* Indicates that the entry was obtained from the VedaBase glossary.
All other entries were obtained from the krishna.com glossary.

Vedic Sanskrit Glossary - R -

Rādhā — (-rāṇī, Rādhikā) Kṛṣṇa’s original pleasure potency, from whom all His internal energies expand. She is His eternal consort in Vṛndāvana and the most dedicated and beloved of His devotees.

Rādhā — the wife of Adhiratha, and foster mother of Karṇa.

rādhā-bhāva-mūrti — the mood of Rādhārāṇī.

 Rādhā-Dāmodara party — A large group of ISKCON preachers who traveled throughout the United States during the 1970s, named for the presiding deities who traveled with them.

Rādhā-Dāmodara — The presiding deities of ISKCON’s Gita-nagari farm in Pennsylvania, U. S. A.

Rādhā-Gopīvallabha — The presiding deities of the ISKCON temple in Boston, Massachusetts.

Rādha-Govinda-Mādhava — The presiding deities of ISKCON’s New Mayapur community in France.

Rādhā-kuṇḍa — the bathing place of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, a sacred pond near Govardhana Hill in Vraja that was created by Rādhārāṇī and her gopī companions. It is supreme among all the holy places in Vraja and the most exalted holy place for all Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas. The eight major Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava temples of Vṛndāvana also exist at Rādhā-kuṇḍa, as well as the bhajana-kutīras of Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī and Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī. This is the site of the most intimate loving affairs of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, and the waters of Rādhā-kuṇḍa are considered non-different from Rādhārāṇī and productive of love of Godhead.

Radhadesha — An ISKCON center in Belgium.

Rādhārāṇī — Lord Kṛṣṇa’s most intimate consort, who the personification of the internal, pleasure potency of Lord Kṛṣṇa. She appeared in this world as the daughter of King Vṛsabhānu and Kirti-devī and is the Queen of Vṛndāvana. The most favorite consort of Kṛṣṇa in Vrindavana, situated on Lord Kṛṣṇa's left on altars and pictures.

Rādhāṣṭamī — The festival celebrating Rādhārāṇī’s birth.

Rādhāṣtamī — the appearance anniversary of Śrimatī Rādhārāni.

Rādhikā — Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.

rāga — Attachment; traditional Indian melodies.

rāga — attachment in ecstatic love of God.

rāga-bhakti — devotional service in transcendental rapture.

rāga-mārga — the path of devotional service in spontaneous love of Godhead.

rāgānuga-bhakti — The stage of sādhana-bhakti in which one’s practice of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa becomes spontaneous and follows in the mood of one of Kṛṣṇa’s eternal associates in Vraja.

rāgānuga-bhakti — devotional service following the spontaneous loving service of the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana.

rāgātmikā — The spontaneous devotional mood of the inhabitants of Vṛndavana, according to their loving attachment.

rāgātmika-bhakti — spontaneous devotional service of the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana according to their transcendental attachment.

Rāghava — Lord Rāmacandra, who appeared in the Raghu dynasty, the dynasty of the sun.

Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī — One of the six Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana.

Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī — one of the Six Gosvamis of Vṛndāvana. He appeared in 1506 as the son of Tapana Miśra. He first met Lord Caitanya in Benares when the Lord stayed at his father's home for two months. He rendered direct service to the Lord and received His mercy. After the demise of his parents, he went to Purī and associated with the Lord, cooking for Him and taking His remnants. He was especially well-known for his sweetly singing the Bhāgavatam to different tunes, his super-excellent cooking and his never hearing, or speaking about, either worldly topics or criticism of Vaiṣṇavas. On the order of the Lord, he proceeded to Vṛndāvana and associated there with the other Gosvāmīs. He did not write books. His disciples assisted with the construction of the Govindaji Temple for Rūpa Gosvāmī's Deity. He disappeared in 1580 at the age of seventy-four.

Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī — One of the six Gosvāmīs of Vrindavana.

Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī — one of the Six Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana. He appeared in 1495. He was the son of the fabulously wealthy Govardhana Majumdara, the younger brother of the then Zamindar Hiraṇya Majumdara in the village of Krishnapura in West Bengal. His forefathers were Vaiṣṇavas, and when he was a boy he got the association and blessings of Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura. He was mad with the desire to join Lord Caitanya in Jagannātha Purī, but every time he ran away from home his parents would have him captured and brought back. Finally, he was successful. He received the mercy of Lord Caitanya and served for many years as the assistant of Svarūpa Dāmodara. He was thus known as the Raghu of Svarūpa. Later, he was sent to Vṛndāvana and lived in Rādhā-kuṇḍa, performing severe austerities. In his later years he subsisted on just a few drops of buttermilk each day. He wrote important texts on devotion, his only concern being the chanting of the Holy Name. He ascended in 1571 at the age of 76.

Raghunātha — (Raghupati, Rāghavendra) Lord Rāmacandra, “the Lord of the Raghus.”

Raghus — The dynasty of the Kosala kingdom, descended from King Raghu, the great-great-grandfather of Lord Rāmacandra.

Rahūgaṇa Mahārāja — the king who received spiritual instruction from Jaḍa Bharata.

railhead — town or station at the end of the railway line; ending point.

raita — fruits or semicooked vegetables in lightly seasoned yogurt.

Raivata Manu — A son of Priyavrata who became the fifth Manu, after his brother Tāmasa.

Raivata — A mountain in Gujarat currently known as Girnar. It is near Junagarh.

Raivataka — a mountain near Dvārakā.

raja — rule or sovereignty. Used to describe the British rule; king or prince.

rāja-pāla — the governor of the state.

rāja-vidyā — Lit., “the king of knowledge.” The topmost knowledge, i. e., to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead; Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Rāja-yoga — Understanding of the form of the absolute within many forms, realized through the practice of the eightfold yoga system (ashtanga-yoga).

rāja-yoga — Patañjali’s process of imagining a form of the Absolute Truth within many forms.

rajaguṇa — the mode of passion of material nature.

rājarṣi — a great saintly king.

Rajas — Passion.

rajas — the material mode of passion.

rājasa-ahaṅkāra — egotism in passion.

rājasūya-yajña — an elaborate sacrifice that establishes who is the emperor of the world. It was performed by Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira before the Battle of Kurukṣetra and attended by Lord Kṛṣṇa. (Sabhā Parva in Mahābhārata)

rajo-guṇa — the material mode of passion.

rajo-guṇa — Among the three modes of material nature, the mode of passion. It impels ambition and activity.

rākṣasa — a class of asura or ungodly people. The Rākṣasa are always opposed to God’s will. Generally, they are man-eaters and have grotesque forms.

rākṣasa-gaṇa — man-eating demons.

rākṣasas — (Rakṣas) Man-eating demons who dwell in forests.

rākshasī — A female Rākṣasa.

rakta — red in the Treta-yuga.

Rāma — (-candra) An incarnation of the Supreme Lord as a perfect righteous king, born as the son of Daśaratha and Kauśalyā. Rāma is also a name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, meaning “the source of all pleasure,” and a name of Lord Balarāma and Lord Paraśurāma. As part of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, refers to the highest eternal pleasure of Lord Kṛṣṇa; may also refer to Lord Balarāma or Lord Rāmacandra.

Ramā — Lakṣmī, the “giver of pleasure” to Lord Nārāyaṇa.

Rāma — name of the Absolute Truth as the source of unlimited pleasure for transcendentalists; incarnation of the Supreme Lord, Lord Rāmacandra as a perfect, righteous king, who appeared in Ayodhya in the Tretā-yuga.

Ramā — Lakṣmī, the goddess of fortune and eternal consort of the Supreme Lord, Nārāyaṇa.

Rāma-kathā — Sacred narrations of the glories of Lord Rāmacandra.

Rāma-navamī — Lord Rāmacandra’s appearance day.

Rāma-navamī — the appearance anniversary of Lord Rāmacandra.

Rāma-rājya — a perfect, Vedic kingdom following the example of Lord Rāmacandra — the incarnation of the Supreme Lord appearing as the perfect king.

