SANSKRIT TERMS :

(From Commentaries of Rajasevasakta

V. Subrahmanya Iyer - Vol 1
From the posthumous collections of Paul Brunton
Edited by Mark Scorelle, 1999)
ADVAITA: Non-duality. This word has been wrongly translated as Monism or as Onen
ess. But you can think of a unity that is a sum of many parts or you can think o
f it as partless. Which is correct? Moreover as any word used has a meaning, and
a meaning is an imagination, this is not the truth of Advaita. Hence numberless
misconceptions have arisen about this term.
AHAM: 'I' (not I am)
AHAMKARA: Egoism.
AHIMSA: It originally meant "Do not be aggressive to others. Do not be violent t
o others. Do not go out of your way to harm men or animals." This has been misin
terpreted by Gandhi. He has turned this into non-fighting under all conditions.
It is quite right to fight in self-defense or to protect others who are being at
tacked, however, so he is wrong.
AJATAVADA: the causelessness of things.
AJATI: Non-causality.
AJNAN: is 'doubt' in the sense of "I do not know the meaning of this world." and
"I wonder at the grandeur of Nature." The primitive removal of doubt is either
by superstition or faith. How did this world sun and moon come? Through spirits
or God; how did small-pox come? Through a goddess or God?
AJNANA: Doubt, hence ignorance: Those who do not know Truth go on imagining as t
hey like, about God, creation etc. This is real meaning of ignorance.
ANANDA: the highest satisfaction, hence it is often called bliss.
ANTAHKARANA: Minor organ of mind.
ANUBHAVA: has two meanings. The first is unVedantic, and is used in the sense of
"my anubhava is this" meaning my experience or realization. This is ruin of Ved
anta, being mystic and egoistic. If you feel or say you know Brahman, you are se
lf-deceived. The I cannot know it. c.f. Lao-Tse. The true anubhava is universal.
Hence nowhere is Upanishads you find "I know." Instead they write "It is said."
Whoever talks of his knowledge knows only names i.e. words. Philosophically it
means to be Atman but practically it means experience.
ASANA: (philosophical meaning) keeping the mind steady in Brahman.
ASAT: - "mirage" or "barren woman's son": two different meanings but translated
by one English word illusion.
ASPARSA: Literally non-touching. Everything is related to or in contact with som
ething else, i.e. "in touch with" whereas in this Asparsa state there is no such
possibility of a second, no contact, because everything is Brahman. Hence its r
ational meaning is "non-dual" because when there is nothing to touch, there is t
hen no second. Moreover when the individual soul does not exist separately, ther
e is nobody who is to touch. Pundits and other people can only interpret difficu
lt Sanskrit words, like this according to the light of their own experience, whi
ch is usually most limited. -- Not in touch with any second thing, untouched by
duality. Literally that which does not come into touch with anything. Free trans
lation--that which is uncontradicted by anything.
ATMAN - Most Indian Pundits wrongly use the term Atman in a religious sense, mak
ing of it an individual Soul.
ATMAN. The word "mind" has been translated as "manas". Europe has no idea of Atm
an. Therefore the West uses word mind" for Atman. All this causes confusion when
Westerners study Indian thought.
ATMAN; This word has no true equivalent in English language, because the idea of
it has not risen. The West has the idea of the self or soul, but these are indi
vidual whereas Atman is that which sees the self or soul, where you understand t
hat Atman is also Brahman, the difference of names does not matter; but where th
e student his not yet grasped this point, the difference should be kept up.
ATMAN= when mind does not run after objects.

AVASTHA: state.
AVIDYA - Ignorance: means I do not know. It is a fact, not a mystic power (in on
e sense Maya is Avidya)
AVIDYA - Ignorance of the fact that the phenomenal world is only an idea.
AVIDYA - to know by analysis that whole world is Mind. Not to know this is Avidy
a.
AVIDYA simply means if you do not inquire into the meaning of the world, nothing
more, nothing less, nothing mystical.
