“truth, goodness”] Untruth; anything unreal, untrue, or lacking in goodness.
ashvattha The pipal tree, a kind of fig; it is regarded as holy and often grows in temple compounds.
Ashvatthama A great archer and warrior who is Drona’s son.
asura In Hindu myth, a demon; figuratively, a being with an evil nature.
Atman “Self”; the innermost soul in every creature, which is divine.
avatara [ava “down”; tri “to cross”] The descent of God to earth; the incarnation of Vishnu on earth; the birth of divine consciousness in the human heart.
avidya [a “not”; vidya “wisdom”] Ignorance, lack of wisdom, want of knowledge.
avyaya The eternal, the changeless.
Bhagavad Gita [Bhagavat “lord”; gita “song”] “The Song of the Lord,” name of a Hindu scripture which contains the instructions of Sri Krishna.
bhakti Devotion, worship, love. bhakti yoga The Way of Love.
Bhishma A revered elder of the Kaurava dynasty who allows himself to be killed by Arjuna in the Mahabharata battle.
Bhrigu A sage famous in ancient legend.
Brahma God as creator, one of the Hindu Trinity; the others are Vishnu, the Preserver, and Shiva, the Destroyer. Brahma should not be confused with Brahman. (See entry below.) brahmacharya “Conduct leading to God,” self-control, purity.
Brahman The supreme reality underlying all life, the divine ground of existence, the impersonal Godhead.
brahmanirvana “Nirvana in Brahman,” the final state of spiritual fulfillment: eternal union with Brahman, the ground of all being.
Brahmavidya The science of knowing Brahman.
brahmin [Skt. brahmana] Literally, a person who strives to know Brahman; in traditional Hindu society, a person of the priestly or learned class.
Brihaspati The guru or priest of the gods.
Buddha [from budh “to wake up”] “The Awakened one,” the title given to the sage Siddhartha Gautama Shakyamuni after he obtained complete illumination. The Buddha lived and taught in North India during the sixth century B.C.
buddhi Understanding, intelligence; the faculty of discrimination; correct view, idea, purpose.
Chitraratha “Having a bright chariot,” the king of Gandharvas. daivam Divine will; destiny.
deva A divine being, a god. The devas of Hindu mythology resemble the Olympians of the ancient Greeks – extraordinary, immortal, yet not unlike mortal men and women in their behavior. The feminine is devi, “goddess.” dharma Law, duty; the universal law which holds all life together in unity.
Dhritarashtra The king of the Kurus. He has been blind since birth and has therefore never been enthroned as the rightful king, but he serves as de facto ruler. The entire Bhagavad Gita is a narration told by Sanjaya to the blind king, whose sons are the Kauravas.
Draupadi The royal princess who became the wife of each of the five Pandava brothers.
Drona A learned brahmin who became a warrior, and eventually general of the Kaurava army. The preceptor of the royal princes, he taught the heroes of the Mahabharata the skills of war.
duhkha Pain, suffering, sorrow.
Duryodhana The oldest son of Dhritarashtra and the chief enemy of the Pandavas and Sri Krishna.
dvandva In Sanskrit grammar, a kind of compound that combines two or more words as a pair or group.
Gandharva Heavenly musicians who are demigods, rather touchy and proud, handsome and amorous.
Gandiva Arjuna’s bow, which was a gift from the god of fire.
Ganges [Skt. ganga] A major river of northern India, revered as a sacred symbol.
Garuda The great eagle that is Vishnu’s vehicle.
gayatri A meter used in Vedic hymns; a prayer to the sun composed in this meter.
Gita “The Song,” a shorter title for the Bhagavad Gita.
guna Quality; specifically, the three qualities which make up the phenomenal world: sattva, law, harmony, purity, goodness; rajas, energy, passion; and tamas, inertia, ignorance. The corresponding adjectives are sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic.
guru A spiritual teacher.
Hari Name of Vishnu or Krishna.
Hastinapura “City of the elephants,” an important city in ancient India, located about sixty miles northeast of the modern Delhi. It was the capital of the Pandavas and their line.
Himalaya [hima “snow”; alaya “abode”] The great mountain range which stretches across the northern border of India, important in mythology as the home of Shiva and other gods.
Ikshvaku The son of Manu, and founder of the Solar Dynasty of kings.
Indra The god of storms and battle. In the Veda, Indra is the chief of the gods (devas) and an important deity; later his role is greatly diminished.
Ishvara The Lord; God.
Janaka A king of ancient times who was both an effective ruler and a holy sage.
Janardana “He who stirs up the people,” name of Krishna.
jiva Living being; the living soul; the finite, individual soul that is identified with separate existence, as opposed to Atman, the eternal Self.
jnana [from jna “to know”] Wisdom; higher knowledge. jnana yoga The Way of Wisdom.
kalpa A period in cosmic time equaling one Day of Brahma or 1,000 “great yugas” – a total of 4,320 million years. See also yuga.
kama Selfish desire, greed; sexual desire, sometimes personified as Kamadeva.
