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200 Key Sanskrit Yoga Terms

Discerning dharma from kharma or bhakti from shakti is an important lesson for all yoga students—whether you are a beginner or a long-time yogi.

By Georg Feuerstein

a b c d g h i j k l m n o p r s t u v

Mahabharata ("Great Bharata"): one of India's two great ancient epics telling of the great war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas and serving as a repository for many spiritual and moral teachings

Mahatma (from maha-atman, "great self"): an honorific title (meaning something like "a great soul") bestowed on particularly meritorious individuals, such as Gandhi

Maithuna ("twinning"): the Tantric sexual ritual in which the participants view each other as Shiva and Shakti respectively

Manas ("mind"): the lower mind, which is bound to the senses and yields information (vijnana) rather than wisdom (jnana, vidya); cf. buddhi

Mandala ("circle"): a circular design symbolizing the cosmos and specific to a deity

Mantra (from the verbal root man "to think"): a sacred sound or phrase, such as om, hum, or om namah shivaya, that has a transformative effect on the mind of the individual reciting it; to be ultimately effective, a mantra needs to be given in an initiatory context (diksha)

Mantra-Yoga: the yogic path utilizing mantras as the primary means of liberation

Marman ("lethal [spot]"): in Ayurveda and yoga, a vital spot on the physical body where energy is concentrated or blocked; cf. granthi

Matsyendra ("Lord of Fish"): an early Tantric master who founded the Yogini-Kaula school and is remembered as a teacher of Goraksha

Maya ("she who measures"): the deluding or illusive power of the world; illusion by which the world is seen as separate from the ultimate singular Reality (atman)

Moksha ("release"): the condition of freedom from ignorance (avidya) and the binding effect of karma; also called mukti, kaivalya

Mudra ("seal"): a hand gesture (such as cin-mudra) or whole-body gesture (such as viparita-karani-mudra); also a designation of the feminine partner in the Tantric sexual ritual

Muni ("he who is silent"): a sage

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Reader Comments

Padma	Not once have I read anywhere that Ayurveda (it is in the Hindu religious texts) or Yoga for that matter come from the Hindu (Vedic) teachings. Why are people so damn intellectually dishonest?? It's not "ancient Indian" as Indian is a nationality and Yoga's roots are HIndu (Hinduism is a religion).
Preet	Ashrama ("that where effort is made"): a hermitage; also a stage of life, such as brahmacharya, householder, forest dweller, and complete renouncer (samnyasin) Shram means effort, Ashram means letting go of the efforts, a place u go to let of efforts
Akash	This is a good glossary of Sanskrit words. The pronunciation will be challenging for Westerns. I'd suggest listening to Sanskrit or Hindi (national lang. of India and directly derived from Sanskrit) pronunciations. The most common issue is the pronunciation of the ending "a" that is often used in anglicized Sanskrit It is not used as much if at all in the real language. E.g.Yoga, Pranayama, etc . I'd suggest finding an audio site preferably with words pronounced by an Indian.