THE TYPICAL PHILOSOPHICAL
TERMS
AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE IN
VEDANTA
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Agami
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vkxkeh
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The Karmas to be operative in future.
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Anger
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Dzks/k
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Anger in nothing but a feeling that rises
in us, because of our attachment to an object, towards an obstacle between ourselves
and the object of our attachment; the anger thus arising in a bosom is
directly proportional to the amount of fear one entertains on the score of
the obstacle holding one back from winning one’s object-of-love. Anger,
therefore, is only our Raga for an object, expressed at an obstacle that has
come between us and the object of our desire.
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Attachment
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jkx
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Ego + Ego-centric desires. Raga is the
affection for what one already has.
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Bhajana
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Hktu
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Bhajana is the attempt of the ego to pour
itself out in an act of dedication towards the Principle of Reality, whereby
the devoted personality successfully invokes the experience that lies beyond
the noisy shores of the mind-intellect equipment.
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Brahmacharya
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c`ãp;Z
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Wandering in Brahma-Vichara
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Buddhiman
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cqf)eku
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An intelligent, full-grown human
creature.
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Conscience
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Conscience is that knowledge enjoyed for
differentiating the good from the evil, which often forms a standard in us,
and, whenever it can, warns the mind against its lustful sensuousness and
animalism.
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Desire
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dke
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Desire means a capacity of the mind to
see ahead of itself, a scheme or a patter, in which he, who desires, will
probably be happier.
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Desires
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bPNk,a
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The desires are the cravings that bubble
up in the mind.
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Devas
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nso
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The whole Vedic concept of Devas is that
of one Universal Power, ever active in the world of phenomena, receiving
appropriate names because of Its multiple functions. All Vedic gods are but
functional names of the one Supreme Creative Power manifesting in myriad
forms. The word “Devas” comes from a root, meaning ‘illumination’.
Subjectively viewed, the greatest ‘Devas’ are the five sense organs: eyes
illumining forms and colours, ears illumining sounds, the nose illumining
smells, and the tongue and the skin illumining tastes and touches.
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Dharma
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/keZ
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That nature, which makes a thing what it
is, is called Dharma. Dharma is the law of being.
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Dhriti
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/k`fr
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Fortitude. The subtle faculty in man that
makes his strive continuously towards a determined goal.
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Ego
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vgadkj
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Ego is a bundle of memories of the past
and hopes and expectations for the future.
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Faith
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J)k
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Faith in Vedanta means the ability to
digest mentally, and comprehend intellectually, the full import of the advice
of the Saints and declarations of the Scriptures. Faith is the belief in what
we do not know, so that we may come to know what we believe in.
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Hiranya-garbha
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fgj.;xHkZ
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When life functions as the
“total-causal-body”, it becomes dynamic and expresses itself as the
“total-mind-intellect” which is known as Hiranyagarbha in Vedantic
Literature.
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Jagat
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txr
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The world of objects perceived by us
through our sense-organs and also as experienced through and interpreted by
the mind and intellect.
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Jnana
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Kku
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The speculative knowledge.
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Juani
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Kkuh
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A man of realisation.
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Karma
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deZ
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In the Geeta, the term ‘karma’
encompasses all activities performed by an individual at his physical,
mental, and intellectual levels; while in the Vedas, karma meant only the
religious and the ritualistic activities.
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d`”.k
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“Krisha” means “to scrape”, therefore,
the term “
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Kumaras
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dqekj
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The four eternal boys, Sanatkumara,
Sanaka, Sanatana, and Sanandana, produced out of the Creater’s Mind,
represent the inner-equipment (Antahkarana) constituted by the intellect,
mind, ego and chit.
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Loka
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yksd
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‘Loka’ comes from a root meaning ‘to
experience’, and therefore, the word in its full import, means ‘a field for
experiencing’.
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Mahat
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egr
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The Total Mind and Intellect.
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Mantra
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ea=
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The thoughts packed into small language
capsules.
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Mauna
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ekSua
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That noiseless inner calm, which one
comes to experience when corroding passions and exhausting desires are no
more building up in one’s mind, is Mauna in Vedanta.
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Prana
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izk.k
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Pranas are the manifested activities of
life in a living body. They are: -
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Pranayama
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izk.kk;ke
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The Pranayama is the process of
controlling all the five pranas, mainly by the control of vital air (the
breath). It consists of: -
(a)
Puraka: - the process of
filling in
(b)
Rechaka: - the process of blowing
out
(c)
Kumbhaka: - the gap between
the above.
