Kosha · कोश
Glossary
Every Sanskrit term used on this site, gathered in one place, in Devanagari with transliteration and a short definition.
A
Abhyasa
अभ्यास
Abhyāsa
Steady, sustained practice — one of the two conditions Patanjali gives for a settled mind, the other being vairagya.
Ahimsa
अहिंसा
Ahiṃsā
Non-violence in act, word and thought. The first of the five yamas, and the one the others are built on.
Akasha
आकाश
Ākāśa
Ether or space — the subtlest of the five elements, associated with the middle finger and with sound.
Ashram
आश्रम
Āśrama
A place of spiritual practice and residence under a teacher; also, one of the four stages of a traditional life.
Asana
आसन
Āsana
Seat or posture; the third limb of Ashtanga Yoga. Patanjali defines it in three words: steady and comfortable.
Read more →B
Bandha
बन्ध
Bandha
A lock — a sustained muscular contraction (root, abdominal or throat) used to direct the movement of prana during advanced pranayama.
Brahmacharya
ब्रह्मचर्य
Brahmacarya
Right use of vital energy; often narrowed to celibacy, more broadly the fourth yama.
C
Chakra
चक्र
Cakra
A wheel — one of several energy centres described along the spine in the subtle-body model, from mūlādhāra at the base to sahasrāra at the crown.
D
Dharana
धारणा
Dhāraṇā
Concentration — binding attention to a single point. The sixth limb, and what dhyana grows out of.
Read more →Dhyana
ध्यान
Dhyāna
Meditation — the unbroken continuity of attention toward one object. The seventh limb.
Read more →Dosha
दोष
Doṣa
In Ayurveda, one of three constitutional forces — vata, pitta, kapha — whose balance is said to determine health.
G
Guru
गुरु
Guru
Teacher — literally "heavy," in the sense of weighty with knowledge. Traditionally the one who removes darkness (gu) with light (ru).
I
Ida
इडा
Iḍā
The left, lunar energy channel — cooling and receptive — running alongside the spine.
Ishvara Pranidhana
ईश्वरप्रणिधान
Īśvara-praṇidhāna
Surrender to a higher power, or the letting go of attachment to the outcome of one's effort. The fifth niyama.
J
Japa
जप
Japa
Repetition of a mantra, often counted on a mala of 108 beads.
K
Kaivalya
कैवल्य
Kaivalya
Aloneness or isolation — the state in which consciousness no longer identifies with what it is not. The goal named in the fourth chapter of the Yoga Sutras.
Kapha
कफ
Kapha
The Ayurvedic dosha of structure and lubrication, built from earth and water; governs stability, but in excess produces heaviness and congestion.
Kriya
क्रिया
Kriyā
Action, or a cleansing technique — kapalabhati is technically a kriya rather than a pranayama.
Kumbhaka
कुम्भक
Kumbhaka
Retention of the breath, after inhalation (antara) or exhalation (bahya). The most advanced element of pranayama, and never to be learned from text alone.
M
Mantra
मन्त्र
Mantra
A sound, syllable or phrase used as an object of concentration, from man- (mind) and -tra (instrument).
N
Nadi
नाडी
Nāḍī
A channel through which prana is said to move. The texts describe thousands; three matter most — ida, pingala and sushumna.
Niyama
नियम
Niyama
Observance — the second limb, five personal disciplines governing how one treats oneself.
Read more →P
Pitta
पित्त
Pitta
The Ayurvedic dosha of transformation, built from fire and water; governs digestion and metabolism, but in excess produces heat and irritability.
Prakriti
प्रकृति
Prakṛti
Nature — the manifest, changing world of matter and mind, as distinguished from purusha, the unchanging witness.
Prana
प्राण
Prāṇa
Life-force — not identical to breath, but most directly accessible through it. Sometimes translated simply as "vitality."
Pranayama
प्राणायाम
Prāṇāyāma
Extension of the life-force through regulation of the breath. The fourth limb.
Read more →Pratyahara
प्रत्याहार
Pratyāhāra
Withdrawal of the senses from their objects — the fifth limb, and the hinge between the outward-facing and inward-facing halves of the eightfold path.
Read more →Purusha
पुरुष
Puruṣa
Pure consciousness, the unchanging witness — as distinguished from prakriti, the changing world it observes.
S
Samadhi
समाधि
Samādhi
Absorption — the eighth limb, and the only one that cannot itself be practised; the first seven simply remove what stands in its way.
Read more →Samskara
संस्कार
Saṃskāra
A mental impression left by past action, which conditions future tendency. The accumulated weight of habit.
Santosha
सन्तोष
Santoṣa
Contentment — the second niyama; ease with what is, not resignation from effort.
Satya
सत्य
Satya
Truthfulness — the second yama, always subordinate to ahimsa.
Saucha
शौच
Śauca
Cleanliness — of body, environment, food and mind. The first niyama.
Shanti
शान्ति
Śānti
Peace — traditionally chanted three times at the close of a practice, addressed to the body, the environment, and the unseen.
Sushumna
सुषुम्ना
Suṣumṇā
The central energy channel, running through the spine, said to open when ida and pingala are in balance.
Sutra
सूत्र
Sūtra
Literally "thread" — a terse aphorism meant to be unpacked by a teacher rather than read alone.
Svadhyaya
स्वाध्याय
Svādhyāya
Self-study — study of scripture and study of oneself, the fourth niyama.
T
Tantra
तन्त्र
Tantra
A body of practice and text, from roughly the 5th century CE onward, that treats the body as the instrument of liberation rather than an obstacle to it.
Tapas
तपस्
Tapas
Heat, or discipline — the friction of sustained effort. The third niyama.
V
Vairagya
वैराग्य
Vairāgya
Non-attachment, dispassion — the willingness to let go of the fruit of practice. Paired with abhyasa as the two conditions for a settled mind.
Vata
वात
Vāta
The Ayurvedic dosha of movement, built from air and ether; governs the nervous system, but in excess produces anxiety, dryness and instability.
Vayu
वायु
Vāyu
Air, or wind — one of the five elements, and also the name given to the various currents of prana in the body (prana, apana, samana, udana, vyana).
Y
Yama
यम
Yama
Restraint — the first limb, five ethical disciplines governing conduct toward others.
Read more →Yoga
योग
Yoga
From the root yuj, to yoke or join. In the Rig Veda it means harnessing a horse; by the Yoga Sutras it means the settling of the movements of the mind.