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Dictionary
| S.No. | Word - R | Sound | Description | Key Word |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | raga | Passion; attachment; excessive interest; strong emotion | Rāga means ‘strong emotion’, esp. strong or excessive interest towards something. In this sense, it can also mean ‘passion’ or ‘attachment’. In philosophy, rāga is placed together with its opposite dveṣa (hatred). Rāga to an object arises due to attachment towards it and the want to experience it more, since it gives the person happiness (sukha), though temporarily. Dveṣa on the other hand arises to the unfavourable experiences or sorrow (duḥkha) that the object creates for the person, and causes the person to want to run away from those objects. Rāga and dveṣa cause a person to run towards and away from different objects in the world. They weaken a person’s ability to withstand turbulent circumstances and weaken the mind’s capacity to be stable. Such a person continues running in various directions in every life and does not attain any tranquility whatsoever. For this reason, a yogī is expected to disregard rāga and dveṣa and other such pairs (see dvandva) and remain ever calm and steadfast towards his goal, i.e. mokṣa. | r |
| 2 | rajayoga | Rājayoga | The eight steps of yoga (see aṅga) may be divided into two stages: Haṭhayoga (q.v.) which comprises the first four aṅgas of yoga, i.e. yama, niyama, āsana and prāṇāyāma, while Rājayoga refers to the next four aṅgas of yoga, i.e. pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi (see respective words for detatils). | r |
| 3 | rākā | Rākā (deity); Rākā (river); full moon; Rākā (nāḍī) | Rākā is the name of a river and that of a deity, in the Vedas and in some places like the Bhāgavata. She presides over the full moon and in some texts, is equated with the full moon or considered his consort. Rākā is also the name of a nāḍī, which has her as the presiding deity. | r |
| 4 | rasa | Taste; sap; juice; essence; rasa (dhātu) | Rasa means ‘taste’. The indriya that senses it is called rasana, which is present in the jihvā (tongue). Rasa is associated with elemental water (see ap), and is the name of the associated tanmātra (q.v.). Rasa also means ‘sap’ or ‘juice’ which is extracted out of a plant. Metaphorically it means the ‘essence’ of something, i.e. the best part or summary. Rasa is also the name of one of the seven dhātus of the body and is the first one to come from food (see dhātu). | r |
| 5 | rasana | Sense of taste | The indriya which captures taste exists on the tongue (jihvā) and may simply be called jihvā; however, rasana is the unambiguous name for it. | r |
| 6 | ratri | Night | Rātri means ‘night’. It is occasionally personified as a deity in the Vedas. This may be used when suggesting the timing of some action. The night of Brahmā is a time when creation subsides. This lasts for a period of one kalpa or one thousand sets of four yugas (caturyuga). | r |
| 7 | recaka | Exhalation; throwing out | Recaka means ‘throwing out’ or ‘exhalation’ and is one of the three stages of prāṇāyāma, the other two being pūraka (inhalation) and kumbhaka (holding breath). (See prāṇāyāma for details). | r |
| 8 | retas | See śukra | See śukra | r |
| 9 | rjukaya | With a straight body | Ṛjukāya is composed of ṛju meaning ‘straight’ and kāya meaning ‘body’, together meaning a person who has a straight body. The meaning of this is that the back, neck and head need to be in one line and perpendicular to the floor when the person is seated. This is a necessity for general āsanas as stated in Bhagavadgītā (6.13). | r |
| 10 | rtambhara | Truth-bearing; the Ṛtambharā state | Through regular practice of yoga, the mind progressively becomes progressively calmer and reaches samādhi. Samādhi itself has multiple sub-states which need to be crossed in order to reach kaivalya. Once these states have been crossed, the intellect gets rid of rajas and tamas which are like the dirt that cover it. It is clear and only composed of sattva. At this state, the yogī experiences adhyātmaprasāda, where objects appear clearly. The person will feel as though he is on top of a mountain, pitying the creatures around him while being himself unpitiable. The state of the intellect at that time is called ṛtambharā meaning ‘truth-bearing’. It is so called because it bears the truth, i.e. reveals the true nature of objects, without there being even a trace of viparyaya (false notions). Through this, the yogī attains the highest yoga. | r |
| 11 | rudra | See Śiva | See Śiva | r |
| 12 | rudragranthi | The highest granthi on Suṣumnā (see granthi) | The highest granthi on Suṣumnā (see granthi) | r |
| 13 | rudrāṇī | Pārvatī; Śāmbhavī mudrā | Rudrāṇī is the name of Pārvatī, wife of Śiva. Unlike other words for ‘Goddess’ such as Īśvarī, Devī, Śakti, etc. which may refer to kuṇḍalinī as well, Rudrāṇī refers specifically to Pārvatī. It is also used as a synonym for the mudrā known as Śāmbhavī (q.v.) | r |
| 14 | rupa | Appearance; beauty; visual form; colour | Rūpa refers to ‘appearance’ or ‘visual form’, the way something appears to the eyes. It can also mean ‘beauty’, i.e. good appearance, or ‘colour’. Rūpa is perceived through the eyes (cakṣus) and is connected to elemental fire (see agni). | r |