MIND

WHAT DOES MIND WANT?
                                                                                                                                       

Mind is very pleased to help others; we only help ourselves & our family members.

Mind is very pleased to share what ever one has with others have not, we hoard our wealth for our children & grand children.

Mind is very pleased when we love others unconditionally; we love only our family members and expect return from them.

Mind is very pleased when we give without restraint, we think hundred times before donating for even a good cause.

We think mind is pleased by possessing motor car, A.C. & Fridge that is why we keep on changing our possessions.

We think mind is pleased by decorating our body by latest fashion clothes and expensive cosmetics that is why we keep on spending lavishly on clothes and beauty parlors.

We think is pleased when body is provided with all the physical comforts that is why we keep on buying the best Dunlop mattresses, sofas and other commodities.

But alas! We are unhappy, tense, worried & anxious most of the times amidst affluence.

Why? For we are not giving food to our mind & soul which it needs.

“Good Deeds are the food of the soul”—Swami Niranjananda.

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

"Then alone a man loves when he finds that the object of his love is not any low, little, mortal thing. Then alone a man loves when he finds that the object of his love is not a clod of earth, but it is the veritable God Himself...That man will love his greatest enemy who knows that that very enemy is God Himself. That man will love a holy man, who knows that the holy man is God Himself, and that very man will also love the unholiest of men because he knows the background of that unholiest of men is even He, the Lord. Such a man becomes a world-mover for whom his little self is dead and God stands in its place."

January 12, 2013 marks the 150^th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. It is a momentous event and there are celebrations across the country.  The story of Swami Vivekananda’s journey to North America to attend the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago has been told many times, many ways. It is the story of a destitute, unknown monk from an unrecognized order representing an impoverished, slave nation. The masses in India were poor and illiterate. Religion was a dead mass of superstition, of ‘don’t touchism’ Mere ritual. Women were oppressed, so were the lower castes.  Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples consisted of a band of poor young men with no roof over their heads, no idea of where the next meal was coming from, a chadar which all of them shared!  And yet, Swami Vivekananda dared to go to Chicago to attend an international conference where only the most illustrious figures representing various religions were invited! Today the Ramakrishna Math and Mission is a powerful institution with centres across India and the world.

Often we say: ‘What can I do? What can one man accomplish?’ The amazing story of Swami Vivekananda’s journey to Chicago answers that question once and for all. I’m basing my account on Swami Nikhilananda’s beautiful biography of Swami Vivekananda.

The story begins at the end of Swami Vivekananda’s pilgrimage across India. He swims through the shark infested sea, unafraid, to what is now called Vivekananda rock at Cape Comorin. As he sits on the rock, he thinks of the terrible poverty he has seen in his country. He agonises over how he can pull his people out of misery. Swami Vivekananda comes to Madras. His disciples support his plan to go to North America to raise funds. The Raja of Khetri anoints him with the name of Vivekananda and gifts him a turban and ochre raiment of fine silk.

 Swami Vivekananda arrives in Chicago and is told that the Parliament of Religions which was to be held on July 31, 1893 has been postponed to September. Apart from the date, he has another problem; He needs credentials certified by a recognized organization. He has none. It is too late to register.  His meagre purse is getting thinner. An American he meets advises him to go to Boston as it is cheaper. In the train to Boston, the affluent Kate Sanborn is intrigued by this regal, picturesque man in fancy dress. She invites him to her home. Swami Vivekananda meets many people at her house including Professor Wright of Harvard. Wright is impressed by his extraordinary intellect and erudition. He writes to several influential people asking them to help him get the necessary credentials: ‘Here is a man more learned than all our learned professors put together.’ He says to Swami Vivekananda: ‘To ask you, Swami, for your credentials, is like asking the sun about its right to shine.’

 Swami Vivekananda goes to Chicago but can’t reach the organizing committee responsible for delegates.  He spends the night in an empty wagon, hungry. Forgetting that he is in a strange country, he goes begging for food in the time honoured tradition of Hindu monks and has doors slammed in his face. His clothes are dirty. His unshaven face gives him the look of a tramp up to no good. Finally he sinks into a side wall utterly spent. Mrs Hale, an influential lady living in the house opposite, notices him. She guesses that he must be a delegate to the Parliament.  Swami Vivekananda, childlike as always, pours out all his troubles. Mrs Hale sees to it that he gets a hot breakfast, bath and fresh clothes.  She then takes him to the offices of the Parliament of Religions.  Swami Vivekananda is introduced to Dr. Barrows, the president of the Parliament. Thereafter he is accepted as a delegate representing Hinduism. Swami Vivekananda never forgot the kindness and courtesy with which the Hales had received him. He became a part of their family until his death in 1902.

