Asvini-Bharani-Krttika Naksatras - Moon in Aries🔗

Nakṣatra: the constellation in which the moon sits in the heaven at a particular time, commonly called as 'birth Star'

Vedic sciences: refer to a number of disciplines found in the Vedas, a large body of texts originating in ancient India, among the oldest sacred texts

Ṛg Veda: an ancient Indian sacred collection of hymns, one among the four canonical sacred texts of Vedic tradition known as the Vedas

Āryabhaṭa: one of the first astronomer and great mathematician of India, born in 476

Copernicus: (1473-1543) the first astronomer to formulate a heliocentric cosmology, which displaced the Earth from the center of the Universe

Galileo: (1564-1642) Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and important astronomical observations

Yojana: a Vedic measure of distance used in ancient India, between 6 to 15 km (4 and 9 miles)

ṛṣi: a sage through whom the Vedic hymns flowed, a “seer” able to reach states of higher consciousness

Yogi: a practitioner of various forms of spiritual discipline, as yoga

Parāśara: a Ṛg Veda Maharṣi and author of many ancient Indian texts and important astrological texts, known as a traveling Master

Bṛhat Parāśara Hora Śāstra: a prominent astrological scientific text, written as a recorded dialogue between Parāśara and his disciple Maitreya

Vaśiṣṭa: Rāma’s guru, a great ṛṣi who had complete knowledge of the whole cosmos and the gods

Veda Vyāsa: a sage of ancient India, compiler of the Vedas and great epics like the Māhābhārata

Māhābhārata: one of the major Sanskrit epic of India and philosophical scripture, depicting a great war that happened in India; written in 250 000 verses

_Saṁskāras:_ engraved memories stored in the subconscious part of the mind. They are continually interfering with our decision making process

_Grahas:_ energy centers, energy fields that planets exert in the universe; generally assimilated to ‘planets’

_Karma:_ karma is the collection of unfulfilled experiences and actions that stay in us and constantly pull us to fulfill them

_Āyurveda:_ a system of traditional medicine native to the Indian Subcontinent. In Sanskrit, the word Āyurveda consists of the words ayus, meaning ‘life’, and veda, meaning ‘related to knowledge’ or ‘science’

_Yoga:_ literally union, union of the individual self and the divine Self, often taken to mean Hatha yoga, which is one of the components of yogāsana , relating to body postures

_Rudrākṣa:_ a large broad-leaved tree whose seed is traditionally revered and used for prayer beads, or mala, growing in foothills of the Himalayas up to South-East Asia

Sanskrit: language of the Ṛg Veda and of many scriptures, as well as mantras

Mantra: a sound, a formula, sometimes a word or set of words, which because of their inherent sounds, have energizing properties, an approach to spiritual evolution

Unclutching: understanding that each thought is completely independent, unconnected to the precedent; which leads to disengage oneself from the mind, resulting in experiencing the no-mind state

Cakra: literally a ‘wheel’: refers to energy centers in the mind-body system

Maṇipūraka cakra: third energy center, meaning ‘the city of jewels’ in reference to the treasures it holds

Tamas: the behavior of laziness or inaction.

Pitta: one of the three dośas (or attributes) of the body in Āyurveda, principle of heat

Subramaniya: Śiva and his consort Pārvati had two famous offspring Gaṇeśa and Subrahmaṇya. Subrahmaṇya represents the innocent, vigorous energy associated with the planet Mars

Lord Śiva: rejuvenator in the trinity also means 'causeless auspiciousness'

Mount Kailāś: abode of Lord Śiva, where he practices intense yogic austerities

Kāśi: refers to Varanasi, the holy city located on the bank of the River Ganges, in the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh; one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world

Jaṭarāgni: Inner fire that sustains life

Dośa: in Ayurvedic medicine, one of the three biological humors or energies (kapha, pitta, vata) which combine in various proportions to determine individual constitution and mental and physical disorders

_Lassi:_ a popular and traditional yoghurt-based drink

_Vajrāsana:_ common yoga and meditation posture, where the person sits on his heels

_Cin mudra:_ palms upraised with thumb and forefinger forming a circle and other three fingers outstretched

_Guru Pūja:_ form of worship offered to the master

_āsana_ : body postures performed in yoga, literally means ‘seat’

_Aṣṭānga namaskār:_ prostrating to a deity or master by lying on the floor with all eight limbs of the body touching the earth

_Bhujangāsana:_ ‘cobra posture’ in yoga, in which the head and chest are raised while lying down

Pranic layer: the second layer of energy of the body, related to pāṇa or life energy

Brahman: the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality, the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything in this Universe

Pūja: a ritual made of different offerings related to the deity propitiated

Navagraha dośa: literally means ‘planetary defects’ or inauspicious alignment of planets

Homa: ancestral Vedic fire ritual

Nirvanic layer: seventh subtle body that we have and last layer of energy which is the space where one experiences intense bliss

Physical layer: the gross body made of flesh and bones

Bīja mantra: refers to the single syllable mantra used to invoke certain deities

Aum: the primordial cosmic sound from which the whole Universe emerged

Hrīm: bīja, or seed mantra relating to feminine energy

Śakti: energy, intelligent energy, considered as the feminine aspect of Śiva

Jīvan Mukti: the state of achieving liberation from the cycle of birth and death during one’s lifetime