Definition of Hindi terms used on this site.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

acharya. Those Divine personalities who descend to establish bhakti (divine-love-consciousness) in the world and wrote on the philosophy of Divine love and other bhakti-related books.

ahladini or ahladini shakti. See hladini.

apar dharm. It is the religious discipline and injunctions of the do's and don'ts that are explained in Bhartiya scriptures. They are the preliminary practices designed to establish the mind in sattvagun for the beginners who desire to realize God in their lifetime.

arti. Waving of light in front of a Deity, altar, or a Divine Personality to offer his hearty salutations.

ashram. The residential place of a Saint and the devotees (whose prime aim of life is God realization) and also a place where a seeker of God’s love receives devotional guidance.

avatar. The descension of God or a Divine personality.

B

Barsana. The village where Radha Rani lived in Braj, in India.

bhajan. Devotional song describing the virtues and leelas of God.

bhakti. divine-love-consciousness. Devotion, adoration and loving remembrance of Radha Krishn (or any other form of God) without desiring any worldly thing from Him. The one who does bhakti is called bhakt.

bhao. The emotional feelings of love and longing of a selfless devotee of a personal form of God. These feelings of divine-love-consciousness physically appear as tears etc. and produce a growing confidence in the realization of Radha Krishn love and having Their vision.

Bhao. The Divine love emotions of a rasik Saint are Bhao. A devotee who is in divine-love-consciousness also experiences devotional emotions. To distinguish the Divine emotions of a Saint from a devotee, the latter’s emotions are written as bhao. There are only five kinds of Divine bhao that refer to the five kinds of relational affinity and intimacy with the Divine beloved God.

(a) shant bhao. The Blissful feelings of those Saints who worship God with His almighty dignity (Vishnu, Shiv, Durga, etc.). Shant means serene, which is a kind of deep, Blissful and respectful feeling for your God, the Lord, like a subject to his honorable king.

(b) dasya bhao. The love of those Saints who worship God (Bhagwan Ram or Krishn) with a kind of loving affinity as His personal servant. Dasya means personal servitude. The Bliss of this kind of love is called dasya ras.

(c) sakhya bhao. Loving your Divine beloved (God) as a personal friend, like the Gwalbals of Krishn. Sakhya means friendship. The Bliss of that kind of relational intimacy is called sakhya ras.

(d) vatsalya bhao. Loving Krishn (or Radha) like your own baby child, like mother Yashoda and Nand Baba or Kirti and Vrishbhanu. Vatsalya means maternal love. The Bliss of this bhao is called vatsalya ras.

(e) gopi bhao or madhurya bhao. Loving and serving Krishn and Radha as Gopis did. The Bliss of gopi bhao is called gopi prem or madhurya ras. The Bliss of gopi bhao is the highest of all kinds of Divine Blissfulnesses and it surpasses the intimate charm of all kinds of relational sweetnesses with Radha Krishn.

Bhartiya. That which relates to Bharat (Bharatvarsh), which is the original name of India, like Bhartiya philosophy.

brahm. It is a common word for any form of God, like brahm Krishn. But when it is used singly, it generally means nirakar (formless) existence of the Divinity; and so brahm gyan word means the knowledge of the nirakar aspect of God. The gyani Saint who holds such a knowledge is called brahm gyani.

brahmand. A planetary system, including the celestial worlds.

Braj. Braj is the descended abode of Radha Krishn in the material world. The present Mathura district in India is called Braj. Mathura is an important and ancient religious town in North India which is related to the advent of supreme brahm, Krishn. It is still called Braj by the local people and the devotees of Krishn. In the writings of the rasik Saints, who lived in Braj, it is described to have an estimated boundary of 168 miles long. Within this area Krishn lived and played for the first twelve years of His stay on this earth planet. Barsana, Gahvarban, Prem Sarovar, Nandgaon, Kamban, Govardhan, Radhakund, Kusum Sarovar, Vrindaban and Gokul are the important places in Braj where Radha Krishn along with Gopis and Gwalbals did most of Their leelas.

Brajwasi. The dwellers of Braj during the time of Krishn. Wasi means ‘the dweller’.

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C

choonari. A two-and-a-half yards, more or less transparent, fine material with fancy border and edges used to cover the head and shoulders of a woman. Radha’s choonari is mainly of pink and blue color in a variety of shades. It is decorated all over with elaborate, very fine and rich embroidery (mostly golden or any other matching shade). It has a thin to wide border, and has much wider decorations at both ends.

