Essential Hindu Terms & Definitions Explained: A Beginner’s Guide to Understanding Hinduism

What Is The Significance Of The Mahabharata:

The Mahabharata is the longest known epic poem and has been described as “the longest poem ever written”. Its longest version consists of over 100,000 shloka or over 200,000 individual verse lines (each shloka is a couplet), and long prose passages. About 1.8 million words in total, the Mahabharata is roughly ten times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined, or about four times the length of the Ramayana. W. J. Johnson has compared the importance of the Mahabharata to world civilization to that of the Bible, the works of Shakespeare, the works of Homer, Greek drama, or the Qur’an.

What Are The Brahmanas:

The Brahmanas (/ˈbrɑːmənə/; Sanskrit: ब्राह्मणम्, Brāhmaṇa) are a collection of ancient Indian texts with commentaries on the four Vedas. They are primarily a digest incorporating facts, legends, the explanation of Vedic rituals and in some cases philosophy.

What Is Sakshi Chaitanyam:

It is to become a witness to our consciousness. This is mentioned as the Brahman in Upanishads.

Offering bhiksha (food) to a brahmachari or swami (sannyasi) has been considered one of the foremost duties and privileges of a householder in the Hindu tradition. It has been considered equivalent to offering food for the entire universe. Just as material scientists who direct their enquiries and investigations to the world are supported by present-day society, in Vedic tradition, it is considered the duty of the householder to support renunciates who spend their life in pursuit of Truth for the benefit of society as a whole. From the householder’s point of view, it is a great blessing to offer bhiksha, for it brings them satsanga and helps purify and surcharge the mind, reminding them of one’s true goal of life.

What Is The Significance Of The Ram Charith Maanas: 

The Ram Charith Maanas is written by Tulsi Das in colloquil Hindi. The original Ramayan was written in Avadh.

Who Is Adi Sankaracharya? 

The Ram Charith Maanas is written by Tulsi Das in colloquil Hindi. The original Ramayan was written in Avadh.

He’s an 8th century monk who talked about the significance of Advaita Vedanta philosophy. He was the promoter of Hatha yoga. Sivananda, Sat sivananda are his disciples. And his famous disciple is ASHOKANANDA. He took the Monasic vows of sanyaasa, one of the 10 monastic orders of Sankaraacharya, of the vedic Saraswatic order.

What Is Puranjana:

We discussed the story of King Puranjana who had a close friend by Avijnata. Though it is his close friend, Puranjana didn’t know where Avijnata lived. One Day Puranjana roamed all over the world trying to find a city where he could live in and when he found a beautiful city  with 9 gates, he was very happy. He found a beautiful lady and asked her to marry him. He loved his wife very much but was overly attached to her and lost all sense of independence.

Symbolically Puranjana is the jiva and the friend Avijnata is Brahman, the Lord. The 9 gates is the body and the “wife” is the intellect. When we forget our divine nature, we run after the fleeting pleasures of the world and we ignore the close friend in us: our consciousness that let us know between the right and wrong.

What Are The 9 Gates:

Two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, mouth, excretory and genital organs clean.

We must be responsible to not let garbage in. For example, through our eyes we should read and watch the right book or movie and through our ears we should speak good and positive language and not gossip.

What Is Nididhyasana:

Nididhyasana is a stage in the journey towards awakening and realisation within Advaita Vedanta and Jnana Yoga. It is described as a rational, cognitive process that involves an effortless and spontaneous meditation on the mahavakyas, which are profound statements from the Upanishads, such as “That art Thou”.

What is Shravan Manan and nididhyasana?

The entire spiritual journey unto the truth can be summarized in just three words; Shravan (listening), Manan (contemplation) and Nididhyasan (meditation). For the one who goes through the process of these three stages in the right way, there is nothing more that remains to be done.

What Is A Mantra:

Ma – Mind

Trayate – That which liberates

Significance Of 108:

Nine Modes of Devotion:

1. Sravanam: Listening to the stories about the Lord.

2. Kirtanam: Singing the glories of Lord.

3. Smaranam: Remembering the Lord always.

4. Padasevanam: Serving Him.

5. Archanam: Worshipping Him.

6. Vandanam: Bowing Down / Paying Obeisance to Him.

7. Dasyam: Being a Servant to the Lord.

8. Sakhyam: Loving the Lord as a Friend.

9. Atma nivedanam: Surrendering yourself unto Him.​

Katha Sarit Sagara:

What is the story of kathasaritsagara?

The Kathāsaritsāgara was composed in Kashmir in northern India in the 11th century by Somadeva, a poet at King Ananta’s court. It professes to be a retelling of a seventh part of a grand story about sorcerers’ adventures first narrated by the Hindu deity Śiva to please his wife, Pārvatī.

Who Is Priyavrata:

Priyavrata is the second son of Manu and learned the spiritual truth from his Master, Narada. He wanted to renounce the world and take sanyasya although his father wanted him to be the king. Brahmaji advised him to learn to surrender to the Divine Will and gave an example of how Manu, Narada and he himself obey to the divine will. Brahmaji taught Priyavrata just how a man wakes up after a bad dream and remembers the dream and doesn’t get attached to the dream, so too a free soul is unattached to the karmas. Priyavrata accepted Brahmaji’s message as a command. After some years, he got married , had 10 sons and a daughter. He was a noble king and in later years under the guidance of his teacher Narada took Sanyasa and later was united with God.