 Swami Vivekananda attended the Parliament in the clothes the Raja of Khetri had gifted him: A red turban, ochre robe and scarlet sash. It had not occurred to anyone that these clothes might look a bit odd amidst the suits in Chicago.  He carried them off with grace and dignity. At the Parliament, he kept postponing his speech. He had never addressed a public gathering before. It had not occurred to him to prepare a speech. His opening words ‘Sisters and brothers of America’ got a two minute ovation from the seven thousand people assembled. The rest is history.  Swami Vivekananda spoke on behalf of the oldest religion and order of monks in the world and in the name of millions of Hindu peoples. The applause after his speech was thunderous. A delegate was amazed by ‘the scores of women walking over the benches to get near him.’ She remarked that if the thirty year old Swami Vivekananda ‘can resist that onslaught, (he is) indeed a God.’ Christopher Isherwood talks of ‘a strange kind of subconscious telepathy’ that spread through the assembly.

 How did this sudden adulation and luxury affect Swami Vivekananda?  He became even more acutely aware of the degradation of the Indian masses:

‘…what do I care for name and fame when my motherland remains sunk in utmost poverty?’  

Life wasn't easy for Swami Vivekananda even after the Parliament of Religions. The new movement he represented consisted only of half a dozen bedraggled young men with hardly enough clothes to cover their backs. He was entirely dependent on donations and charity in the U.S. For this he needed his Indian followers to acknowledge him publicly as a genuine representative of Hinduism. He asked his disciple Alasingha to organize a public meeting with prominent people, move a vote of thanks for his service to his religion and country. It came, but it took months. Many of Swami Vivekananda’s admirers withdrew their support thinking him to be a cheat and an upstart. Funds dried up which caused him a lot of hardship.  India has never known how to value its fairest flowers.

 It’s typical of Swami Vivekananda that his love for his people did not suffer because of this neglect. In London someone asked him; ’Swami, how do you like now your motherland after three years’ experience of the luxurious and powerful west?’  Swami Vivekananda said: ‘India I loved before I came away. Now the very dust of India has become holy to me, the very air is now to me holy, it is now the holy land, the place of pilgrimage, the Tirtha!’

 Swami Vivekananda went to North America with pennies in his pocket, a man no one had heard of and inspired the awe reserved for kings. The greatest American intellectual of the time, William James called him ‘Master.’ There were scores of others. Max Muller, Nikola Tesla, Rockefeller, Gertrude Stein, Salinger... He returned to India with name, fame and enough funds to buy the land on which the Ramakrishna Math and Mission at Belur were built. He put India on the world map as the mother of all religion and spirituality. He was recognized and revered as the spiritual and intellectual giant he was. The onslaught of science had led to a crisis of faith in the west. Swami Vivekananda understood this and preached a universal religion grounded in the rationality of the Upanishads. He brought the world together in one brotherhood of intensely aware, rational, self respecting individuals.

 How did he feel when he got home? When his boat landed in Aden en route to Sri Lanka, he saw a ‘pan wallah’smoking a hookah as he went on shore. This is something that he had missed when he was in North America.  Swami Vivekananda went up to the vendor and said; ‘Brother, do give me your pipe.’  One of his disciples, Mr Sevier was watching. He said: “Now we see! It was this that made you run away from us so abruptly!’ The welcome he got when he reached home was tumultuous. Did he puff up with pride? No. He was totally detached. He had been entrusted with a task by his guru and he had accomplished it. He offered all his work and achievements at Sri Ramakrishna’s feet. The heart and soul of his leadership ethic – if we can call it that was ‘thou, not I.’ His life is a living testament to his remark that ‘he who is the servant of all has the world at his feet.’

 There are many paths to glory.  Swami Vivekananda’s   stance is like that of the bodhisattva who waits until everyone in the universe is free before seeking his own mukti. His task was to make even the weakest living being realize that it was not the scum of the earth, it was God. There are no impregnable hedges around his words, ideas or life. Everything that he was, everything that he had, became the birth right of every soul that approached him:

“He who in this world of evanescence finds Him who never changes, he who in this universe of death finds that One Life, he who in this manifold finds that Oneness... to (him) belongs eternal peace; unto none else, unto none else. Where to find Him in the external world, where to find Him in the suns, and moons, and stars? There the sun cannot illumine, nor the moon, nor the stars, the flash of lightening cannot illumine the place; what to speak of this mortal fire? He shining, everything else shines. It is His Light that they have borrowed...”

