Ahankara: This means our Ego, and the ego maker. Meditation strengthens the ego and makes it good for the aspirant.

Advaita:  State of oneness with all; not separate.  This is the philosophy of non-dualism, or oneness.  For example, the mind is one with the Universe.

Ahimsa:  (1) The subject on non-violence.  (2) Non-violence as a philosophy does not accept killing.  (3) Practical Ahimsa is to never use the word "destroy" in one’s mind or be on this Earth with a "mission to destroy." (4)  Ahimsa is one of the eight limbs of Yoga.  (4)  Always try to apply non-violence to your life. (5)  Ahimsa, non-violence is of thought, word, and deed. 

Align: (1)  Our spirit feels better and stronger when we align with goodness or kindness. (2)  There are many other attributes to align with, they are usually called ideals. (3) We can align with our marriage partner, this is the Yoga of marriage.  (4) We can align with the teachings of Yoga. (5)  To align with this internet site, save the pages to a file on Yoga and restudy them.

Alignment: (1) When you come into alignment with Yoga, for example, you are going to strengthen the goodness and kindness of yourself. (2) When you come into alignment with something positive, you must get better. Otherwise you have miss-Alignment.

Ajnana:  Ignorance of Divinity.  Ajnana can be considered as the lack of understanding of the World, God, and the Self.

Akasha: The sky element.   The other elements are Air, Earth, Fire, and Water.

Amrit: A cafe, bakery, where delicious things are served.   People seek delicious thing or they get bored.  A Yogi seeks meditation and eventually eats health food instead of at the Amrit.

Anahata Chakra: The fourth Chakra, or heart Chakra.

Ananda: This is bliss.  This is a part of man’s bliss sheath called Ananda Maya Kosha.  There is a certain amount of Ananda when one closes one's eyes to meditate.  This increases as you progress in meditation.

Anna Maya Kosha: The food sheath of man. The body of a person is made of food. There are five Koshas or Sheaths in the Yoga philosophy.

Arjuna: Arjuna is the warrior in the Bhagavad-Gita that is "working for Krishna", that is, you almost have to read the Bhagavad-Gita to believe it. Arjuna is a disciple of Krishna.

Asana: Yogic postures that are part of Hatha Yoga.  All students of Yoga eventually must learn some Hatha Yoga.

Astanga Yoga: The yoga of studying and learning and practicing the eight limbs of yoga.  These are Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi.

Astrology: (1) The study of the Astrological glyphs on a person’s horoscope. (2) These are studied to help a person see their own karma. (3) The planets have a superhuman effect on us that is not easy to overcome, since we are human.   Yoga helps overcome some of the effects of the planets.

Avatar: (1) A God person that helps all mankind. (2) The definition of an Avatar is in Philosophical disrepute. Every religion has there own definition of Avatar, or God Person, which don’t agree with other religious groups.  Krishna was a Hindu Avatar.

Avidya: (1) A term of Vedanta philosophy meaning ignorance of the self. (2) It is misconceptions about our own being that lead to bad karma. (3) This is related to the concept of Maya, that we have illusions about the world as well.

Baba: an older man that everyone looks up to, usually a Hindu, a living saint, or Spiritual Master. In other words, Baba Muktananda was an example of a living saint.  We don't have a corresponding name for them in America.

Bhagavad Gita:  A well known Hindu scripture that forms a part of the Mahabharata, a Hindu epic.

Bhakti Yoga:  (1)  The yoga of love and devotion for another person, or one’s chosen ideal.  (2)  The pure love of God.

Blue Pearl:  A subtle abode of the inner self.  This idea is used in Siddha Yoga.

Buddha:  The founder of Buddhism. Also considered a Divine Incarnation in Hinduism.

Buddhism:  (1) A variety of Buddhist religious documents and people.  (2)  Buddhists study various types of Yoga.   Christians have done many types of Yoga as well.

Celibacy:  Abstinence from sex.  Some students of Yoga take temporary vows of celibacy.  Later, they intend to get married.

