S. (31 page)

Paramashiva
Shakti and Shiva in coitus

parinama
development; evolution

parinirvana
“the going beyond nirvana”; Buddha’s death

Pashchimottanasana
the “stretching the back”
asana;
also translated “climbing westwards,” as the
shakti
enters the head from the
sushumna
in the spine

Patanjali
the author of the classic text on
yoga
, in the third century
B.C
.

phalatrishna
“thirst for fruits”; the desire for ego-satisfaction and -extension

pingala
the solar
nadi
, ending at the right nostril

prakhya
vivacity; mental clarity and serenity

prakriti
matter; Nature

prana
life-force; breath (one of five types)

pranayama
discipline of respiration; breathing exercise

prapatti
passive surrender

prapti
the power to obtain anything at will, including knowledge of the past and future

pratiloman
against the grain

pratyahara
withdrawal of sensory activity from exterior objects

prem
loving being: a mode of address

prema
love

puja
“invocation”; worship; cult

puram
city

purnabhisheka
ritual copulation practiced in “left-handed” tantric
yoga;
the
shri chakra
or
chakra puja

purusha
eternal cosmic spirit, from which
prakriti
emerged; Self, one with
atman
and
brahman

Radha
Krishna’s deified lover

Rahula
the son of Buddha and Yashodhara

rajas
the
guna
of motor energy and mental activity; passion; dust; menstrual fluid; female secretions:
fig.
, the “lotus seed”

Rakini
the
shakti
of Vishnu at the Svadhisthana
chakra

rasa
flavor; essence; mercury, the essence of Shiva; bliss; sap; juice; sweat

rasamandali
“circle of bliss”; Krishna’s dance with the Gopis; orgy

ressentiment
French term used by Nietzsche for resentment as the basis of “slave morality”

rishi
seer

rita, rta
“course”; the rhythmic order whereby Varuna maintains the universe

Rudra
the storm-god; presiding deity at the Manipura
chakra

sachchidananda
being-consciousness-bliss: triune attribute of Brahman and of highest human realization

sadhana
realization, in tantrism

sahaja
“the innate”; pure spontaneity, arrived at by transcending the dualities, in tantrism

Sahasrara
the seventh
chakra
, above the crown of the head, its lotus of a thousand petals shedding illumination

samadhi
the ultimate contemplative state in
yoga
, closed to stimuli, in which an object presented to the mind is seen in its true light, without distortion, as if
arthamatranirbhasam svarupashunyamiva

samanya rati
ordinary (consort) woman

samara
a dry one-seeded winged fruit, often in pairs

samarasa
the beatific experience of unity, obtained through arrest of breath or of semen

sambhogakaya
in tantric Buddhism, the subtle “body of bliss”

samsara
existence; the cosmic process; the round of birth and death, destruction and renewal

Sankhya
an ancient philosophy, supposedly founded by Kapila, distinguished from
yoga
by its atheism and its emphasis upon metaphysical knowledge, rather than meditation, as the means to
moksha

sannyasin
pilgrim; holy man, sworn to itinerant poverty; the fourth and ultimate stage of the model male life, the three preceding being
brahmacharya
, celibate studenthood;
grihastha
, husband and householder; and
vanaprastha
, partial withdrawal, as to a forest hermitage

satori
enlightenment, in Zen Buddhism

sattva
the
guna
of luminosity and intelligence

satya
truth

Satyavati
the daughter, called “Fishy Smell,” of King Vasa and a fish, and the mother of the great poet and
rishi
Vyasa

