spoken language, which is spoken by the people who are less educated in the Sanskrit language.
*appearance.*
	Descension of God on this earth planet in His eternal and original Divine form.
*arti.*
	Waving of light before a Deity or Guru. This is a part of worshipping schedule.
*asan.*
	A step of eightfold *yog* which means the sitting posture for doing the meditation.
*Ascension.*
	God going back into His Divine abode.
*ashram.*
	The residential place of a Saint and his disciple devotees whose prime aim of life is only God realization, and also a place where a seeker of God’s love receives devotional guidance.
*ashtang yog.*
	The eightfold yog as described in the Yog Darshan of Sage Patanjali.
*ashtyam seva.*
	A method of devotional remembrance and meditation introduced by Jagadguru Nimbarkacharya which means that a selfless devotee should remember the *leelas* of Radha Krishn whatever They normally do since the early morning when They get up from the bed till the night when They go to sleep.
*ashvamedh yagya.*
	A well-known royal yagya of ancient times in which a horse was worshipped and sanctified with the mantras of the Vedas. Then it was set free to roam about anywhere and it was followed by a group of warriors. Roaming in any direction, the horse would eventually approach and enter a neighboring kingdom. The king of that kingdom had either to accept the dependence of the one to whom the horse belonged, or put up a fight to keep his independence.
*atmmayaya, atmmayam.*
	The yogmaya or the most intimate and most potent personal power of Krishn.
avatar.
	The descension of God or a Divine personality on the earth planet.
*avikrit parinam vad.*
	In this mayic world, God has presented Himself in His original Divine form without being affected with the *gunas* of *maya; that’s how He is omnipresent. This is called avikrit parinam vad*.

B
bahiranga shakti.
	The extroverted power, *maya*.
Bauddh.
	The philosophy or the religion, which is related to Mahatma Buddh, is called Bauddh.
bhagwan.
	Personal forms of God.
bhagwat dharm.
	Also known as par dharm. It is the main dharm of a soul which brings God realization. It is called bhakti.
bhakt.
	The devotee of a personal form of God, like Krishn bhakt. The plural of bhakt is bhaktas.
*bhakti.*
	The deep loving feelings of a devotee’s heart for his beloved God where all of his personal requisites are merged into his Divine beloved’s overwhelming Grace which He imparts for His loving devotee. The person doing bhakti is called bhakt.
*bhao.*
	The emotional feelings of love and longing of a selfless devotee for a personal form of God. These feelings of divine-love-consciousness physically appear as tears etc., and produce a growing confidence in the realization of Radha Krishn love and having Their vision.
*Bhao.*
	The Divine ecstatic state of a Saint, or Radha Krishn.
*Bharat.*
	The short term of Bharatvarsh is Bharat, which was called ‘Hindustan’ by the Muslims and ‘India’ by the British. Accordingly, the word Hindu and Indian came into being.
*Bhartiya.*
	That which belongs to or relates to Bharatvarsh and its religion and history.
*bhashya.*
	A detailed commentary on Brahm Sutra, the Upnishads or the Gita.
*bhoj patra.*
	A paper-thin bark of a medium size Himalayan native tree on which the scriptures were written in ancient times. It could easily be peeled off. It is flexible and strong but it doesn’t last for more than 500 to 800 years.
*bhu swarg.*
	It is the celestial part of bhu lok. Bhu lok contains the earth planet.
*brahm.*
	The supreme God or the absolute Divinity, Who is absolutely great, and makes a soul great like Himself after God realization. Maha Vishnu, Ram and Krishn are, in general, called brahm.
*brahm drav.*
	The *nirakar brahm* where gyani and *yogi* Saints enter after death. There is absolutely neither pain nor Bliss.
*brahm gyan.*
	The Divine knowledge of brahm which is received with the Grace of God by the follower of the path of gyan or yog at the culmination of his practice.
*Brahm kalp.*
	The very first day of Brahma when he himself was created (by God Vishnu).
*brahm sambandh mantra.*
	A brief statement in the style of a *mantra* that was introduced by Vallabhacharya. It is a perfect description of self-submission to Krishn.
Braj.
	The present Mathura district in India is called Braj. Krishn lived and played in Braj for the first twelve years of His stay on this earth planet. Barsana, Gahvarban, Prem Sarovar, Nandgaon, Kamban, Govardhan, Radha Kund, Kusum Sarovar, Vrindaban and Gokul are the important places in Braj where Radha Krishn along with *Gopis* and Gwalbals did most of Their *leelas*.
*Braj bhasha.*
	A local Hindi dialect (spoken in Mathura district) in which the *rasik* Saints wrote the *leelas* of Krishn.
*braj leela.*
	Those *leelas* where all the Brajwasis join and are the absolute experiences of Krishn’s intimate loving Bliss which He gave to His playmates, mother Yashoda and the Gopis, and where the Divine almightiness can never enter.
*Brajwasi.*
	The dwellers of Braj during the time of Krishn. Wasi means ‘the dweller’.

C
chand.
	A poetic stanza or a Vedic verse.
Chandra Vansh.
	The lunar dynasty that started from Vaivaswat Manu’s daughter, Ela.
chatriya.
	The second of the four kinds of castes of India. They were supposed to be the protectors of the society, so they were warrior kinds of people. (Most of the writers write this word as ‘kshatriya’ which is an improper pronunciation.)
chaturyugi.
	A cycle of time comprised of four yugas equalling 4.32 million years.

