Uttaraphālguni-Hasta Citra Nakṣatras🔗

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, 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. It is written as a recorded dialogue between Parāśara and his disciple Maitreya.

Vaśiṣṭa: Rāma’s guru, a great ṛiṣi and 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

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: 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 knowledgne’ 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, mainly growing in foothills of the Himalayas up to South-East Asia

Sanskrit: the Indo-Aryan language, 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

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

_Priyangu_ flower: priyangu literally means that which is lovable or charming, herb mentioned in all ancient scriptures of Āyurveda

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

Viśuddhi cakra: the fifth cakra, or subtle energy center located in the throat region, locked by comparing ourselves with other

Viṣṇu: the preserver in the trinity, His incarnations include Kṛṣṇa, Rāma, etc. in ten incarnations; also means ‘all encompassing’

Guru: master, literally one who leads from gu (darkness) to ru (light)

Brahma: the creator; one of the Hindu trinity of supreme gods, the other two being Viṣṇu and Śiva

Pārvatī: consort of Lord Śiva, mother to Gaṇeśa

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

Sītā: consort of Rāma, revered as an incarnation of Goddess Lakṣmi

Rāma: hero of the Ramayana epic, one of the two most popular incarnation of Viṣṇu, along with Kṛṣṇa

Rāmāyaṇa: Famous Indian epic

King Janaka : a noble and benevolent king who ruled Mithila; father of princess Sītā in the epic Rāmāyaṇa

Vata: one of the three humors (body constitution) of Āyurveda, related to the principle of movement in the mind and body; air element

Yogic: a quality developed through spiritual and yoga practices.

Pūjas: worship performed in home, temple or shrine to a deity; purifies the atmosphere and connect to the inner world

Homas: fire offering, a sacred ceremony through which gods are offered oblation through fire in a sanctified pit

Vāstu: science of construction, a traditional Vedic system of design based on directional alignments

_Māya:_ illusion

_Viśuddhi cakra:_ the fifth cakra, or subtle energy center located in the throat region, locked by comparing ourselves with other

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

_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'

_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