Glossary

A South Indian town that is famous for its Murugan (son of Shiva) temple.

The five primary elements of nature - earth, wind, fire, water, and ether.

Lit. supreme swan.  An honorific term applied to an adept who enjoys  liberation or Enlightenment.

Outer periphery of a temple.

One of the many names for the Universal Mother, and consort of Shiva. 

Lit. one who fell (pat) into the palm (anjali). Refers to an ancient spiritual Master of extraordinary understanding, considered the father of yogic sciences. Believed to be an incarnation of Ananta, or Shesha, the thousand-headed ruler of the serpent race, Patanjali is best known for his work Yoga Sutras.  The Yoga Sutras have been disclosed in a manner that cannot be understood by a superficial perusal of the text.  Rather, it has been attributed the quality of being an encrypted code intended for the spiritual Masters who have the necessary understanding to properly impart the veiled practices.

A phrase used to denote ghosts and spirits. 

A community of bandits. 

One of the major pranic channels of the body. Located on the right side of the body, it is masculine in nature.

A South Indian delicacy made of boiled rice, gram and pepper corns.  Also, a very popular Tamil festival. It marks the change in the tilt in the Earth’s axis of rotation.

Worship, a Vedic ritual for the invocation of Divine energy and Grace.

The feminine aspect of life.  Refers to Nature or Creation.

Fundamental life force; vital energy.

The energy sheath or body.

A powerful yogic practice that uses certain breathing techniques to generate and direct the flow of prana in the human body.

Of Prana.

The karma allotted for this lifetime.

Blessed food.

Process of consecration or energizing an object with Divine energies. These processes are mainly of two kinds - mantra prathishta, through chanting of appropriate mantras and performing of rituals and prana prathishta, through a direct process involving the consecrator’s own prana shakthi - life energies.

Lit. luster. One who has the needed qualities for initiation or Enlightenment. 

A kind of ghost or spirit.

Pongamia pinnata.  A tropical medicinal tree native to India, known for its shade giving and oxygen generating capabilities. The oil of the pongam seeds is traditionally used in oil lamps.

Mythological texts.

The masculine aspect of life. Also refers to man.