Rāmacandra — the eighteenth incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the killer of the tenheaded demon king, Rāvaṇa. Rāma was exiled to the forest on the order of His father, Mahārāja Daśaratha. His wife Sītā was kidnapped by Rāvaṇa, but by employing a huge army of monkeys, who were the powerful and intelligent offspring of demigods, He regained his wife in battle, and eventually His ancestral kingdom too. This great epic is recounted in Vālmīki's Rāmāyaṇa.

Rāmānanda Rāya — an intimate associate of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His later pastimes.

Rāmanuja — (-ācārya) The founding ācārya of one of the four Vaiṣṇava sampradāyas in Kali-yuga.

Rāmānujācārya — a great eleventh-century Vaiṣṇava spiritual master of the Śrī-sampradāya.

Rāmapriya — The spiritual planet created in the material world by Lord Vaikuntha, the fifth manvantara-avatāra, to rival the Svargaloka of Indra.

Rāmāyaṇa — The epic history of Lord Rāmacandra. The original version was written by the sage Vālmīki, a contemporary of Lord Rāma.

Rāmāyaṇa — the original epic history about Lord Rāmacandra and Sītā, written by Vālmīki Muni.

Ranaghat — a town in the West Bengal district of Nadia just south of Navadvīpa on the railway to Calcutta. Ranaghat is the government headquarters of the Ranaghat subdivision of the Nadia district. It covers an area of about two-and-a-half square miles. Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda's family lived here at different times.

Ranga-bhumi — This is where the wrestling match took place between Krsna, Balaram and the professional wrestlers, Canura and Mustika.

Raṅganātha — The reclining deity of Viṣṇu residing near Tiruchchirapalli in Tamil Nadu. In the neighborhood of this temple Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu stayed with Veṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa and his family for four months.

Raṅganātha — Deity of Lord Viṣṇu worshipped in Śrī Raṅgam.

Rantideva — A pious king who fasted forty-eight days and was then tested by demigods headed by Brahmā and Śiva. The demigods came in the guise of a brāhmaṇa, then a śūdra, and finally a caṇḍāla, each of whom begged portions of the food the king was to use to break his fast, finally leaving him without even water to drink. Because he tolerated all this, he received the blessings of the Supreme Lord.

Rāsa Dance — Lord Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure dance with the cowherd maidens of Vṛndāvana, Vrajabhūmi. It is a pure exchange of spiritual love between the Lord and His most advanced, confidential servitors.

rāsa — (-līlā) Kṛṣṇa’s divine dance with the gopīs, the grand celebration of their conjugal love.

rasa — “Transcendental taste.” The five primary spiritual rasas are moods in relationship with the Supreme Lord: reverence, servitude, friendship, parental affection, and conjugal love. Rasa also indicates the boundless pleasure enjoyed in such reciprocations.

rasa — relationship between the Lord and the living entities; mellow, or the sweet taste of a relationship, especially between the Lord and the living entities. They are of five principal varieties — neutral relationship (santa-rasa), relationship as servant (dāsya-rasa), as friend (sakhya-rasa), parent (vātsalya-rasa) and conjugal lover (mādhurya-rasa).

Rāsa-līlā — the group dancing of Kṛṣṇa and His cowherd girlfriends in His Vṛndāvana pastimes.

rasa-tattva — The truth of transcendental mellows.

Rasa-yātrā — festival of the rasa dancing of Kṛṣṇa.

rasābhāsa — Incompatible mixing of rasas.

rasābhāsa — incompatible overlapping of transcendental mellows.

rāsādi-vilāsī — the enjoyer of the rāsa dance and other pastimes.

rasam powder — a South Indian spice blend used to flavour the famous rasam, a chili-hot soup dish made from toovar (arhar) dal lentils. Ingredients vary. The home-made rasam powder recipe contains mustard seeds, coriander seeds, dried hot red chilies, black peppercorns, fenugreek seeds, and cumin seeds. Rasam powder can be purchased ready-mixed in packets or tins from Indian grocery shops.

Rasātala — the lowest planet in the lowest planetary system (Pātāla) ins

rasayana — An Ayurvedic tonic.

rasgulla — A Bengali sweet consisting of balls of fresh curd cooked and soaked in a sugar syrup.

rasika — A pure devotee competent to relish the tastes of loving reciprocation with the Supreme Lord.