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D

darshan. Dedicated vision, or viewing, or seeing. It is in relation to a Saint, a Deity of God, or God Himself in His personal form. Like the vision of Krishn; viewing a Deity; or respectfully seeing a Saint.

Deity. Statue of God or Goddess specially made and established at an altar for devotion and meditations with Godly feelings ascribed to it.

dham. The Divine abode of God.

dharm. In general, dharm means the religious discipline for the four orders of life. It is called samanya dharm. Maintaining celibacy and studying is called brahmcharya. Family life is called grihasth. A renounced life is vanaprasth, and total renunciation for God realization is called sanyas. General dharm also includes the social disciplines and code of conduct according to our scriptures. It is also called varnashram dharm or apar dharm. The dharm that takes a soul to God is called par dharm and it is only selfless devotion to God, called bhakti, with wholehearted faith and confidence.

dhoti. The material (about five yards in length) which is neatly worn to cover the lower part of the body below the waist (especially for men).

divine-love-consciousness. The consciousness of the closeness of Radha Krishn (or any personal form of God), when a devotee lovingly remembers His name, form, virtues or leelas, is called divine-love-consciousness.

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G

Gopi. A maiden of Braj during the descension period of Radha Krishn.

Gwalbal. A playmate of Krishn.

gyani, gyan, gyan marg. The followers of impersonal aspect of God are called gyani and their impersonal concept and understanding is called gyan. Marg means ‘the path’.

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H

hladini or ahladini shakti. The power of affection or the Bliss of Bliss whose efflorescence is ‘Divine love.’ It is the most important power of supreme God.

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J

Jagadgurus. The eternal Saints who specially descended on the earth planet with the will of God, wrote the explanations of the Brahm Sutra, the Gita and the Upnishads, and established their religions.

jeev shakti. A formless (nirakar) Divine power of God of absolute nature which contains all the unlimited number of souls. It is just a dormant Divine intellect, called ‘chit.’

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K

kaivalya mokch. The state of a gyani or yogi Saint called liberation. It is a ‘no-experience’ state forever that he receives after his death.

Kamdev. The (celestial) god of ‘love’ and ‘beauty’. He is the most handsome and beautiful person of the celestial abode.

karm, karmas. The good and bad actions of a person. They are stored in a section of the mind. They become the cause of the next incarnation.

karm yog. When bhakti is predominantly added to the sattvic good karmas, it is then called the karm yog.

kaustubh mani. A ruby-like large Divine jewel with marvelous faceting which is worn by the supreme God (Krishn, Ram and Vishnu) in His necklace.

kirtan, sankirtan, nam sankirtan. Devotional chanting of the names, virtues and leelas of God.

kunj, nikunj, kunj mahal. A secluded place under a big tree, or a few trees whose branches are leaning towards the ground and which is covered with the perfumed blossoms of its own and also of the climbing creepers. The inside ground has soft grass which is enough for a small group of people to sit on, and it is surrounded with plants of variously colored perfumed flowers. Kunj and nikunj have same meaning.

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L

leela. The Divine action of any kind. The pastime, sports, plays, and all the actions of Radha Krishn or any other personal form of God are called leelas. All the actions of a Divine personality (God or Saint) are Gracious and Divine.

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M

Mahabhao. The absolute essence of Divine love. The absolutely culminated state of all the exciting, loving and thrilling aspects of the Divine love power. Mahabhao is Radha Rani.

maharas. Five thousand years ago, during the descension period, the absolute supreme personality of God, Krishn, with the Grace of Radha, Who is the life-essence of Krishn’s all-greatness, revealed the most intimate Divine Bliss to Gopi Saints of Braj district in Vrindaban, India, along with other uncountable number of Gopis of the Divine abode, Vrindaban, on the Sharat Poornima night.
       On that particular night Krishn, Radha and all the Gopis danced and sang together in an extremely elevated Divinely playful manner. This Divine act was called raas or maharas. The absolute greatness and the Divine loving sweetness of maharas could be understood with this fact that Goddess Lakchmi, creator Brahma, and even the supreme creator of the whole universe, the almighty God, Maha Vishnu, cannot describe it into words, because it is beyond the Divine language of the Vedas.
       Who could imagine the extreme kindness of the Queen of Divine Vrindaban, Shree Raseshwari Radha Rani Who appeared in Barsana, initiated the leela of maharas, and Who gives the same raas ras (the Bliss of raas) to every soul faithfully coming to Her. That’s why the Radhikopanishad says, only with the Grace of Radha Rani one can receive the Bliss of maharas.

