My Hindu Page Glossary - G

Ganesha,Lord, Ganesha Chaturthi, God Realization, God Realized Gurus, God's Consciousness, God's Love, Godhead, Good Karma / Karma, Gopuram, Grace, Guru, Gurudeva, Gurukulam

Ganesha, Lord: A Mahadeva created by God. Lord Ganesha has an elephant head and a body of a man with a fat tummy. Lord Ganesha is the most worshipped deity among Hindus. Hindu scriptures instruct that Lord Ganesha be worshipped first before the start of any endeavour including the worship of another deity. He is the Gate Keeper of the Heavens and the Remover of Obstacles. His Elephant Face indicates that His existence is connected closely to Earth. Mythologically Ganesha is the son of Lord Shiva, though His worship is not limited to Saivism. In fact the worship of Lord Ganesha is universal among Hindus. Thus His worship unifies all Hindus. Ganesha's other common names are Ganapati, Vinayagar and Pillayar.

Ganesha Chaturthi: A festival honouring Lord Ganesha, generally regarded as his birthday. It falls at the end of August or early September. Ganesha Chaturthi is celebrated by all Hindu communities. It is especially grand in the state of Maharashtra in India where it is a 10 day carnival like celebration.

God Realization: The meditative experience of the meditator’s awareness merged into God’s Being. At the point of God Realization the meditator's awareness and God' is One. There are many levels or experiences in God Realization, such as experiencing God as Divine Light, or Pure Love, or Infinite Vastness, or as Absolute Reality–the experience most yearned after by ardent spiritual seekers. The ultimate goal of the practice of Hinduism is to guide its devotees to the experience of God Realization. After the seeker has achieved God Realization he or she is said to be enlightened. According to Hinduism, God Realization is a required experience for each soul in order to achieve moksha. Hinduism also recommends that a seeker be under the guidance of a guru to learn to achieve God Realization. The Sanskrit word equivalent to God Realization is samadhi. (see also moksha and samadhi)

God Realized Gurus: These are gurus who have achieved spiritual enlightenment. They are usually recognized by the title Satguru, Maharishi or Brahmarishi preceeding their name. There are two main states of God Realization–Nirvikalpa Samadhi and Savikalpa Samadhi. A God Realized guru is a master of both of these states and is able to guide his disciples to both of them. The titles Satguru, Maharishi or Brahmarishi cannot be self-proclaimed, they must be conferred to the guru by his guru or by a body of spiritual adepts, usually a formal or informal society of Hindu gurus, priests and pundits as a recognition of his God Realized status. One can recognize a God Realized guru mainly by the spiritual energies that he or she emanates or by the wisdom by which they guide their devotees. God Realized gurus are also usually renunciates–though there can aslo be God Realized gurus who are married though they wont be given the titles Satguru, Maharishi or Brahmarishi–and so can also be recognized by their natural lack of desire for ownership or material gratification.

God's Consciousness: It is Parashakti, God's Second Aspect. God's Conciousness, is the All-Pervasive universal consciousness that is the foundation of Creation. God's consciousness is also the foundation of our individual consciousness. Spiritual evolution is the result of the ability of an individual to merge his or her individual consciousness with God's Consciousness. This merging is called savikalpa samadhi, which is a meditative attainment.  

God’s Love: Life. Hinduism teaches that God’s love is life itself. A guru once quipped, “if there is one thing God cannot do, it is to take Himself out of us.” The experience of our life energy, that is, the impulses that makes us breathe, that makes our heart beat or our mind to think and so forth is God’s love. Thus God is a silent but an intricate and intimate part of our lives. When meditating to achieve God Realization, the inital step is to concentrate on one of our life impulses such as the breath or heartbeat.

Godhead: Another word for God, however this word also indicates the deepest adoration and the highest admiration for God.

Good Karma / Karma: The law of cause and effect. The law of karma governs situations in our life. It states that whatever the consequences to an action one performs, he or she will recieve similar consequences in return in the present life or a future life. A simple way to understand karma is, if you do good, you get good. If you do bad, you get bad. Karma is our creation. If our actions are good we create good karma, or punniyam (in Tamil) for oneself. Bad action begets bad karma or pavam for oneself. We may reap our good or bad karmas in the present lifetime, or we may face them in a future lifetime. It is through creating karmas that we shape our future. 

Gopuram: The entrance tower of South Indian style temples. Usually the tallest towers of the temple. It is ornately decorated by many images of God.

Grace: When God intervenes in our life, whether to give or restrict, it is called Grace. In Hinduism God animates the worlds through the five actions of Creation, Preservation, Destruction, Revealing Truth and Obscuring Truth. Grace is part of God's power of Revealing Truth or Obscuring Truth. This power is mainly related to the transference of wisdom and knowledge though not limited to them, but also includes spiritual and material boons. While God's revealing and benevolent Grace is easily understood, God's hiding and limiting Grace is often misunderstood. Obscuring Grace has to do with the protection of a devotee from bad, ill-timed or dangerous decisions. In such cases God will put obstructions on a devotees path to change his or her direction.

Guru: A teacher. In Hindu culture, a teacher of any subject is called a guru. However in the context of the lessons in this site, a guru is a spiritual master. An enlightened person who has the spiritual authority and knowledge to accept devotees and guide them toward God Realization. They are also sought for their wisdom and advice in matters of religion and life in general. To be a guru a devotee must seek training under an established guru of a spiritual lineage (sampradaya) and later if qualified receive intiation and authority to take on the leadership of the sampradaya by his or her guru. However the position of a guru is never an ambition of a devotee when seeking a guru, rather it is a responsibiity that is bestowed upon a devotee who is spiritually qualified and able. It is not a position that is sought after through a democratic voting process or by any type of popular consensus. There are gurus who are not connected to any particular traditional lineage, but are recognized by their devotees as gurus because of their spiritual abilities. These gurus may claim initiation through dreams by a guru who has past on or by God Himself. These gurus are considered self-proclaimed gurus. Examples of self-proclaimed gurus are Amritanandamayima and Satya Sai Baba among others. Often when they pass on their devotees and successor who carry on their work will create a new sampradaya that will carry on for generations to come in the traditional way.

Gurudeva: An affectionate title given by disciples to address their spiritual guru. In these lessons it refers to the author’s guru, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami.

Gurukulam: The Hindu school system. Gurukulams that still exist today are priest training centers. Before the modern school system, gurukulams existed on all areas of study, such as religion, government, politics, business, ayurveda (Hindu medical system), warfare, astronomy and astrology and so forth. It is based on artisan and apprenticeship training. It was common for students attending gurukulams to live with their master’s family for a specified number of years or until they master their learning and practice.