Rig Veda The oldest of the four Vedas, the most ancient and sacred Hindu scriptures.
Rudras A group of gods associated with storm and destruction. Sometimes the Rudras are mentioned as a group; at other times they are thought of as a single god, Rudra. In later Hinduism, Shiva is called Rudra.
sadhana A body of disciplines or way of life which leads to the supreme goal of Self-realization.
sadhu A holy man, sage.
Sahadeva One of the junior Pandava brothers.
Sama Veda The Veda of songs and chants. One of the four Vedas.
samadhi Mystical union with God; a state of intense concentration in which consciousness is completely unified.
samsara The world of flux; the round of birth, decay, death and rebirth.
Sanjaya The sage who divinely perceives what is taking place on the battlefield and reports it to the blind king Dhritarashtra.
Sankhya One of the six branches of Hindu philosophy. Sankhya seeks to liberate the individual Purusha (spirit) from prakriti (mind and matter).
sannyasa Renunciation.
sat [from as “to be”] The Real; truth; goodness. sattva See under guna. satya Truth, truthful; good, the Good.
savikalpa samadhi [sa-vikalpa “having distinctions” or “admitting separateness”] Samadhi in which some duality of subject and object remains, the devotee being absorbed in meditation without becoming completely identified with the object of contemplation; union with the personal God.
Shakti Power; God’s feminine aspect; the Divine Mother. shama Peace; the peace of deep meditation.
Shankara “Giver of peace,” a name of Shiva.
Shiva The third person of the Hindu Trinity, the other two being Brahma, the Creator, and Vishnu, the Preserver. Shiva destroys, but he also conquers death.
shraddha Faith. shudra The fourth Hindu caste; a worker or servant.
Skanda A god of war, the son of Shiva; general of the divine forces when they go into battle against the demons.
soma A drink used in Vedic ritual; the drink of the gods.
Sri [pronounced shri] A title of respect originally meaning “auspicious” or “holy.”
svadharma The duty appropriate to a particular person, one’s own individual dharma.
tamas See under guna.
tapas Austerity, control of the senses; the spiritual power acquired through self-control.
tyaga Renunciation.
Upanishads Ancient mystical documents found at the end of each of the four Vedas.
Ushanas A sage and poet who appears in the Vedas. varna Caste or class.
Varuna God of waters and the ocean; in the Vedas, the moral overseer of the world.
Vasuki The king of the serpents, he lives in the underworld and balances the earth on his serpent hood.
Veda [from vid “to know”] “Knowledge”; the name of the most ancient Sanskrit scriptures, considered to be a direct revelation from God to the mystics of the past.
vidya Knowledge, wisdom; a science or branch of study. vijnana Knowledge, judgment, understanding.
Vishnu Second in the Hindu Trinity; the Preserver who incarnates himself in age after age for the establishment of dharma and for the welfare of all creatures.
Vivasvat The sun god, the father of Manu, the ancestor of mankind.
Vrishni Name of an important clan of ancient north India. According to legend the Vrishnis all perished at the end of Krishna’s life when their city, Dvaraka, sank in the sea.
Vyasa The sage revered as the author of the Mahabharata and the Gita. He was the father of both Dhritarashtra and Pandu, and he gave Sanjaya the power of mystic vision so that he could behold the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna.
yajna Offering, sacrifice, worship.
Yajur One of the four Vedas.
yoga [from yuj “to unite”] Union with God, realization of the unity of all life; a path or discipline which leads to such a state of total integration or unity. Yoga is also the name of one of the six branches of Hindu philosophy, and as such is paired with Sankhya.
yogi A person who practices spiritual disciplines.
Yudhishthira Arjuna’s elder brother, famous for his adherence to dharma at all times.
yuga An age or eon. In Hindu cosmology there are four yugas, representing a steady deterioration in the state of the world from age to age. The names of the yugas are taken from a game of dice. Krita Yuga is the age of perfection, followed by Treta Yuga. The incarnation of Sri Krishna is said to mark the end of the third yuga, Dvapara. We are living in the fourth and final yuga, Kali, in which the creation reaches its lowest point. The world goes through 1,000 such yuga-cycles during one kalpa or Day of Brahma.
Index
The page numbers in this index refer, of course, to the printed edition of this book. When you click on one, your reader will display the text that begins that page in the printed book. As the screen capacity of your reader is smaller than a printed page, you may have to scroll down a screen or more to find the indexed word or phrase.