-- 

Yoga Glossary

A

Abhaya mudra - gesture of fearlessness
Abhinivesha - fear of death
Adhara mudra - perineal mudra
Adharas - 16 bases which support the body
Adharmic - not fulfilling one's natural role in life
Advaita - non dual experience; unity of the individual soul
Agni - fire, in all its aspects. Agni encompasses all fires, from the densest (the power of digestion) to the most rarefied (the essence of cosmic fire
Agni mandala - 'zone of fire'; visualizing entire body in the form of agni
Agnisar kriya - practice of emptying the lungs and pumping the stomach to strengthen the diaphragm and lower stomach region
Agocharam - beyond sensory perception
Agochari mudra - another name for nasikagra drishti
Aham Bhramasmi - vedic mantra, I am Brahman'
Ahamkara - ego
Ahimsa - absence of violence from within; non violence
Ajapa japa - continuous, spontaneous repetition of mantra
Ajna chakra - 'third eye'; command centre
Ajna mandala - ajna chakra symbol at the eyebrow centre
Akhanda kirtan - ongoing, unbroken kirtan
Akara - form, link, continuity
Akasha - space; ether
Akasha tattwa - ether element
Akashi mudra - awareness of the inner space; practice of the external stage of dharana; gazing into space with the head tilted back
Amaroli - auto urine procedure; drinking of one's own urine in order to detoxify the body and develop stamina and vitality
Anadi - endless
Anahada nada - unheard, unstuck sound
Anahata chakra - heart chakra or emotional centre
Anahata kshetram - trigger point of anahata chakra
Ananda - everlasting bliss
Ananda samadhi - fourth state of samadhi; blissful absorption
Anandamaya kosha - sheath or body of bliss, beatitude
Annamaya kosha - sheath or body of matter
Antah - inner
Antah karana - inner instrument; experienced or manifest mind which includes the four aspects of manas, buddhi, chitta and ahamkara
Antar kumbhaka - internal breathe retention
Antar lakshya - internal aim to be aspired for in dharana
Antar mouna - inner silence; meditative technique
Antaranga yoga - four internal stages of raja yoga
Anuman - inference
Anusandhana - discovery
Apah - water
Apana - sub-prana, which is located in the lower abdominal region, responsible for elimination and reproduction
Aparigraha - non possessiveness
Ardhanareshwara - form of Shiva, which is half male and half female
Arjuna - one of the five Pandava brothers; he to whom Lord Krishna addressed the Bhagavad Gita
Artha - material need; wealth
Asamprajnata samadhi - transitional stage of samadhi where the traces of the mind become active according to their intensity
Asamprayoge - 'not coming into contact'
Asana - a physical posture in which one is at ease and in harmony with oneself
Asevitah - faith
Ashrama - four stages of life
Ashtanga yoga - eightfold path of yoga
Ashwini mudra - contraction of anal sphincter
Asmita - state where the ego and the sense of individuality are completely transcended and there is only pure awareness
Asmita klesha - feeling of 'I' identified with an action
Asmita samadhi - fifth state of samadhi; dissolution of ego; merging of body, mind and soul
Asteya - honesty
Asthi - bone found in the body tissues
Atadroop pratishtha - knowledge of false identity; inability to link name with form
Atma - individual soul; spirit
Aum - primordial sound; mantra
Avachetan - subconscious
Avidya - ignorance; lack of conscious awareness; mistaking the non eternal for the eternal; confined cognition
Avyakta - unmanifest; unseen
Awarohan - descending passage to the subtle body; spinal passage
Ayurveda - vedic system of medical diagnosis and treatment

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B

Bahir - external
Bahir kumbhaka - external breath retention
Bahir lakshya - external aim to focus on in order to achieve concentration
Bahiranga yoga - four external stages of raja yoga
Baikhari - audible sound produced by striking two objects
Bandha - psychic lock that concentrates the flow of energy in the body at one point or plexus; postural contraction of the body
Basti - excretory cleansing technique for the intestines and colon
Beeja - 'seed'
Bhadrasana - gentleman's pose
Bhagavad Gita - Lord Krishna's discourse to Arjuna delivered on the battlefield of Kurukshetra during the great Mahabharata war
Bhaja Govindam - ode to Shakti by Adi Shankaracharya
Bhakti - devotion
Bhal bhati - forehead bellows
Bhastrika pranayama - 'bellows' breathing technique
Bhati - to shine
Bhava samadhi - absorption' in meditation due to emotional cause, e.g. kirtan
Bheda - to pass through, pierce, purify
Bhoochari mudra - practice of the external stage of dharana; gazing into space after focusing on the finger nail of the hand held in front of the face
Bhoota - element
Bhrumadhya - eyebrow centre
Bhrumadhya drishti - eyebrow centre gazing
Bindu visarga - centre or source of individual creation from where the psychic vibrations first emanate
Brahma - Lord of creation; manifest force of life and creation; potentiality of mooladhara chakra
Brahma dhyana - meditation on the concept of Brahma
Brahma granthi - perineal knot or psychic block
Brahma nadi - subtle pranic flow within sushumna nadi through which kundalini ascends
Brahmacharya - one who lives in higher consciousness; sexual control; redirection of sexual energy towards spiritual or meditational practices
Brahmacharya ashrama - first stage of life up to 25 years, which is devoted to study and learning
Brahman - absolute reality; 'ever expanding consciousness'
Buddha - the enlightened one
Buddhi - discerning, discriminating aspect of mind; from the root 'bodh', 'to be aware of', 'to know'; intellect

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C

Chaitanya jyoti - eternal flame of spirit
Chakra - psychic center in the subtle body; circle, wheel or vortex of energy; conjugation point of the nadis
Chakrasana - wheel pose
Chandra bheda pranayama - breathing technique that pierces and purifies the ida nadi
Chandra mandala - another name for ajna mandala
Charvak - one of the six darshana or systems of Indian thought; philosophy which accepts only the perceivable phenomena as valid, not the unperceivable
Chaturmas - four months of the rainy season
Chetana - consciousness; unmanifest aspect of consciousness and energy
Chidakasha - space of consciousness experienced in the head region
Chidakasha dharana - technique of meditation involving awareness of the chidakasha
Chin mudra - attitude of chitta or consciousness; upward hand position with thumb and first finger touching
Chit - eternal consciousness
Chit shakti - mental force governing the, subtle dimensions
Chitta - individual consciousness, including the subconscious and unconscious levels of mind; memory, thinking, concentration, attention, enquiry
Chitta vritti - mental modification

