Glossary

GLOSSARY

Ka'bah
The first house of worship built on earth to worship Allah, the One true God.

Saint Kabir
(1440 - 1518) A great poet saint born of Muslim parents, who worked as a weaver and became a disciple of Ramananda. His followers include both Hindus and Muslims.

Mount Kailas
Heavenly abode of Lord Shiva.

Kal
Era.

Kaliyug
Era of strife; yug means era. According to Eastern philosophy, time since Creation can divided into four major eras. The first is Satyayug, followed by Tretayug, followed by Dvaparyug, and lastly, the current era that we live in, i.e., the Kaliyug.

Bishop Kallistos
For over three decades Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia, Spalding Lecturer in Eastern Orthodox Studies at Oxford University and former Visiting Fellow at Princeton University, has been active in spreading awareness of the history, beliefs, and practices of Orthodox Christianity. Bishop Kallistos is an Orthodox Christian scholar. He resides in Europe and is also a member of the Advisory board for Orthodox Peace Fellowship.

Kama
Karna was known for his legendary generosity and skill in archery. However, to keep his word to the Kaurav prince Duryodhan, he fought on the side of the Kaurav princes, led by the evil Duryodhan, against the Pandav princes, backed by Lord Krushna Himself. Karna was killed at the hands of Arjun in the Mahabharat battle.

Kamandalu
A small water pot used by ascetics.

Kamdhenu
A wish-fulfilling cow.

Saint Kabir
(1440 - 1518) A great poet saint born of Muslim parents, who worked as a weaver and became a disciple of Ramananda. His followers include both Hindus and Muslims.

Saint Kane Maharaj
A Saint from Narayangaon, India.

Sage Kapil
A saint Who founded the Sankhya philosophy.

Karma
    Literally, action. Karma is derived from the Sanskrut word Kri, meaning to do. It has two meanings:
    1. Any action – physical, verbal or mental.
    2. Destiny, caused by past actions, mainly those of previous lives.

Karmayoga
Karma means action and yoga mean pathway leading to the union with God. Hence, path of action.

Shri Karunamayi
A Saint from Karnataka, India.

Kauravas
The hundred sons of Kuru and cousins of the Pandavas. They tricked the Pandavas out of the latter's kingdom and were ultimately defeated by the Pandavas in the battle of Mahabharata.

Sage Kaustubh
‘Samsher’, a mantrik (a practitioner of mantra, generally for negative purposes) from the nether region (bhuvalok) was troubling Mr. Nitin Tagde, a seeker of Sanatan. Samsher commenced spiritual practice after getting advice from the seekers of the Sanatan’s Subtle Department. Upon commencing spiritual practice, Samsher offered his entire knowledge of mantras unto Lord Shiva. Thereafter, Sage Gautam, Who does spiritual practice in the subtle Himalaya renamed him as (Sage) ‘Kaustubh’. Presently Sage Kaustubh, too, undertakes spiritual practice in the subtle Himalaya. Sage Kaustubh imparts information on Spirituality by manifesting in Sanatan seeker Mr. Tagde.

Lord Kedarnath
A form of Lord Vishnu.

Kirtans
Spiritual discourses in poetic form.

Kosha
(lit. sheath or covering). The following are the five Koshas, as described by the Vedanta philosophy:

Annamaya-kosha or the gross physical sheath, made up of and sustained by food.
Pranamaya-kosha or the vital sheath, consisting of the five vital energies (see pranshakti).
Manomaya-kosha or the mental sheath.
Vidnyanamaya-kosha or the sheath of the intellect.
Ânandamaya-kosha or the innermost core of Bliss.

These five sheaths are arranged one inside the other and surround the soul, which is a state of Shanti (Absolute peace).

Kriya
An action for which one is not responsible and hence, there is no result which can be credit to the accumulated account (sanchit).

Kriyaman Karma
Willful actions, i.e., according to one's own free will. Every action in a man's life can be either a willful action or a destined action. 35% of man's total actions are willful and 65% of them are destined.

Krupa
Compassion.

