| Hinduism Glossary | |
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Common
Sanskrit Terms & Their Meaning
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TERM
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MEANING
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| Adharma | contrary to what is right; evil. Cf. dharma |
| Aditi | Vedic goddess, the 'mother' of the gods |
| Adityas | Vedic sun deities, offspring of Aditi |
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Advaita
Vedanta
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non-dualistic
Vedantic philosophy
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| Agamas | mystical scriptures pertaining to specific Hindu sects such as Vaisnavaites or Saivites |
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Agni
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fire;
sacred fire; fire god
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| Ahimsa | non-violence |
| Amma | mother, a compound often used in the names of female goddesses |
| Amrta | a nectar which was believed to bestow immortality |
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Ananda
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bliss; the bliss of union with Brahman |
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Anna
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food, rice |
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Aranyaka
Vedic
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forest texts or writings |
| Arjun | one of the sons of Pandu and the main (human) character of the Bhagavad Gita |
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Artha
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worldly wealth, pursuit of wealth and social status |
| Arti | act of worship celebrating light |
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Aryans
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the migrant invaders of India from approximately 1500 b.c; people of spiritual values |
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Asanas
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yogic postures |
| Asat | non-being, that is to say the unreality of the world as opposed to the true Being (sat) which is Brahman. |
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Ashram
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hermitage, retreat or place of quiet and solitude, often in a forest, where a Hindu sage lives alone or with his disciples |
| Asramas | the four stages of life in Hinduism |
| Asvamedha | probably the most prestigious of Vedic sacrificial rites, where a horse is sacrificed in a yajna by the king whose supremacy has been acknowledged by the neighbouring kings |
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Atharva
Veda
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'Knowledge of Incantations', the fourth Veda |
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Atman
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the presence of Brahman as the deepest essence of the self in all entities; the Divine Self, a synonym of Brahman |
| Aum | the sacred sound and symbol which represents Brahman in its unmanifest and manifest aspects |
| Avatar | literally 'descents', incarnation of God, usually the incarnations of Visnu and his consort Laksmi |
| Avidya | ignorance |
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Ayurveda
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Vedic Medicine |