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D

Daharakasha - lower or deep space; encompassing mooladhara, swadhisthana and manipura
Daharakasha dharana - concentration on the symbols of chakra and tattwa within the lower space
Dakshina nadi - another name for pingala nadi
Danta dhauti - method of cleaning the teeth
Darshana - to glimpse; to see; to have a vision
Deerghakaala - for a long period of time
Dehasamya - body stillness
Desha - place
Deva tattwa - first tattwa: the divine element
Devadutta - minor prana
Devata - deity
Devi - female deity; goddess
Dhananjaya - minor prana
Dhara - stream, flow
Dharana - holding or binding of the mind to one point; concentration
Dharma - the natural role we have to play in life; ethical law; duty
Dhatu - layers of tissue in the body
Dhauti - cleansing practices for the stomach region involving gentle washing with air, water, cloth or stick
Dhyana - meditation
Divya - divine
Divya loka - plane of divine or transcendental experience
Divyabhava - divine feeling
Doshas - humors of the physical body
Drashta - seer, observer; awareness
Dridha bhoomihi - solid foundation
Drishti - vision, eyesight
Drishtisamya - stillness of vision
Drona - teacher of the Pandava and Kaurava princes from the Mahabharata epic
Durga - devi; goddess; representing energy
Dwesha - repulsion, aversion

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G

Garbha - womb Ida
Gayatri mantra - vedic mantra of 24 matras or syllables
Gherand Samhita - traditional yogic text by Rishi Gherand
Gomukasana - cow face pose
Granthis - psychic knots
Grihastha ashrama - second stage of life from 25 50 years; householder
Guna - attribute, quality or nature of the phenomenal world
Guna rahita akasha - one of the five mental spaces of vyoma panchaka; attributeless space
Gupta nadi - runs from the knees along the inside of the thighs into the perineum
Guru - one who dispels darkness

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H

Hasta uttanasana - a pre pranayama exercise
Hatha yoga - yoga of attaining physical and mental purity, and channelling of the pranas in the body
Hatha Yoga Pradipika - yogic text, 'light on hatha yoga'
Himsa - anything which disrupts the natural flow of human perception and consciousness
Hiranya - 'golden'
Hiranyagarbha - golden womb; golden egg
Hreem - beeja mantra
Hridayakasha - space of the heart, experienced between manipura and vishuddhi chakra
Hridayakasha dharana - vedic meditative process involving concentration on the heart space

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I

Ida nadi - major pranic channel in the body; passive aspect of prana manifesting as mental force, chit shakti; lunar force governing the manifest subtle dimension
Indra - king of the vedic gods
Indriyas - sensory organs
Ishwara - higher reality; non decaying principle of Samkhya philosophy; unmanifest existence; being; non changing principle or quality
Ishwara pranidhana - cultivation of faith in the higher reality
Iti - `through' or 'thus'

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J

Jagriti - wakefulness
Jala - water
Jala neti - nasal cleansing using warm and saline water, or oil, ghee, milk, yogurt or amaroli
Jalandhara bandha - chin lock; technique that frees 'the blockages of rudra granthi', controls the network of nadis, nerves and blood vessels flowing to the brain
Janma chakra - wheel of life
Japa yoga - yoga of mantra repetition
Jaya - victory, success
Jiva - individual identity
Jnana - intuitive knowledge
Jnana kanda - path of knowledge
Jnana mudra - hand position that joins fingers and thumb; gesture of intuitive knowledge
Jnana yoga - yoga of knowledge and wisdom attained through spontaneous self-analysis and investigation of abstract or speculative ideas
Jnanendriyas - five sensory organs
Jyoti mandir - temple of light

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K

Kagra - tip
Kaivalya - state of consciousness beyond duality
Kala - time
Kala loka - plane that comes under the influence of time and its secondary aspect, space
Kama - emotional need or fulfilment
Kapalbhati pranayama - frontal brain bellowing technique used to raise the pranic energy of the body and centre it at ajna chakra
Kapalshodhan - variation of kapalbhati
Kapha - phlegm, one of the three humors described in ayurveda
Karana - cause
Kari - that which produces
Karma - action; law of cause and effect, which shapes the destiny of each individual
Karma kanda - path of ritual
Karma shaya - deep layers of consciousness where the karma are stored in the form of impressions, symbols or archetypes
Karma yoga - yoga of action; action performed with meditative awareness; yoga of dynamic meditation
Karmendriyas - five physical organs of action (feet, hands, speech, excretory and reproductive organs)
Kama dhauti - ways to clean the ears
Khechari mudra - tongue lock
Kirtan - singing of God's name
Kleem - beeja mantra
Koorma - tortoise
Koormasana - tortoise pose
Kosha - sheath or body
Krishna - incarnation of Vishnu
Kriya - action or motion
Kriya yoga - practices of kundalini yoga
Kukkutasana - cockerel pose
Kumbha - a pot
Kumbhaka - internal or external retention of breath
Kundalini - 'serpent power'; spiritual energy; evolutionary potential
Kundalini yoga - path of yoga, which awakens the dormant spiritual force
Kunjal kriya - cleansing the stomach by voluntary vomiting using warm saline water
Kuru princes - opponents of the Pandava princes in the Mahabharata epic