D
damru.
	The mini hand-drum that Shiv holds in His hand and which He plays during His ecstatic dance induced by the thrilling effects of Krishn love. Once fourteen very distinct sounds came out of it which became the basic aphorisms of the Sanskrit grammar of Panini.
darshan.
	Dedicated vision, or viewing or seeing. It is in relation to a Saint, a Deity of God, or God Himself in His personal form. Like the vision of God, viewing a Deity, or respectfully seeing a Saint.
deenbandhu.
	One of the titles of God mentioned in the Bhartiya scriptures to describe the kindness of God. He loves all the souls and He atones the sins of even the greatest sinner when he humbly remembers Him.
Deity.
	Statue of God or Goddess specially made and established at an altar for devotion and meditations with Godly feelings ascribed to it.
descension.
	Appearance of God on this earth planet.
*devotee.*
	The one who selflessly remembers God to get His vision or love.
*dharm.*
	In general, dharm means the religious discipline for the four orders of life. It is called samanya dharm (ordinary or general). Maintaining celibacy and studying is called brahmacharya. Family life is called grihasth. A devout and renounced life (but living with the spouse) is vanaprasth, and total renunciation for God realization is called sanyas. General dharm also includes the social disciplines and code of conduct according to our scriptures. It is also called varnashram dharm or apar dharm. The dharm that takes a soul to God is called par dharm and it is only selfless devotion to God, called bhakti, with wholehearted faith and confidence.
*dharmadhishthan.*
	God is called dharmadhishthan which means that the Sanatan (eternal) Dharm resides in God as a Divine power. It is revealed by God through Brahma before the beginning of human civilization and is represented through the Upnishads and the Puranas.
*dharm shastra.*
	The scripture.
*dharna.*
	A step of eightfold yog which means to concentrate the mind at a particular place or point inside the body, or outside the body.
*dhatu.*
	The root word from which a Sanskrit word is formed.
*dhatu path.*
	The dictionary of the dhatus given at the end of Panini’s grammar.
*dhyan.*
	A stage of the concentration practice in eightfold yog when the mind is fully engrossed in the single-minded thought of the desired objects.
*Divine.*
	That which is beyond the maya and is related to God, God’s abode and God Himself.
*divine-love-consciousness.*
	The consciousness of the closeness of Radha Krishn (or any personal form of God), when a devotee lovingly remembers His name, form, virtues or *leelas, is called divine-love-consciousness*.
*dundubhi.*
	The celestial drum sound.
*dvait vad.*
	The philosophy of Jagadguru Madhvacharya which means perfect dualism between God, soul and maya. God is absolute, supreme, Gracious, omnipresent and omniscient; and soul is infinitesimal, under the bondage of *maya* and sinful.
*dvaitadvait vad.*
	The philosophy of Jagadguru Nimbarkacharya called mono-dualism which means that between God and His Divine powers there is perfect duality, yet there is perfect oneness.
dwapar or dwaparyug.
	One of the four yugas (cycles of time). It keeps on repeating perpetually.

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G
gandharv.
	The musicians of the celestial abode. They are considered to be of a lower rank.
God.
	The supreme, all-powerful Divinity, Who is kind, gracious and omnipresent in His Divine form in the entire creation, and also has an omnipresent impersonal aspect of His Divine being. In our writings we use it as an equivalent to the word bhagwan.
Gopis.
	The maidens of Braj during the descension period of Radha Krishn.
Govardhan.
	The Govardhan hill where Krishn used to graze the cows. It is the sacred hill of Braj.
Grace.
	Grace is the personal power of God which is synonymous to His Blissful personality. Thus, Grace itself is the Divine Bliss. God’s Grace or a Saint’s Grace is the same, because the power of Grace is on.
grihasth.
	One of the four orders of life; a family person.
*gun, gunas.*
	The three characteristics or qualities of the illusive energy maya which is manifested in the form of the universe. They are sattvagun (the pious or good quality), tamogun (the evil or bad quality) and rajogun (the mixture of good and bad qualities).
*guru, guru tattva.*
	The Divine power that reveals God to a soul is called guru tattva which is just a gracious act of the power of Grace. Saints represent the Grace and Bliss of God on the earth planet, so they are also called 'guru'.
*Gwalbal.*
	A playmate of Krishn.
*gyani, gyan, gyan marg.*
	The followers of impersonal aspect of God are called gyani, and their impersonal concept and understanding is called gyan. Marg means ‘the path’.
*gyan yog.*
	When the practice of *yog* is predominated with bhakti, then it becomes gyan yog.

H
hiranyagarbh.
	It denotes a state of the manifested form of *maya* which is associated and represented by God Himself, and which holds all the worlds within, and where God remains omnipresent.
hladini or ahladini shakti.
	The power of affection or the Bliss of Bliss whose efflorescence is ‘Divine love.’ It is the most important power of supreme God.
hota.
	The priest who invokes the gods with the mantras of the Rigved in a yagya.

I
Itihas.
	The Mahabharat and the Ramayan are called the Itihas (history books).

J
Jagadguru.
	An eternal Saint who specially descends on the earth planet with the will of God, writes the explanations of the Brahm Sutra, the Gita and the Upnishads, and establishes their religion and math.
jap.
	It is the repetition of the name of God while counting it on the bead-chain, which the doer holds in his right hand.
jeev shakti.
	A formless (nirakar) Divine power of God of absolute nature which contains all the unlimited number of souls. It is just a dormant Divine intellect, called ‘chit’.