Lord Krushna (Krishna)
Incarnation of the Lord Vishnu (the principle of sustenance). Lord Krushna narrated the Bhagavat Gita to Arjun as told in the Mahabharat Holy text..

Kshatravrutti
Fighting spirit. Seekers should have the attitude of fighting with obstacles such as distressing energies. This can be aided by repeating (chanting) The Lord's Name in the marak (destroyer) tune. Downloads of chants in the marak tune can be found here.

Kshudradevta
Subordinate deities. They are of various types, including demigods (yakshas), celestrial musicians (gandharvas), celestrial singers (kinnars), confidents (guhyak), protectors (rakshak), vidyadhar, spirits (pishach), saints (siddha), snakes (sarpa), serpents (nag) and celestrial beauties (apsaras). Some of them live away from human habitation in rivers, resevoirs of water, forests, caves, on trees, at crossroads, in cremetoriums, etc.

Kuber
The treasurer deity, Who teaches the art of saving money.

Kuldevta
'Kul' - Family, 'devta' - Deity. In Hinduism, every family has a particular deity whose worship brings about worldly and spiritual progress.

For people from other religions, the family deity is that religion’s divine principle of worship. For example, for a Protestant Christian, the family deity would be Lord Jesus and he would chant ‘Hail Jesus’. Similarly, for a Catholic, the family deity would be Lord Jesus or Mother Mary and they would chant, ‘Hail Jesus’ or ‘Hail Mary’. For a Muslim, the family deity would be Allah and he would chant ‘Allah O Akbar’ or one of the 99 Names of Allah. For a Buddhist, the family deity would be Lord Buddha and he would chant ‘Om Manipadme hum’ or ‘Namo Buddhaya’. For a Jew, the family deity would be Jevoha, Adonai, Yaweh or one of the many names of God as per Judaism. For a Sikh, the family deity would be Guru Nanak and he would chant ‘Vahe Guru’ or ‘Shri Vahe Guru’ or ‘Japaji Saheb’.

Shri Kuladevatayai Namaha
A generic alternative, meaning, "I pay obeisance to my family's divine principle". 'Shri' is a Sanskrut term denoting reverence. 'Kuldevatayai' is a Sanskrut term, which means 'to the female Kuldevata or female family deity'. 'Namaha' is a Sanskrut term, which means 'I pay obeisance.' Thus, 'Shri Kuldevatayai namaha' means 'I pay obeisance to the revered female family deity'.

Kumbha Mela
Sacred Hindu festival and pilgrimages in India that takes place every four times in 12 years, once at each of the following locations: Prayag (near the city of of Allahabad), in the state of Uttar Pradesh) at the confluence of three rivers Ganga (Ganges), Yamuna and Saraswati; Haridwar (in the state of Uttar Pradesh) where the river Ganga enters the plains from Himalayas; Ujjain (in Madhya Pradesh), on the banks of Ksipra river; and Nasik (in Maharashtra) on the banks of Godavari river. The festival and celebration is attended by millions of devotees and holy people.

Kumkum
Vermilion, a red powder that is applied on the forehead and is sacred to Hindus.

Kundalini

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(literally, ‘coiled one’). Just as we have nervous system or digestive system, every being has a spiritual energy flow system called the Kundalini system, which consist of 72000 subtle channels (nadi). Of these channels, the three main channels are, Sushumna nadi, i.e., the central channel that extends from base of spine to the top of the head, Pingla or the surya (sun) nadi, i.e., the channel that runs to the right of the Sushumna nadi, and the Ida or the chandra (moon) nadi, i.e., the channel that runs to the left of the Sushumna nadi.
Kundalini is the spiritual energy which lies dormant, coiled at the base of the Sushumna nadi. It is awakened through initiation and begins to purify the whole spiritual energy flow system, by rising from the base of the spine and traveling up the Sushumna nadi to the top of the head.

Kundaliniyoga
The Path of Activation of Spiritual Energy. On this path, a seeker undertakes spiritual practice to activate the kundalini spiritual energy and lead it from the muladhar chakra up to the saharsar chakra through the central sushumna channel.

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