Sanskrit & Vedic Glossary

Dharma is the Sanskrit concept of duty, righteousness, and the moral order that sustains the universe — in the Bhagavad Gita it means acting according to one's nature and responsibility.

Karma means action and its consequences — the law that every deed shapes future experience, taught in the Bhagavad Gita as the reason to act selflessly without attachment to outcomes.

Moksha is liberation — release from the cycle of birth and death (samsara) and the ultimate goal of spiritual life in the Bhagavad Gita and Hindu philosophy.

Atman is the eternal inner self or soul — the unchanging, indestructible essence of every being, which the Bhagavad Gita says is never born and never dies.

Brahman is the ultimate reality — the infinite, unchanging absolute behind all existence, described in the Bhagavad Gita as the source and resting place of everything.

Samsara is the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth driven by karma and desire — the condition from which the Bhagavad Gita's teachings offer liberation.

Maya is the divine power of illusion that veils reality and binds beings to the material world — in the Gita, Krishna says his maya is difficult to cross, but those who surrender to him cross it.

The gunas are the three fundamental qualities of nature — sattva (purity), rajas (passion), and tamas (inertia) — that shape all matter, mind, and behavior according to the Bhagavad Gita.

Sattva is the guna of purity, harmony, and light — the quality that produces clarity, knowledge, and happiness, and binds the soul through attachment to joy and wisdom.

Rajas is the guna of passion and activity — the quality that drives desire, ambition, and restless action, binding the soul through craving for results.

Tamas is the guna of darkness and inertia — the quality that produces delusion, laziness, and heedlessness, binding the soul through negligence and confusion.

Prakriti is primordial nature — the material energy composed of the three gunas from which all bodies, minds, and the physical universe arise, distinct from the conscious self (purusha).

Purusha is the conscious self or spirit — the eternal witness distinct from material nature (prakriti), which the Gita describes as the knower of the field of the body.

Ishvara is the Supreme Lord — the personal God who dwells in the heart of all beings, whom Krishna reveals himself to be in the Bhagavad Gita.

Svadharma is one's own duty — the role and responsibility suited to one's nature — which the Gita says is better performed imperfectly than another's duty performed well.

Vairagya is detachment or dispassion — freedom from craving for sense objects and results, which the Gita calls essential for mastering the restless mind.

Shraddha is faith — the deep trust and reverence with which one acts, worships, and learns; the Gita teaches that a person is made of their faith.

Ahimsa is non-violence — refraining from harming any being in thought, word, or deed — listed in the Bhagavad Gita among the divine qualities and marks of true knowledge.

Satya is truth — truthfulness in speech, thought, and being — described in the Gita as speech that is truthful, pleasant, beneficial, and causes no agitation.

Yoga means 'union' — the disciplines that join the individual self to the divine; the Bhagavad Gita defines it as evenness of mind and skill in action.

Karma Yoga is the path of selfless action — doing one's duty without attachment to results, offered as worship; it is the Bhagavad Gita's central teaching for people active in the world.

Bhakti Yoga is the path of loving devotion to God — the Gita's most accessible path, in which Krishna promises to accept even a leaf, flower, fruit, or water offered with love.

Jnana Yoga is the path of knowledge — discerning the eternal self from the temporary body-mind through study, reflection, and meditation, taught in the Gita as the fire that burns all karma.

Dhyana is meditation — sustained, one-pointed absorption of the mind; Chapter 6 of the Bhagavad Gita is devoted to its practice, posture, and promise.

Pranayama is the yogic regulation of breath — controlling the life-force (prana) through breathing practices to calm the mind, mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita as an offering of the yogis.

A mantra is a sacred sound or phrase repeated in worship and meditation to focus the mind and invoke the divine — the Gita names Om as the supreme mantra.

Om (Aum) is the primordial sacred syllable of Hinduism — the sound of the absolute, which the Bhagavad Gita calls the one syllable of Brahman to be chanted while remembering the divine.

A guru is a spiritual teacher who has realized the truth and can transmit it — the Bhagavad Gita instructs seekers to learn through surrender, service, and inquiry at the feet of the wise.

Satsang is the company of truth — gathering with seekers and teachers to hear, discuss, and chant spiritual wisdom, which the Gita praises as devotees enlightening one another.

Tapas is austerity — disciplined self-denial of body, speech, and mind that generates spiritual heat; the Gita classifies it by the three gunas and warns against austerity driven by ego.

Prasad is a blessed offering — food or gifts first offered to the divine and then received back as grace; the Gita says eating the remnants of sacrifice frees one from sin.

Jyotish is Vedic astrology — the 'science of light', one of the six Vedangas, which reads the positions of planets and stars to understand karma, timing, and human temperament.

A kundli is a Vedic birth chart — a map of the sky at the moment of birth showing the ascendant, Moon sign, nakshatra, and planetary positions used in Jyotish analysis.

Nakshatras are the 27 lunar mansions of Vedic astrology — star-clusters dividing the zodiac into segments of 13°20′, each with its own deity, symbol, and temperament.

Rashi is a Vedic zodiac sign — one of twelve 30° divisions of the sidereal zodiac; in Jyotish, your rashi usually means your Moon sign, not your Sun sign.

Lagna is the ascendant — the zodiac sign rising on the eastern horizon at the moment of birth, which sets the first house of the Vedic birth chart.

Dasha is a Vedic planetary period — a timed sequence, most commonly Vimshottari, that predicts when the karma signified by each planet will unfold in a life.

Manglik Dosha is a condition in Vedic astrology where Mars sits in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, 8th, or 12th house of the birth chart, traditionally considered a factor in marriage compatibility.

Gochara is a planetary transit — the current movement of planets through the zodiac, read against the birth chart to understand the themes of the present moment.

Grahas are the nine 'planets' of Vedic astrology — Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and the lunar nodes Rahu and Ketu — each governing distinct life themes.

A tithi is a lunar day — one of thirty divisions of the lunar month in the Vedic calendar, used for festivals, fasts, and choosing auspicious times.