A QUICK GLOSSARY
- BRAHMA
- The Creator of the universe, one of the gods of the Hindu trinity.
- DEVADASI
- Initiated dancers, which lives in temples. They were considered the mates of the governed gods of the temples they were lived. Devadasi-s were divided into different categories. The highest category includes those devadasi-s that attain the perfect control over their corporal functions.
- DHARMA
- Righteousness;duty
- HETAERAE
- The courtesans from ancient Greece.
- KAMINI
- A Hindu name for woman or "she who is made of desire".
- KUNDALINI
- The upright axis at the innermost center of a person and of the univers, is the very source of man's might, drawing and unfolding all his energies.
- LINGAM
- The phallus or, by extension, the cosmic principle of creativity. The worship of the Divine through the symbol of a phallus dates back to the Indus-Sarasvati civilization. Early on Shiva became associated with the symbol of the lingam and its worship. It is the God's most common emblem. Metaphysically, the lingam stands for the unimaginable potency or power of creativity prior to the creation of the world.
The male sex organ represents the physical manifestation of the lingam.
- MANTRA
- Thought or intention expressed as sound. Thus the word mantra denotes "prayer", "hymn", "spell", "counsel", and "plan". In yogic context, mantra stands for numinous phonemes that may or may not have communicable meaning. A mantra is a mantra by virtue of its having been communicated in an initiatory setting. Every mantra is associated with a particular invisible power or deity.
- PHALLUS
- See LINGAM.
- SADHANA
- Spiritual discipline and practice.
- SHAKTI
- The consort of Shiva; she is his life-giving force, the dynamic energy of creation.
- SHIVA
- The destroyer and transformer of the universe; one of the gods of the Hindu trinity.
- YONI
- The female sex organ.