Chakra:  A Chakra is an energy center inside of a human being. These are of several types. Some are considered physical and are like a never plexus. Others are part of our spirit body and no one knows how many we really have. We use seven major chakras in Yoga.

Chela:  Pupil of a Guru, a disciple.

Cosmic Consciousness:  (1) A term used by the TM movement in America. (2) An awareness of a student of meditation that he is part of the Cosmos in general, that is, we live in a galaxy, there may be other planets in it where people live.

Dharana:  (1) The sixth step of Yoga as prescribed by Patanjali. (2) Fixing the mind on a single object after withdrawing it from everything else. (3) Concentration

Dharma:  (1) the laws of virtue and righteousness, (2) law refers to moral law.

Dhyana:  Also called meditation. This is the seventh step of Yoga as prescribed by Patanjali.  Dhyana is a state of uninterrupted concentration of the mind on a single object.

Disciple:  (1) a student of a teacher in Hinduism, (2) an initiated character into secret vices that are green instead of orange like most peoples. (3) one of the twelve disciples of Jesus, the dictionary kind of says so, (4) a detective for the wisdom power of the guru.

Divine Incarnation: ( 1) God in the form of man. (2) God incarnated on Earth assuming a physical form.

Ekagrata:  One pointed ness. Concentrating on one thing at a time.

Fakir:  (1) A Moslem ascetic or religious mendicant. (2) Loosely, any Hindu yogi or religious devotee.  This term shows that Moslems and Hindu people live together in India and are closely linked.

God:  (1)  God by definition has supernatural powers.  (2)   There are a multitude of God's in Hinduism.  Rama, Krishna, Shiva, etc.

God Consciousness:  (1) A human being that is in a state of awareness that he is conscious of God, or the God Nature. (2) Someone that has the experience of the Self.

Goswami:  A well educated Hindu Swami.

Guru:  (1) a teacher of Hinduism. (2) someone who attempts to enlighten others. (3) Someone who says they are a Guru. (4) Someone whose self realization quota is beyond our understanding.

Guruseva:  (1) Work that is done for the Guru. (2) Ashram work.

Hatha Yoga:  The physical exercises of Yoga.

Heart Chakra:  (1) The fourth Chakra. (2) The anatomical heart.

Hinduism:  (1) This is the recognized religion of India.  (2) There are six darshana’s or philosophies that are all part of Hinduism.  (3) The sacred places of India. (4) The sacred people of India called Yogis.

Iccha Shakti. The Shakti or Energy of Will.  The Siddha Guru has power of his will to initiate students into yoga.

Jagadguru:   World teacher of the spiritual realms.  There are a recognized number of spiritual teachers in the world.

Jainism:    An offshoot religion of Hinduism. It is one of the major world religions and is practiced mainly in India.

Japa:   Repetition of a holy name.

Jivanmukta:   One who has become liberated even while alive.

Jnana Yoga:   The path of knowledge. One of the four fundamental types of spiritual discipline.

Karma:   (1) This the effect or result of our actions in life. (2) Karma is an overused word, it is used in "pop culture" to emphasize that we have done something wrong.   (3) Karma is the actions of a person and their effects, some of these effects can last for a long time.

Krishna: A special Avatar being that came to the planet Earth as Krishna, his wife was Radha, and Arjuna was one of his friends. What most people know about Krishna is that he is in the Bhagavad-Gita.

Kriya Yoga:  (1) This is the Yoga that Paramahamsa Yogananda brought to America. (2) Kriya Yoga involves a popular breathing technique.  (3) Kriya Yoga is taught by the Self Realization Fellowship.

Lotus posture:  A Hatha Yoga posture for meditation formed by sitting on the ground with back erect, placing the right foot over the left thigh and left foot over the right thigh.

Love:  (1)  Most religions, including Hinduism, use the concept of Love.  Sometimes it is used as a motivation for the study of Yoga and Hinduism.  (2)  However, the search for love often gives people profound problems, rather than a good answer about how to live. That is, we must "have love" rather than "give love".   Love is part of the human problem that makes life hard to understand and also worth seeking.