Savitri
the Vedic sun-god

shakti
power; energy;
(cap.)
the consort of Shiva, bringing
the dynamic principle to his immutable foundational consciousness; the feminine creative principle throughout the cosmos, worshipped in many forms,
e.g.
, as Parvati, the ideal wife; Kali, the destroyer; Durga, the terrible; Shri, the bringer of prosperity; Lakshmi; Shashthi, protector of children; and Shitala, the personification of smallpox

shanti
peace

Shirsasana
in
yoga
, the Headstand

Shiva
“auspicious”; the destroyer in the Brahma-Shiva-Vishnu trinity, Brahma being the creator and Vishnu the preserver; the god of pure consciousness, with the
linga
as his symbol

shri
holy

shri chakra
“holy circle”; ritual copulation in a temple setting

Shuddhodana
“having pure rice”; Buddha’s father

Shudra
a member of the artisan or worker caste

shunya
the void, of an adamantine essence and therefore called
vajra;
a girl of low caste, or courtesan

Siddhartha
Buddha’s given name

smarana
recollection

Soma
intoxicating plant juice consumed by the Vedic priests and worshipped as an immortality-bestowing god

sthula
gross; material

sthulabhutani
molecules

strivyatireka
love

Sukhavati
the Land of Bliss

sukra
semen

sukshma
subtle; etheric; immaterial

sushumna
the central subtle channel

sutra
“thread”; a concise religious text

Svadhisthana
the second
chakra
, located in the genital region

svarupa
proper or essential form:
sahaja
is the
svarupa
of all things

tamas
the
guna
of inertia and resistance, produced by matter, passion, and clouded consciousness

tanmatras
the five subtle elements or energy nuclei produced from
ahamkara
and giving rise to the
paramanu
and
sthulabhutani

tantra
“loom, weave”; scriptures advocating anti-ascetic forms of
yoga
emphasizing Shakti-worship, visualizations, mandalas, and the “five boons”:
madya
(wine),
mamsa
(meat),
matsya
(fish),
mudra
(woman or parched cereal), and
maithuna

tapas
“heat, ardor”; asceticism

Tat tvam asi
“That thou art,” meaning that our innermost nature is the same as ultimate reality,
purusha

tena tyaktena bhunjithah
“Accept the quota set aside (for you) by him (God)” from the Vedas

tikka
beauty spot applied between female brows, to ward off evil eye and to symbolize third eye of wisdom

ujjana sadhana
against the current

Uma
“peace of the night”; Shakti in her benign, wifely aspect, representing feminine creativity and heavenly wisdom

vairagya
detachment

vajra
thunderbolt;
linga;
urethral meatus

vajrolimudra
the “thunderbolt posture”; the yogic technique whereby semen is retained and
rajas
are absorbed

Vamachara
the “left-handed,” more overtly sexual practice of tantric
yoga

Varuna
a Vedic deity, the god of the waters; presiding over
rita

vasana
the subconscious; the source and repository of latencies, the
vasanas
, in the cycle
vasanas-vrittis-karma-vasanas

vayu
air;
(cap.)
the Vedic god of winds

Vedas
the four canonical collections of the hymns and prayers of the Aryan people who invaded Northwest India
c
. 1500
B
.
C
.; the oldest Hindu sacred writings

vidya
wisdom; science; metaphysical knowledge

vikshipta
scattered attention; uncenteredness; a merely provisional and occasional state of concentration, undisciplined by
yoga

virya
“heroism”; strength, potency

vishesha rati
extraordinary consort

Vishnu
the god who in the Hindu trinity takes most interest in human affairs and is most widely worshipped: of his ten incarnations, Krishna and Rama are best known

Vishuddha
“pure”; the fifth
chakra
, located behind the throat

Vrindavan
the idyllic realm where Krishna copulates with Radha and the Gopis

vrittis
eddies, fluctuations;
chittavrittis

yajna
sacrifice

yamas
restraints

Yashodhara
“upholding glory”; the name of Buddha’s wife

yoga
“yoke, link”; a philosophy and method of uniting the mind with the essential Self, the
atman:
defined by Patanjali as “chittavritti-nirodhyah” the settling of the mind into silence

yogi
male practitioner of
yoga

yogini
female practitioner of
yoga;
a type of forest fairy

yoni
vagina; womb

yuganaddha
a state of unity obtained by transcending the two polarities of
samsara
and
nivritti
and perceiving the identity of the phenomenal world and the absolute