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L

Laghoo - 'short form'
Lakshya - aim; stage
Lalana upa chakra - minor chakra at the back of the throat
Lam - beeja mantra of mooladhara chakra
Laya - to dissolve
Laya yoga - yoga of conscious dissolution of individuality
Lokas - seven planes of consciousness

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M

Madhya - intermediate
Madhya lakshya - intermediate stage
Maha - great
Maha bheda mudra - great piercing attitude
Mahamrityunjaya mantra - a long universal mantra
Maha mudra - great attitude
Maha samadhi - final liberation experienced on the departure of the spirit from the body
Mahabandha - great lock
Mahabharata - great epic of ancient India
Mahakasha - one of the five mental spaces of vyoma panchaka; bright like the middle of the sun
Mahaprana - prana in its cosmic, unmanifest aspect
Mahat - greater mind
Majja - nerves found in the body tissues
Mala - garland
Mananat - bondage of mind
Manas - mind
Manasi - mental
Mandala - zone; area; pictorial representation
Manduki - frog
Manduki mudra - frog attitude
Mandukya Upanishad - one of the major Upanishads, which describes the three states of consciousness, represented by the three syllables of AUM
Manipura chakra - psychic centre behind the navel, associated with vitality and energy; 'city of jewels'
Manomaya kosha - mental sheath or body
Mantra - sound or vibration of power, which liberates the mind from bondage
Mantra yoga - path of yoga which liberates the mind through sound vibration
Mantraha - force of vibration
Maya - illusion; partial understanding; wrong or false notions about self-identity
Mayurasana - peacock pose
Medha - fat found in the body tissues
Mehdra - plexus of the pranic body; nadi plexus located just a few centimetres below the nave
Mitahara - balanced diet
Moksha - liberation; freedom
Moola - `root'
Moola bandha - perineal lock; technique for locating and awakening mooladhara chakra; used to release brahma granthi
Mooladhara anusandhana - discovery of mooladhara chakra
Mooladhara chakra - root chakra, situated at the perineum; seat of the primal energy
Mooladhara dhyana - practice involving visualization of mooladhara chakra and sensing the vortex of energy at this point
Mouna - silence
Mrityu tattwa - decay able element; manifest aspect of tattwa
Mudra - psychic gesture; psycho physiological posture, movement or attitude
Mukti - liberation
Mumsa - muscle found in the body tissues
Mumukshutva - desire for liberation

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N

Nabho mudra - another name for khechari mudra
Nada - psychic or internal sound
Nada Yoga - yoga of internal sound
Nadi - prana flow or channel
Nadi shodhana - purification of nadis
Nadi shodhana pranayama - practice of alternate nostril breathing by which the pranic channels are purified
Naga - one of the five minor pranas
Nairantarya - continuously without a break
Nara - decaying principle
Nashwara - decaying principle described in Samkhya philosophy; manifest existence; becoming; changeable
Nasi - nose
Nasikagra drishti - nose tip gazing
Nasikagra upa chakra - minor chakra at the nose tip
Natya mudras - dance mudras that express different attitudes or moods, such as love or anger
Nauli - practice of rotation of the abdominal muscles
Neti - cleansing practice for the head; nasal cleaning
Nidra - deep sleep
Nigraha - control
Nirbeeja samadhi - final state of samadhi where there is absorption without seed; total dissolution
Nirguna dhyana - meditation without gunas or qualities
Nirvichara samadhi - transitional stage of samadhi; absorption without reflection
Nirvichara dhyana - meditation without special attributes
Nirvichara samadhi - transitional stage of samadhi involving purification of memory which gives rise to true knowledge of the object of perception
Niyama - inner discipline
Nyaya - one of the six darshana or systems of Indian philosophy; `logic'; recognition of the real spiritual experience by the omniscient mind

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O

Om Namah Shivaya - Shiva mantra; 'I salute Shiva (consciousness)'
Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudeva - Krishna mantra; 'I salute Krishna (consciousness)'
Om Namo Narayana - Narayan or Vishnu mantra; 'I salute Narayan (consciousness)'