maya. Maya is an eternally existing, mindless, lifeless and delusive power of God that appears and multiplies itself in the form of this universe. It has three qualities: Sattvagun (pious), rajogun (normal or selfish or a mixture of good and bad qualities) and tamogun (evil).

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N

nikunj darshan. Nikunj or kunj is a beautiful secluded area where blossoming trees, flowering bushes, creepers and perfumed flowers grow together to create such a sheltered and shaded setting where Radha, Krishn and Gopis could sit and play and dance together. Thus, visualizing Radha Krishn in a nikunj is called nikunj darshan.

nirakar brahm. The formless nonperceivable existence of absolute Divinity.

nirvikalp samadhi. Nirvikalp means a total thoughtless state of the mind, and samadhi means to be fully absorbed in the pious state of the mind (which is a quality of maya) or in the Divine state. Thus this term is used for both, a gyani or yogi devotee of impersonal God, or a gyani or yogi Saint.

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P

pad. The songs of humbleness, philosophy, or the leelas of Radha Krishn written by the rasik Saints in the local (Hindi) language.

pandit. A Sanskrit scholar of India.

par dharm. This is the main dharm of a soul, also called bhagwat dharm, which brings God realization. This is direct devotion to God in His personal form. It is called bhakti.

parikrama. Circling a worshipped or revered place usually while chanting the names of God.

poorntam purushotam brahm. The omnipresent absolute supreme personality of God, Bhagwan Ram and Krishn. (God Vishnu is called purushotam brahm).

prasad. The food blessed by a Divine personality is called prasad. When you offer food to a Deity of God it is supposed to have been blessed. This is also called prasad and is distributed among the devotees.

prasthan trayi. It means the prime Upnishads, the Gita and the Brahm Sutra.

prema bhakti. It is the selfless loving adoration with deep love and longing for Radha Krishn. It is also called raganuga bhakti and is the means of entering into Golok or Vrindaban abode.

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R

raas. The act of singing and dancing of Gopis along with Radha Krishn.

rag. The natural love of Brajwasis for Radha Krishn.

raganuga bhakti. The direct practical path of selfless loving devotion to Radha Krishn as shown and revealed in the Bhagwatam. It is such a devotion that follows the pattern of Brajwasi’s love for Radha Krishn. This term was used by Chaitanya Mahaprabhuji.

raj, rajas or rajogun. It is one of the qualities of maya. See maya.

ras, divya ras. Literally ras means the Divine loving Bliss, experienceable from the Divine senses. In the leelas of Radha Krishn, it is specified according to the intimacy and the style of the sweetness as experienced by the rasik Saints of Braj (Golok) and Vrindaban. For example:

rasik Saint. That Divine personality who has attained the vision and love of Radha Krishn is called a rasik Saint.

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S

sadhana bhakti.It means devotional bhakti.

sagun sakar, sakar, or sakar brahm. It means the all-virtuous personified form of God. Sakar is the main form of God and, with the sakar form, He/She is omnipresent with all the Divine virtues such as: Graciousness, kindness, all-Blissfulness, all-lovingness, and many more.

Saint. The one who has visualized and realized God in any form, and whose teachings are based on the themes and the guidelines of the Gita, Bhagwatam and Upnishads which are our prime scriptures. There are three categories of Saints: gyani Saints, bhakt Saints, and rasik Saints. (1) Gyani Saints are those who have attained the impersonal (nirakar) form of God. They are of two kinds: gyani Saint and yogi Saint, (2) Bhakt Saints are those who have attained a personal form of God like, Vishnu, Durga, Shiv, Ram, Krishn etc. (3) Those bhakt Saints who attain the Divine love form of God like, Ram or Krishn, are called rasik Saints (ras means the Divine love), but generally speaking the rasik word refers to those Saints who have received the vision and Divine love of Radha Krishn.

samadhi. Ecstasy, total absorption of the mind, or a thoughtless state of the mind. It is of two kinds: devotional and Divine.

