Vedanta Glossary | The Broken Tusk

Vedanta Glossary
A Living Collection

This is not a glossary in the traditional sense. Instead, this project is a growing collection of reflective essays that explore the most essential terms of Advaita Vedanta—not as lifeless vocabulary, but as living pointers to truth. For the seeker who is tired of information and ready for understanding.

Vedanta is not simply a philosophy to be studied, but a teaching tradition designed to guide the seeker toward Self-knowledge. Its methods are subtle, layered, and often poetic. Words in Vedanta rarely carry just a single meaning; they are gateways into insight, pointing beyond themselves to what cannot be objectified.

This glossary is not meant as a dictionary of static definitions. Instead, it is a map of the tradition’s methods and insights, offering the seeker multiple entry points into the same nondual truth. Each entry includes not only the root and meaning of the term, but also its place in scripture, its traditional role, Vedantic analysis, common misunderstandings, and the way the teaching resolves them.

Just as a teacher chooses a prakriya (method) according to the readiness (adhikaritva) of the student, this glossary allows a reader to explore according to their own inclination. Some entries point to practical discriminations (such as the three states of experience or the five sheaths), others unfold conceptual frameworks (like mithya, vivarta-vada, or ajatavada), and still others describe the inner qualifications of the seeker. Together they form a complete picture: a set of mirrors revealing that the Self, ever-present and unborn, is already free.

Vedanta insists that no single word, analogy, or method is absolute. Each term is like a ladder rung: useful for climbing, but left behind once the view is attained. This glossary, then, is both a reference and a companion — a way of gathering the scattered jewels of the tradition into one place, so that their light can be seen in relation to each other.

Join the mailing list