ESSAYS

Kashaya refers to latent emotional residues that remain beneath conscious awareness. When the mind becomes quiet, these impressions may surface, revealing unresolved material that subtly colors perception.

Vishuddhi does not mean moral perfection. It means clarity — a mind no longer distorted by agitation, compulsion, and unresolved emotional residues. When the mind becomes quiet and transparent, it is capable of recognizing what is already true.

Vikshepa is the projecting power of the mind—the restless outward movement that scatters attention, fuels distraction, and obstructs steady contemplation.

Mala is the mental impurity formed by past actions and emotional residues, creating heaviness and reactivity that obstruct clarity and self-inquiry.

Avarana is the veiling power of maya—the cognitive covering that obscures recognition of the Self and gives rise to ignorance, misidentification, and spiritual confusion.

A clear Vedanta glossary entry on vritti—the mental modifications or thought-waves of the mind. Explains how thoughts, emotions, and perceptions arise, and why none of them belong to the Self.

A reflective essay on the Sanskrit term niyati—the unseen order that governs cause and effect, the quiet symmetry beneath māyā’s illusion. In Vedanta, niyati is not fate but the lawful rhythm through which dharma restores balance and consciousness finds its way back to itself.

Laya and Pralaya describe the two dissolutions of Vedanta: laya, the withdrawal of the individual mind into the causal seed, and pralaya, the reabsorption of the entire cosmos into Maya. Both reveal that creation is not new but cyclic — the unmanifest becoming manifest again, within the eternal awareness of Brahman.

Sushupti (Deep Sleep) — the state in which all mental activity dissolves and individuality vanishes into the causal body. Awareness remains, but unrecognized due to tamas. Blissful, universal, and ignorant, suṣupti mirrors cosmic dissolution (pralaya) and reveals both the peace and the limitation of unknowing.

Svapna — the dream state in which mind projects a private world (pratibhasika satya). Gauḍapada and mainstream Advaita use svapna to reveal that waking too borrows reality; only the Self (turiya) is changelessly real.

Jagrat (waking state) — the field of outward awareness in which consciousness identifies with the body and perceives the gross world. In Vedanta, jagrat is mithya — a lawful projection within consciousness, no more real than dream, illumined by the same changeless witness.

Samatvam in Vedanta means equanimity—balance of mind amid pleasure and pain, success and failure. It is not suppression but clarity, the natural poise of one established in Self-knowledge.

In Vedanta, dvandva refers to the pairs of opposites—pleasure and pain, gain and loss, praise and blame—that bind the mind to maya. This entry explores their origin, meaning, and transcendence through Self-knowledge.

Jnana in Vedanta means not ordinary knowledge but Self-knowledge: the recognition “I am the Self.” Only this direct knowledge removes ignorance and grants liberation.

A jnani is one who has realized the truth of the Self through Vedanta. Outwardly ordinary, inwardly free, the jnani abides in unshakable knowledge: “I am Brahman.”

Pranas are the vital energies that sustain life, divided into five functions — respiration, elimination, circulation, digestion, and speech/upward flow.

Karmendriyas are the five faculties of action — speech, hands, feet, reproduction, and elimination — subtle instruments in the subtle body through which the mind expresses itself.

Jñanendriyas are the five sense faculties — hearing, touch, sight, taste, and smell — subtle instruments within the subtle body that allow perception.

Tat tvam asi — “That thou art” — is the Upanishadic revelation that the essence of the individual is none other than Brahman, pure consciousness.

Atma-vichara is the central inquiry of Vedanta — reasoning guided by scripture to reveal the Self as pure awareness, already free.