What Is The Prasthana Trayam:

1. Brahma Sutras

2. Upanishads

3. Gita

What Is Satapaavali:

śatapāvalī (Devanagari शतपावली) is a Marathi term which refers to an age-long Indian custom of taking a stroll after a meal. The word is a dvigu compound from shata “hundred” and paaul “step”, which literally means “walking 100 steps” after a meal.

What Is The Hindu Iconography:

Just as we see the endless sky and oceans as blue, we are reminded of the Divine’s infiniteness through the blue-toned depiction of some Hindu Gods. Because Hinduism teaches that all of nature is Divine, Hindus believe that God manifests in the various forms that are found in nature.

For example, the ever-popular Ganesha is depicted with an elephant head, symbolizing wisdom, as elephants are recognized to be among the wisest of animals. Hanuman, worshipped as the perfect devotee and depicted as a monkey, symbolizes the individual’s ability to quiet the ever-racing human mind through loving devotion to God and selfless service, or seva.

What Is The Story Of Our Lives:

Story of our life can be encapsulated in 8 items: chasing these.

Atma: Body

Pasu: Vehicles

Jaya: Wife

Dravina: Money

Suta: Children

Agaara: House

Bandhusha: Acceptance.

Rajye: control over one’s laren and progress.

Monks: only atma as attachment. For spiritual enligtenment 88% less load.

What Is The Significance Of Shri Saraswathi:

It is a very Vedic tradition, that in India from the very dawn of history, we have been respecting woman to such an extent that our greatest scriptures are today called “Mother Sruti”. Thus the Goddess of Learning is represented in Hinduism as feminine deity and She is called Shri Saraswathi – She who gives the essence (sara) of our own Self (Swa).

She is wedded to the Creator (Brahmaji) which is very appropriate indeed, in as much as the Creator would be certainly helpless if He did not have the knowledge of what He had to create. It is through Her grace that one gains Vidya ( knowledge, wisdom) and learns Kalaa (arts & skills).

Symbolically Goddess Saraswathi represents –
White clothes: Purity
Veena: symbol of Joy & harmony
White swan: discriminating intellect-ability to grasp the essential and leave out the trivial
Lotus flower: Chid-Shakti- pure consciousness
Four Hands: Manas, Buddhi, Ahankara & Chitta

The symbolism means that Saraswathi is our own inherent wisdom which is lying dormant within us and once the mental chattering & agitation stops, our mind becomes calm and peaceful. One who has thus accomplished the cleaning of one’s inner personality alone can with sure success worship Shri Saraswathi, the Goddess of Learning and Devi is worshipped as Saraswathi on the last three concluding days of Navaratri.

What Is Feminine Divinity:

Hinduism is the only major religion that worships God in female form. Hindus revere God’s energy, or Shakti, through its personification in a Goddess. Shakti is seen to be complementary and not in competition with divine masculine powers which manifest as God(s).

The Vedas are replete with hymns extolling the equality and complementary roles of men and women in the spiritual, social, and educational realms. Hinduism remains one of a few major religions in which women have occupied and continue to occupy some of the most respected positions in the spiritual leadership – including Sharda Devi, The Mother, Anandamayi, Amritanandmayi Devi or Ammachi, Shree Maa, Anandi Ma, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda and Ma Yoga Shakti.
Hindu society has, over the ages and in modern times, seen tremendous contributions made by women in nearly every aspect of life.

Who Is An Avatar?

The word avatar means fallen. The Infinite fallen from its supreme state into an apparent state of finitude and sorrow is avatar. The entire universe is an expression of the infinite reality, but an avatar is ever conscious of his own infinite nature.

The Supreme, on account of his unquestioned freedom, by his own perfectly free will, takes upon himself the matter envelopments and manifests himself in a particular embodiment in the world, for serving the deluded generation of the time. To the Lord, this “ignorance” is a pose assumed, not a fact lived.

In the avatars, we watch a greater effulgence of the divine consciousness constantly expressed, and they embody forth whenever there is an excessive decline of dharma, righteousness and the rise of adharma, unrighteousness in the world.

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत |
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् || CH 4 -7

Whenever there is a decline in righteousness and an increase in unrighteousness, , at that time the Lord manifests himself on earth.

परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् |
धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे || CH 4 -8

To protect the righteous, to annihilate the wicked, and to reestablish the principles of dharma He appears on this earth, age after age.

अजोऽपि सन्नव्ययात्मा भूतानामीश्वरोऽपि सन् |
प्रकृतिं स्वामधिष्ठाय सम्भवाम्यात्ममायया || CH 4 – 6

Though the Lord is unborn, the Lord of all living entities, and changeless in his nature, and ever a Lord of matter, yet, keeping his maya, power of delusion perfectly under his own control, he comes into the world through his own free will, fully conscious of his own divine status and unchallenged prerogative.

What Is Mananam:

Knowledge that has been internalized becomes part of our personality and is reflected in our actions. This is called reflection / mananam. The subject matter of scriptures is self-knowledge. The shastras tell us about our mind, thought, emotions which make up our true nature.

Gita is amazing, because it holds a mirror.

What Is Pluralism in Hinduism? 

Hindus acknowledge the potential existence of multiple, legitimate religious and spiritual paths, and the idea that the path best suited for one person may not be the same for another. The Rig Veda, one of Hinduism’s sacred texts, states Ekam sat vipraha bahudha vadanti, or “The Truth is one, the wise call It by many names.”

As a result of this pluralistic outlook, Hinduism has never sanctioned proselytization and asserts that it is harmful to society’s well being to insist one’s own path to God is the only true way. Hindus consider the whole world as one extended family, and Hindu prayers often end with the repetition of shanti – or peace for all of existence.