Basic Sanskrit Glossary

A

Acarya -- a bona fide spiritual master in disciplic succession from Lord Krishna, one who teaches by example.
Acintya -- inconceivable.
Advaita -- non dual.
Ahimsa -- nonviolence.
Ananda -- bliss on the transcendental plane.
Arati -- a ceremony in which the deity of the Lord is worshiped.
Arca-vigraha -- a form of  Vishnu or Krishna  manifesting in material elements to facilitate worship.
Ashram -- a place where spiritual life is practiced.
Asura -- demon, atheist, one who has demoniac qualities.
Atma -- the Jeeva,self or soul, sometimes refers to the body, mind or intellect.
Avatar -- an appearance of Krishna or Vishnu in this world.

B

Balarama -- Lord Krishna's first expansion.
Battle of Kuruksetra -- an historic battle described in the Mahabharata taking place at Kurukshetra, India.
Bhagavad-gita -- the "Song of God" spoken 5000 years ago by Lord Krishna to Arjuna.
Bhakta -- a devotee.
Bhakti -- devotional service.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura -- the spiritual master of  A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj.
Bhagavan -- the Supreme Lord, one who possesses all opulence in full.
Brahma -- the first created being with in a  universe.
Brahmacari -- a celibate male student.
Brahmajyoti -- the effulgence or light emanating from Krishna's spiritual body.
Brahman -- spirit soul, impersonal spiritual light, Supreme Person, total material elements.
Brahmana (Brahmin) -- intellectual or priestly class. Not by birth but by quality.
Brahma-samhita -- prayers offered to Lord Krishna by Lord Brahma after realizing them .

C

Caitanya-caritamrita -- a biography and pastimes of  Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu by Krsna dasa Kaviraja Gosvami.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu  -- The Golden Avatar  who appeared in Navadvipa, West Bengal in the late 15th century to propagate the chanting ( Yuga Dharma ) of the Hare Krishna mantra.

D

Darshan -- to be in the presence of Krishna or His pure devotees.
Dasa/Dasi -- servant of guru and Krishna. (male/female)
Deva -- a demigod or saintly person.
Dharma --  natural activities ordained by the laws of nature.

E

Ekadasi -- a fasting day observed twice a month for increasing seva ( service ) toward Lord Krishna.

G

Gandharvas -- celestial residents and singers of the heavenly planets.
Garuda -- the bird carrier of Lord Vishnu.
Gayatri -- sacred hymn chanted regularly by twice-born brahmanas and vaisnavas.
Goloka -- Lord Krishna's abode in the spiritual sky, Krsnaloka.
Gopi -- cowherd maiden, female servant of Lord Krishna in Vrndavan.
Gosvami -- master of the senses, one who has control of  his senses.
Grihastha -- a householder or married persons .
Guru -- spiritual master, teacher.
Gurukula -- the school of the spiritual master.

H Hanuman -- a great monkey devotee of Lord Ramacandra, an expansion of Sri Vishnu.

Hare Krishna mantra :
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama
Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Hare addresses the energy of God. Krishna and Rama are names of God.

Haridasa Thakura -- a great devotee of Lord Caitanya also know as the acarya of the holy name.
Hiranyakasipu -- a demoniac King killed by Lord Nrsimhadeva, an expansion of Sri Vishnu.

J

Japa -- the soft chanting of the holy names of Sri Krishna on Tulasi beads.
Jiva -- eternal individual soul.
Jnana -- knowledge.

K

Kali -- a demigoddess.
Kali-yuga -- the present age of quarrel and hypocrisy of which 5000 of 432,000 years have passed.
Karma -- the law of action and reaction.
Kirtana -- congregational chanting of the holy names, in the temple with musical instruments.
Krsna, Krishna -- the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His original spiritual form.
Ksatriya -- warrior class.

L

Laksmi -- the Goddess of Fortune, eternal consort of Lord Narayana.
Lila -- a transcendental pastime of the Supreme Lord.
Loka -- planet.

M

Mahajana -- a great devotee and empowered authority.
Mahatma -- a great soul.
Mahabharata -- the epic history of ancient India ( Bharata Bhumi ) which contains the Bhagavad-gita.
Mantra -- a sound vibration or mind purifier.
Maya --The illusory energy  which deludes living entities into forgetting their spiritual nature.
Mayavadi -- one who regards the Absolute Truth as impersonal or void.
Mukti -- liberation from material existence.