AVIDYA: You are said to be in ignorance so long as you do not want to think, so
long as you are content with accepting appearances and believing what you read o
r hear. For such persons the fanciful creation-stories or religion are given. In
Avidya you do not know the truth and have the fears which go with ignorance.
BRAHMAN -The English use of the word real as applied to material world, whereas
we Indians use it as applied to unseen Brahman. Hence much errors have arisen in
translations from the Sanskrit.
BRAHMAN- The word Brahman or Sat has no proper equivalent in English. The neares
t is ultimate reality. The Europeans however apply reality to individual objects
or to the multiplicity of them all: whereas we apply it to the non-duality. Bra
hman is called "That" because it is something not known yet by the seeker.
BRAHMAN: Brahman has no equivalent whatever in English as it has never been thou
ght of in the West. Do not confuse the word "Absolute" with Brahman. "Absolute"
is opposed to "relative", whereas Brahman is opposed to nothing, to no second th
ing. The Absolute, says Hegel becomes the universe. This is ignorance from our s
tandpoint. Brahman has not become anything that would involve change. The best t
ranslation therefore is "non-duality". It also means the 'non-limited' or the 'i
ndescribable.' Brahman is that of which we can form no idea whatever, to which w
e can ascribe no meaning and which therefore is beyond the reach of thinking. He
nce there is no Western equivalent word. -- Just as all names, i.e. sounds are i
ndicated by the single word Aum, because it is based on the natural mouth format
ions, so all imaginable things, objects, themselves rather than their names, as
well as that which is beyond them, are indicated by the word Brahman, are symbol
ized or comprehended by it. -- In Sanskrit literature the word Brahman is philos
ophically used in neuter gender as "It." But when the language comes down to rel
igion the Brahman is referred to as Him.
BUDDHI: includes the exercise of careful and critical examination of facts, expo
sing error. Reason should not be interpreted to mean intellect. Reason is that w
hich finally distinguishes between real and unreal, false and true, and therefor
e it takes all the three states into account. Until that is attained people gene
rally use only intellect (manas) which is confined to waking state only. Intelle
ct (manas) evolves into Reason (Buddhi) as man realizes that study of the waking
world is not enough, and that study of all the phenomena of mind, consciousness
is required. Such study must embrace dream and sleep; hence there is no perfect
ion of reason without Avastatraya study. -- Buddhi literally means 'that which d
istinguishes the ultimate reality from the rest.' When such discrimination betwe
en truth and falsehood by the method of reasoning is confined to the empirical p
lane, it is intellect, logic, but when extended to the philosophic plane it is r
eason. Buddhi is that which enables you to distinguish the real from the unreal,
true from false. The West does not clearly know the difference between intellec
t and reason: consequently the Indian translators of "manas" and "buddhi" are co
nfused and give erroneous interpretations.
BUDDHI: Discrimination power to think acutely.
CHITTA (and Manas) both refer to different functions of the Self for the time be
ing. When you are talking or when you are dreaming, then you are thinking. That
is why I prefer to use the term Manas in such connection rather than Atman, alth
ough ultimately it is Atman. CHITTA is memory function.
DRIK: - The perceiving mind; something which knows, which says there is or is no
t consciousness; so long as you think there must be a thinker; something which i
s aware of.
DRIK: Witness (same as Sakshin).
DRSYAM : object. Indian philosophy sets up two classes of objects (a) objects of

the senses (b) objects of mind. The first are called external and the second in
ternal.
GNAN: essence of thought.
GNANA (Jnana): Knowledge which is contentless, whereas Vidya is the ordinary dua
listic knowledge. Europe has no idea of the first definition of it as yet. "Inte
llect" is a dangerous word to use as a translation of Gnan. For instance Einstei
n has a tremendous intellect; I can follow his mathematical equations, yet does
it mean Einstein possesses Gnan? Certainly not. Gnan is usually translated as "k
nowledge" but that is because there is no European equivalent. It is more accura
tely "contentless consciousness" or awareness or mind". Consciousness usually impli
es something, thoughts or things, but in India we give it in addition the meanin
g of consciousness per se or awareness without an object, as in deep sleep.
