Bhagavad Gita

Glossary

• Atman the human soul
• Brahman an unmanifest Hindu deity that represents the unity of reality
• city of nine gates the human body, with its nine openings
• devas the “shining ones,” benevolent supernatural beings
• gunas three states in the physical world: knowledge, action, and stupor
• Ikshvaku the founder and first king of an ancient Indian dynasty
• Janaka a line of ancient kings in India
• Kamadhenu in Hindu mythology, divine cow believed to be the mother of all cows
• Karma Yoga a form of yoga based on the principle of selfless action
• Krishna the preserver god, also called Vishnu
• Manu the progenitor of humankind and the world’s first king
• Nirvana the escape from the cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth to achieve salvation
• Prakriti nature, matter, the physical being
• Raja Yoga a form of yoga concerned primarily with cultivation of the mind through meditation
• Sri an honorific title associated with holiness
• Vivaswat essentially, the sun—the “brilliant” or “shining” one