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GLOSSARY (The explanations of terms given below are based upon Sri Aurobindo's writings.) Agni Shakti (agni śakti) the force of fire. Ananda (ānanda) bliss, delight, beatitude, spiritual ecstasy; the essential principle of delight: a self-delight which is the very nature of the transcendent and infinite existence. Asura (asura) the strong or mighty one, Titan; a hostile being. Atma (ātmā); Atman (ātman) see Spirit. Body-consciousness The body has its own consciousness and acts from it, even without any mental will of our own or even against that will. A great part of the body-consciousness is subconscient and the body-consciousness and the subconscient are closely bound together. The body-consciousness is only part of the whole physical consciousness. the Circumconscient a secret environmental consciousness in which are determined our unseen connections with the world outside us. It is something that each man carries around him, outside his body, even when he is not aware of it, - by which he is in touch with others and with the universal forces. Cosmic Self the one Self inhabiting the universe. Page-188 daiva Fate, the influence of the Power or powers other than the human factor, other than the visible mechanism of Nature. the Divine the Supreme Truth, the Supreme Being from whom all have come and in whom all are. Dream Self The old Indian psychology divided consciousness into three provinces - waking state, dream-state and sleep-state - and spoke of the corresponding waking self, a dream-self, a sleep-self, all these three being regarded as derivations of the fourth, the supreme or absolute self of being. the Force the power of Being in motion; the divine Force. Hostile forces forces which try to pervert everything and are in revolt against the Divine and opposed to the Yoga. the Ignorance a veil that separates the Mind, Body and Life from their source and reality, Sachchidananda; the consciousness of being in the successions of Time, divided in its knowledge by dwelling in the divisions of Space and the relations of circumstance, self-prisoned in the multiple working of the unity; it is called Ignorance because it has put behind it the Knowledge of unity and by that very fact is unable to know truly or completely either itself or the world, either the transcendent or the universal reality. the Inconscience (Inconscient) In its cosmic manifestation the Supreme, being the Infinite Page-189 and not bound by any limitation, manifests in Itself, in its consciousness of innumerable possibilities, something that seems to be the opposite of itself, something in which there can be Darkness. Inconscience, Inertia, Insensibility, Disharmony and Disintegration; it is the Inconscient that is at the basis of the material world. Karana (kārana) cause. Karma (karma) action; work; the principle of cause and effect in human life; accumulated seeds of past action. the Life see Life-force. Life-force the pure vital energy or life-energy, called Prana in Sanskrit. mahātmā a great soul. Maya (māyā) phenomenal consciousness; the power of self-illusion in brahman. the Mental see Mind. Mind In its ordinary use. the word covers indiscriminately the whole consciousness, but in the language of yoga the words "mind" and "mental" are used to connote specially the part of the nature which has to do with cognition and intelligence, with Page-190 ideas, with mental or thought perceptions, the reactions of thought to things, with the truly mental movements and formations, mental vision and will, etc., that are part of his intelligence. Nature the force or energy of Conscious Being which produces and moves everything in the universe. Overmind the highest of the planes below the supramental. the Physical outermost part of the being; everything has a physical part -there is a mental physical, a mind of the body; the emotional being has a physical part; the material is the most physical of the physical. Physical mind see the Physical Pisacha (piśāca) demon; a (hostile) being of the lower vital. Power see Shakti. Prakriti (prakrii) "working out"; Nature; Nature-Force. prāna the life-energy; life; the breath of life. prānakosa vital or nervous sheath; nervous body. Page-191 Psyche the soul; the essence of the soul; the spark of the Divine which is there in all things. the Psychic psychic being; (sometimes) the psyche. Psychic being the soul; when the psyche, a spark of the Divine which is present in all life and matter, begins to develop an individuality in the course of evolution, that psychic individuality is called the psychic being. Psychic entity the spark of the Divine that descends into the evolution as a divine principle within it to support the evolution of the individual; it grows behind the mind, vital and physical as the psychic being. Psychic personality see Soul-personality. Purusha (purusā) Person; Conscious Being; Conscious-Soul; essential being supporting the play of prakrti. purusakāra "human effort"; energy of individual effort. Rakshasa (rāksasa) giant, giant power of darkness, a (hostile) being of the middle vital plane. Sadhak (sādhaka) one who is engaged in the practice of sādhanā or yoga Page-192 Shakti (śakti) Energy, Force, Strength, Will, Power; the self-existent, self-cognitive, self-effective Power of the Lord which expresses itself in the workings of Prakriti. Sleep Self see Dream Self. Soul-personality the psychic being or soul-form developing through evolution and passing from life to life. Spirit the Consciousness above Mind, the Atman or Self, which is one with the Divine. The essential nature of our existence; the true being of the individual as well as the Self in the cosmos. the Subconscient the part of the being which is below the level of mind and conscious life; in the average person, it includes the larger part of the vital being, the physical mind and the body-consciousness. the subliminal comprises the inner being, taken in its entirety of inner mind, inner life, inner physical with the soul or psychic entity supporting them; (sometimes) all that lies outside the surface consciousness, including the subconscient, the subliminal proper and the superconscient. the Superconscient consciousness above and beyond our present level of awareness in which are included the higher planes of mental being as well as the supramental and spiritual. Page-193 the Supermind the full Truth-Consciousness of the Divine Nature in which there is no place for the principle of division and ignorance, and which is always a full light and knowledge superior to all mental substance or mental movement; in the supermind, mental divisions and oppositions cease, the problems created by our dividing and fragmenting mind disappear and Truth is seen as a luminous whole. the Vital the Life-nature made up of desires, sensations, feelings, passions, energies of action, will of desire, reactions of the desire-soul and of all the play of possessive and other related instincts, such as anger, fear, greed, lust, etc. Vital plane/world the world of sheer vital existence, ruled by desire and the satisfaction of impulse; the desire-world. utkata karma "karma exceeding the usual measure"; certain strong effects of one's past actions that are unmodifiable. Yoga (yoga) a methodised effort towards self-perfection by the expression of the potentialities latent in the being and union of the human individual with the universal and transcendent existence. Yogi/Yogin (yogin) one who practises yoga; one who is established in realisation. Page-194 |