N

Narayana -- the four armed form who presides over the Vaikuntha planets.
Nityananda -- the appearance of Lord Balarama some 500 years ago.
Nrsimha, Nrsimhadeva, Nara Simha, Nara Hari -- the half-man, half-lion avatar of Lord Vishnu.

O

.Om, Omkara, Aum -- the sacred syllable which represents the Absolute Truth.

P

Paramahamsa -- topmost class of spiritually realized devotees, a supremely swanlike devotee.
Paramatma -- the Supersoul, Sri Vishnu in the hearts of all living beings.
Parampara -- an unbroken disciplic succession through which pure spiritual knowledge is transmitted.
Prakrti -- nature, can refer to both the spiritual (para) or material (apara) nature.
Prabhu -- master, term of respect given to senior Vaisnavas .
Prana -- the life air.
Prasadam -- foods that have been offered to Lord Krishna.
Prema -- pure love.
Puranas -- Vedic histories.

R

Radha, Radharani, Radhe -- Lord Krishna's eternal consort and internal pleasure potency.
Rama -- name of  Krishna meaning unlimited pleasure, Krishna's avatar as Lord Ramacandra.
Rathayatra -- a festival in which the deity forms of Jaganath,Subadra and Baladev are pulled on chariots through the streets for everyone to see.
Ravana -- a demon who was killed by Lord Ramacandra.
Rupa Gosvami -- chief of the six gosvamis of Vrindavan who wrote many authoritative books on the science of Krishna consciousness.

S

Sat-cit-ananda -- eternity, knowledge and bliss.
Sadhu -- a saintly person.
Samadhi -- full absorption in Krishna consciousness, a sacred tomb for the body of a saintly person.
Samsara -- A blazing fire, the cycle of repeated birth and death
Sanatana -- eternal.
Sanatana-dharma -- the eternal activities of the pure living being.
Sanatana Gosvami -- one of the six gosvamis of Vrindavan, brother of Rupa Gosvami.
Sankirtana -- congregational public chanting of the holy names.
Sannyasa -- the renounced order of life.
Sastra -- revealed scriptures.
Sita -- Lord Ramacandra's eternal consort.
Siva -- the demigod in charge of the mode of ignorance.
Srila Prabhupada --A title referring to A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj used by his loving students.
Srimad-Bhagavatam -- the most important of the eighteen Puranas (Bhagavat Purana) which describes and explains the pastimes of Lord Sri Krishna written by Srila Vyasadeva.
Sudra -- A laborer.
Svami, Swami -- one who has control of  the mind and senses.
Supersoul -- A form of Vishnu who resides in the hearts of all living beings.

T

Tulasi, Tulasi-devi -- a great devotee of the Lord who appears in the form of a sacred plant.

U

Upanisads -- the 108 philosophical portions of the Vedas.

V

Vaikuntha -- the spiritual world where there is no anxiety.
Vaisnava -- a devotee of Lord Krishna or Vishnu.
Vaisya -- a member of the business or farming class. A money maker.
Vanaprastha -- retired life.
Varnasrama -- the Vedic social system which organizes society into four occupational and four spiritual divisions (varnas and asramas). The four varnas are the brahmanas (priests and intellectuals), the ksatriyas (administrators and soldiers), the vaisyas (businessmen and farmers) and the sudras (laborers and artisans). The members of the four asramas are the brahmacaris (celibate students), grhasthas (married householders), vanaprasthas (retired persons) and sannyasis (renunciants).

Vasudeva -- (1) Lord Krishna, "the son of Vasudeva"; (2) the state of pure goodness, which transcends the material modes of nature and in which one can understand the Supreme Lord.
Veda -- Revealed knowledge.
Vedas --- the four Vedic scriptures (Rg, Yajur, Sama and Atharva) and their supplements
(Puranas, Mahabharata, Vedanta-sutra, etc.).

Vishnu -- a four-armed expansion of Lord Krishna.
Vrndavana -- the spiritual abode of Lord Krishna also replicated on earth as the village in India where Krishna appeared 5000 years ago.
Vyasa, Vyasadeva -- the literary incarnation of Krishna who compiled the Vedas and presented to the world the Mahabharata.

Y

Yajna -- Vedic sacrifice.
Yamaraja -- the demigod (known as the "Lord of Death") who punishes the sinful living entities.
Yoga -- union with the divine.