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GLOSSARY
Advaita philosophy—the system of Indian Monism usually associated with the great eighth-century philosopher and commentator Sankaracharya. bhakti—emotional devotion. brahmacaryāśram—student life, the first of the four stages of life in the ancient view of society. Brahmaputra—the name of a river which flows through Assam and East Bengal known for its torrential mass and impetuosity. Caṇḍt—an appendex to the Markandeya Purana in which the Divine Mother is the Supreme Deity. Dorśan of Sri Aurobindo—the rare occasions, four times in the year, when Sri Aurobindo used to come out of his room to receive the homage of his disciples and admirers. Durga—the Divine Sakti as the Mother of Might protecting Her devotees. gopī—lit. 'a milkmaid' of the Krishna legend; in the symbolic language of Indian religion, it stands for the human soul yearning for union with the Divine. iṣṭadeva—the tutelary Deity; the form of Divinity dearest to the heart of the worshipper. kriyā—ceremony. ltlā—lit. play; manifestation of God looked upon by Indian thought as a play of the Divine. mahābhāva—the highest state of beatitude. mahāsamādhi—the eternal rest; the state of liberation from the bondage of earth. Math—Monastery. mantra—sacred word by which spiritual teacher initiates the disciple; sacred or inspired word in general; Vedic hymn. Nārāyaṇa—an epithet of Vishnu or the Godhead. nirvikalpa samādhi—the highest state of samadhi in which the aspirant realises his total oneness with Brahman. om—the sacred syllable, used in Hindu ritual or meditation, the origin and foundation of all sound and speech. prakāśamaya—full of light; one whose substance is of the light. sādhaka—spiritual seeker, one who follows a line of Yogic discipline. sādhanā—spiritual pursuit; any form of Yogic discipline. śaiva—a worshipper of Siva. śakti—Power, generally, the Creative Power of Brahman, a name of the Divine Mother. śākta—a worshipper of Sakti; a follower of the Tantrik discipline. Sanātanas—eternal beings. sannyāsin—a Hindu monk or ascetic who has renounced the world in order to realise God. śāstra—the scriptures, theory, prescribed rule. sāttwic—pure and luminous. siṣya—disciple. siddhi puruṣa—a realised soul, one who has mastered any particular line of Yogic discipline. siddhi—Yogic perfection. śilpaśastra—canons of art. Siva—one of the great gods of Hindu Trinity; the Divinity in his aspect of Calm and Peace. Sonār Bāṅglā—Darling Bengal. smṛti—traditional and man-made laws as distinguished from śruti or revealed laws. sūtra—lit. thread; a peculiarly condensed style of writing adopted at a certain period of Indian culture to record the results of intellectual and spiritual inquiry of the immediately preceding age. swadharma—the true line of one's development; the law of one's true inner being. swāmī—lit. lord; a title of monks belonging to the Vedanta school. swar—world of light or pure intelligence. Tantra—a system of spiritual discipline in which the Divine Mother is the Ultimate Reality; also the scripture dealing with the system. tapaḥ—lit. heat; the heat or power generated by austerity and discipline. Tathāgata—a name of the Buddha. yuga—one of the traditional divisions of time in the ancient Hindu system of chronology; an epoch, (yuga-sandhyaa, might be rendered as 'a period of epochal change'.)
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