BādarāyaṇaBadarayana (IAST Bādarāyaṇa; Devanāgari बादरायण) was an Indian philosopher and sage who was the reputed author of the Brahma Sutras, the source text for the Hindu philosophical school of Vedānta. Estimates of his lifetime vary very widely from around fifth century BCE to third or fourth century CE. His work Brahma Sutras is variously dated from 500 BCE to 450 CE. The Brahma Sutras of Bādarāyana, also called the Vedanta Sutra, was compiled in its present form around 400–450 CE, but "the great part of the Sutra must have been in existence much earlier than that".
SattvaSattva (Sanskrit: सत्त्व, meaning goodness) is one of the three guṇas or "modes of existence" (tendencies, qualities, attributes), a philosophical and psychological concept understood by the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy. The other two qualities are rajas (passion and activity) and tamas (destruction, chaos). Sattva is the quality of goodness, purity, positivity, truth, serenity, balance, peacefulness, and virtuousness that is drawn towards Dharma and jñāna (knowledge).
ForgivenessForgiveness, in a psychological sense, is the intentional and voluntary process by which one who may initially feel victimized or wronged, goes through a change in feelings and attitude regarding a given offender, and overcomes the impact of the offense including negative emotions such as resentment and a desire for vengeance (however justified it might be). Theorists differ in the extent to which they believe forgiveness also implies replacing the negative emotions with positive attitudes (i.e.
DhrtiDhṛti or Dhriti or Dhruti (धृति), one of the yamas, means to 'act with determination', 'patience', 'firmness', and refers to 'perseverance', 'wearing regularly', and to one of the eleven Rudrāṇīs There is no correct equivalent English word for dhrti which is derived from dhr- meaning 'to bear'. Dhrti meaning 'fortitude' and 'determination' is defined as the subtle faculty in man that makes him strive continuously towards a goal. It provides courage, enthusiasm, and perseverance to face and overcome all odds and obstacles.
Dhyana in HinduismDhyāna (Sanskrit: ध्यान) in Hinduism means contemplation and meditation. Dhyana is taken up in Yoga practices, and is a means to samadhi and self-knowledge. The various concepts of dhyana and its practice originated in the Sramanic movement of ancient India, which started before the 6th century BCE (pre-Buddha, pre-Mahavira), and the practice has been influential within the diverse traditions of Hinduism. It is, in Hinduism, a part of a self-directed awareness and unifying Yoga process by which the yogi realizes Self (Atman, soul), one's relationship with other living beings, and Ultimate Reality.
Yoga as exerciseYoga as exercise is a physical activity consisting mainly of postures, often connected by flowing sequences, sometimes accompanied by breathing exercises, and frequently ending with relaxation lying down or meditation. Yoga in this form has become familiar across the world, especially in the US and Europe. It is derived from medieval Haṭha yoga, which made use of similar postures, but it is generally simply called "yoga". Academics have given yoga as exercise a variety of names, including modern postural yoga and transnational anglophone yoga.
Yoga Sutras of PatanjaliThe Yoga Sutras of Patañjali is a collection of Sanskrit sutras (aphorisms) on the theory and practice of yoga – 195 sutras (according to Vyāsa and Krishnamacharya) and 196 sutras (according to others, including BKS Iyengar). The Yoga Sutras was compiled in the early centuries CE, by the sage Patanjali in India who synthesized and organized knowledge about yoga from much older traditions. The Yoga Sutras is best known for its reference to ashtanga, eight elements of practice culminating in samadhi.
Yoga VasisthaVasishta Yoga Samhita (योगवासिष्ठम्, IAST: ; also known as Maha-Ramayana, Arsha Ramayana, Vasiṣṭha Ramayana, Yogavasistha-Ramayana and Jnanavasistha.) is a historically popular and influential syncretic philosophical text of Hinduism, dated to the 6th CE or 7th CE — 14th CE or 15th CE. It is attributed to Maharishi Valmiki, but the real author is unknown. The complete text contains over 29,000 verses. The short version of the text is called Laghu yogavāsiṣṭham and contains 6,000 verses.
Rāja yogaIn Sanskrit texts, Rāja yoga (ˈrɑːdʒə_ˈjoʊgə; राजयोग) was both the goal of yoga and a method to attain it. The term also became a modern name for the practice of yoga in the 19th-century when Swami Vivekananda gave his interpretation of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali in his book Raja Yoga. Since then, Rāja yoga has variously been called aṣṭāṅga yoga, royal yoga, royal union, sahaja marg, and classical yoga. Rāja (Sanskrit: राज) means "chief, best of its kind" or "king". Rāja yoga thus refers to "chief, best of yoga".
Āstika and nāstikaĀstika and nāstika are concepts that have been used to classify Indian philosophies by modern scholars, as well as some Hindu, Buddhist and Jain texts. The various definitions for āstika and nāstika philosophies have been disputed since ancient times, and there is no consensus. In current Indian languages like Telugu, Hindi and Bengali, āstika and its derivatives usually mean 'theist', and nāstika and its derivatives denote an 'atheist'; however, the two terms in ancient- and medieval-era Sanskrit literature do not refer to 'theism' or 'atheism'.