HIRANYAGHARBA: is the name given to Brahman by Vedantic theological philosophy w
hen It is regarded as creator of universe. -- The old Hindus imagined that there
was a Hiranyagarbha-being who himself imagined the whole universe-thought in hi
s mind. All these--Hiranyagarbas, God, Architect, are themselves the products of
human imagination quite unproved and unprovable.
JATI: causality.
KALPANA - idea.
KALPANA: the Sanskrit meaning is imagination. But in the word imagination comes
a flavor levity and superficiality: hence it is not quite suitable as translatio
n of kalpana. It is more correct to say "mental construction."
KOSHA: sheath, body, really means standpoints or degrees through which one passe
s and drops on the way to truth. Thus anandakosha is not a "vehicle" or "body" o
f bliss but the standpoint of seeking satisfaction, which eventually you drop an
d then pass to seeking truth, the higher standpoint.
KSHETRA: Matter.
KSHETRAJNA: That which sees Kshetra, matter.
MAHATMA: (lit) Great soul, but freely it means "he who sees that the Atman is ev
erywhere."
MANAS: is that which thinks, which knows, which becomes aware of: in this sense
it is the same as Atman. But its translation is often misleading and leads to co
nfusion with Chitta. Both refer to different functions of the Self for the time
being. When you are talking or when you are dreaming then you are thinking. That
is why I prefer to use the term manas in such connection rather than Atman, alt
hough ultimately it is Atman.
MANAS = when mind goes out to objects. But objects are ideas. So many persons ha
ve wrongly translated Buddhi" as intellect. It is not. It is reason, which is hig
her than that. Similarly "manas" should not be translated as mind, because to Eu
ropeans, the latter means all the functions of the mind, whereas to Indian philo
sophy manas is only that function of the mind which co-ordinates all the sensati
ons, and no more.
MANDUKYA is the personal name of the sage who wrote the Upanishad.
MATAM: opinion.
MAYA - appearance.
MAYA : mental concept : value of a dream.
MAYA means (1) knowledge derived, through the senses, or (2) as in Gita Shakti,
creative energy.
MAYA: Imagination: You have maya so long as you have the idea of cause, so long
as you do not know there is no such thing as change in ultimate reality. When yo
u go into the root of the matter, when you inquire, you find there is only one s
ubstance, the Mind! then Maya disappears from view. You ask questions "Why is th
is" or "What is that only through your ignorance, i.e. through Maya. When you kno
w that nothing is different from your own mind, then your ignorance goes. The no
tion that Maya is matter or a magic spell is nonsense. Maya or Mithya is that wh
ich appears to exist but on inquiry, disappears. It is therefore real at first b
ut unreal afterwards, hence we cannot say what it really is, because so paradoxi
cal. Thus Maya is called by the ignorant "mysterious" but it merely means that w
hat we see is our idea. -- Maya (avidya) as ignorance means "I do not know. It is
a fact, not a mystic power. -- Maya does not mean illusion so much as that the

world is not what it appears to be; it implies Reality is that which lies behind
appearances.
MAYA: is derived from YA, MA, meaning "that which does not exist. For world is se
lf-contradictory, when you try to catch it, it is not there; it has already pass
ed away, it is not the same thing. We cannot say this is the thing I saw before.
MOKSHA: means truth, but religious people take it erroneously as heaven or as fr
eedom from birth and death.
MOWNA: really means keep quiet in controversial discussions because you do not k
now what anyone has in his mind and without semantic analysis it is all useless,
so silence is better. Philosophically it means thinking constantly of the Drik
as against drsyam. Word and thought always imply drsyam, the object, whereas the
subject, drik is beyond both word and thought.