Mantra:  (1) a spiritual phrase that is repeated over and over again by mediators. (2) Example, Hare Krishna mantra.

Mantra Yoga:  (1) The daily repletion and contemplation of the Sacred phrases that are used for Meditation in Hinduism, such as Om Namah Shivaya, and Hare Krishna.  (2)  Meditation on these sacred mantras gives a student Mantra Shakti, or the power of the mantra.

Master:  A title of achievement in the occult and various types of Hinduism. However, this does not mean that a master has a Ph. D. to hang on his wall.

Maya:  In Hindu philosophy Maya is an illusion which exists in various amounts. You may not remove all of the Maya from your life or others. However you can see in the dark with some amount of light.

Meditation:  (1) Continued concentration on a particular subject. (2) Meditation can be done by sitting on the floor in a posture. (3) Some people think that meditation can be done anytime.  (4)  Dhyana.

Moksha:  (1) pursuit of liberation. (2) Moksha is considered a final state of liberation by some people.  (It is good to have a final state of liberation, although we are not sure who has attained this.)

New Age:  (1) The New Age is a type of cult movement, which nobody owns.  (2) The Aquarius age starts in 2140 according to Astrology. This information can be checked out in Dane Rudyar’s Astrology books. So the New Age is not the Age of Aquarius.

Paramahamsa:  A state of Self Realization in which a person does not have very much personal pain and is a state of bliss to some extent. There are many states of Self Realization that are different from Paramahamsa.  Some Gurus teach that there are many states of Samadhi, or Self Realization.  Thus, a student must not be worried about "Paramahamsa".

Prana:  Breath or life-force.

Prana Yoga:  Yoga of the life-force or how to do breathing.

Pranayama:  Yogic control of the breath.

Prajna:  True wisdom. A higher mode of knowing.

Reincarnation:  (1)  the recurrence of a soul or spirit which seems to be as a new person, who usually does not remember anything from his so called past life.  (2)  When we believe in reincarnation we search for our past lives and many people find some of them.

Rishi:   A Seer. Sage. Maharishi means great sage.

Samadhi:  a state of meditative attainment that involves bliss.  

Sanatana Dharma:  Hinduism is called the Sanatana Dharma.  These are eternal laws and truth of life.  They are a part of the spirit of man and the desire to be a great Spirit Being.

Satsang:  (1)  A group of people who get together to understand Yoga and Hinduism. They may practice it, or talk about it, or do sacred things that are Hindu in origin. (2)  Chanting together.

Self Realization:  This is one of the spiritual goals that people seek, some other human goals are sex, pleasure, and money.

Shankaracharya:  This is the title given to the head of the order of Shankara in India. Swami Rama was the Shankaracharya until he came to America, at which time someone else took over the role in India.

Shakti:  (1) A powerful ray of love. Some students call anything Shakti, but this is a mistake. (2) Energies of a Guru or Siddha.

Shaktipat:  The transmission of spiritual power from the Guru to the disciple.  This results in self understanding after a number of years.

Siddha:  (1) a person who has attained various psychic powers or shaktis, or mental powers including intelligence. (2) A psychic power is sometimes a wonderful enchantment, this is when they do not include intelligence.

Siddhartha:  The name of Buddha was Siddhartha Guatama, before he went to seek enlightenment.

Sushumna:   Main nadi or central nerve.   It runs vertically through the spine.  Some yoga philosophies are about this central nerve.

Swami:  (1) There are four orders of Swami’s in India, they are a type of priest. (2) A Swami is usually considered to be accomplished at Yoga.

Tantra Yoga:  (1) A type of Yoga related to Shiva and Shakti. (2) Also regarded as sexual expression of Yoga between to married people.

Virtue:  Virtue is what gives people more intelligence.  There are no unintelligent virtues.

Yama:  These are five moral disciplines that are used in Yoga.

Yoga:  (1) Yoga is a conglomeration of teachings about the Self that are part of Hinduism.   (2) Yoga is an attempt to "life oneself up" and find "God."  (3) Yoga is the restriction of the fluctuations of the mind stuff, according to Patanjali, one of the first to write upon the subject.