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Prarabdha
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izkjC/k
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The Karmas, which are operative.
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Prasada
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izlkn
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The joy arising out of spiritual
practices, provided by the integration of the inner nature.
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Sanchita Karmas
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lafpr
deZ
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The Karmas, which are not yet operative.
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Sankalpa
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ladYi
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The self-willed thoughts.
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Sankhya
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lka[;
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The term ‘Sankhya’ means “the sequence of
logical thought through which we reach a definite philosophical conclusion,
unassailable by any doubts any more”.
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Sanyasin
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lU;klh
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Sanyasin is a person who has learnt the
art of living his life in constant inspiration, which is gained through an
intelligent renunciation of his ego-centric misconceptions.
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Sapta-Rishi
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lIr&_f”k
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The seven seers, as found in the Puranas,
when understood subjectively, are one’s intellect, ego and the five sense
stimuli, which together, sonstitute the world experienced by each one of us.
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Sin
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iki
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Sin is only a mistake committed by a
misunderstood individual ego against its own Divine Nature as the Eternal
Soul. Sins of the past are the causes for the present pains, and the present
sins would be the causes for the future sorrows.
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Tanmatras
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rUek=
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The five rudimentary sense objects.
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Upanishad
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mifu'kn
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Upanishad is a word indicating a
literature that is to be studied by sitting (shad), near (upa) a teacher, in
a spirit of receptive meekness and surrender (ni).
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Vasanas
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okluk
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The compelling deep urges in us, gathered
in our past fields of actions that now determine our present emotional
profile, are the “vasanas”. Vasanas create the mind; where the mind is, there
revels the ego.
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Vijnana
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foKku
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The actual experience of the perfection.
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Yajna
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;K
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Any social, communal, national, or
personal activity into which the individual is ready to pour himself forth
entirely in a spirit of service and dedication is termed as Yajna. All
actions, performed without ego, and not motivated by one’s ego-centric
desires, fall under the category of Yajna.
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Yoga
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;ksx
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The word Yoga comes from the root Yuj =
to join. Any conscious attempt on the part of an individual to lift his
present available personality and attune to a higher, perfect ideal, is
called Yoga.
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Yoga-kshema
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;ksx
{kse
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Yoga means ‘to acquire’ for purposes of
possessing; and kshema means ‘ all efforts at preserving the acquired’. Thus
the two terms Yoga and Kshema encompass all our egocentric activities
motivated by selfish desires to acquire and, compelled by equally selfish
wishes, to hoard and preserve what has been acquired.
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Sama
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‘ke
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Sama (Serenity of mind) is controlling
the mind from running into the world-of-objects seeking sense-enjoyment.
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Dama
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ne
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Controlling the sense-organs, which are
gateways through which the external world of stimuli infiltrates into our
mental domain and mars our peace, is called Dama.
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Dhyana
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/;ku
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Diverting the mind from the world of
sense-objects and maintaining it in steady flow towards contemplation of the
Lord in an utter attitude of identification, is called Dhyana (meditation).
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Iswara
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bZ'oj
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The Supreme functioning through the total
bodies as the cause of all actions is called Iswara.
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Pratyahara
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izR;kgkj
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The capacity in an individual to withdraw
his senses at will from the fields-of-objects, which the Yogin accomplishes
through the control-of-breath, (Pranayama).
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Kavih
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dfo
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An inspired man, recognising and
expressing a truth that was noble and immortal, is known a Kavih in Vedanta.
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Gross Intellect
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rh{.k&cqf)
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The ‘gross-intellect’ is the faculty of
discrimination which is employed in the field of objects.
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Subtle Intellect
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‘kw{e&cqf)
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The ‘subtle-intellect’ is the unique
faculty in a human being, which appreciates the existence of a supernatural
Power, a common denominator – termed as Ground (Adhishthanam) – in and
through every thing and being in this pluralistic world. It is this capacity
in man which interprets the difference between the Permanent and the
impermanent, the Changeless and the changing, the Sacred and the secular.
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Inner-Equipment
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var%dj.k
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In an individual (Jeeva) the mind
(Manas), the intellect (Buddhi), the ego (Ahamkar) and the Conditioned
Consciousness, the thought stuff (Chitta), together constitute the
inner-equipment, represented by four eternal boys in the Puranas.
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