Glossary
A
Acamana—purification performed by sipping water and chanting names of
Visnu before engaging in sacrifices.
Acarya—a spiritual master who teaches by example.
Adityas—the demigods who are descendants of KaSyapa Muni’s wife, Aditi.
Animé—the mystic power of becoming the smallest.
Apsaras—heavenly society girls.
Arati—a ceremony for greeting the Lord with offerings of food, lamps, fans,
flowers and incense.
Arcané—the devotional practice of Deity worship.
Asrama—a spiritual order of life.
Asuras —atheistic demons.
Avatdra—a descent of the Supreme Lord.
B
Balarama, Lord—Krsna’s first expansion and elder brother in Vrndavana.
Bhagavad-gita—the basic directions for spiritual life spoken by the Lord
Himself.
Bhakta—a devotee.
Bhakti-yoga—linking with the Supreme Lord in ecstatic devotional service.
Brahmacarya—celibate student life; the first order of Vedic spiritual life.
Brahman—the Absolute Truth; especially, the impersonal aspect of the
Absolute.
Brahmana—a person in the mode of goodness; first Vedic social order.
Buddha, Lord—Krsna’s incarnation in Kali-yuga for bewildering the atheists
who were misusing the Vedas.
D
Dana—charity, one of the six duties of a brahmana.
Danavas—a race of demons.
Dandavats—respectful obeisances, falling flat like a rod.
Dasya-rasa—affection of servitude toward the Supreme Lord.
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