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P

Padmasana - lotus pose
Pancha klesha - five afflictions (ignorance, ego, attraction, aversion and fear of, death)
Panchaka - five
Pandavas - the five brothers in the Mahabharata epic
Para nada - transcendental sound
Param - supreme
Paramakasha - one of the five mental spaces of vyoma panchaka; 'deep, dark space with a twinkling star like light'; state of shoonya, nothingness
Parigraha - collection
Pashubhava - instinctive personality
Pasyanti - mental
Patanjali - ancient rishi who codified the meditative stages and states into the system of raja yoga
Pawanmuktasana - series of wind releasing postures; preliminary asana series
Pingala nadi - major pranic channel in the body which conducts the dynamic force manifesting as prana shakti
Pitta - bile,. One of the three humors described in ayurveda
Pooraka - inhalation
Poorna - full
Poorna dhanurasana - full bow pose
Poorva Mimamsa - one of the six darshana or systems of Indian philosophy in the form of answers; contains theory of karma kanda or ritual
Prajna - knowledge with awareness; the seer who observes the state of nidra; the all knowing; what is known; represents the 'M' of AUM; awareness of the 'one without a second'
Prakasha - light
Prakasha mandala - white light at the centre of ajna chakra
Prakriti - individual nature
Pramana - direct knowledge; knowledge based on direct experience
Prana - vital energy; inherent vital force pervading every dimension of matter
Prana mudra - a technique of raising the prana
Prana nigraha - control of prana
Prana shakti - dynamic solar force governing the dimension of matter
Prana tattwa - third element representing the vital or life giving force
Prana vidya - knowledge and control of prana
Pranamaya kasha - energy sheath or body
Pranava - mantra Aum; primal sound vibration
Pranava dhyana - meditation on the mantra Aum
Pranayama - expansion of the range of vital energy
Pranidhana - 'to believe in'
Pranothana - awakening of the pranas in the different chakras
Pratishtha - awareness of identity
Pratyahara - withdrawal of the mind from the senses
Pratyaya - seeds or impressions in the field of consciousness, which do not disappear even in samadhi
Pravrittis - four instincts; (i) desire for food, (ii) desire for sleep; (iii) desire to procreate and (iv) fear of death
Prithvi - earth or matter
Purusha - totality of consciousness
Purusharthas - four efforts which man must make in order to fulfil his individual existence: (i) artha (wealth), (ii) kama (love), (iii) dharma (duty), (iv) moksha (liberation)

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R

Raga - attraction
Rahita - without
Raja yoga - yoga of awakening the psychic awareness and faculties through meditation
Rajas - one of the three gunas; dynamism; state of activity and the creativity combined with full ego involvement
Rakta - blood found in the body tissues
Rasa - serum found in the body tissues
Rechaka - exhalation
Rishi - seer; realized sage; one who contemplates or meditates on the Self
Rityam - the changing principle
Roodan - the cry
Roopa - form
Rud - to cry
Rudra - howling energy
Rudra granthi - psychic knot or block between ajna and sahasrara chakras

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S

Sabeeja samadhi - absorption with seed where the form of awareness remains
Sadhaka - spiritual aspirant
Sadhana - spiritual practice
Saguna dhyana - meditation to develop awareness of the transcendental qualities
Sah - with
Sahaja - spontaneous; easy
Sahaja samadhi - spontaneous meditative experience where the mind is totally withdrawn from the external world
Sahajoli mudra - contraction and release of the urinary passage in the female body to stimulate Swadhisthana chakra and promote brahmacharya
Sahasrara chakra - abode of Shiva or super consciousness; 'the thousand petalled lotus'; highest chakra or psychic centre, which symbolizes the threshold between the psychic and spiritual realms; located at the crown of the head
Sahita - 'combined with something'
Sakama karma - ego inspired actions
Sakshi - witness; drashta aspect
Sam - perfect, balanced
Samadhi - culmination of meditation; state of unity with the object of meditation and the universal consciousness
Samana - one of the five sub pranas; situated between the navel and diaphragm
Samapatti - complete absorption; samadhi
Samkhya - one of the six darshana or systems of Indian philosophy; associated with yoga; based on the division of existence into purusha, prakriti and a number of elements
Samprajnata samadhi - first sate of samadhi; transcendental state where there is knowledge with awareness
Samskara - unconscious memories; impressions that do not fit into the known categories of our present personality
Samya - stillness
Samyam - harmonious control; culmination of pratyahara, dharana and samadhi
Sanatan - eternal
Sankalpa - resolve
Sannyasa - renunciation; dedication
Sannyasa ashram - fourth stage of life from 75 years onwards; total renunciation
Sanskrit - 'language of the gods': original vedic language
Santosha - contentment
Sapta - seven
Saptavatan - awareness of seven things simultaneously
Saraswati - goddess of learning
Sat - true
Satchitananda - three divine attributes of truth, consciousness and bliss
Satkaara - with faith
Satsang - gathering in which the ideals and principles of truth are discussed
Sattwa - one of the three gunas; pure, unadulterated quality; state of luminosity and harmony
Sattwic - pertaining to sattwa
Satya - truth, reality
Satyam - the unchanging principle
Savdhan - attention; alert
Savichara samadhi - third state of samadhi where the mind alternates between time, space and object
Savishesha dhyana - meditation with special qualities: awareness of the concept of Shakti as a powerful force equal to that of Brahman
Savitarka samadhi - second state of samadhi where there is alternating association of the consciousness between word, knowledge and sensory perception
Shaiva - one who worships Shiva as the supreme reality
Shaivism - practice of worshipping Shiva
Shakta - one who worships the various manifestations of Shakti in the form of Kali, Saraswati, Durga, etc.
Shakti - primal energy; manifest consciousness
Shaktism - practice of worshiping Shakti as the supreme reality
Shambhavi - name for Parvati, consort of Shiva
Shambhavi mudra - eyebrow centre gazing
Shambhu - name for Shiva
Shankhaprakshalana - cleaning the conch; shatkarma that uses saline water to clean the small and large intestines
Shankha mudra - conch Mudra
Shanmukhi mudra - closing the seven gates
Shat - six
Shatkarmas - group of six purificatory techniques of hatha yoga
Shaucha - cleanliness of the body
Sheetali pranayama - 'cooling breath'; breathing principle technique where the breath is drawn in through the folded tongue
Sheetkan pranayama - 'hissing breath'; practice of object drawing the breath in through clenched teeth
Shiva - pure consciousness
Shodhana - purification
Shoonya - nothingness; void
Shuddha - pure in nature
Shuddhata - virtue; purity
Shuddhi - to purify
Shukra/arthata - reproductive tissues in the body
Siddha - perfected being
Siddha yoni asana - female version of siddhasana
Siddhasana - accomplished pose
Siddhi - paranormal or supernormal accomplishment
Simhasana - lion pose
Smashan bhoomi - cremation ground
Smritti - memory; memory field
Soham - mantra of the breath; used in the practice of ajapa japa
Sthiti - condition
Sthoola - gross
Sukha poorvaka - 'simple preliminary practice'
Sukhasana - easy pose
Sukshma - subtle dimension
Sumeru - mountain; tassel on mala
Surya - sun
Surya bheda - pranayama that pierces and purifies the pingala nadi
Surya mandala - image of the sun visualized at the eyebrow centre
Surya namaskara - 'salute to the sun'; series of 12 asanas for revitalizing prana
Surya tantra - path of realization through visualization and evocation of the vital energy within the sun
Surya vijnana - another name for surya tantra
Suryakasha - one of the five mental spaces of vyoma panchaka; luminous space of the sun or the soul
Sushumna - central nadi in the spine, which conducts the kundalini or spiritual force from mooladhara to sahasrara
Sutra - threads of thought which outline the ancient spiritual texts
Sutra neti - nasal cleansing using a catheter
Sva, Swa - one's own
Swadharma - acceptance of one's own duty in life
Swadhisthana chakra - 'one's own abode'; second chakra associated with the sacral plexus
Swadhyaya - self study
Swami - master of the self
Swapna - dream state
Swara yoga - science of the breathing cycle
Swastikasana - auspicious pose