1. (a) Devotional samadhi of a yogi relates to the pious (sattvic) quality of maya, and,

    (b) of a bhakt relates to the pious bhao state of the bhakti where his mind drowns in the feeling of loving affinity of his beloved God. The quality and the class of the samadhi of a yogi or a bhakt devotee corresponds to the selflessness and the state of his devotional evolution on the path of God realization.

2. (a) The Divine samadhi of a Yogi or Gyani is primarily of only one kind because it relates to one single formless (nirakar) and non-virtuous brahm. There are two states of this samadhi. The first one is called sahaj samadhi, which is the awakened state of the mind with natural Divine engrossment; and the second one is called brahmleen state, which is the fully unconscious state of the mind in total Divine engrossment. There is also a variation of sahaj samadhi when there is a kind of deeply engrossed consciousness. It is also called samadhi, or dyanavastha, in which the yogi Saint remains in a meditative state, bodily semi-conscious or unconscious and mentally conscious where he could see or hear anything of his own liking.

    (b) Samadhi of a bhakt Saint is of many kinds and forms. The most fascinating ecstasies happen in the field of Divine love of Radha Krishn. For instance: a rasik Saint of gopi bhao experiences four kinds of samadhis in all the four states of his Divine mind (conscious, subconscious, unconscious, and fully unconscious); and all of these sixteen kinds of samadhis are multifold and imbued with the amazing delight of ever-new charm of Radha Krishn Bliss.

Sanatan Dharm. The eternal (sanatan) universal religion. It contains the knowledge for the spiritual well-being of all the souls. It provides the guidelines for all kinds of people of the world, which, if followed, leads them towards God realization. (Read a complete description.)

sanskar. Every thought and every action leaves a subtle impression in the mind of a person as a permanent record. These are called sanskars. They are uncountable because from uncountable lives every soul has done uncountable actions. Devotion to God makes good sanskars, and selfish and sinful actions make bad sanskars.

sanyasi. The one who renounces the world for God realization.

satsang. Faithful association with a Saint in any way: having his darshan, having a personal meeting with him, or attending his discourses. Such devotional meetings and services are also called satsang where there is a discourse, or chanting of the Divine names, forms, leelas, virtues and Divine abodes etc. with pure devotional motivations and on the guidelines of a Saint. The true satsang releases personal prejudice, develops humbleness in the heart, loosens the attachment of the world, and brings you closer to your beloved God.

sattva, sattvagun, sattvic. It is the pious quality of maya.

seva. Dedicated, loving service offered to God or Spiritual Master. It is of three kinds, physical, mental and monetary.

Sharat Poornima. The full moon night of the autumn (fall), October. Five thousand years ago, Radha Krishn revealed the supreme Bliss of maharas to all the Gopis of Braj on the Sharat Poornima night.

sharanagati. surrender. Literally sharanagati means a dedicated submission of heart and mind. The word ‘surrender’ is very commonly used for ‘sharanagati’.

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T

tam, tamogun, tamas. See maya.

tilak. A religious (or decorative) mark on the forehead made by certain thin paste or color in a particular style according to one’s own religion (or liking).

tribhangi. A standing position of Krishn when His body is elegantly curved and bent from the three places: neck, waist and ankle.

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V

Vaikunth. The Divine abode of God Maha Vishnu. The abodes of God Shiv, Goddess Durga, and other almighty forms of God are also a part of Vaikunth.

Vrindaban. The place in Braj where Krishn did maharas on the Sharat Poornima night, 5,000 years ago.

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Y

yog. It is an eightfold system of very disciplined form of meditation, described in the Yog Darshan of sage Patanjali. Its aim is to neutralize the mind from all kinds of attachments, attractions, likings, dislikings, loving emotions, and to enter into thoughtless samadhi. It has to be practiced for a very very long time. On this path, the yogi desires to seek union with the impersonal (nirakar) aspect of God in order to receive the liberation from the eternal bondage of maya.

yogi. The one who does eightfold yog practices to establish himself into the impersonal Divinity (nirakar brahm) through samadhi.

yogmaya. The most intimate personal power of God that gives life, liveliness, and Bliss to the entire Divine phenomena, including God Himself, is called yogmaya. The power of doing, undoing, and reverse doing capability.

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