A
action, see selfless action
adharma, 267
advaita, 26 Agni, 23 ahamkara, 39, 211, 223 ahimsa, 32 ajnana, 147 akasha, 214 Ananta, 181 anger, 87, 102, 103, 126, 221
Aquinas, St. Thomas, 18, 37
Arjuna: background, 15; becomes seeker after truth, 179; concern over how to act, 99; doubting heart, 114–15; family tragedy, 72, 111; and Krishna, 15, 19, 21–22, 71–72, 84, 171, 191–93; as man of action, 21,
83, 102; portrayal in Bhagavad Gita, 71–72; real Self, 83–84 Aryan tribes, 16, 23 asat, 245 ashrams, 17 ashvattha, 229
Ashvatthama, 74 asuras, 181, 237
Atman: at climax of meditation, 26; defined, 24; Krishna as, 180, 229; play on word, 135; relationship to Brahman, 26; as Self, 30; transcended by Krishna, 229; in Upanishads, 24, 203; see also Self attachment, 54–55, 61, 87, 101, 114, 123, 153 Augustine, St., 18, 37, 60 avatara, 112 avyakta, 164
avyayam padam, 230
B
Bede, St., 7
Bhagavad Gita: about, 9–10, 14, 113; as an Upanishad, 18–19; as book of choices, 66; chapter-ending formula, 19; contrast with rest of Mahabharata, 19–20; essence, 48–59; heart of message, 20–21; and issue of self-mastery, 15, 21; and Kurukshetra, 14–15; multiple gods in, 23; setting, 15–22; as shruti, 18; as spiritual instruction, 21–22; types of yoga in, 48–50; way of love in, 204–6 Bhagavan, 71, 179 bhakti, 171 bhakti yoga, 49 Bhima, 72
Bhishma, 15, 73, 74
Brahma, 149, 163–64
Brahman: about, 24; defined, 24, 213; knowledge of, 125; and Om, 245; and process of death, 160; relationship to Atman, 26; and still mind,
; union with, 254; in Upanishads, 24, 179, 203–4; and world-tree,
brahmarandhra, 160, 161 brahmavidya, 17
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 162 Buddha, 123–24, 126, 137, 203, 212
buddhi, 39
C
castes, 253
Catherine of Genoa, St., 56–57 Catherine of Siena, St., 62 cause and effect, see karma chakras, 160
Chandogya Upanishad, 161
Chesterton, G. K., 60
Christ, 56, 203
Christian mystics, 205; St. Augustine, 18, 37, 60; St. Catherine of Genoa,
56–57; St. Francis of Assisi, 51, 60, 62; St. John of the Cross, 64, 126,
135, 205; St. Paul, 205; St. Teresa of Avila, 62, 126, 192
The Cloud of Unknowing, 205
consciousness: as divine ground of existence, 213; dreaming as state of, 28; dreamless sleep as state of, 28; human exploration, 8, 10; impact of selfless work on, 59; Krishna as, 181; in meditation, 26; at moment of death, 159–61; natural state, 47; and Sankhya, 39–41; and self-will, 53; as setting for Bhagavad Gita, 21–22; and sleep, 28, 35; states of, 28; testing levels of awareness, 26; unitary, 47; waking as state of, 28; withdrawing from hold on senses, 42; see also mind cosmology, 44, 164 Cousins, Norman, 63
creation: and Brahman, 229; cycles of regeneration and decay, 112, 163; and Day of Brahma, 44; and dharma, 24; indivisible, 32; and Krishna, 112, 148, 169; and union of prakriti and Purusha, 148
cyclical universe, 157, 163–64
D
Day of Brahma, 44, 163, 164
death: Arjuna’s questions, 158; and Brahman, 160; consciousness at moment of death, 159–61; and karma, 163; Krishna’s instructions, 36; and rebirth, 158; role of yogis, 159–60, 161; Upanishad account, 36, 159–60, 161 dehavat, 204 Desai, Mahadev, 50
desire, 52 detachment, 54–55, 60–61, 84, 85, 114, 125, 134, 138 devas, 23, 237, 244
devotion, 112, 193, 203–6, 254; see also bhakti yoga Dhammapada, 9
dharma, 24, 31–32, 75, 112 dharmakshetra, 67
Dhritarashtra, 72, 73, 255
Dionysius, 204
Donne, John, 32
Drona, 15, 73–74 Duryodhana, 73 dvandva, 181
Dvaraka, 15
E
Eckhart, Meister, 18, 56, 58, 65, 126 Eddington, Arthur, 25 ego, 26, 36, 39, 52–53, 57, 87 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 212
evolution, 47, 65
F
faith, see shraddha
field of forces, 25, 35, 37, 43, 46, 212 fields, 211, 212, 213 fig tree, 229 forest academies, 17
Francis of Assisi, St., 51, 60, 62
G
gambling, 182
Gandhi, Mahatma: and Bhagavad Gita, 10, 14, 20, 60, 75, 86; and detachment, 54–55; as fully human, 62; and selfless action, 51 Ganges, 180
gayatri, 181
gunas: defined, 43, 44; as fabric of existence, 44–45; and faith, 243, 244– 45; and maya, 150; and personality, 46–47; as qualities of prakriti,
221–23; and Sankhya philosophy, 102–3, 253; transcending, 222–23
guru, 74, 84
H
Hastinapura, 73 hatha yoga, 85, 133 hell, 236
Hinduism: dharma and karma in, 31; multiple gods in, 23; multiplicity of names for aspects of God, 22–23; and path of knowledge, 203; and
path of moderation, 136; proclaims one God, 22; Shiva and Shakti in, 213
holy name, see mantram Hume, David, 26
Huxley, Aldous, 17
I
Indra, 23, 180
Ishvara, 229
J
Janaka, 103 Jesus Christ, 56, 203 jiva, 84 jnana, 147, 148 jnana yoga, 48, 50, 101–2
John of the Cross, St., 64, 126, 135, 205
K
kala, 193 kama, 86
Kama Sutra, 136
Kapila, 37
karma: about, 33–34; in Bhagavad Gita, 100–101; and consequences of shraddha, 65; defined, 24; and hell, 236; and process of death, 163; and rebirth, 170; and selfish attachment, 101, 252; in Upanishads, 24 karma phala, 53, 125, 252
karma yoga: and Bhagavad Gita, 49, 50, 51–52; defined, 49; goal of, 114; as selfless action, 99–103, 124–25, 134
Katha Upanishad, 230
Kauravas, 72
Kempis, Thomas à, 62
knower of field, 38, 211, 213, 214, 229
knowledge: of Brahman, 125; as fruit of doing, 114; of Self, 60, 124–25; see also jnana yoga
Krishna: and
