PREFACE: The following is taken directly from the video lectures of HD Goswami, on his YouTube channel. Most are cognates, some are just literal definitions in English. Anyone is welcome to use this information however they like. I compiled this simply by watching every lecture recorded in chronological order from the beginning of that YouTube channel, up until 11/2018. Last updated; 7/4/2025. -Vidyananda
Aasana – a seat. Can also be used as an auxiliary verb. To keep on doing something. E.g. “I’m going to ‘sit’ this one out.” ‘Sit’ means you’re not going anywhere. So it also means, to continue, not to change, etc.
Aasina – sitting. (See also, ‘aasana’)
Abi – direct
Abhyasa-yoga – means repetition B.Gita Ch.12 means same as sadhana
Adhikari – one who takes on responsibility. Literally; to act above. It means, to have authority.
Ahaituka – ’causeless’ – psychological cause or motive (one root is ‘hetu’). Literally means something that doesn’t have a selfish cause. e.g. guru gives mercy for your benefit not his. But this is a didactic redundancy because ‘Mercy’ already has that meaning embellished within it.
Aham – This means the pronoun ‘I’. The root of ‘ahankara’. Where we get ‘ego’, the pronoun ‘I’ in Greek. (*Probably a Greek cognate, but not sure)
Ajnata sukriti – unknown good deeds
Agni > Means fire. English cognates include, ignite, ignition, etc.
Akasha – space or sky
Amrta – ‘not mrta’ – (*Probably means, ‘not dead’, or better, ‘anti-dead’)
Anda – blind (see also, ‘om ajnaana timiraandasyaa’)
Anga – body
Anta – the end. ‘ant’ is cognate with end in English.
Anu – following – (see also, ‘anukampa’ – literally; ‘shaking with someone else’, or, compassion)
Arya – cognate with Ireland (land of Aryans) and Iran
Asa – placing. See also, ‘aasana’ (*Note – this is probably the same as ‘aasa’ (long a) but I don’t know. I recorded these entries many months apart)
Asa – Past tense of ‘asti’, means ‘was’. English Cognate. See also, ‘itihasa’ – means ‘history’, literally; ‘thus it was’. (*Note, I do not know if the 2 ‘asa’ entries here are the same word in Sanskrit, but it would make sense that the word ‘is’ literally means ‘placing’. Example; The pen is red. Would mean, ‘redness is ‘placed’ on the pen.’)
Ashta – The number 8. cognate with 8 in contemporary Spanish and German
Asti – is. Cognate with ‘is’ in English, ‘es’ in Spanish, German, etc.
Asthikya – believing in God (different from sraddha) ast – cognate with ‘is’ (3rd person) in English
Atmavan – One who possesses himself
Ayur means life, especially the duration of. Ayurveda means the knowledge of prolonging the duration of life
Avatar – ava means downward, Tara means crossing
Bandana – often translates to attachment. Cognate with bind, bondage, etc.
Bhagavan – bhaga – opulence. -van suffix means one who holds.
Bhaj – to glorify, originally to share. Also can simply mean devotion. See bhajan, like kirtan, and Bhakta Bhakti.
Bhakti – literally it is bhaj-ti.
Bhava – becoming, that which comes to be. The opposite of that which is eternal. Bhava is basically short and for the material world.
Bhavan – formal ‘you’, like usted in Spanish. Conjugated in 3rd person. (*Note; this doesn’t make sense, maybe it’s wrong.)
Bhoga – enjoyment, sense grat.
Bhu – be or becoming (cognate with English – to be)
Bhava – the world of beconing (Maya)
Bhuta – means creature (created being with a body)
Bhut – means above
Budh – awaken, understand (‘buddhi’ – feminine noun)
Brh – to expand, increase (‘Brahman’ – the absolute or supreme)
Daiva – from deva, means the power of God or destiny or providence
-Dha (suffix) that is cognatae with the suffix -dom in English; to place, e.g. kingdom, the place of the king. See also, ‘sraddha’
Deha – body (conjugate it to get ‘the embodied’)
Desa – a place
Devaka – a little God – root is “dr” (*Note – dhr below? I don’t know)
Dharma – an essential characteristic, something that holds the identity of something. Religion and justice too.
Dhr (vowel r) – to hold/sustain, same root here that gives dharma, also gives dhara (holder) as in giridhari (the mountain holder – a holy name of Krsna), chakradhari, gadadhara (club holder), padmadhara, pratiahara/dharana (‘hold senses’, from ashtanga yoga).
Dhyana – meditation (cognate with zen in Japanese)
Dish – a direction, to point out
Divya – literal meaning is, ‘divine’ – root is ‘dyu’
Dvandva – duality, dvan means 2, also duo, and dos, etc.
