Glossary Of Sanskrit Terms A-B

Bharata-varsa – India, named after King Bharata.
Bharati – [See:] Sarasvati.
Bhava – the preliminary stage of ecstatic love of God.
Bhisma – the noble general respected as the "grandfather" of the Kuru dynasty. He was the most powerful and oldest warrior in the Battle of Kuruksetra. He is recognized as one of the chief authorities on devotional service to the Lord.
Bhoga – sense gratification; food not offered to the Lord.
Bhrgu – the most powerful of the sages born directly from Brahma.

You are your body, right? You are chemical in essence ... right? At least, that’s what one of America’s most influential scientists claims:
I am a collection of water, calcium and organic molecules called Carl Sagan. You are a collection of almost identical molecules with a different collective label.*
Like Sagan, most people believe that they are their body. So if you ask them who they are, they think and respond in terms of bodily labels.
“I’m Susan. I’m blond, 29 years old, a mother, and still 36-24 – 36!”
“I’m Henry. I’m a white American male and proud of it!”
“I’m John. I’m a lawyer. I’m 40 years old and getting older every day.”
“I’m Alice. I’m a female student. I’m fat and I’m a Methodist.”
Name, race, age, sex, religion, nationality, occupation, height, weight, and so on—all these are bodily labels. Therefore if you consider your body to be yourself, you automatically identify yourself with such labels. If your body is fat and ugly, you think, “Woe is me! I am fat and ugly.” If your body is 60 years old and female, you think, ”I am a 60-year – old female.” If your body is black and beautiful, you think, “I am black and beautiful.”
But is the body really the self? Are you really your body?
Science of Identity Foundation – Jagad Guru Speaks *Carl Sagan, Cosmos (New York: Random House, 1980), p. 127.

Bhukti – material enjoyment.
Bhur – the lower material planets.
Bhuti – opulence.
Bhuvar – the middle material planets.
Bihar – a state in northwestern India.
Bila-svarga – the subterranean heavens.
Bilvamangala Thakura – a great devotee-author whose works include the [Krsna-karnamrta].
Brahma – the first created living being and secondary creator of the material universe.
Brahma-bhuta – the joyful state free of material contamination; liberation.
Brahmacari – one in the first order of spiritual life; a celibate student of a spiritual master.
Brahmacarya – celibate student life; the first order of Vedic spiritual life.
Brahma-jijnasa – inquiry into the Absolute Truth.
Brahmajyoti – the spiritual effulgence emanating from the transcendental body of Lord Krsna and illuminating the spiritual world.
Brahmaloka – the highest planet of the universe, that of the demigod Brahma.
Brahma-muhurta – the period of the day just before dawn. It is especially favorable for spiritual practices.
Brahman – (1) the individual soul; (2) the impersonal, all-pervasive aspect of the Supreme; (3) the Supreme Personality of Godhead ; (4) the [mahat-tattva,] or total material substance.
Brahmana – a person wise in Vedic knowledge, fied in goodness and knowledgeable of Brahman, the Absolute Truth; a member of the f irst Vedic social order.
Brahmana thread – a multistranded thread worn by [brahmanas] across the left shoulder and chest.
Brahmananda – the pleasure of realizing the spiritual effulgence of the Lord.
Brahmandas – universes.
Brahma-raksasa-a man – eating demon who was a fallen [brahmana] in his last life.
Brahmarsi – a title meaning "sage among the [brahmanas]."
Brahma-samhita – a very ancient Sanskrit scripture recording the prayers of Brahma to the Supreme Lord, Govinda.
Brahma-saukhya – spiritual happiness, which is unobstructed and eternal.
Brahmastra – a nuclear weapon produced by chanting [mantras].
Brahma-sutra – the [Vedanta-sutra.]
Brahma-tejas – the potency of a [brahmana].
Brahmavadis – impersonalists among the transcendentalists.
Brhan-naradiya Purana – one of the eighteen [Puranas,] or Vedic historical scriptures.
Brhaspati – the spiritual master of King Indra and chief priest of the demigods.
Buddha – an incarnation of the Supreme Lord who, by bewildering the atheists stopped them from misusing the [Vedas].
Buddhi-yoga – another term for [bhakti-yoga] (devotional service to Lord Krsna), indicating that it represents the highest use of one's intelligence ([buddhi]).

Pages