Definitions: S

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sa: a Sanskrit letter representing the real doer, the soul.

sacral center: the svadhisthana chakra (sexual center) representing the water element.

sadhaka (Sanskrit word meaning “practitioner”): a meditator who treads the path of spirituality.

sadhana (Sanskrit word meaning “means of realization”): sincere spiritual endeavor.

sadhu (Sanskrit word meaning “virtuous”): literally, a saintly person.

sahaja (Sanskrit word meaning “innate”): easy, natural—and that is the breath.

Sahadeva: one of the five Pandava brothers; he was the second son of Madri, born mystically through union with the twin gods Ashwins.

sahasrara chakra (Sanskrit word meaning “thousand-spoked wheel”): the fontanel (God center).

sakshin (Sanskrit word meaning “witness”): the witnessing consciousness.

sama (Sanskrit word meaning “same”, “equal”): harmony, equality.

samadhi: Sanskrit word meaning unity with the almighty Father; merged and engrossed in God consciousness; complete freedom from nature’s three gunas; the eighth and last limb of Patañjali’s ashtanga yoga system.

samana: Sanskrit word meaning equality; name of one of the five main pranas, responsible for bringing nourishment and balance to all parts of the body.

Samjaya: a brahmin minister, and messenger of the blind king Dhritarashtra (the mind).

samkhya yoga: one of India's six systems of philosophy; the path of knowledge.

samprajñata (Sanskrit word meaning “with conscience”): a state of conscious samadhi, corresponding to Vedanta’s savikalpa samadhi.

samskara: Sanskrit word meaning impression left by a previous thought or action; latent tendency.

sannyasa: Sanskrit word meaning enunciation; sannyasa is not merely a renunciation of the physical world, it is inner detachment.

sapta loka: Sanskrit word meaning the seven higher planes of existence.

sarvam: Sanskrit word meaning all; everything.

sat: Sanskrit word meaning truth; reality; the soul; the real; the essential; the best; the learned; the excellent; the good; the virtuous man. Sat is the supreme Self, the conductor of everything.

satguru: a Sanskrit title attributed to a loving spiritual preceptor.

satsanga (Sanskrit word meaning “association with the real”): good company; spiritual communion; to be established in the Self.

sattva: Sanskrit word meaning one of the three qualities of nature (guna), expressing calmness and spirituality.

satya loka: Sanskrit word meaning the seventh of the seven upper spheres of existence (loka). Corresponds to the fontanel (God center).

satyam: Sanskrit word meaning truth.

satya yuga: Sanskrit word meaning an era where all people were divine.

savikalpa (Sanskrit word meaning “with (sa) form (vikalpa)”): a state of samadhi in which the state of duality remains.

seed-syllables: all fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet have mystical power (see mantra).

self (with a small "s"): the ego, personality, or lower mind.

Self (with a capital "S"): see "soul."

sex(ual) center: the svadhisthana chakra, second center, family center.

shabda brahma, nada brahma: Sanskrit word meaning the continuous, non-stopping aum or amen sound; manifestation of the Absolute in the form of sound.

shakti (Sanskrit word meaning "power"): energy or power.

Shakti (the deity): the divine Mother in Hinduism.

Shakuni: Queen Gandhari’s brother, and maternal uncle of the Kauravas.

shambhavi mudra: Sanskrit word meaning an open-eye meditation technique to perceive the divine light.

Shams-i-Tabriz: a mysterious spiritual master who met Mevlâna Rumi and became his guide towards final enlightenment. Prior to this encounter Rumi had been an eminent professor of religion and a highly attained mystic; after this he became Persia's greatest inspired poet and lover of humanity. Shams disappeared under mysterious circumstances, most probably murdered by people who resented his influence over Rumi.

Shankaracharya: a great sixth century spiritual master, incarnation of Lord Shiva, who revived the monastic tradition in India.

shanti: Sanskrit word meaning serenity, peace.

shantipatha: Sanskrit word meaning invocation of peace.

sharira: Sanskrit word meaning body; the perishable.

shava: Sanskrit word meaning corpse.