Ratha — temple cart or chariot, used during religious festival to carry the Deities.

Ratha-yātrā — The yearly festival in Purī during which Lord Jagannātha, His brother Lord Baladeva, and Their sister Subhadrā move in procession, each on their own cart, from their temple to the Gundicātemple, which represents Vṛndavana. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu would observe this Gundicā-yātrāwith great festivity in the company of His devotees.

Ratha-yātrā — the festival celebrating Kṛṣṇa’s return to Vṛndāvana; The journey of the chariots, a traditional Vaiṣṇava festival held every year at Jagannātha Purī in Orissa. In Purī the devotees place the immense Deity forms of Jagannātha, Baladeva and Lady Subhadrā on three towering, huge gaily decorated canopied chariots, each having sixteen wheels. Thousands of people pull these cars to the Guṇḍicā temple, where Lord Jagannātha abides for seven days, after which there is a return Ratha-yātrā to the Jagannātha Temple. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His associates gathered every year to observe this celebration with a massive festival of saṅkīrtana. This great celebration of Ratha-yātrā is now being held all over the world by the arrangement of Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

rati — Attachment.

rati — a strong attraction to God that precedes bhāva (mature ecstasy) and prema (mature love of God).

raty-ābhāsa — a preliminary glimpse of attachment.

raudra-rasa — one of the indirect relationships, anger.

Rāvaṇa — The demonic king of Laṅka who conquered the universe and abducted the wife of the Supreme Lord Rāma, who therefore invaded his kingdom and killed him.

Rāvaṇa — a powerful ten-headed demon king of Laṅkā who wanted to build a staircase to heaven but was killed by Kṛṣṇa in His incarnation as Lord Rāmacandra. The pastime is described in the epic poem Rāmāyaṇa, by the sage Vālmīki.

recaka — the state of equilibrium attained by offering the exhaled breath into the inhaled breath.

Ṛg Veda — One of the four Vedas, the original revealed scriptures. It records hymns that glorify the demigods and forces of nature who embody the energies of the Supreme Lord.

Ṛg Veda — one of the four Vedas, the original scriptures spoken by the Lord Himself.

rickshaw — two or three wheeled passenger vehicle.

ricotta — crumbly, soft white cheese made from the whey of cow's milk and popular in Italian cuisine. It is frequently used in cooking both sweet and savoury dishes in Italy, for, like curd cheese or cottage cheese, its mild, somewhat bland flavour combines well with other ingredients. It is available at selected supermarkets or specialty grocers.

rishi — a sage.

Ṛk-saṁhitā — the mantra text of the Ṛg Veda.

Ṛk-sūktas — The hymns of the Ṛg Veda, numbering 1,024.

Rohiṇī — The wife of Vasudeva who was the mother of Kṛṣṇa’s principal expansion, Balarāma.

Rohiṇī — the wife of Vasudeva, and the mother of Lord Balarāma.

Romaharṣaṇa — After dividing the original Veda into four, Vyāsadeva entrusted this disciple with the Purāṇas and epic histories. Later, in an assembly of sages at Naimiṣāraṇya, when Romahaṣaṇa failed to stand up from his speaker’s seat to honor Lord Balarāma, Lord Balarāma killed him and installed Romaharṣaṇa’s son Ugraśravā (Sūta Gosvāmī) in his place.

Romaharṣaṇa — the father of Sūta Gosvāmī. He was killed by Lord Balarāma for his offenses.

rose water — the diluted essence of rose petals, particularly from the highly scented species Rosa damascena and Rosa centifolia. It is widely used throughout the Middle East as a flavouring agent. In India it is especially used in the refreshing, icy-cold, sweet yogurt-based beverage known as lassi, in Milk Balls in Rose Syrup (gulab jamun), and in rasgoolas. It is available at Middle Eastern and Indian grocers.

rosemary — the small, narrow, aromatic leaves of the evergreen shrub Rosmarinus officinalis. This fragrant seasoning herb with its clean, woody odour reminiscent of pine is popular in some European cuisines. Its strong, camphorlike taste is not always appreciated however, and it is easily over-used. Because whole leaves of dried rosemary are not pleasant to find in a dish, I find it useful to grind them to a powder before using. If fresh rosemary is available, whole sprigs can be added to a dish and removed whole at the completion of the cooking.