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T

Tabla - Indian drums
Tadroop pratishta - knowledge of true identity; linking of name with form
Tamas - one of the three gunas; state of inertia or ignorance
Tamasic - pertaining to tamas
Tanmatra - nature, quality or essence of the five elements the sun visualized at
Tantra - ancient, universal science and culture which deals with the transcendence of human nature from the present level of evolution and understanding to transcendental level of knowledge, experience and awareness
Tapas - austerity; heat; process of burning impurities
Tarka - process of understanding through discussion and analysis
Tat - 'that'
Tattwa - element
Tattwakasha - one of the five mental spaces of vyoma panchaka; elemental space of perfect stillness
Tattwamaasi - 'Thou Art That'; vedic mantra
Teerthasthan - holy places of India
Tejas - luminosity; golden light or flame; the seer who observes the state of swapna
Trataka - to gaze steadily; dharana practice of gazing steadily at one point to focus the mind
Trayate - freed, liberated
Trimoorti dhyana - meditation on the three aspects of personality: sattwa, rajas and tamas
Turiya - fourth dimension of consciousness; super consciousness; simultaneous awareness of all three states of consciousness
Tyaga - renunciation or gradual dissociation of the mind from worldly objects and from the seed of desire

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U

Udana - one of the five sub pranas; energy located in the extremities of the body arms, legs and head
Uddiyana - 'to raise up', 'to fly up'
Uddiyana Bandha - lock applied to the abdomen which causes the diaphragm to rise into the chest, thereby directing prana into sushumna
Ujjayi pranayama - psychic breathing performed by contracting the epiglottis, producing a light sonorous sound
Upa pranas - five minor pranas responsible for such actions as sneezing, yawning, itching, belching and blinking
Upanishads - vedantic texts conveyed by ancient sages and seers containing their experiences and teachings on the ultimate reality
Upanshu - whispered sound
Upasana kanda - ritual of worship
Usha pan - drinking water through the nose; traditional form of cold water neti
Uttara Mimamsa - one of the six darshana or systems of Indian philosophy which deals with the knowledge of ritual in the form of questions
Utthita Lolasana - 'swinging while standing pose'; a pre pranayama exercise

