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Glossary of Hindu Terms

Advaita: It originated with Gaudapada's 7th-century commentary on the Mandukya Upanishad. Gaudapada builds on the Mahayana Buddhist philosophy of emptiness, asserting that there is no duality; the mind, awake or dreaming, moves through maya (illusion). The mind's ignorance conceals the truth that there is no becoming and no individual soul or self (jiva), only a temporary delineation from the atman (all-soul). In the 8th century Sankara developed Advaita further, arguing that the world is unreal and that the Upanishads teach the nature of Brahman, the only reality. The extensive Advaita literature influences modern Hindu thought.[i]

Atman: The innermost essence of each individual and the supreme universal self.[ii] One of the most basic concepts in Hindu philosophy, describing that eternal core of the personality that survives after death and that transmigrates to a new life or is released from the bonds of existence. While in the early Vedic texts it occurred mostly as a reflexive pronoun (oneself), in the later Upanishads it comes more and more to the fore as a philosophic topic: atman is that which makes the other organs and faculties function and for which indeed they function; atman underlies all the activities of a person, as Brahman (the absolute) underlies the workings of the universe; to know it brings bliss; it is part of the universal Brahman, with which it can commune or even fuse. So fundamental was the atman deemed to be that certain circles identified it with Brahman. Of the various systems (darshans) of Hindu philosophy, the schools of Samkhya and Yoga (which use the term purusha to convey the idea of atman) and the orthodox school of Vedanta particularly concern themselves with the atman, though the interpretation varies in accordance with each system's general worldviews.[iii]

Avatars: Incarnations of God.

Bhagavad-Gita: The Bhagavad Gita (Celestial Song) is perhaps the most popular scripture in Hinduism. It is a record of a philosophical discussion between Sri Krishna, an incarnation of God, and Arjuna, a perplexed warrior, in the middle of a battlefield before the great war that is recounted in the Mahabharata.[iv]

Brahma: God*, the Creator.[v] The creator god of the Hindu sacred triad.[vi]

Brahman: Sanskrit word for God.[vii] The principle of the Supreme Being in Indian Mythology/religion.[viii]

Jiva: A Jiva is formed when an Atman manifests a body. Jiva is concerned only with one life, the physical part of life as seen and controlled by the senses and limited by about hundred years. Whereas Atmans (souls) are Cosmic travelers with a maximum of 8.4 million life spans to manifest in one cosmic life span.[ix]

Alternate definition: The soul of a person, essentially the same as Atman. It is made of spiritual or divine matter.[x]

Mahabharata: Ramayana and Mahabharata are the two epics of Hinduism that have inspired and enthralled Hindus for centuries with their tales of valor, sacrifice, and the victory of good over evil. The Ramayana recounts the adventures of Rama, one of the most cherished incarnations of God. The Mahabharata is also an account of a historical battle between two clans; it is the longest epic in the world.[xi]

Maya: Illusion, see Vedanta.

Moksha: the realization of God and attainment of spiritual liberation. This, obviously, is the highest goal which all human beings (perhaps all living beings) are striving to achieve either consciously or subconsciously.[xii]

Rama: a deity or deified hero of later Hinduism worshiped as an avatar of Vishnu.[xiii]

Rishis: Wise men who wrote the philosophies, beliefs and rituals of Hinduism over thousands of years.[xiv]

Samsara: In Buddhism and Hinduism, the endless round of birth, death, and rebirth to which all conditioned beings are subject.

Samsara is conceived as having no perceptible beginning or end. The particulars of an individual's wanderings in samsara are determined by karma. In Hinduism, moksha is release from samsara. In Buddhism, samsara is transcended by the attainment of nirvana. The range of samsara stretches from the lowliest insect (sometimes the vegetable and mineral kingdoms are included) to Brahma, the highest of the gods.[xv]

Sanatana Dharma: Original name for Hinduism, which means “Eternal Religion.” Dharma is the Sanskrit word for “that which holds together.” ”Sanatana Dharma consists of a set of moral, ethical, spiritual, and metaphysical laws that hold not only human society together, but indeed the whole universe.”[xvi]

Shiva: God* the Destroyer.[xvii] The god of destruction and regeneration in the Hindu sacred triad.[xviii]

Upanishads: history, culture

Vedanta: One of the six orthodox systems (darshans) of Indian philosophy and the one that forms the basis of most modern schools of Hinduism.

Its three fundamental texts are the Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gita, and the Brahma Sutras, which are very brief interpretations of the doctrine of the Upanishads. Several schools of Vedanta have developed, differentiated by their conception of the relationship between the self (atman) and the absolute (Brahman). They share beliefs in samsara and the authority of the Vedas as well as the conviction that Brahman is both the material and instrumental cause of the world and that the atman is the agent of its own acts and therefore the recipient of the consequences of action.[xix]

Vedas: The Vedas are the Shrutis, or Divinely Revealed, scriptures in Hinduism, and are considered to be the most authoritative texts in Sanatana Dharma.[xx]

Vishnu: God*, the Preserver.[xxi] The preserver god of the Hindu sacred triad.[xxii]

* For more information on Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Visit the Sanatan Society site at http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses.htm.