Ṛṣabha — (-deva) An empowered incarnation of the Supreme Lord who set the standard of an ideal king, gave valuable instructions to his one hundred sons, and then became an exemplar of complete renunciation.

Ṛṣabhadeva — an incarnation of the Supreme Lord as a devotee king who, after instructing his sons in spiritual life, renounced His kingdom for a life of austerity.

ṛṣi — A Vedic sage. The first ṛṣis were the “seers” of the Vedic hymns, who perceived the eternal mantras in their meditation and passed them on to human society.

ṛṣi — a synonym for a sage who performs austerities.

ṛṭvik — Lit., “priest.” Name given to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s proposal, for the sake of harmony among his disciples,   that he (Śrīla Prabhupāda) be the only initiating guru within ISKCON. In a letter dated July 9, 1977, addressed to all GBC and temple presidents, he appointed 11 of his disciples to “henceforward” act as ṛṭviks (officiating priests) to initiate on his behalf.

ṛtvik — one who acts on behalf of his preceptor.

ruci — Lit., “taste.” A stage in the practice of Kṛṣṇa consciousness in which one develops a natural attraction or “taste” for the activities of devotional service.

rūḍha — advanced symptom of conjugal mellow found among the queens of Dvārakā; included in mahābhāva.

rūḍha-bhāva — the love of the gopīs.

 Rudra — Lord Śiva.

Rudrasee: Śiva

 Rudra-sampradāya — One of the four authorized Vaiṣṇava schools. It was founded originally by Lord Śiva and reestablished in the Kali-yuga by Śrī Viṣṇu Svāmī.

Rudras — Eleven expansions of Lord Śiva who control the forces of destruction in the material world.

Rudras — the expansions of Lord Śiva who rule over the material mode of ignorance.

Rukmaratha — the son of Śalya, the King of Madras. He was killed by Śveta, the son of Drupada, during the Kurukṣetra war.

Rukmi — A son of King Bhīṣmaka of Vidarbha and brother of Rukmiṇī, Kṛṣṇa’s first wife.

Rukmī — the son of King Bhīṣmaka, the King of Vidarbha, and the brother of Rukmiṇī, the first wife of Lord Kṛṣṇa. His hatred for Lord Kṛṣṇa eventually got him killed by Lord Baladeva during a chess game.

Rukmiṇī — (-devī) Kṛṣṇa’s first wife, the mother of Pradyumna, nine other illustrious sons, and one daughter. She is Kṛṣṇa’s principal queen in Dvārakā.

Rukmiṇī — Lord Kṛṣṇa’s principal queen in Dvārakā; the chief of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s wives.

Rukmiṇī-Dvārakādhīśa — the transcendental couple manifested as Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of Dvārakā, and His queen Rukmiṇī.

Rukmini-Dvarakādhisa — the transcendental couple manifested as Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of Dvārakā, and His queen Rukminī; name of the Deities of ISKCON Los Angeles.

Rūpa Gosvāmī — One of the six Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana, principal followers of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Śrīla Rūpa is the prime authority on the science of rasa, loving exchanges with God, which he explained in his Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu and Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi. He was also an eminent playwright and poet. Most Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas consider themselves rūpānugas, followers of Rūpa Gosvāmī.

Rūpa Gosvāmī — chief of the six great spiritual master Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana who were authorized by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu to establish and distribute the philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He extensively researched the scriptures and established the philosophy taught by Lord Caitanya on an unshakable foundation. Thus Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas are known as Rūpānugas, followers of Rūpa Gosvāmī. He is also known as the rasācārya, or the teacher of devotional mellows, as exemplified by his book, Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu. It is the duty and the aspiration of every Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava to become his servant and follow his path.

Rūpa-mañjarī — Rūpa Gosvāmī’s eternal form as a gopī-mañjarī.

rūpānuga — A follower of Rūpa Gosvāmī.

Rūpānuga — one who follows in the footsteps of Rūpa Gosvāmī.

rupee — main unit of currency used in India.

 

Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra


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