Sanskrit Flashcards
(246 cards)
Yoga
Yoga: to yoke. It referred to the harnessing of animals to carts in order to make use of them.
“The concentrated effort applied to the accomplishment of spiritual disciplines designed to bring the practitioner (conveyance, vehicle) to a cessation of identification with the ego-sense, leading to the elimination of the false sense of separation from the Self (union, absorb). As such, Yoga is the means (remedy, cure) to remove the affliction of ignorance and the essence of all spiritual paths”; The experience of union btwn seeker and Purusha.
Chitta
Mind/ mind-stuff. Refers to the mind in its totality- subconscious, conscious, and unconscious. It is separate from Prakriti and Purushu. It is the reflected consciousness of the Purusha on Prakriti. The direct experience of the Purusha provides the ultimate quest.
Vritti
Fluctuations, whirl, turn, revolve, activities, changes, operations.
Vritti is the practice of constructing concepts of reality from mental impressions. It creates filters that distort perception. When vritti activity ceases, filters are removed and we perceive Reality in its entirety.
Nirodhah
Control, regulation, channeling, mastery, integration, coordination, understanding, stilling, quieting.
Nirodhah can sound like the suppression or repression of thoughts and emotions, which is definitely not what Yoga is about. Rather, it has to do with a process more like coordinating and setting aside what is not significant or not-self. It is exercised by purposeful Redirection of attention.
Purusha
Enlightenment. Pure unbounded consciousness, the indwelling God; Self, Seer, Spirit. The direct experience of the Purusha provides the ultimate quest. Are there infinite Purushas or One Absolute Truth? That which is eternal and unchanging.
Prakriti
Undifferentiated matter; nature. That which is impermanent and changing. Challenges and blinds the Purusha.
Avidya
Spiritual Ignorance; Obstructs the experience of Purusha; the confusion of the Seer (Purusha) with the seen (Prakriti)
Om
the Cosmic Vibration; the source of all mantras
Samadhi
the super-conscious state, absorption into the object of contemplation
Ishwara
God; the supreme cosmic soul; pure conciousness
Manas
The recording faculty of the citta; the aspect through which impressions enter.
Ahamkara
The ego, the sense that we are individuals, separate from each other and our environment. Ahamkara claims the impressions from manas and buddhi as its own, bundling thoughts to form the individual mind. The ego stakes out the borders of self-identity and then exerts effort to maintain and strengthen it. Goal is to transcend the ego, from identifying oneself as the body-mind to the realization of oneself as Purusha.
Buddhi
Discriminative faculty of the mind. It takes the impressions from manas and, through comparison and discrimination, categorizes them, allowing the impressions to be stored for access at a later time. It is the liaison between Purusha and Prakriti.
Pratyaya
Solitary thought / impression; the cause, the feeling, causal or cognitive principle, notion, content of mind, presented idea, cognition
Samskaras
habits; subconscious impressions
Tada
Then, at that time
Drashtuh
the seer’s,of the soul, witness, Atman, Self
Svarupe
in its own nature,own form or essence (sva=own; rupa = form)
Avasthanam
Stability, setting, remaining, being in a state, resting, standing, abiding
Atha
Now, at this auspicious moment
Anu-shasanam
Anu- Within, implies being subsequent to something else. Shasanam = instruction, disciple, training, exposition.
Sarupyam
Similarity, assimilation, appearance of, identification of form or nature; sa=with; rupa=form
Itaratra
Elsewhere, at other times
Vrittayah
The vrittis are
