Makha-Pūrvaphālgunī🔗

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, counted among the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism 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

Yojanas: a Vedic measure of distance used in ancient India. The exact measurement is being given 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: 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 ParǺara and his disciple Maitreya

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

Veda Vyāsa: A sage of ancient India. He is the 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

Saṁskāra: Engraved memories, 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. They are generally assimilated to ‘planets’

Karmas: 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; 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 yogasana, relating to body postures

_Rudrākṣa:_ a large broad-leaved tree whose seed is traditionally revered and used for prayer beads, or mala, mainly 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

Sattva: a state of mind in which the mind is steady, calm and peaceful

Lord Śiva: rejuvenator in the trinity also means ‘causeless auspiciousness’

Pitta: one of the three dośas (or attributes) of the body in Āyurveda, created by the dynamic interplay of water and fire.

Ātma: individual self, part of the universal Brahman

Dharma: righteousness

Śiva liga: 'sign of Śiva'; the most prevalent emblem of Śiva, rounded, elliptical image found in all Śiva temples

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

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

Sahasrāra cakra: seventh energy center; located on the top of the head, also called 'crown cakra'

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.

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

Nitya ānanda: eternal bliss

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 prana or life energy

Lord Śiva: rejuvenator in the trinity also means ‘causeless auspiciousness’

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

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

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

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

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

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