Eva – ‘only’
Ga – ‘go’ in English (agan = underwent in SB 1.9.40) see also, ‘nigama’ and ‘agama’ which are both words for Vedas – they help our consciousness actually ‘go’ somewhere.
Gaura – golden or light
Gera – old age – cognate is geriatric
Guru – can mean heavy/important. Similar Sanskrit words include, ‘gaurava’ – heaviness (cognate with gravity). ‘guriyan’ – very guru. ‘gurishta’ – most guru.
Hrd – heart (meaning and cognate in English)
Huta – invoked. Cognate with German ‘gott’ which led to English ‘god’
Idam – demonstrative pronoun (this)
īśa – the root is īh – means to govern or exert power over. See also; iso in isopanisad and īśvara. (*Note – I think it means, “Oh Lord” – holy name of Christ?)
Jana – means ‘people’ cognate of ‘gentile’ (latin) and ‘gente’ in Spanish too. (*Probably an English cognate is ‘gentlemen’)
Jiva means life
Jnana – big picture/worldview knowledge. English cognates include, ‘gnosis’, ‘agnostic’, ‘prognosis’, etc.
jnanavan – a wise person
Karma – intentional act
Karana – cause and effect
Kanistha – the lowest. -st suffix here means the same in English, make an adj superlative; highest, loveliest, etc. (called prakriti Bhakta in SB – materialistic devotee)
Kavi – originally meant ‘sage’ but now means poem and poetics.
Kirt – verbal root meaning to glorify or praise – can end as kirtanam or Kirti
Kri, krita – create, increase, see karma
Krsna – krs – to attract (krsi means ‘traction’ coincidental? Comparison with english)
Ma, matra – to measure (an English cognate is ‘metric’)
Maj (spelling?) – merge (cognate)
Martya – mortal
Maicanam? – sexuality, literally translated as mutuality, from mitas – mutual
Muh – confusion, be bewildered. See moha, muddha
Mukha – face (noun and verb like in English)
Mr (dot under the r) – to die
Mriyate – “he/she died”
Mrta – dead. English cognates include, mortal, murder, etc.
Na – short for nan, or aananda: the source of all pleasure
Nam – to bend (bow)
Nama – to curve (nambra – curved). English cognate is ‘penumbra’
Namaste – bow to you
Nasa – Nostril. English cognate. (*Note – Vidyananda’s discovery during his own YouTube livestream; BG 5.27-28)
Nir – without
Nirvana – without flow (samsara) (*Note – ‘flow’ is probably a subtle reference to ‘samsara’ – the endless flowing cycle of the soul’s transmigration)
Nirvishesha – without proper distinctions, especially concerning tattva
Pad – go (see also, ‘pada’ meaning foot, or, the thing that ‘goes’). (*Note – probably English cognates include pedestrian, pedal, etc.)
Pari – all around (peri- prefix in English)
Pramana – It means, ‘evidence’ or, ‘the measure of something’ (see also, ‘ma’)
Pra – prefix meaning same as pro- in English
Prati – counter
Priti – cognate with ‘pleasure’ in English
Pure – city, cognate with Greek polis, English metropolis, politics, etc.
Purva – before, cognate with ‘previous’
Raaja – king, cognate with royal and reign
Sam – means ‘same’, together/completely. – Cognate with ‘sum’ and prefix syn- in English. Same word (in Sanskrit) as ‘san’ in sankirtan. Also homo in English (from Greek) comes from samo in Sanskrit
Samadhi – sam (same) + a (within or intensely) + dhi (dha) – to place. Thus, samadhi means; placing consciousness intensely/within the truth
Samasa – bringing together (opposite of vyasa)
Samadarshana – seeing with equal vision
Sankhya – sam prefix plus khya – to tell or narrate, describe
Satyam – truth (as in true vs false) different from tattva truth. See also; Satyam eva jayate – the truth alone prevails.
Siddhanta – a philosophical conclusion (e.g. raja vidya)
Sraddha – placing (dha) all your heart/trust into something.
Sreya, Sreshta – comparative and superlative of Sri. -shta is cognate with English suffix -st as in best, most, etc.
Sthi – as in ‘avasthitah’ (BG 9.4) – situated. Cognate with stand, status, etc.
Su – prefix in ‘sukriti’ that means ‘good’. Cognate with ‘eu’ in English words such as, eugenics, euphoria, euphonics, euphemism, etc. Probably ancient Greek ‘eudaimonia’ too.
Sutra – means ‘thread’. cognate with suture, sew, (probably stitch), etc.
Tan – to extend (as in, ‘tantra’)
Tapasya – austerity (‘tap’ means burn/heat)
Tat – that (exact same word in English, meaning and cognate)
Tantra – (vaishnava) Puranas and other literatures
Tari – means savior, one who takes them across. Avatar has same root. (‘tarine’ means ‘unto the tari’)
Thanum – standing
Tu – informal ‘you’, exact same in Spanish
Tva/tvam – cognate with suffix -ty (generousi-ty, equali-ty, etc.)
