| A | B |
|---|
| Ashrama | life stage |
| Atman | individual soul or the universal soul of all existence |
| Avatar | an incarnation of a spiritual being into material form |
| Bhagavad-Gita | part of the Mahabharata thought to contain the core ethical ideas |
| Brahma | one of the three main gods of Hinduism, the Creator |
| Brahman | ultimate ground of all reality and existence |
| Brahmin | a member of the priestly class in Hinduism |
| Deity | a god, spirit, non-material person, or divine being |
| Deva | Sanskrit word for god or deity |
| Dharma | Ultimate Law for all reality, including gods as well as humanity and nature |
| Diwali | holiday also called Festival of Lights, celebrating the victory of goodness over evil |
| Ganesh(a) | one of the most popular Hindu gods depicted with an elephant head |
| Guru | teacher of a yoga |
| Holi | Spring holiday also called Festival of Colors in Hinduism |
| Karma | the idea that all actions result in consequences |
| Krishna | an avatar of Vishnu |
| Mahabharata | the longest poem in the world of 200,000 lines, an epic about Krishna, |
| Moksha | Release from the Cycle of Rebirth |
| Pandit (or Pundit) | religious scholar |
| Puja | a religious ritual performed to show respect for a god |
| Puranas | a group of texts narrating folk tales about the gods |
| Ram (Rama) | an avatar of Vishnu and key historical figure in the Ramayana |
| Ramayana | an epic telling the story of Rama |
| Rig Veda | the oldest of the Vedas |
| Sadhu | a holy man; an ascetic or practitioner of yoga |
| Sanskrit | language in which the Vedas are written |
| Shiva | one of the three main gods of Hinduism, the Destroyer |
| Shruti | revealed literature from the gods |
| Smriti | wisdom literature written by humans |
| Sutra | Sanskrit for ‘thread’ or ‘rope’ referring to an aphorism |
| Varna | social caste |
| Vishnu | one of the three main gods of Hinduism, the Preserver |
| Yoga | pathway to Moksha |
| Yogi | practitioner of a yoga |
