| A | B |
|---|
| ashram | a usually ascetic community of followers gathered around their guru |
| atman | the individual soul |
| avatar | an incarnation of deity |
| bhaki | intense devotion to a personal manifestation of Supreme Reality |
| Brahman | The Supreme Reality |
| brahmin | Priest or member of the priestly caste |
| caste | an occupational category |
| chakra | a subtle energy center in the body |
| darsan | visual contact with the divine |
| deva | a deity |
| dharma | moral order, righteousness, religion |
| guru | spiritual leader |
| Kali Yuga | the present degraded era |
| karma | our actions and their effects on this life and lives to come |
| moksha | liberation |
| prana | the invisible life force |
| puja | ritual worship |
| reincarnation | after death, rebirth in a new life |
| rishi | a sage |
| Saivite | worshiper of Siva |
| Sakta | worshiper of the divine in female form |
| samsara | the worldly cycle of birth, death, and rebirth |
| Sanatana Dharma | the eternal way of religious duty |
| sannyasin | renunciate spiritual seeker |
| Sanskrit | the ancient language of the Vedas |
| secularism | the constitutional principle of not giving favored status to any religion |
| sutra | terse spiritual teaching |
| Tantra | a sacred esoteric text with spiritual practices honoring the divine in female form |
| Vaishnavite | worshiper of Vishnu or one of his manifestations, such as Krishna |
| yoga | practices for union with the true Self |