MUKTI: putting an end to ignorance, getting knowledge. Emancipation from Ignoran
ce, i.e. knowledge, the absence of doubt. It does not mean emancipation from reb
irth.
MUNDAKA: the shaven; implying that this Upanishad is for the study of the shaven
-headed, i.e. monks.
NIRVANA. (Nir= nothing, ana= else) nothing else, or extinguished.
NIRVIKALPA - without ideas.
NIYAMA: Thinking of nothing but Brahman (this is the philosophic interpretation
of yogic practice)
PARAMATMAN: that self which is everywhere.
PRAJNA is the deep sleep "mass of consciousness" in which everything is dissolve
d and from which everything proceeds, or consciousness in itself like space, i.e
. formless.
PRAKRITI - Matter.
PRANAYAMA: in-going breath is "I am Brahman" outgoing breath is negating univers
e. This is the philosophic interpretation of yogic practice.
SAKSHIN: Drik, the witness.
SAMA-GNANA= that which knows the whole of world as one element in constant chang
e. It is often mistranslated as intuition.
SAMADHI: seeing sameness of Brahman everywhere. This is philosophic interpretati
on of yogic practice.
SAMSKARA: tendencies and capacities derived from previous birth.
SANKHYA has got two meanings (a) The Sankhya system of metaphysics. (b) speculat
ive inquiry into various metaphysics.
SARVAM is much misunderstood. The mystics and pandits interpret it as meaning ev
erything in life is maya, whereas we say it is that everything is to be interpre
ted, explained, known.
SAT: - "existence" or "reality"; both these lead to confusion in translations. I
n snake-rope story, a thing may be perceived and yet not exist.
SAT: is usually mistranslated by the word truth, which is a gross error, it mean
s reality. The two are not to be confused.
SATYA-SATYAM - Highest truth.
SATYAM: Truth.
SHRADDHA: desire to seek truth.
SHRADDHA means perseverance whilst you are working on the path rather than mere
faith. Shraddha may mean faith in religion to a pious person or firm conviction
to a philosopher. Both are correct, according to context.
SIDDHA - (perfect man) - whose mind is absorbed in Brahman.
TAIJASA: is the Atman of dream experience, mental objects or forms conceived int
ernally.
TAT TVAM ASI: is the greatest formula given in Upanishads. It refers to the comm
on I in all beings, the one Self. Everyone uses the term I. It is nearer than an
ything else. Only ego stops its perception. "That" refers to the universe: it me
ans that Brahman which is everywhere is everything.
TRATAKA: whatever is seen, is regarded as perfect Brahman.
TRAYA : three
TURIYA means not only that which sees the three but also all three put together,
making a fourth. It is Turiya that appears as sleep etc. All these three ideas

of different states appear and disappear in you: you are the fourth or the whole
. Turiya means "Always-seeing" or always-knowing. It is not a stage, except for ig
norant Pundits.
UPASANA: translated as practice of meditation, in the text means fixing the mind
on one line of thought and keeping off all other thoughts. It is concentrated r
eflection. It means the practice of yoga to gain this concentration, and then at
tend to the thought of truth. It does not mean emptying mind of all thoughts, fo
r you keep one thought.
VEDANTA - end or Vedas i.e. after man has gone through all scriptures, he starts
the ultimate path to truth at the end.
VEDANTA: I claim the right to interpret the word Veda not alone as "scripture" b
ut also to include other nonreligious learning. Hence Vedanta means not the end
of scriptures but "the end of knowledge."
VEDANTA: Veda originally meant knowledge; hence Vedanta means end of knowledge.
What is that? To live a perfect life in this world.
VEDANTA: means that which comes at the end of religion, because at the beginning
you have rites, prayers and sacrifices to an imagined God; philosophy comes aft
er you have finished with all that.
VICHARA: is translated by Mystics as "pondering over the truth of revealed scrip
tures" This is religious rubbish. Buddhi is translated by them sometimes as "con
science" which is equally rubbish.