Ut (or ‘ud’?) – up (or ‘above’ when used as a prefix, such as, ‘udaasina varaasina’ – ‘seated above’ duality or something like that, from the B.Gita)
Upa – near – cognate with hypo- prefix as in hypothermia not enough heat. Often used in Sanskrit as a prefix that means ‘junior’ such as; upendra, upa purana, etc.
Upama – comparison (putting two things near each other to measure)
Upapurana – junior purana (nearly a Purana)
Vaidika – vedic (compared with tantrika) sruti literature
Vaahana – vehicle. Cognate with ‘wagon’
Vana – forest
Vart – to turn (cognate with the suffix -vert, introvert, pervert, etc.) Turn like going through life cycles. See vriti (feminine noun, turning)
Veda – comes from vid (pronounced ‘wit’ in Sanskrit, AND cognate with English ‘wit’). Basically it translates to intelligence. Corresponds to video, vision, etc. Latin vedare, to see. German visin which means to know.
Vedanta – the end of knowledge.
Vibhuti – conducting majesty, triquandrantal, BS 2
Viddhi – 2nd person singular imperative “know…!’ also means imperative to do something (chant japa,etc)
Virshesha – a distinction, distinguishing (good vishesha means knowing the tattvas)
Virsheshana – an adjective
-vit – a suffix meaning a knower of, e.g. yogavit or tattvavit. Cognate with English wit. (*Note; this may contradict definition of ‘veda’. They are most definitely the same word, just conjugated differently. Which comes first, which is the root? I don’t know, but probably this one because it is simpler; 1 syllable, not 2. 1 vowel, not 2.)
Vrata – English cognates include ‘vow’, ‘devotee’, etc.
Vrindaa – means, tulasi. From Google; Vrinda (वृंदा) can mean Tulasi (also known as Holy Basil). In Hindu tradition, Vrinda is another name for the Tulsi plant, which is considered sacred and is associated with the goddess Lakshmi. It also has other meanings like ‘cluster’, ‘holy’, or ‘many’.
Vy (also ‘vi’?) – a prefix (probably not always?) that means ‘away, separating or expanding’ (vyasa, vibhuti, etc.). It is the opposite word and meaning of ‘sam’ (together). (*Note – Vyasadeva – does this name/word mean something like, ‘the author who is most expert at SEPARATING all the different facets of divinity? I think so. See also, ‘demonstrate’.)
Yatam ati – according to my realization
Yoga / yuj – It means link, engage, union. English cognates include; ‘yoke’ and con-jug-ate, con-jug-al. When conjugated to ‘yoga’ can mean application or practice. Patanjali calls yoga; ‘citta vriti virodha’ – stopping the turnings of the mind.
Yukta – linked. (in a state of yoga, instead of merely practicing it) (*Note emphasis added on 7/4/2025)
Bhutaste – aste means sit or remain as in asana (*Note – this entry is too confusing to compare with similar ones. It needs diacritical marks and a definition or reference, so I put it here at the end)
GENERAL NOTES:
- Many Sanskrit words first transferred to Persia, where for example the beginning ‘s’ turned into an ‘h’. See also, Sindu and Hindu. Then from Persian to Greek, ‘h’ became ‘i’ or silent. So later, ‘Hindu’ became ‘India’. Greeks don’t like to start a word with ‘h’. We have English words like that we still use today, ‘hour’, ‘honor’, etc. See entry for ‘su’ in this encyclopedia.
KEY/LEGEND for this encyclopedia;
(*Note…) – a note written by the author, Vidyananda Das. Italicized to indicate LACK of emphasis, not the words of HD Goswami, etc.
Single quote marks > ‘hello’ indicates WRITING, MEANING, a TECHNICAL TERM, etc. These are used to mark out Sanskrit words that may be confused with English words. In the Bhagavad Gita, Srila Prabhupada uses italics for this purpose, a common example being ‘yoga’ as I would write it, or yoga, as He would. I also use these single quote marks as a subtle form of emphasis; it may be a word within a definition that has its own definition somewhere else that is relevant, interesting, etc.
Double quote marks > “hello” indicates SPEAKING, PHONICS, how a word SOUNDS, etc. I do NOT use the double quote marks as many contemporary English speakers do, to indicate irony, sarcasm, etc. That would be grossly inappropriate in this work.
Double vowels (aa, ee, etc.) indicates a ‘long vowel sound’ in Sanskrit. Normally it’s written with a long horizontal line above it, like here; ‘sādhanā’. I don’t know a quick way to input that diacritical mark in Windows 11, sorry!