Shikhandin: a warrior on the side of the Pandavas, instrumental in bringing the downfall of Bhishma.

Shiva: the third god of the Hindu trinity, symbolizing the destructive and regenerative aspect of God.

shravana: Sanskrit word meaning attentive listening to sacred teachings.

shri: a Sansrkit name of goddess Lakshmi; as a prefix, a title of respect, like the English “Sir”.

Shriyukteshwar, Swami (1855-1936): the great spiritual master, disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya, and preceptor of Paramahamsa Yoganandaji and Paramahamsa Hariharanandaji.

shruti (Sanskrit word meaning “heard”): to hear without any utterance; Vedas.

shudra: Sanskrit word meaning the lowest caste of servants in the ancient Vedic social system.

Shvetashvatara Upanishad: one of the principal Upanishads.

siddhi (Sanskrit word meaning “accomplishment”): perfection, namely, attaining the state of nirvikalpa samadhi, becoming merged in God and God-consciousness.

Sita: the wife of king Rama. Her story narrated in the Ramayana illustrates the ideal of womanhood in Hinduism.

Sivananda, Swami (1887-1963): born Kuppuswami in Tamil Nadu, South India, he showed a remarkable propensity toward charity and wisdom from his earliest boyhood. After becoming a doctor and practicing in India and Malaya, he renounced the world and became a monk. He founded the Divine Life Society in Rishikesh in 1936, which is today one of the world's largest charitable and educational institution for spiritual aspirants.

smriti (Sanskrit word meaning “remembered”): scriptures of moral rights.

so’ham (Sanskrit word meaning “I am He”): the perception of oneness of body and soul; to feel the human being in God and God in the human being.

soul: that unborn, eternal power of God which maintains life in all aspects of creation, and operates as the invisible doer in all activities. Also called the Self (with a capital "S").

staretz: from the Russian word meaning “elder”—a monk, hermit, or wise man chosen as one’s spiritual guide in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

sthira: Sanskrit word meaning still; tranquil; protein.

sthita: Sanskrit word meaning established; attained.

sthita prajña (Sanskrit word meaning “established in wisdom”): one who feels that whatever he sees, thinks, or experiences is the power of God.

sthitih: Sanskrit word meaning being completely and firmly established; steadfastness.

Subhadra: Krishna’s sister who married Arjuna and bore him their son Abhimanyu; a name of the blissful mother nature.

Sufism: the mystical branch of Islam. Its practitioners are called Sufis.

sukha: Sanskrit word meaning happiness; real happiness is keeping your consciousness in the pituitary and above, in the state of vacuum and nothingness.

sundara: Sanskrit word meaning beautiful.

sushumna nadi: Sanskrit word meaning the pranic channel between the ida and pingala which goes up from the bottom of the spine.

sutra: Sanskrit word meaning thread or link; aphorisms, as in Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras.

svabhava: Sanskrit word meaning innate nature; sva means one’s Self, and bhava is one’s perception, expression, and manifestation. Destiny, the aggregated balance sheet of all activities, is this innate nature. It predisposes a person to be either religious, full of activity, or idle.

svadharma: Sanskrit word meaning one’s own duty. In the light of Kriya, svadharma means that it is every person’s duty to watch one’s own breath—to become aware of the indwelling Self.

svadhishthana chakra (Sanskrit word meaning “wheel of the self (sva) base (adhishthana)”): the lumbar (procreation) center.

svadhyaya: Sanskrit word meaning study, and self-study. It comes from sva (soul) and adhyaya (culture or study).

svah-loka: Sanskrit word meaning the third of the seven upper spheres of existence (loka). Corresponds to the food (fire) center.

svarodaya: a yogic science based on the principle of the alternating of breath dominance from one nostril to the other.

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