Kamadhuk “The cow of wishes,” who in legend fulfills all desires.
Kapila Name of a sage, first teacher of the Sankhya philosophy.
karma [from kri “to do”] Action; former actions which will lead to certain results in a cause-and-effect relationship.
karma yoga The Way of Action; the path of selfless service.
Karna A brave warrior who plays an important role in the larger epic, but is only mentioned in passing in the Gita.
Kauravas “The sons of Kuru,” Duryodhana and his brothers, who are the enemies of the Pandava brothers.
Kripa A revered teacher of the royal family who also serves as a warrior.
Krishna [“black”; or from krish “to draw, to attract to oneself”] “The Dark
One” or “He who draws us to Himself,” name of an incarnation of
Vishnu. Vishnu, the cosmic force of goodness, comes to earth as Krishna to reestablish dharma, or law. Krishna is the friend and advisor of the Pandava brothers, especially Arjuna, to whom he reveals the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the inner Lord, who personifies spiritual love and lives in the hearts of all beings.
kshatriya A warrior or prince; a member of the ruling class of traditional Hindu society. kshetra A field; a place; a sacred place or temple.
Kubera God of wealth.
kundalini “The serpent power,” spiritual or evolutionary energy. In yoga literature, kundalini is described as a force coiled at the base of the spine. Kundalini may be aroused through meditation and the practice of yoga; then it rises up through the subtle body, awakening the higher centers of consciousness.
Kurukshetra “The field of the Kurus,” where the Mahabharata battle takes place. It is north of the modern city of Delhi.
lila Game; the divine play of the Lord disguising himself as the many beings of this world.
Madhava Another name for Krishna, “of the Madhava clan.”
Madhusudana “Slayer of Madhu,” a name for Krishna, who killed the demon Madhu.
Mahabharata Name of the great Indian epic composed some 2,500 years ago, traditionally attributed to the sage Vyasa. It relates the conflict between the descendants of Pandu (the forces of light) and those of Dhritarashtra (the forces of darkness).
manas The mind; specifically, the faculty which registers and stores sensory impressions.
mantram [or mantra] A holy name or phrase; a spiritual formula.
Manu The father of the human race, the Hindu equivalent of Adam or the first man.
Margashirsha The lunar month that falls in November – December.
Marichi A Vedic demigod. The name means “particle of light.”
Maya Illusion; appearance, as contrasted with Reality; the creative power of God.
Meera A woman saint of medieval India remembered for her songs to her beloved Krishna.
Meru A mythical mountain said to stand at the center of the world or cosmos. The gods dwell on Meru in beautiful cities, amidst flowering gardens.
moksha Liberation, salvation, illumination.
Nakula One of the junior Pandava brothers.
Narada The divine musician and sage who is a devotee of Sri Krishna.
Nirvana [nir “out”; vana “to blow”] Complete extinction of self-will and separateness; realization of the unity of all life.
nirvikalpa samadhi A state of spiritual awareness in which there is no perception of duality, of inside or outside, of subject and object; merger in the impersonal Godhead.
Om [or Aum] The cosmic sound, heard in deep meditation; the Holy Word, taught in the Upanishads, which signifies Brahman, the divine ground of existence.
Pandavas “The sons of Pandu,” a collective name for Arjuna and his four brothers, Yudhishthira, Bhima, Nakula, and Sahadeva. The Pandavas are in conflict with the Kauravas; both claim the ancient throne of Hastinapura. The Gita is placed on the eve of the battle that will decide this conflict. The Pandavas are looked upon as the forces for good and the Kauravas as wicked usurpers.
Partha “Son of Pritha,” a name for Arjuna – or for his brothers Bhima and Yudhishthira.
Patanjali The author of the Yoga Sutras, a classic description of the way to Self-realization through meditation. Patanjali lived around the second century B.C., and his method is sometimes referred to as raja yoga.
Pavaka “The purifier,” a name for the god of fire.
Prahlada A demon prince who was greatly devoted to Vishnu.
Prajapati “Lord of offspring,” the creator of all beings. Indian myth encompasses many creation stories, and sometimes one great Father, or Prajapati, is mentioned; sometimes there are seven or more fathers or sages who created all living creatures.
prajna [from jna “to know” ] A transcendental mode of knowing developed in deep meditation.
prakriti The basic energy from which the mental and physical worlds take shape; nature.
prana Breath; vital force.
Pritha Arjuna’s mother (also called Kunti). Arjuna is called Partha, “son of Pritha.”
Purusha [“person”] The soul; the spiritual core of every person. In the Gita, the terms Atman and Purusha are virtually interchangeable.
Purushottama “Highest Person,” Supreme Being, God.
raja yoga “The Royal Path”; the path of meditation taught especially by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras.
rajas See under guna.
Rama “Prince of Joy,” name of the son of Dasharatha, who was king of Ayodhya. Rama was the famous prince who killed the