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V

Vacha - speech
Vairagya - non attachment
Vaisheshika - a treatise on the subtle, causal and atomic principles in relation to the five elements
Vaishnava - one who worships Vishnu in the form of Rama, Krishna, Narayana etc.
Vaishnavism - sect of Vishnu
Vaishwa - manifest universe
Vaishwanara - seer who observes the manifest universe or the, external, waking consciousness
Vajrasana - thunderbolt pose
Vajroli Mudra - contraction and release of the urinary passage in the male body to stimulate swadhisthana chakra and promote brahmacharya
Vama dhauti - method of cleaning the stomach by voluntary vomiting; includes kunjal kriya and vyaghra Kriya
Vanaprastha ashrama - third stage of life from 50 75 years; retirement from worldly life in order to practise sadhana in relative seclusion
Vashishtasana - balancing asana invented by Sage Vashishta
Vastra dhauti - cleansing of the stomach and oesophagus, using a cloth
Vata - wind, one of the three humors described in ayurveda
Vata nadi - nadi running along the back of the neck and head into the brain; controls gas formation and elimination
Vatsara dhauti - form of stomach cleansing performed by drinking air through the mouth and belching
Vayu - wind, prana
Vedanta - one of the six darshana or systems of Indian philosophy; 'the end of perceivable knowledge'; the mind experiencing its own limits and going beyond them; gaining realization and understanding of that exploration
Vedas - ancient spiritual texts of the Sanatan Dharma
Veerabhava - warrior personality
Veerasana - warrior pose (also known as the philosopher's pose or the thinker's pose)
Vichara - reflection
Vidya - knowledge
Vidyut mandala - visualization of lightning within the white light of prakash mandala
Vijnana - intuitive ability of mind; higher understanding
Vijnanamaya kosha - higher mental sheath or body
Vikalpa - fancy; unfounded belief; imagination
Vikshepa - dissipation
Vipareeta - inverted
Vipareeta karani mudra - inverted psychic attitude
Viparyaya - wrong knowledge
Vishaya - object
Vishnu granthi - psychic knot or block between manipura, anahata and vishuddhi chakras, symbolizing the bondage of personal and emotional attachment
Vishuddhi chakra - psychic centre located at the level of the throat; centre of purification
Vishwa - eternal
Vitara - reasoning
Viveka - right knowledge or understanding
Vrischikasana - scorpion pose
Vritti - circular movement of consciousness; mental and modifications described in raja yoga
Vyaghra kriya - cleansing the stomach by voluntary vomiting using warm saline water (performed on a full stomach)
Vyakta - manifest; seen
Vyana - one of the sub pranas; reserve of pranic energy pervading the whole body
Vyoma - space
Vyoma Panchaka - the five subtle spaces

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Y

Yam - beeja mantra of anahata chakra
Yama - self restraint, first step of ashtanga or raja yoga
Yantra - visual form of mantra used for concentration and meditation
Yoga angas - parts or aspects of yoga
Yoga mudra - psychic union pose
Yoga mudras - gestures, which help to channel the flow of prana in the body
Yoga nidra - technique of yogic or psychic sleep which induces deep relaxation
Yoga Sutras - ancient authoritative text on raja yoga by Patanjali
Yoni - womb, source
Yoni mudra - attitude by which the primal energy inherent in the womb, or source of creation, is invoked

Satyananda Yoga

Satyananda Yoga™ is a system of yoga developed by Swami Satyananda Saraswati and his lineage, which incorporates practices derived from ancient and traditional sources. Satyananda Yoga™ uses practices in a traditional way, asanas (postures) to balance the body and mind through the physical body, pranayama (breathing practices) to work on the energy body (equated with Ki or Chi in other systems), and meditation to calm and focus the mind. It also takes a broader outlook by teaching and encouraging yogic lifestyles, not only for renunciates but also for householders and lay practitioners.

To this end Satyananda Yoga™ adopts the attitudes of Jnana Yoga (the path of knowledge), Bhakti Yoga (the path of heart and emotion), Karma Yoga (the path of service) and other yogas, which enable the practitioner to frame all aspects of their lives in a way, which is conducive to spiritual growth.

The Satyananda approach incorporates the whole person, not just the body. There is an emphasis on awareness and practitioners are encouraged to learn about all aspects of their personality through Yoga. Change is a process that takes place naturally as a consequence of regular practice with full awareness, rather than by forcing the mind and body to the limit and beyond.

We have included descriptions of some common yogas in this website, however, the list is by no means complete and it is recommended to receive the advanced teachings from a competent master.

ATHA YOGA ANUSHASHNAM

This is the first Sutra of Patanjali’s 196 Sutras

The verses are written to guide us to understand yoga from the basic background and their study can enable us to reach higher level of consciousness.

The word Atha means now therefore or so then , meaning that this worse is written in context to some previous statement

Atha can also mean instructions; a Yoga aspirant will be ready for further instructions in yoga only after he prepares his body and mind through tough practices of Karma Yoga .

The physical karma yoga will enable him to purify his body and his thoughts too ;it will kill the ego as the sense of humility starts developing within him.

The practice of Bhakti yoga will direct the mental energies towards achieving a divine and spiritual goal; by infusing the spirit of dedication and surrender.

The Yoga Aspirant is now ready for instructions for higher development ,

Anushtasana means complete instructions or discipline. The yoga aspirant ‘ s heart is pure and mind is balanced and can now aspire for path to freedom through consistent yogic practices ultimately leading towards liberation

Swami Niranjan @ Munger Ashram, Bihar